A must for the first-time learner of Japanese!

I found this book invaluable when I first began learning Japanese; I read it cover to cover. A book covering all of the necessary basic grammer you need for simple conversation, with lots of good usable examples. The examples are given in not only Japanese (using the hiragana katakana and begineer level Chinese kanji characters) but with the romanised alphabet readings too, making it easy for the beginner to practice their reading skills. The English translations are good and for a Japanese text surprisingly natural in style. The easy to follow explanations of each grammer point are fantastic and fully explain the nuances between grammer usage.