Long awaited, this dictionary is the most comprehensive and practical English-Japanese dictionary (for native-English-speaking learners of Japanese) in existence. With 22,000 entries and 19,000 sample sentences and phrases, given in both English and Japanese, this dictionary does what none before it has: it shows precisely how Japanese is actually used in everyday, real-life conversation, while providing an unprecedented number of English entry words and Japanese equivalents. Suitable for learners at all levels, from beginning to highly advanced, this dictionary emphasizes the spoken Japanese language, as opposed to the written one. Thus, it contains a relatively large number of idioms, phrasal verbs (e.g., "put on," "pass up") and interjections ("ouch"), in addition to the most frequently used English words. It also contains buzz words, scientific/technical terms, and numerous words related to Japanese language and culture. Each entry, moreover, gives a number of natural Japanese equivalents with definitions delineating their usages. Students can use this book for both conversation practice and composition. But that''s not all. Every kanji character appearing in this book is accompanied by furigana superscript-a feature that will be applauded by students and teachers alike. Furigana refers to the small pronunciation guides given in light lettering above the kanji characters, to help the reader pronounce unfamiliar characters. Furigana is made up of hiragana, the basic Japanese "alphabet," which is learned in the first two weeks of any given Japanese language course. Thus, anyone who can read hiragana can use this book, even if they do not know a single kanji character. In addition, this book includes 27 black-and-white illustrations of things with parts labeled; dozens of "kanji bridges" to help learners expand their Japanese vocabularies; and numerous notes and special entries about Japanese language and culture.