When I moved to Japan I really struggled with learning the kana until someone recommended this book (and the companion hiragana one). Amazingly I really did learn both syllabaries in less than 3 hours each, and it stuck really well. That was all over 20 years ago. I've not studied Japanese for years, but had a sudden urge to give myself a refresher course. Its simple, split into 6 lessons which should each take less than 30 minutes to complete, and it really worked for me. This book also has an extra chapter about 'How to remember' which gives a couple of useful learning techniques. ( )