This is the first volume of a two-volume series for beginning Japanese courses. Based on modern principles of second-language teaching and acquisition, Yookoso! was the first beginning Japanese text to integrate the teaching of all four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing) and to offer a full complement of ancillary materials. In this series, grammar is treated as a tool for developing the ability to communicate in Japanese, rather than as the focal point of the text, and the rich illustration program (including photographs, line drawings, and realia) provides an attractive context for language learning.