First 100 Japanese Kanji

Book excerpt: This is an invaluable study guide for learning essential Japanese characters. The First 100 Japanese Kanji is intended for beginning students or experienced speakers who need to practice writing Japanese characters. Kanji are an essential part of the Japanese language and together with kana (hiragana and katakana) comprise the written components of Japanese. This book presents the kanji characters that are most commonly used. They have been carefully selected for rapid and efficient learning. Each kanji's readings, meanings, and common compounds are presented, and romanized pronunciations for English speakers (romanji) are included as well. Stroke order guides are designed to teach students the standard sequence of strokes used to write each character. Three indexes at the back allow the characters to be looked up as with a dictionary or by their readings. This book includes: Step-by-step stroke order diagrams for each character. Words and phrases using each kanji. Romanizations (romanji) to help identify and pronounce every word.