Reviews
(4.50/5)Learn kanji via vocabulary
Kanji in Context teaches kanji solely through vocabulary: it contains no mnemonics, no breakdown of component pieces, no charts of readings and meanings, no stroke order diagrams. All it does is show you a list of about 2-20 vocab words for each and every Jouyou kanji. The earlier lessons contain the most common and useful kanji, while the later lessons contain the rarer and less useful kanji.
The book is intended to be used alongside workbooks (sold separately) which use those vocabulary words in sentences so you can see how they're used in context and practice reading kanji without furigana. However, these workbooks do not contain any English translation, so they're completely unsuitable for beginners — they're intended for intermediate Japanese students who have already learned kana and a great deal of grammar. I don't think these workbooks are truly necessary, not if you're already immersing, so you can save your money unless you're a die-hard sentence miner.
The KIC approach, I think, is half-brilliant. Memorizing a kanji's meaning and readings in isolation is IMO a waste of time — by learning the vocabulary the kanji is used in, you are learning both the meaning and readings at the same time, along with the words you'll actually need to comprehend and speak Japanese.
That said, I think the system is only half-brilliant because kanji really just look like jumbled messes of squiggly lines until you learn to see them as combinations of components, which also have their own readings and meanings (usually, anyway). And this book does not teach that at all, period. For that, you have to turn to Remembering the Kanji, WaniKani, or The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Course to teach you how to see kanji that way. And WK and KKLC also teach you vocabulary, which renders KIC a bit redundant.
So, should you get it? If you tried RTK or WaniKani/KKLC and they just didn't work for you, and you're already at an intermediate level of Japanese (say N3), and you really like the idea of learning lots of vocabulary, KIC is a reasonable alternative to try.
Learning Kanji systematically through vocabulary
If you are already satisfied with RTK, WaniKani, KanjiDamage or KKLC, then you may not require this book. However, it can be beneficial as a reference once you have completed any of those as it contains unusual readings and tests of application. But if you are obligated or willing to study Kanji traditionally using a comprehensive text, then you definitely need this book.
The Japan Times has taken utmost care in selecting words that are more important to know. The workbooks consist of sentences for every keyword that show how the words are used, hence the name context.
Similar to A Dictionary of Basic/Intermediate/Advanced Japanese Grammar from the same publisher, this book is of exceptionally high quality. A lot of effort has been put into the presentation and organization of the material, and it pays off for the reader. I have come across many low-quality books that look similar but are not. This book and its companion workbooks are worth taking seriously, but keep in mind to look for the Revised Edition, not the original one.