Japanese is an intricate language and in many aspects it is the opposite of English. If you hope to go beyond the surface of polite greetings, hailing a taxi, renting a room, and ordering food, you need the foundation to be able to read and research. You need to be able to understand grammar that goes beyond the basics and into the slang of various regional dialects. In this book, we'll cover the Hiragana phonetic alphabet and over 60 Kanji, enough to pass the first grade. Along the way we'll introduce pronunciation, grammar, and even intonation, in a natural progression that will allow you to start your journey to being sentient in Japanese.