The illustrations are beautiful, and this appears to be a well-organized language learning resource. However, based on the description I assumed (incorrectly) that this book was geared toward non-Japanese language speakers to learn beginner-level phrasing that might be useful for travel. That's not the case— the entire book is in Japanese and not something a novice could just pick up.

Not a beginner book

My background comes from doing my undergrad in EAS and that I lived in Japan for 8 years; I speak and read Japanese quite well so I was sort of taken aback at the actual difficulty of the content. When reviewing this book, I looked critically at its use as an instructional tool for an independent learner and for a learner in a classroom setting.

Besides the full color pages, the nice bit is that the book does use furigana above the kanji, so those with a basic grasp of hiragana can struggle along with the first few pages of block text. Rarely is kanji not with out furigana....

Sorry, “hurigana”.

The book is split up into 3 levels.

The first level reviews the writing system. However, I was surprised the author chose to use “hu” rather than “fu” for ふ/フ - that’s not traditional for Japanese language learners and may be awkward for nonnative speakers of Japanese to understand the lip movement. It was an interesting, but welcome, choice to show the alphabet in another font, too.

It goes a little bit into the differences between commonly confused characters, which I thought was a nice touch. It even explains a bit about the JLPT and that reading this book will bring the reader anywhere between N5-N4 level. Awkward because up until that point, the level is way beyond a beginner looking at JLPT.

After what feels like eternity of taking an entire first year Japan writing history class, part 2 starts. Part two is where the description gets it’s chapters from. Each chapter has a script, research, and learning page. For example, chapter 1 has 4 grammar points that it covers. It does kind of an okay job on it, but again, I do not feel the grammar and presentation matches the level this book advertises.

At the end of part 2, there is an answer key for the activities, so answers can be checked.

Part 3 has a vocab list for each chapter, verb conjugation charts, and some other helpful things like calendar vocab and counters.

Overall, this is not a beginner book, but the title and description makes it appear to be geared towards students who’ve dabbled in Japanese language learning. Traveling is usually associated with tourist which is usually associated with new learners. This book would be best used in a classroom for study abroad students who are planning on studying in Japan, or who have started studying in Japan, with at least a year of Japanese study underneath them. Students returning to study Japanese could be confused and frustrated by the difficulty. Some of the translations in English are also slightly...off. This is pretty typical though of Japanese textbooks written by nonnative English speakers, but is unfortunate because it can trip up learners, especially emerging language learners.

I wanted to rate this a 3, but it may be a lower 4 if this is used as part of a curriculum with a good teacher who can go beyond the gaps in the book. Could be a decent review for JLPT 4, but is too simple for JLPT 3.

An enchanting and fun guide to beginning Japanese or a refresher for anyone who has studied in the past. Nimble and easy to absorb.

I was definitely hopeful for this book to strength my Japanese skills, which Ive started learning through Rosetta Stone. Especially since the book description includes things like: "I understand a little Japanese" and "I studied a little but it was difficult so I stopped it." But when I opened this book, I was so disappointed to see everything is in Japanese! This definitely isn’t learning material for a beginner or someone who “studied a little” or was finding the language difficult. This is definitely for an intermediate learner who has a grasp of the alphabet and can read the Japanese characters and needs the words for traveling through the country.

This book fails because it is only in Japanese. Teenagers would be attracted to the manga style but the fog of Japanese words so small they are difficult to read would quickly dispirit them. Some pages contain so much that it all becomes a blur. What a shame!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bingo LLC for this review copy.

I feel like I need to preface my review with my own learning experience. I took several years of Japanese at a university and then transferred to another. The first program was amazing. By the third semester we would have class four days a week and Fridays were optional. The Friday class was at a Japanese restaurant and we would speak in Japanese as much as we could and learn about culture, habits, things not to do and so on. In other words, it was fairly immersive.

The second school I transferred to to finish my degree was paltry in Japanese. They were
phoning it it. I think the American school system (in general) phones it in. We don’t teach to be prepared to speak. It’s a bunch of courses to get students to spend money.

Having said that, not all said beginners are equal. This is not a beginner for an average student. You need to be intermediate with excellent vocabulary. When I say vocabulary I mean Kanji and full mastery of hiragana and katakana. You need to probably be at least grade 4 with your kanji. I do like this. It's very engaging with the illustrations and the dialogue. I'm having to rack my brain for the vocabulary, but it's getting there. This requires effort from the student. It's not magic. If you have the basics down that I mentioned above, then this is excellent for pushing you further. I have noticed an increased difference in recall. I recommend this to intermediate students.

I think this book was fairly well done. I have been speaking/reading Japanese since 1992 but haven't had the chance to use it on a regular basis so I was looking for someway to brush up. I thought the pictures and the dialogue were pretty good however, this book assumes the reader already knows Japanese and is more like a quick refresher course. Definitely not for someone new to the language.

Thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to review this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Overall, this is a nicely illustrated travel guide filled with cute chibi characters and drawings. The book is filled with comics, colorful diagrams and tons of activities/examples. For further guidance, they have several activities with video support and other supporting materials that you can access via a QR code.

