Is there really a German version? I know that one of my teachers at university in Japan was French and he had to buy the English book and write his own French translations of all the words into it as he read it, but maybe he just had the same trouble you did getting hold of a translated copy in the country.

However, I don't know if you've read the book before already? But I own it and I don't find it's right for me at all. To learn kanji from it would require that I un-learn a lot of things I already understand about it, and it will only teach you to recognise and not to read (as in, it doesn't teach you the Japanese readings for any of the kanji-- only the meaning, so you would never be able to read it out loud). I know that when I learn to read Japanese I have to be able to read it in my head in Japanese, so I've found it quite useless as a method of learning.

I know you may already know this and think it's a good idea, and if so that's great!! Really great! But just in case you didn't know, I wanted to warn you before you spent a lot of money on a book you might not use. I know you already learn Japanese in a conventional manner, so maybe the method of learning will not work for you in the same way it doesn't work for me.