Some Japanese learners do not place a high importance on learning katakana characters. To be honest、even as a teacher of the language I didn’t fully appreciate their value at first. But when I began to observe my surroundings with a more critical eye、I noticed the incredible number of katakana terms in use. It is not an exaggeration to say that practically every word on many restaurant and caf? menus is written in katakana.　In this book、I have included many illustrations so that you can know the meanings of words at a glance and get a visual sense of how katakana is used in everyday Japanese life. You will also become familiar with a number of popular wasei-eigo terms、some of which seem like English words but won’t be recognized as such in English-speaking countries.　Mastering katakana will make reading Japanese more enjoyable!