Widely adopted due to its effectiveness, Adventures in Japanese is used in school systems across the nation including New York City, Sacramento, Cincinnati, Chicago, Boston, Anchorage, Seattle, San Francisco, Long Beach, Virginia Beach, Honolulu, Broward County, FL, Torrance, CA, and many others. In addition, Volumes 1 and 2 have been placed on the State of California's list of Japanese language programs approved for legal compliance.
Speaking, listening, reading, and writing are equally stressed, and the series is designed to stimulate an interest in Japanese culture as well as in the language. Culturally related activities and topics, from making onigiri (riceballs) to learning Japanese songs to understanding the educational system in Japan, enrich students' learning.
Activities and projects that can be built around the series' units are limitless, and allow teachers to integrate National Foreign Language standards in communication, cultures, connections, comparisons and communities with ease.
In Volume 4, the focus is on "the Japanese soul": the social and cultural forces that influence the ways of the Japanese. Students examine such wide-ranging topics as keigo (honorifics), the World War II Japanese experience, and the cultural art of the tea ceremony. By the end of Volume 4, students will have learned 340 kanji.
