The books listed below can be purchased from Amazon, or you may buy them from Ingram Spark by using the links on our “How to Read Japanese” page. The books from Ingram Spark are generally somewhat lighter and thinner.

All of the books can also be purchased in PDF format. If you are reasonably comfortable dealing with the frustrations that are inherent in computers, we encourage you to use the first six books on a computer screen when you are ready for serious reading practice. Of course, this option requires the PDF files. See Efficient Japanese Reading Practice on a Computer to learn more about how to do this.

However, we recommend that you use the four most recent books, titled “Kanji Memorization Drills,” with a pen and an eraser tool, to make it possible to mark any incorrect answers with dots in the margins and later to erase those dots. You can download a file containing detailed instructions for using the Drills at this link: Memorization Drills Sample.

In other words, if you purchase the Drills in PDF format, you should print them, ideally on two-sided paper, and staple the sheets together in groups of about 24 pages (12 sheets). If this is not convenient, please consider buying the Drills in printed book format instead, either from Amazon or from Ingram Spark, using the links in the first paragraph above.

Books in the Learn to Read in Japanese series

1. Learn to Read in Japanese, Volume I. Published in 2016, it teaches 608 target kanji and includes a kanji catalogue, plus 4,200 reading practice sentences.
2. Learn to Read in Japanese, Volume II. Published in 2018, it teaches 600 additional target kanji, with an expanded kanji catalogue. It includes 2,900 vocabulary terms and 1,660 sentences for reading practice. It also suggests extensive supplemental reading material.
3. Learn to Read in Japanese, Volume III. Published in 2020, it teaches 320 more target kanji, with an expanded kanji catalogue. It includes 2,100 vocabulary terms and 912 sentences for reading practice. It also suggests extensive supplemental reading material.
4. Learn to Read in Japanese, Volume IV. Published in 2022, it teaches 560 more target kanji. Due to space limitations, it does not include a kanji catalogue, which is published separately (see Item # 5, below). It includes 3,800 vocabulary terms and 1,623 sentences for reading practice.
5. Core Kanji, a Catalogue of 2,088 Essential Kanji. Published in 2022 and expanded in 2024, it includes memorable kanji descriptions, retrieval cues for kanji readings and comparisons among similar characters, as well as an index to 4,300 kanji pronunciations. It also contains tools that can be used for identifying kanji, a technique known as Kanji ID.
6. Learn to Read in Japanese, a Glossary. Published in 2020 and expanded in 2022, it lists more than 9,700 Japanese vocabulary terms, with definitions, mnemonics and comparisons among terms.
7. Kanji Memorization Drills, Version One. Published in 2025, it contains drills for learning to recognize and pronounce 608 kanji. A supplement to Learn to Read in Japanese, Volume I.
8. Kanji Memorization Drills, Version Two. Published in 2025, it contains drills for learning to recognize and pronounce 1,208 kanji. A supplement to Learn to Read in Japanese, Volume II.
9. Kanji Memorization Drills, Version Three. Published in 2025, it contains drills for learning to recognize and pronounce 1,528 kanji. A supplement to Learn to Read in Japanese, Volume III.
10. Kanji Memorization Drills, Version Four. Published in 2025, it contains drills for learning to recognize and pronounce 2,088 kanji. A supplement to Learn to Read in Japanese, Volume IV.