Understanding Japanese Society

"This book is quite different from the language textbooks. It is all written in English with explanations about Japanese culture and society. It has scholarly yet accessible analysis from a Western perspective, and provides essential cultural and social context to complement language learning. What I found interesting with this book was that it explains social norms and behaviours and contemporary issues in Japan. By reading this textbook, you will have a better understanding of how Japanese society works and how Japanese people think. So, for people going to Japan, particularly for study abroad but even for a short stay, I think this textbook will help. Yes, using apps and websites can definitely help. I recommend Nihongoena , an excellent portal site with various types of learning tools. Jisho is the most versatile and popular online dictionary for English speakers. Many of the newer textbooks are competing with each other, with a variety of materials available for free. All the newest textbooks explain specifics about how to write the characters, even including some short movies. The websites that come with textbooks such as Tobira and Marugoto are really well built. I would recommend Breaking into Japanese Literature: Seven Modern Classics in Parallel Text which has a vocabulary list and English translation, so learners can enjoy stories by the famous authors Natsume Soseki and Akutagawa Ryunosuke. Bokko-chan and other “short short” stories by Shin’ichi Hoshi are among the most popular readings. Kiki and the Other Witch (Kiki’s Delivery Service Volume 3) is part of the novel series by Eiko Kadono that became the basis for the Studio Ghibli film Kiki’s Delivery Service , and it is written in relatively simple Japanese. If you are going to Japan for a trip, I would choose Japanese for Busy People or Colloquial Japanese . If you want to study Japanese as a degree, or you want to go to Japan for study and continue up to higher intermediate or even advanced level, then Tobira would be a very good one. Japanese for Busy People is a good one even if you don’t necessarily plan to go to Japan, and Colloquial Japanese as well, because it is full of grammatical explanations. Marugoto and Tobira are designed for progression, but they come with a lot of practice which anyone might find interesting."