Japanese English

The Ephrussis were a grand banking family, as rich and respected as the Rothschilds, who “burned like a comet” in 19th-century Paris and Vienna society. Yet by the end of World War II, almost the only thing remaining of their vast empire was a collection of 264 wood and ivory carvings, none of them larger than a matchbox. The renowned ceramicist Edmund de Waal became the fifth generation to inherit this small and exquisite collection of netsuke. Entranced by their beauty and mystery, he determined to trace the story of his family through the story of the collection.

made me free A long time ago, when Japan had the feudal system, my family was a landlord of the area. It has come to a complete downfall over the years, but my family still clings to its past glory. For them, to succeed the family is critical. I’m firstborn and have no brother which meant that I was a successor and destined to spend the whole life in my hometown. But music changed everything. To pursue a career in music, my hometown was too rural and I had to move out. Back then I was a college student and moving to a city meant dropping out of school. My parents fiercely opposed but as ...

In the months after Pearl Harbor, the California coast was wide open to invasion by Japanese forces. A woman-led German, Italian and Japanese spy ring went into action, sabotaging American military efforts and spying on the U.S. Naval maneuvers off the West Coast. An aging Nob Hill gossip columnist with a World War I espionage background was recruited to hunt the Axis Powers' spies. The ragtag band of American counter-intelligence agents develop and run an operation that stops a Japanese invasion.

Less than three months after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and inflamed the nation, President Roosevelt signed an executive order declaring parts of four western states to be a war zone operating under military rule. The US Army immediately began rounding up thousands of Japanese-Americans, sometimes giving them less than 24 hours to vacate their houses and farms. For the rest of the war, these victims of war hysteria were imprisoned in primitive camps.

The goals of the budo - the martial arts and ways of Japan - lie in refining the body and spirit. These goals are not always the obvious ones - and are learned only through the guidance and direction of great teachers. The techniques, methods, and rituals of the sensei can serve as guides to a well-lived life - and provide invaluable lessons for today's martial artists.

Lonely thirty-seven-year-old Satoru Mikami is stuck in a dead-end job, unhappy with his mundane life, but after dying at the hands of a robber, he awakens to a fresh start in a fantasy realm...as a slime monster! As he acclimates to his goopy new existence, his exploits with the other monsters set off a chain of events that will change his new world forever!

Kafka Tamura runs away from home at 15, under the shadow of his father's dark prophesy. The ageing Nakata, tracker of lost cats, who never recovered from a bizarre childhood affliction, finds his pleasantly simplified life suddenly turned upside down. As their parallel odysseys unravel, cats converse with people, fish tumble from the sky, a ghost-like pimp deploys a Hegel-spouting girl of the night, a forest harbours soldiers apparently un-aged since World War II.

Experience the fantastic world of the highly-skilled Japanese samurai, and learn the code, or Bushido, that these men followed to live up to honor and loyalty, and discover how you can apply the eight virtues to improve your life in the modern world.

Phantoms is a fierce saga of American culpability. A Vietnam vet still reeling from war, John Frazier finds himself an unwitting witness to a confrontation, decades in the making, between two steely matriarchs: his aunt, Evelyn Wilson, and her former neighbor, Kimiko Takahashi. John comes to learn that in the onslaught of World War II, the Takahashis had been displaced as once-beloved tenants of the Wilson orchard and sent to an internment camp. What happened to the Takahashi son, Ray, when he returned from service and found that that nowhere was home for a Japanese American?

Nothing wrecks an already bad day faster than almost getting hit by a car. But then he rescued me. My mysterious, sexy savior wore danger as easily as he wore his black-on-black clothes. And still, I wasn't afraid of him. I should've been. Because after one misunderstanding, the man I thought would love me forever showed me just how ruthless and cold he really is. I trusted him with my heart once and it broke me. I can't afford to make that mistake again.

