THIS TWO-VOLUME TEXTBOOK WAS WRITTEN TO OFFER A RAPID BUT THOROUGH INTRODUCTION TO WRITTEN JAPANESE. STUDENTS WHO HAVE ALREADY COMPLETED A BASIC COURSE IN SPOKEN JAPANESE WILL, UPON COMPLETION OF THIS READER, BE ABLE TO READ ORIGINAL JAPANESE BOOKS, MAGAZINES, AND NEWSPAPERS. VOLUME I INCLUDES AN INTRODUCTION OUTLINING THE ORGANIZATION OF THE READER AND THE JAPANESE WRITING SYSTEM ITSELF. THE REST OF THIS VOLUME CONSISTS OF VOCABULARY LISTS AND BRIEF GRAMMAR AND STYLE NOTES FOR THE SIXTY JAPANESE LESSONS APPEARING IN VOLUME II. ALL OF THE JAPANESE LESSONS WERE WRITTEN BY HAND IN A MODEL SCRIPT WHICH THE STUDENT IS URGED TO COPY. THE HEPBURN ROMANIZATION SYSTEM IS USED WITH THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION IN THE VOCABULARY LISTS. BOTH VOLUMES OF THIS TEXTBOOK WERE PUBLISHED FOR THE HARVARD-YENCHING INSTITUTE BY THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 79 GARDEN STREET, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS 02138. (JD)