Here's the PDF for the language lesson at Matsuya Food & Restaurant Japanese (PDF, 100kb)

Japanese Language Resources

This is a collection of books, gadgets, web sites and other resources that I've found useful in learning Japanese.

Spoken Japanese

• Japanese for Busy People (a series in various editions; each $12 to $20) is good for learning basic Japanese, with an emphasis on spoken rather than written language. There are also companion CD or cassette sets.
• Everett F. Bleiler: Essential Japanese Grammar ($7) gives the rules and not a lot else, but it's a good (and cheap and small and light) reference.
• A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar ($42.50 and up) Makino and Tsutsui / The Japan Times) for grammar plus LOTS of real usage examples.

Dictionaries

Webster's New World Compact Japanese Dictionary ($7.50) is the smallest, least expensive Japanese/English dictionary available. It's to small to be complete and can somtimes be a bit misleading, but if I could take only one dictionary to Japan, this is the one I'd grab.
Langenscheidt's Pocket Dictionary ($11.50) is still compact, but a bit larger. It has more entries and more examples. If I could own only one dictionary, I think it'd be this one.

Electronic dictionaries, PDA tools, etc.

• Take a look at Japanese Language Tools if you have a PDA (Palm Pilot, Windows CE device).
• Outdated but still useful reviews of electronic dictionaries etc.

Written Japanese

Download Syllabaries.pdf (152kb) if you want additional copies of the Hiragana/Katakana charts included in your handouts.

The Mitamura Let's Learn ... books present a programmed approach to learning hiragana and katakana. Suggestion: do the exercises in a separate notebook, share the books themselves. You can learn one or both syllabaries on the plane on the way to Japan.

• Let's Learn Hiragana ($10.50, Mitamura, Kodansha Int'l)
• Let's Learn Katakana ($11.50, Mitamura, Kodansha Int'l)

Everyday Japanese Characters ($10 and up, Michael Pye, Hokuseido Press) teaches you the basic kanji a traveler in Japan will want to know (signs, menus, train stations and so on).

Japanese on your Windows PC or Windows/CD handheld

JWPCE - a FREE Japanese Word Processor program
This is a great program. Lightweight, fast, and includes several different ways of looking up kanji, dictionaries and more.
Figuring out exactly what to install and how to install it is a bit tricky. See Steve before/after class if you need a little help.

If you want to use Japanese text in your other Windows programs, see How to install Japanese in Windows XP. This is how Steve adds the Japanese examples to his PowerPoint presentations.