Books for Learning Kanji

There are hundreds of books dedicated to help you learn kanji. In my experience, the most effective is the Kanji in Context series.

Kanji in Context

If you're at an intermediate level of Japanese or higher (about one year at the college level), I think there are no better books than the Kanji in Context series. Read my full review of Kanji in Context.

Remembering the Kanji

Considering using Heisig's Remembering the Kanji? Heisig attempts to teach the kanji in a wholly logical fashion by memorizing the kanji along with a single meaning (no readings). There is a second book for the readings.

This series of books is popular on the Internet, but I've never heard of a Japanese teacher recommending Heisig. Find out why by reading my review.

What about books for beginners?

You probably noticed that I love Kanji in Context but don't have a good book for beginners. That's because I think most beginning Japanese text books (Minna no Nihongo, etc.) do a perfectly decent job introducing the kanji.

You don't need to learn all the kanji when you're just starting out in Japanese. When you're ready, you can use a systematic book like Kanji in Context, but until then, just following your teacher and your textbook should be plenty of material.