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Preface: Falling in Love with Kanji

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THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: Words Youve Heard 14 THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: Place Names of Note 15 SPECTACULAR SHAPES: Busy Bodies / Real Lookers 15 GAME: What Do You Get? 16 THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: Words of Import / Tongue Twister / Warning! Kanji Essential to Health! 17 # 6 THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: Whats in That Udon?! 18 # 7 THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: Bloopers 19 # 8 THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: Atari and Other Brand Names 20

Introduction: What Are All Those Squiggles?

#9 # 10 # 11 # 12 # 13 # 14 # 15 # 16 # 17 JUST THE FACTS: Drawing 101 24 JUST THE FACTS: Stroke Order 25 JUST THE FACTS: Kanji As One of Several Scripts 26 JUST THE FACTS: What Else Kanji Can Be 27 JUST THE FACTS: How Many Kanji Does It Take? 28 JUST THE FACTS: Pictograms and Ideograms 29 JUST THE FACTS: One Kanji or Two? 30 JUST THE FACTS: The Japanese Syllables 31 JUST THE FACTS: How to Pronounce Japanese Words 34

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Chapter 1: Kanji in All Their Glorious Variability

# 18 JUST THE FACTS: Okurigana 39 # 19 GAME: Kun or On? 42 # 20 JUST THE FACTS: The Empty Sky and Other Variable Meanings / 43 GAME: One Kanji, So Many Yomi # 21 JUST THE FACTS: Shape Shifters 46 # 22 JUST THE FACTS: Kana from Kanji 48

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Chapter 2: The Architecture of a Character
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THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: Kanji of a Feather Flock Together 53 JUST THE FACTS: A Radical Concept / GAME: Radicals 54 THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: The Hill and the Village 56 JUST THE FACTS: The On-Echo 57 JUST THE FACTS: Easily Confused Kanji 61 GAME: Which Is Which? 64 THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: Strategies for Conquering Look-Alikes 65 JUST THE FACTS: Classication of Characters 68 THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: Elegant Etymology 70 THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: Charmingly Illogical Characters 72 THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: Just Add Water 74 GAME: The Missing Link 75 GAME: Create a Kanji 76

Chapter 3: Compounding the Pleasure

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JUST THE FACTS: Doesnt Sound the Way Its Spelled 80 COMPOUND INTEREST: Cool Compounds 84 COMPOUND INTEREST: Crazy Compounds 85 JUST THE FACTS: Combinational Exceptions 86 JUST THE FACTS: Wago, Kango, and Kokugo 88 JUST THE FACTS: Multiple Readings of Certain Compounds 90 JUST THE FACTS: Helping Hands 92 JUST THE FACTS: How Kanji Modify Each Other in Compounds 96 GAME: Will the Real Compound Please Stand Up? 98 THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: Homonyms and Near Homonyms / GAME: Homonym Match-Up 100 # 46 THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: Syllabic Similarity 103 # 47 THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: Look-Alikes in Compounds 106 # 48 COMPOUND INTEREST: Wonderful Words 107

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Chapter 4: What Kanji Say About Japan
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SPECTACULAR SHAPES: Gates, Birds, and Thread 111 THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: Metals 114 GAME: Whats the Meaning of This?! 116 JUST THE FACTS: Country Kanji / GAME: International Intrigue 117 THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: You Can Say That Again! 120 THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: Double Meanings 122 THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: Hyperbolic Humility 127 THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: Shades of Meaning 130

Chapter 5: Japanese Feelings About Kanji

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JUST THE FACTS: Typefaces 138 JUST THE FACTS: Kanji Ablaze 140 GAME: Weekday Sdoku 141 JUST THE FACTS: Kanji Meditation 142 THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: Calligraphy and Clarity of Mind 143 THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: The Way of Culture and the Arts 144 JUST THE FACTS: Kanji Sound Effects in Manga 147 SPECTACULAR SHAPES: Kanji Sandwiches 148 GAME: Kanji Word Find 149 JUST THE FACTS: Genkyshi 150 JUST THE FACTS: Dont Use These Kanji! 152 JUST THE FACTS: Typing Kanji 153

Chapter 6: Double Happiness

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JUST THE FACTS: Mind the Gap 161 JUST THE FACTS: A Crash Course in Chinese Terminology 162 THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: Chinese Words Youve Heard 164 JUST THE FACTS: The Tones of Hanzi 166 GAME: On-Yomi Tongue Twister 168 JUST THE FACTS: Phonetic Markers Used in Taiwan 169 JUST THE FACTS: Hanja in Korea 170

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# 76 # 77 # 78 # 79 # 80 JUST THE FACTS: Kanji Compounds That China Imported from Japan 173 JUST THE FACTS: Representing Grammar with Hanzi 174 THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: Animal Signs in the Zodiac 175 JUST THE FACTS: Signs for the Traveler 176 SPECTACULAR SHAPES: Double Happiness 178

Chapter 7: Ten Tips for Studying Kanji

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THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: Inadvertently Appropriate Kanji 185 JUST THE FACTS: Flash Card Layout 186 JUST THE FACTS: Sample Landmark Cards 188 JUST THE FACTS: Landmark Categories 190 THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: Parallel Features 193 SPECTACULAR SHAPES: Swooping and Cradling Characters 194 THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS: Take Care 195 JUST THE FACTS: Kanji Dictionaries 196 JUST THE FACTS: Kanji Wood 199 GAME: Kanji Crossword 200 Answer Key 203 Glossary 208 Works Cited 210