Im going to tokyo next week, and a sudden realisation that my japanese is terrible, has just hit me. So when im there (for like 3-4 days), I want to get a good Japanese learning book that is centred around their own way of learning japanese. Any suggestions that i can buy at any bookstore in tokyo?
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> a good Japanese learning book that is centred around their own way of learning japanese.
What do you mean by this? I don’t really understand what you’re even looking for. It’s not like there are special secret books you can buy only in Tokyo.
Umm, _Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar_ by Seiichi Makino. Only because it’s so expensive outside Japan.
If you want something more of a read, try _Making Sense Of Japanese Grammar_ by Cipris and Hamano.
If you have any favorite books (that are relatively famous) picking up the Japanese translation could be fun. You may not be able to read it now, but it can serve as a source of motivation
Go to the large bookstores that have huge sections of Japanese textbooks for foreigners, in huge amounts.
There are several key books (Halpern’s original Kanji dictionary) that are out of print outside Japan, and just on the shelf in Japan. And as an example the binding in the RTK book sold in Japan is properly glued and sewn instead of juse glued like the American version is.
A serious suggestion is to get the English- Japanese pocket dictionaries focused for Japanese natives. The paper is mostly linen, binding is stitched to a fabric not cardboard backing, and they will last for years and years.
Japanese book-binding always makes American quality look like pure crap in comparison.
Books are freaking heavy, and will quickly result in excess baggage fees, so keep that in mind.
I would splurge on some new books, but you also want to find a Book-Off where everything is cheap including lots of Japanese market DVDs with proper Japanese subtitles.
Kinokuniya in Shinjuku, for example, had a massive selection of Japanese language books for foreigners. They also have children’s learning materials.
https://www.kinokuniya.co.jp/
You might consider picking up a USED children’s kanji dictionary for 500 yen in a used store like BOOK-OFF. There are different levels and publishers. Don’t buy new as you might never use it (dictionaries on your phone or other device are so much faster).
Not great for beginners but since they are cheap & heavy, they can be expensive to import from Japan.
Any bigger bookstore in Tokyo will have a section on Japanese as a foreign language nowadays. Besides textbooks I can recommend purchasing some of the [physical graded readers](https://dokushoclub.com/2022/02/12/graded-readers/) for your current level. They will help you started with reading in Japanese and can be a bit difficult to get overseas.
For novels and manga I can really recommend going to the second hand chain store BOOKOFF. Everything is in basically perfect condition and very, very cheap. Have a look there for [these publishers](https://dokushoclub.com/2022/05/15/books-with-furigana/) in the children’s section. All their books will have 100% furigana on all kanji.
I bought 14歳からの世界史 and 14歳からの科学. I just read some pages quickly because I’m focusing on the JLPT, that doesn’t required words like crusades or photosynthesis, but for side vocabulary I found them easy and engaging to read. It’s colorful, has a nice font and is for 14 years old and older so not too childish but not too hard either. You also have 数学 and プログラミング but I didn’t bought them because I don’t think I will find as much vocabulary.