I like using Genki, but then again, that's the only Japanese textbook I've used since it's what we use in my Japanese classes. I haven't tried out Nakama, Yookooso, or any of the other Japanese textbooks yet, but I've heard that Yookooso isn't the greatest.
I started out with 'Japanese for Busy People' in high school, and I hated it (I posted a review about it on here). In college we used Nakama (I think?), and I thought it was pretty good - I never learned from the first one, only the second, but I did teach from the first and thought it laid things out pretty well. After that we used 'An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese,' which besides the texts I used studying abroad (which are only available through the university I studied at), was my favorite. Things really made sense in that for me.
I started with Genki but when I studied abroad we used Total Japanese which had a much more no-frills approach. I thought it was really good but I've never heard anyone else mention using it.
My teacher taught the first two years of Japanese with the Yookoso books and I personally thought they were quite good. I'm even going back over them now as a means to just review old grammar. I think they are great books for building a strong foundation in Japanese.
Third year Japanese was the Integrated Approach textbook which was used both at my university in Texas and at my study abroad university in Tokyo. It's also a good book.
For fourth year Japanese we used a textbook that focused on just newspaper articles. It came as a pair with one book having the articles and the other which explained the grammar and whatnot. Definitely an advanced book. I'll have to come back with the title.
I also took a business Japanese class where we used the textbook ビジネスのための日本語. That was fine. Boring but fine. Definitely works though.
In high school we studied with a Manga Style book (not a great textbook) and Adventures in Japanese - which was fine.
I've been studying with Genki since coming to Japan. I really like it and I'm going to be sad when it's over because it's a good textbook (I'm about to start chapter 20 though).
Genki I and II, and then the Integrative Approach to Japanese (IJ) books for me. After that, it was a free for all with whatever our teachers wanted to throw at us (newspapers, novellas, dramas, etc.). I enjoyed Genki, especially the ridiculous Mary & Takeshi storyline, but without a teacher, there were some grammar points I just would not have understood. IJ is certainly more to the point and austere than Genki, but in the end, I think it got the job done. If I remember correctly though, you needed to do your kanji practice outside of the book, unlike Genki.
These probably aren't quite textbooks, but does anyone know if [url=http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Reading-Writing-Japanese-Third/dp/0804833656/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_3]this Kanji book[/url] is the newer edition of [url=http://www.amazon.com/Remembering-Japanese-Characters-language-library/dp/0804820384/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_2]this one[/url] by Kenneth Henshall? I'm looking for a good one. Are they about the same?
Genki I, Genki II and now IJ. I've felt rather critical of them all, especially since coming to Japan. I think Japanese could be taught more thoroughly and intensely now, looking at how English is taught here. That said, I don't know how many college (non-major) students would be interested to study so intensively. Study abroad classmates of mine went through Genki I and Genki II in one year (Harvard and Yale students). I attended a SUNY where Genki I was year 1, and Genki 2 was year 2. I still have yet to find a textbook which feels right for me, though IJ is still in my range.
Genki...could be much better. I went through Genki I, and am finishing up Genki II over summer.
It's [i]okay[/i] since it teaches sentence structures that are definitely common (and it kind of/sort of attempts to build upon old lessons), but some of the vocab and kanji they teach you leaves you wondering how often you'll actually come across it :/
I feel like some of the nuances could be explained more as well. For instance, sometimes the book will say "[b]NEVER use this sentence structure in this way[/b]" (implying it wont make sense) but if you ask a native speaker, they'll say "actually you can, it just isn't super common". (泣)
The workbook that goes along with it is alright though. It mainly has you make sentences with grammar and vocab from the chapter. (plus there is a listening comprehension segment for each chapter, of which the audio can be found free online)
