Japanese English

In Japan, cats are a symbol of good luck. As the myth goes, if you are kind to them, they'll one day return the favor. And if you are kind to the right cat, you might just find yourself invited to a mysterious coffee shop under a glittering Kyoto moon. This particular coffee shop is like no other. It has no fixed location, no fixed hours, and seemingly appears at random to adrift young people at crucial junctions in their lives. It's also run by talking cats.

Kitsune are fox spirits that take on human form and play tricks on people. One such man fell in love with a kitsune disguised as a beautiful woman.

In Japanese gardens, composition follows from placement of the first stone; all elements and plantings become interconnected. These eight essays on Kyoto gardens similarly begin with keen description and build into richly meditative excursions into art, Buddhism, nature, and science. Landscape architect Marc Keane shows how Japanese gardens are both a microcosm of the natural universe and a clear expression of our humanity, mirroring how we think, worship, and organize our lives and communities.

Marching Orders tells the story of how the American military's breaking of the Japanese diplomatic Purple codes during World War II led to the defeat of Nazi Germany and hastened the end of the devastating conflict. With unprecedented access to over one million pages of US Army documents and thousands of pages of top-secret messages dispatched to Tokyo from the Japanese embassy in Berlin, author Bruce Lee offers a series of fascinating revelations about pivotal moments in the war.

In the shadowed corridors of Himeji Castle, forbidden love blooms between the servant Okiku and a prisoner, the enigmatic ronin Shinji. Okiku’s duties and desires collide as she’s torn between loyalty and longing. Yet Aoyama Tessan, a samurai with dark obsessions, covets her fiercely. When a plate goes missing, betrayal, jealousy, and murder unravel Okiku’s life, thrusting her into a nightmare beyond death. Returning as an onryou, her vengeance is bound to her love—but will fury consume her soul?

Alisa Mikhailovna Kujou is Seiren Private Academy’s “solitary princess.” She’s a half-Russian beauty with silver hair, at the top of her class, student council accountant, and…completely unapproachable. For some reason, she’s also taken on the responsibility of reprimanding the slacker who sits next to her in class. Masachika Kuze is constantly frustrating her by falling asleep, forgetting his textbooks, and just being an overall unexemplary student. Or at least, that’s how it looks from the outside. She may put on a tough act, but she doesn’t mind Masachika as much as others would think.

Japanese baseball is one of the greatest spectator experiences in the world, a must-see for tourists and baseball fans alike. Leap over the language barrier and take advantage of JapanBall’s years of trip planning experience with our first ever travel guide!

The ancient ninjas in Japan have fueled stories, movies, books, and other media to go on and on about the sneaky assassins that terrorized their country. Today, you and I will go in-depth into this topic and find out more about the truth. Some of the stories sound accurate; others have more to it or are completely false. Educate yourself and figure out where the stories came from, and then connect the dots. This guide will help you along the way.

A 13th-century toxic jungle, a bathhouse for tired gods, a red haired fish girl, and a furry woodland spirit - what do these have in common? They all spring from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki, one of the greatest living animators, known worldwide for films such as My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, and The Wind Rises. Japanese culture and animation scholar Susan Napier explores the life and art of this extraordinary Japanese filmmaker to provide a definitive account of his oeuvre.

In a break from Lawrence and Holo's ongoing adventures, author Isuna Hasekura presents "Side Colors," a series of short vignettes focusing on the fans' favorite characters.

The book The Way of Zen Buddhism & Zen Mind for Beginners goes beyond teachings of spirituality. The main focus of the book is to empower you to reach your full potential as an individual. Here, you’ll be introduced to Zen minimalist aesthetics, which will help you go from zero to abundance in no time.

Since the first whiff of information came from Japan that there might still be traditional Japanese Reiki practitioners in Japan, we became intrigued with the system of Reiki's Japanese past. We travelled to Japan (with our two year old in tow) to see if we could find out anything else about it. In Japan we met with teachers who taught a mixture of both traditional styles of Reiki and its more modern versions.

Japanese-born Naomi Moriyama reveals the secret to her own high-energy, successful lifestyle–and the key to the enduring health and beauty of Japanese women–in this exciting new book. The Japanese have the pleasure of eating one of the most delicious, nutritious, and naturally satisfying cuisines in the world without denial, without guilt…and, yes, without getting fat or looking old.

「あなた」が、自分に与えられた一日を精一杯たいせつに過ごせば、世界は70億分の1だけよくなる。そうした人が2人、3人と増えていくにつれて、世界は少しずつよくなっていく、その鍵を握るのが、今日

An inspiring guide that teaches us how adversity can be an opportunity to make us into stronger, better people. Discover how to rebuild your life after it is broken, repair the cracks, heal emotional wounds, and embrace imperfection. Written by a psychologist, Tomas Navarro, this book explores the Japanese notion of Kintsugi, the ancient Japanese art of mending broken ceramics with gold, leaving visible the repair as a symbol of fragility, strength and beauty.

The newly crowned 16-year-old Grand Duke of Brunhild, Mochizuki Touya, is just starting to get the hang of managing a nation. What better way to christen his Duchy than to host a party with all the other royals in the region? Laughter! Fun! Pinball! But it's not all fun and games. Touya's search to uncover the truth behind the Phrase and Babylon brings him to the depths of the darkest forests and the caps of the snowiest mountains. Not only that, but new territory means new responsibilities, and soon enough, the eyes of the Vatican fall upon him.

Flo is sick of Tokyo. She is stuck in a rut, her translation work has dried up, and she's in a relationship that's run its course. That's until she stumbles upon a mysterious book left by a drunken passenger on the Tokyo Subway.

Are you a beginner-level learner looking to improve your Japanese? You may know the alphabet. You may know some phrases and some grammar. But if you still can't speak and understand basic Japanese conversations, then Learn Japanese Bundle - Japanese for Beginners (Level 2) is for you. You get to hear real native speakers and get accustomed to the flow of Japanese, which you won't get from Apps and textbooks. Just press play and listen. Lessons are just 5 minutes long and can be done anywhere, anytime—at home or on the go.

In this gloriously over-the-top tale, Aoyama, a widower who has lived alone with his son ever since his wife died seven years before, finally decides it is time to remarry. Since Aoyama is a bit rusty when it comes to dating, a filmmaker friend proposes that, in order to attract the perfect wife, they do a casting call for a movie they don't intend to produce. As the resumes pile up, only one of the applicants catches Aoyama's attention - Yamasaki Asami - a striking young former ballerina with a mysterious past. But she is a far cry from the innocent young woman he imagines her to be.

Before you take that trip to Japan, get a solid foundation of Japanese first! Start speaking Japanese in minutes and learn key vocabulary, phrases, and grammar in just minutes more with Absolute Beginner Japanese. Our native Japanese hosts break down all the sentences, grammar, and more in a simple, easily understandable way!