Remembering the Kanji 1: A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters

Heisig's Remembering the Kanji might just be the most controversial Japanese textbook. This textbook does not formally teach you Japanese - rather, it teaches you how to remember, distinguish, and write kanji by mapping each kanji to an English keyword.

Proponents claim this focused kanji study will allow learners to memorize kanji quickly (< 6 months) and erase any lingering kanji problems they normally encounter later on with vocabulary acquisition.

Critics say that this time would be better spent learning real Japanese and that the best way is learning relevant kanji in context, not the entire set of 2136 jōyō kanji needed for fluency.

Some learners have cut down Heisig's 2136 kanji to 1000 more common kanji (known as RRTK) in order to address the critics' concerns.

Regardless of where you fall on the spectrum, if you are struggling with recognizing, memorizing and writing kanji, Remembering the Kanji undoubtedly offers a solution, albeit one that does take some time.