(Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary (Fifth
edition)
http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASI ... 82-8004212
Yep, I just opened it and its exceeding my expectations already. You see, it has American curse words in it. First word I looked up was a random was one from shin chan which turned out to be "shimatta".
Now most dictionaries give the 1930s U.S. style definition of "oh dear" "oh no" and if you're lucky -- very lucky -- you'll get "oh sh**"
Now my green goddess, it's a completely uncensored goddess. It says "f***" when it means it. It's nice to know I'll be getting my Japanese definitions uncensored

Now this thing of mine is huge! Nearly 2800 pages of actual definitions with additional 200 or so of extras -- including the entire Japanese Constitution in both English and Japanese! I've never seen it before, so I think it'll make for some interesting reading

There are no furigana to any of the kanji, however, the font is very clear that is used for them. I think anyone with an NTC kanji dictionary should be just fine .
The word order is in standard Japanese dictionary format and there are no romanization's: excepting the chart on one of the beginning pages that is used as a pronunciation guide and the facing page which gives a list of words in Romanized Japanese side-by-side with their standard Japanese counterparts.
The book comes with a laminated dark green cardboard slipcase to protect the pages {which is probably very necessary considering the thinness of the paper compared to most English hardcover publications.
You know, I squealed like a little girl when I opened the shipping box initially, and I even hugged my new dictionary a few times. Never thought I'd feel this way about a book, but I've been waiting a long time for this one. I've been hearing about it like Legendary Holy Grail of Dictionaries since I first started thinking about studying Japanese -- and that was years ago. I've got other things to do today, but now all I want to do is sit down and play with my new green toy.
Anybody else ever been this excited about new Japanese learning materials?
Or, am I officially a freak
