Minna no Nihongo: Bk. 1

This is a great book, but I don't think it is suited for individual, self-taught study. You have to be pretty fluent with reading hiragana and katakana. This is a good guide though if you are using it as a main textbook in a lesson or as an accompaniment. The only downside is that it doesn't come with the listening CD.

Rather complicated structure. Only useful if following one on one instruction from Japanese native speaker. Not as good as Japanese for Busy People, IMHO.

This was compulsory for my Japanese course. It is a well laid out text book and easy to follow. Some parts are a little boring though as it is aimed towards business people and the plays are hilarious.

The book is great for learning Japanese if you already read Hiragana and Katakana. If you're using it on your own definitely get the English companion as there's no English explanations

Well, this is also my first time done the online shopping, and this book is awesome, really like this xD