Sachiko's Japanese Cooking Lessons in English by Murakami Sachiko is amazing! She has recipes covering all the traditional japanese food basics and her step by step instruction is very easy to follow.

I've had good success with both of Harumi Kurihara's books. I may be Japanese, but I certainly no expert, unfortunately...

I love Izakaya: The Japanese Pub Cookbook by Mark Robinson. You should definitely pick it up.

Most Japanese cookbooks I've found seem to focus on sushi or fancy restaurant/feast food. I was very pleased to run across Washoku by Elizabeth Andoh, which is all about Japanese home-cooking.

All of Andoh's books are great. She real focus on authenticity, but she also writes from the perspective of an American, so it is quite accessible.

I'll echo support for Washoku by Elizabeth Andoh and will add The Japanese Kitchen by Hiroko Shimbo. After many books on the topic those are the two I opted to keep in my own kitchen.

I'll join the chorus for Washoku - a really great book that I've used a lot. The pickle recipes are really good.

Here's a great website, in English, by an expatriate Japanese woman living in Europe (so she's dealing with not always being able to get her hands on Japanese ingredients):

http://www.justhungry.com/

Very useful recipes.

If you are looking for the real Japanese home cooking cookbooks, I suggest to get one of Harumi Kurihara's book. I don't have English versions but I do have all of her Japanese ones. She has 3 or 4 books in English now.

Harumi's Japanese Cooking (you can find at Amazon)

I like Harumi Kuihara also. I have both her Japanese and English versions of her books — in her English book, she presents contemporary recipes that really make Japanese cooking a breeze.

I was just coming in to recommend Harumi Kuihara as well.

Definitely check out Just Hungry, and it's sister site Just Bento. That Morimoto book is amazing as well, though not really beginner friendly.

I've had this book, A First Book of Japanese Cooking by Masako Yamaoka for many years, and I'd definitely recommend it as a good source of basics. It doesn't have a lot of pretty pictures, but rather a lot of good, simple recipes with ingredients that are fairly easy to find in a smaller area of the US.
http://www.amazon.com/First-Book-Japanese-Cooking/dp/477002083X

Man, you guys are awesome! The public library has both the Kuihara and Andoh books, so I'll check them out before I make an Amazon order! And I've added Just Hungry to my blog roll. Thanks so much!

My personal favorite is a vegetarian cookbook, Good Food from a Japanese Temple by Soei Yoneda, later published as The Heart of Zen Cuisine. The food is all incredibly simple, but with elegant presentation and a sort of thoughtfulness that makes it seem fancy.

Both editions are surely out of print, but are available in many public libraries (follow my links to see if they're at yours!).

This is a very timely topic, as I just returned from a 2-week vacation in Japan and want to know how to recreate all those tasty dishes. :)

Any thoughts on Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art?

Kurihara Harumi has a cooking TV show on NHK World, btw. The website has recipes too. I recently moved to Tokyo and was delighted to find her TV show and recipes.

http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/tv/kitchen/index.html

I use a bento cookbook called Bento Boxes by Naomi Kijima. It is very basic, but the recipes are super easy to follow and ideal portion sizes for my family. Very easy to follow :)

Sushi, Tempura and Sasimi are speshal food in Japan. We don't eat these food every day! Naomi Takayama introduce normal japanese cooking.

I would recommend

Washoku: Recipes from the Japanese Home Kitchen