If you're a beginner who wants a nice hardcover dictionary by your side in real life, this is a solid pick.
This little brick is a great starter dictionary for any beginner and it's actually the first dictionary Kristen ever bought when she started taking Japanese classes. While it doesn't contain every word in the Japanese language (but what dictionary does?), it has most of the words a beginner will need to look up.
It's organized in the common Japanese あいうえお order (also known as gojūon 五十音) and entries are written in kana with the kanji presented after. Each word has an English definition and some have additional explanations, collocations, or sentences when necessary.
Another feature: every single kanji character has furigana. While we don't usually support furigana, when you're trying to look something up, the last thing you need is another thing to look up. This dictionary makes it easy to get the information you need without too much extra thrown in your face.
Because it's organized by kana and has furigana throughout, this dictionary can be used by anyone trying to look up a Japanese word, as long as they know hiragana and katakana. If you're a beginner who wants a nice hardcover dictionary by your side in real life, this is a solid pick.