Kodansha's Hiragana Workbook: A Step-by-Step Approach to Basic Japanese Writing

If you need flashcards, and a simple workbook, this is a good option. I felt that compared to another workbook, this one wasn't as detailed and helpful for learning the characters. But I absolutely love the perforated flashcards as an additional learning tool, and I use them each day that I'm learning.

Cons:
- Workbook doesn't have pronunciation information for each character. It has an introduction section that lists them, but showing clear "sounds like 'ee' as in sleep" is so important for new learners, and helps them create mental connections to the characters helping memorization.
- Not as focused on quizzing/structured review

A recommended workbook that is a great supplement to this would be "Learning Japanese Hiragana and Katakana: A Workbook for Self-Study" which you can find here: https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Japanese-Hiragana-Katakana-Self-Study/dp/4805312270/

That workbook has a bit more detailed information for each character that I really found helpful. Adding these two resource together has been really good for my introductory learning the kanas.

I got this for my daughters (six and eight years old) to help them begin to read in Japanese and develop their vocabulary. Their dad and I speak Japanese so they're familiar with the sounds, but as they don't speak Japanese themselves they were nervous to begin. However this book was laid out in a clear, efficient manner so that they could easily work through it at their own pace. I also like how it immediately begins to teach words that use the kana, so they can begin to read and write full words right from the beginning. As both a 12 year language teacher and an 18 year language learner, this is one of the better beginning script books I've seen, both for kids or adults.

Combined with other applications this book was very helpful in learning how to write and recognize the characters and it was also helpful in learning how to pronounce them when combined with the audio files.

The only thing I found a little confusing and wish was touched on more is the different styles of hiragana for the same letter. For instance on the book cover you can see "sa" and "ki" have the down stroke and bottom attached, where as the version you learn in the book doesn't do that. Aslo, "so" on the cover isn't drawn that way in the book. "ri" and "fu" in the book look different than how I've seen them displayed in the memrise app. This isn't a huge problem, but it would have been nice to include some reasoning and different styles.

The cover is not secured to the book and falls off easily.

This book worked very well for me as an adult and I bought another copy for a third grader and they seem to be having no problem with it combined with a little outside guidance.

I'm a beginner at learning Japanese and have been buying tons of different study supplies to help. If you're at the stage where you are memorizing Hiragana/Katana, this series of books is excellent. You get a ton of practice writing different words and characters and it really drills into your mind what each of the characters are. It doesn't go into grammar or rules of the lanuage but it's a great supplemental tool to help you memorize the characters.

First off, let me say - I am a TOTAL beginner to learning Japanese. My aim was to first learn hiragana, then katakana and so on. I plan on learning with multiple study resources.

This is an excellent resource for those that are brand new to hiragana characters.

What I liked about it:

* step by step illustrations of each hiragana character with brushstroke type
* tear-out flashcards at the end are a great fun study tool
* helps you practice writing hiragana both vertically AND horizontally
* you learn a few basic words via the practice words of each lesson with some pictures
* great for those who self-study
* fill-in charts for some lessons once you learn more of the advanced hiragana like "ga", "gi", "gu","ge", "go" etc.

What I did not like:

* the explanation of double consonants was very confusing at first - had to research further about how and why you use the small "tsu"
* not a whole lot of grammar background is in this book

Overall, if you want to learn the set of hiragana characters and get your writing strokes down pat, this is the book for you. I will be moving on to the Katakana book after this.

Before I started to learn Japanese I was told that it is a very hard language to learn, this is a half truth. Once you have learned Hiragana you have all the tools to speak the language. The hard part comes in when you start learning Kanji and this part of the Japanese is only used for reading. I just want to convey that Japanese is not an impossible language and don't be discourage by people that don't speak it. I'm sure that If you look up a native Japanese instructor in your area that they will help you as much as they can.

Now for the book. It's so simple, you will pick it up so easily with this workbook. I have awful hand writing in English and I am a native speaker, but the way that this book teaches I write better in Hiragana. This book made my learning experience a cake walk.

Have fun learning and failure is the first step to knowledge... don't fear it.

Amazing! I'm well on my way to reading Japanese! I Love taking small bites and using the flash cards to drill in what I've learned so far! Highly suggest this book for a beginner like me!

Out of all the Hiragana books that I have bought, this one takes the cake. There is so much practice available that it's not even funny. I am not only learning how to write the letters, but I am also learning new words at the same time. When I finish this book, I will buy the Katakana version. I am sure it will be great too.

Love the book! Got RIGHT on time, no delays, super happy with the product! Just as showed!

Workbook is detailed with plenty of practice space and sample words to write. It helps to have an audio file to listen to the pronunciation of the words. The exercises are suitably engaging and help reinforce learning the specific characters. The flashcards are useful and an appropriate size for practice. I also got the equivalent workbook for Katakana and found it to be equally helpful.