Even though there are many fine electronic and online options, I still prefer bound dictionaries (it's true for English too, BTW). Case in point, I really enjoy using my Kanji Learner's Dictionary (Kodansha), and I recommend it highly. The quality of its printing, design, typography, etc. is amazing. (BTW, is it just my imagination, or are book production standards in Japan really higher than in the US, at least for reference books?)

Anyway, I'm hoping to find something as nice as the KLD in a romaji-based Japanese/English dictionary. My main requirement is that all the Japanese in it (both in the E2J and the J2E parts) be given both in romaji and in standard written Japanese (kana/kanji). (Of course, in the J2E side, the entries should be ordered alphabetically by the romaji, but I'd like them to also include the corresponding Japanese writing for each headword). I'd prefer Jorden's JSL for romanization system, but I expect that most options will use some variant of Hepburn's, and that's fine.

For this dictionary, I'd value clarity and ease of use over comprehensiveness, since I won't use it to look up very obscure stuff, and I hope to outgrow the dictionary soon enough. In fact, something about the size of the KLD, or maybe a little bigger, would be perfect.

I would greatly appreciate your recommendations.

Well personally I don't know of any E2J dictionaries. There are very good J2E dictionaries, but those are in Japanese and there's definitely no romaji to be found, which is a good thing though since there's no reason to use romaji if you're good enough to use a Japanese dictionary.

No good dictionaries use romaji. Romaji is only used in beginner's/learner's dictionaries for obvious reasons. I also see no point in using an E2J dictionary though.

The best bilingual dictionary is the Kenkyuusha WAEI/EIWA Daijiten. There is also a chuujiten which is cheaper but less comprehensive. The E2J and J2E are different volumes sold separately. It does not use romaji. It's also not a children's dictionary so there are no bright colors or pictures. It's more important for a dictionary to be useful than a joy to look at.

And yeah, Japanese publishers are way higher quality than those in America/Canada. One of my private students showed me his English copy of Freakanomics he imported via the internet and I actually laughed at how poorly it was bound. In my experience almost all consumer goods are higher quality here, but Japan has the largest publishing industry in the world iirc.

[Katsuo]

The Pocket Kenkyusha Japanese Dictionary meets many of your requirements. It used to be available both all-in-one as here, and also split into two volumes (E-J and J-E), but I'm not sure if the latter's still the case.

Not only is the quality of book production really high in Japan but the books are also incredibly inexpensive. Usually half the price of what an equivalent would cost here.

Design and typography are important to me, too, and I recommend Merriam Webster's Japanese-English Learner's Dictionary. Although it's J2E only, it fulfills all your other requirements and also includes accent marks and good usage notes. It seems to be out of print, but it's available used at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Merriam-Websters-J...780&sr=1-1

Jarvik7 Wrote:No good dictionaries use romaji.

I think the only possible exception is the 4th edition Kenkyuusha ("green goddess"); the 5th edition is in kana, but the 4th edition will suffice for most purposes and it can probably be gotten much more cheaply than the 5th.

(There's no reason to use romaji, but there's no particular reason to avoid it either -- there are good resources like DBJG that use romaji.)

Thank you all for your suggestions!

Jarvik7 Wrote:And yeah, Japanese publishers are way higher quality than those in America/Canada. One of my private students showed me his English copy of Freakanomics he imported via the internet and I actually laughed at how poorly it was bound. In my experience almost all consumer goods are higher quality here, but Japan has the largest publishing industry in the world iirc.

Yeah I notice this too. All Japanese books LOOK sexy, feel sexy, paper smells sexy, paper colour is sexy wow man. I wont lie but it's a fetish I have. I love how they are all so compact and small in size, can easily fit in a back pocket or jacket pocket with no trouble.

Yeah I have a fetish.