Koryu.com Book Reviews

Tuttle Kanji Cards.
By Alexander D.C. Kask.
Rutland, VT & Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1995.
440 flashcards + 48 p. supplement.

Tuttle Kanji Cards II.
By Alexander D.C. Kask.
Rutland, VT & Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1998.
566 flashcards + 48 p. supplement.
Newer edition available from Amazon.

Alex Kask has done a remarkable job of organizing the first 440 kanji as approved by the Ministry of Education into a set of cards that is useful to the foreigner learning written Japanese. Unlike previous flashcard sets (such as Japan Publications Character Cards series) these cards include--in addition to the meaning in English, common compounds, stroke order, and dictionary reference numbers (both Nelson and Kanji & Kana)--a graphic depiction of the radicals, the component characters on which a given kanji is based. Anyone who has tried to use a kanji dictionary knows the importance of determining radicals, and the difficult task of learning how to "parse" each kanji is greatly simplified by the arrangement of these cards. Several useful indexes are also provided. In short, Tuttle Kanji Cards (both sets) will go far to meet the needs of both the casual learner and student of Japanese, and at a reasonable price.

Diane Skoss