Unfortunately, I was unable to open access these links or videos as I could not get the QR codes to function. This may be due to the version I was provided with, as I received an eARC for review purposes. Based on some of the other reviews I have seen on Amazon, it seems that those using the physical edition of the textbook had no issues accessing the supplemental videos.

In terms of the textbook as an educational tool, I am sad to say that I would not recommend this to any beginner as it is primarily all in Japanese with a few English sentences sprinkled in. Now, the videos may be fully in English and may walk you through the entire textbook, but I cannot confirm this. Those with a high enough Japanese reading level are sure to enjoy this though as the activities appear to be creative and engaging. I can also confirm that the answers are provided in the back of the book.

My final thoughts: I strongly recommend that only advanced beginners use or those able to fully read Japanese use this textbook. Due to the lack of English translations, I don’t find this to be very beginner friendly. Since I do not speak fluent Japanese, I was unable to fully review this textbook and therefor give the following ratings:

For beginners: 2/5
For advanced beginners (who can read Japanese): 4/5
My overall rating: 3/5

Disclosure: I received an eARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes

Wow! What a cute and educational book! I've been studying Japanese for a little while so I was extremely excited to dive into this book. I learned a lot of new thinds and really recommend this to someone thinking about visiting Japan.

The blurb of this book says that it is aimed at people who understand a little bit of Japanese and have stopped because they are finding it difficult. I am firmly in this camp. I have been attempting to learn Japanese for longer than I would like to admit, I have multiple books with numerous attempts at learning this language. I am able to recollect some words and a few basic sentences but beyond that it is a mystery. I thought that this book would be a perfect tool for me to attempt to learn with a practical application of being able to communicate while travelling.

Well, this entire book is in Japanese!

I do not know how I am supposed to be learning how to speak Japanese is I do not even know what it is they are trying to get me to say. I feel like this book is not aimed at beginners and more intermediate Japanese language speakers who want to know what to say while travelling Japan. But honestly y that is just a guess as I cannot read it!

That being said the illustrations are cute.

We are likely going to purchase this title for the library collection.

However I can't give a review. When I downloaded the digital book to Adobe Digital Editions the pages were blank except for some manga pages in Japanese. I think is was an issue with formatting.

At first glance, this book appeared to be fun and interesting but boy, was I surprised at what little sense I could make of anything in this book. I thought that even if the book was written in Japanese that there would be explanations along side it In English but I was caught totally off-guard. This was an ebook that I downloaded to review. The illustrations may have been interesting but I could make neither hide nor hair of what was going on. Unless you can read Japanese, you're out of luck.

Let's Talk in Traveling Japanese gives us a illustration it gives a kind-of easy to read by looking at the picture. The topic is very thematic and fun to learn, you will never get bored by this.

But as for beginner I think it would be hard for them because there are less english word, if its for me I would try to translate it with translator tools.

Overall I would give 3.5/5

Thank you

Excellent book to continue learning Japanese. This book is for someone with intermediate level japanese proficiency. It’s colorful and fun and uses real life language instead of made up phrases you never will actually use in life! It would have been helpful if all the kanji had readings above.
As a person having a degree in Japanese this book is great. I love to learn language in the language I’m learning. It does make for a more challenging learning experience but it stretches your mind. This book is not for a beginner. But it is a great book to further your Japanese study. I would recommend it.

I'm very much a beginner in Japanese, and this book was too advanced for me. The illustrations and layout were great however, and if you're intermediate level I think this would be perfect for you,

This is not a book for beginner or even early intermediate. I really can't review on the content since I'm a beginner and the whole book is mostly in Japanese.

I think the layout of this book makes sense, and would be a good book for someone who has a rudimentary understanding of the Japanese language to begin with. I have friends who are living in Japan and thought this book would be a good way to familiarize myself some of the language and culture before we go to visit them. I was lost in trying to understand the book. I also had problems accessing it on my computer, which didn’t help my frustration level. I think this book would be a wonderful asset for someone, like my friends, who have traveled there to live and are immersed in the language and culture. #netgalley #Let’stalkintravelingJapanese #goodreads

I misunderstood this book, and from the cover I thought it would have both English and Japanese translations. It definitely does in some areas of the book, but generally just to explain unique expressions or grammar.

This is a very similar (but updated) version of the textbooks I used when I studied Japanese. With cute illustrations and places to write. This isn't a style I enjoy studying with, as the books always seem to lovely to write in.

I liked that along with language it discussed customs, food and specific locations to visit in areas of Japan.
Definitely a useful book if you have been studying Japanese for some time and are planning a trip. Too advanced for beginners, and not useful enough for anyone fluent. A great middle ground book though, with answers provided at the back.

I really really looking forward to this. One of my favorite subjects. Sadly my tablet wouldn't let it load.

I selected this for my daughter to check out, as she wants to LEARN Japanese, but unfortunately there is NO English direction, so there is literally NOWAY to use this workbook, even with the Youtube channels (which are also ALL IN JAPANESE). The synopsis on the book is VERY misleading. It should state in the FIRST sentence, ALL IN JAPANESE. From a workbook perspective, it looks like the graphics would appeal to older teens and kids, but hard to tell, as I cant READ Japanese.

Note: Because there is no way to review the book, as I cant READ Japanese, I did not share with my blog readers, with a blog post.