A Guide to Reading and Writing Japanese gives you the tools you need to read and write everyday Japanese. It covers all of the 1,945 characters in the General Use set of Japanese characters, with particularly detailed coverage of the 1,009 essential characters that Japanese children must learn in the first six years of grade school. Within the essential set, the characters are presented according to the latest arrangement by grade, which is now based more on their frequency in everyday language than the complexity of their composition. Since Japanese publications must, by law, provide supplementary phonetic readings for any character not included in the General Use set, this invaluable reference contains everything you need to know to start reading Japanese. This thoroughly revised edition of a best-selling learning and reference work incorporates the changes made in 1981 to the set of General Use characters prescribed by the Japanese Ministry of Education, and discusses possible future changes. Entries are arranged by grade and stroke order for easy access. The book includes both the katakana and hiragana syllabaries, and an index of readings.