Giant monsters. Tales of eternal love. The beginning of creation. Pint-sized warriors. Long voyages and insurmountable heroics are only a small piece of the classic myths that have helped shape Japan’s unique and immaculate history. Each story in this audiobook is filled with excitement and adventure that is just waiting to be discovered and enjoyed.

Brett L. Walker tackles key themes regarding Japan's relationships with its minorities, state and economic development, and the uses of science and medicine. The book begins by tracing the country's early history through archaeological remains, before proceeding to explore life in the imperial court, the rise of the samurai, civil conflict, encounters with Europe, and the advent of modernity and empire. Walker's vibrant and accessible new narrative then follows Japan's ascension from the ashes of World War II into the thriving nation of today.

More than 100 US Army and Navy nurses were stationed in Guam and the Philippines at the beginning of World War II. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, five navy nurses on Guam became the first American military women of World War II to be taken prisoner by the Japanese. More than 70 army nurses survived five months of combat conditions in the jungles of Bataan and Corregidor before being captured, only to endure more than three years in prison camps.

The magus Agrippina saves the munchkin hero Erich by the skin of his teeth. This favor does not come without a cost—she brings news that little Elisa is actually a changeling! To protect his sister's future, Erich's only choice is to accompany the magus to the imperial capital as a servant, leaving his hometown behind... but not before making an oath to his childhood friend. When fairies suddenly appear on his path to the capital, will he be able to avoid a critical failure?!

K is madly in love with his best friend, Sumire, but her devotion to a writerly life precludes her from any personal commitments. At least, that is, until she meets an older woman to whom she finds herself irresistibly drawn. When Sumire disappears from an island off the coast of Greece, K is solicited to join the search party—and finds himself drawn back into her world and beset by ominous visions. Subtle and haunting, Sputnik Sweetheart is a profound meditation on human longing.

In ancient Japan, a peasant couple discovers a little boy inside a giant peach. Momotaro, the Peachboy, grows up to become a courageous hero who vanquishes forever the evil band of ogres who have been tormenting his people. In this wonderful tale, narrated by actress Sigourney Weaver, good triumphs over evil, life overcomes death, and nature flourishes in the face of destruction.

On a rain-lashed night Matajuro Yagyu loses the duel that should have proved his worth and is banished from his father’s estate. Desperate to reclaim his honor, he sets off to find Banzo, the reclusive sword saint rumored to cut steel with silence itself. What Matajuro discovers is not the clash of blades but years of hauling water, splitting logs, and fending off his master’s sudden wooden-sword ambushes. Each bruise strips away pride, each chore hones awareness, until the young samurai’s spirit becomes keener than any forged edge. When Matajuro finally draws his katana he learns the...

"Mr. Van Dorn, I'm sorry. . . but I must inform you that your brother is . . ." Yokohama, Japan, 1873. Japan has opened up to the world after almost three hundred years of self-imposed isolation and is rapidly developing. Nelson Van Dorn, a former New York City police detective, has sailed for Yokohama, expecting to start a new life by going into the silk exporting business with his younger brother, Warren, whom he plans to meet there, only to learn that his brother has died in a mysterious fire, that he was an opium addict, and that he has left Nelson in debt. To pay off this debt, Nelson ...

An end to the endless war—the possibility of stopping the Legion once and for all. Such is humanity’s most fervent desire. But in the war-free world of tomorrow, what will become of the Eighty-Six? Many have gained renewed faith in the future. Some have found love; others, new aspirations. But what of those who have yet to dream? The warm rays of hope have bent their iron wills and distorted their realities. For those tragic few, the worst is yet to come…

“Silenced No More: Voices of Comfort Women” weaves the unforgettable stories of the suffering voiceless with themes of forgiveness, conciliation, and unflagging hope, together with the author’s own investigative journey into a tapestry that will open your eyes to one of the largest human rights tragedies in the 20th century: hundreds of thousands of girls and women were trafficked into Imperial Japanese military sex slavery before and during World War II. History infects the present and determines our future. It is this untold history that the author explores. The author, S.J. (Sylvia...