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Book Reviews: Yubisashi Website Books - Nukemarine - 2010-06-22
Some sample point and speak phrasebooks
Point and Speak Phrasebook for Japan
暮らしの日本語
These are interesting books, which are just a couple of the many located on the http://www.yubisashi.com website. It's likely you'll find these in bookstores around Japan. It's divided by topics, with some commentary near the end in addition to a VERY small J-E/E-J "dictionary". Considering the main section is picture based (small picture for each word, English phrase, Japanese phrase (in kanji), and romaji), it's still fairly dense and covers a large number of topics. Still, the pictures make it obvious the subject so you can key in on the word to verify it's what you want.
Usually people post on here saying they're going to Japan in a short time and would like to know what to do to make the most out of it. Studying a book like these can be useful. Even in Japan, it's a small matter of pointing to what you're trying to say and the meaning is immediately apparent to both parties.
Looking at these books, I think throwing these into an SRS would be beneficial. No matter your level, I don't think it's counterproductive to look page by page for something you don't know and adding to your word bank.
For those looking to do language conversation these books are also useful. They're organized by topic so it's just a matter of picking a page and discussing each point. If the topic is more about your home country than Japan, the website likely has a book about your country in it's catalog. It's amazing how easy it is to talk about something when you don't have to try to think about what to talk about.
Personally, my daughter loved these books and wore them out. No, it didn't help her learn Japanese any better (she's only 11 and not studying the language), it did give her appreciation and a little confidence when she visited me here.