Japanese English

On a clear spring day in 1995, five members of a religious cult unleashed poison gas on the Tokyo subway system. In attempt to discover why, Haruki Murakmi talks to the people who lived through the catastrophe, and in so doing lays bare the Japanese psyche. As he discerns the fundamental issues that led to the attack, Murakami paints a clear vision of an event that could occur anytime, anywhere.

Some of the cruelest deeds of Japan's war in Asia did not occur on the battlefield, but in quiet, antiseptic medical wards in obscure parts of China. Far from front lines and prying eyes, Japanese doctors and their assistants subjected human guinea pigs to gruesome medical experiments in the name of science and Japan's wartime chemical and biological warfare research. Author Hal Gold draws upon a wealth of sources to construct a portrait of the Imperial Japanese Army's most notorious medical unit, giving an overview of its history and detailing its most shocking activities.

The daughter of a Buddhist priest, Tsuneno was born in a rural Japanese village and was expected to live a traditional life much like her mother’s. But after three divorces - and a temperament much too strong-willed for her family’s approval - she ran away to make a life for herself in one of the largest cities in the world: Edo, a bustling metropolis at its peak. With Tsuneno as our guide, we experience the drama and excitement of Edo just prior to the arrival of American Commodore Perry’s fleet, which transformed Japan.

Having trouble following dialogues on your favorite Japanese anime, series, and movies? Do you want to have conversations with Japanese speakers like a native? One of the most crucial skills you will gain as a language learner is the ability to speak like a native. Using the right words, tone, and formality is key to mastering the language, and Japanese is no different! Because of this, we have compiled over 100 conversational Japanese stories for beginners along with their translations.

In the days and months after Pearl Harbor, the lives of Japanese Americans across the continent and Hawaii were changed forever. In this unforgettable chronicle of war-time America and the battlefields of Europe, Daniel James Brown portrays the journey of Rudy Tokiwa, Fred Shiosaki, and Kats Miho, who volunteered for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and were deployed to France, Germany, and Italy, where they were asked to do the near impossible. Brown also tells the story of these soldiers' parents, immigrants who were forced to submit to life in concentration camps on U.S. soil.

Listeners of this book will gain a clear understanding of what makes the Japanese, and their society, tick.

Award-winning author of A Room of My Own and A Place Called Morning, Ann Tatlock delivers a soul-searching inspirational story of faith and friendship.

A certain college girl who's loved books ever since she was a little girl dies in an accident and is reborn in another world she knows nothing about. She is now Myne, the sickly five-year-old daughter of a poor soldier. To make things worse, the world she's been reborn in has a very low literacy rate and books mostly don't exist. She'd have to pay an enormous amount of money to buy one.

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.

Bold Venture tells the nearly forgotten story of the American airmen who flew perilous combat missions over Hong Kong during the Second World War.

Written over three centuries ago by a Samurai warrior, A Book of Five Rings has been hailed as a limitless source of psychological insight for businessmen or anyone who relies on strategy and tactics to outwit the competition.

After a bloody turn of events, Ainz has established the Nation of Darkness, aiming to create a utopia where people of all races can enjoy everlasting prosperity—as long they kneel before him. His first goal is to expand the Adventurers Guild to nurture new talent, a task that requires him to vacate his throne for a journey to the empire. At the same time, all of the neighboring rulers have started nervously discussing plans for resistance while watching everything unfold, because when the undying king of an immortal nation makes his first move, the whole world trembles!

What would you do if you could travel back in time? Discover the internationally bestselling novels of Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s Before the Coffee Gets Cold series, now a worldwide phenomenon and BookTok sensation, in this special new book set. Step inside Tokyo’s whimsical Café Funiculi Funicula and travel back in time with a cast of unforgettable characters.

After a successful rescue mission in the empire, Eizo welcomes Helen to the family. Life at the forge is peaceful once more, though living in the Black Forest comes with its own set of dangers. The family encounters another aggressive bear, and once they dispatch it, they find and adopt an orphaned wolf pup. With yet another mouth to feed, Eizo knows he must continue to test the limits of his cheats. His next challenge? Working with a rare, stubborn metal called appoitakara. Using this metal, Eizo forges Helen a new pair of swords and then decides to design a katana for himself!

What makes a Reaper? What hardships must an innocent child endure to become the vaunted champion of the Eighty-Six? A peek into the past will shed light on his truth. The path he walks is paved with bonds forged in love and broken by tragedy—the shattered fragments of stories untold, committed to memory through the iron will of the one who would shoulder their legacy.

Kimi’s Obaachan, her grandmother, had always been a silent presence throughout her youth. Sipping tea by the fire, preparing sushi for the family, or indulgently listening to Ojichan’s (grandfather’s) stories for the thousandth time, Obaachan was a missing link to Kimi’s Japanese heritage, something she had had a mixed relationship with all her life. Growing up in rural Pennsylvania, all Kimi ever wanted to do was fit in, spurning traditional Japanese cuisine and her grandfather’s attempts to teach her the language.

On an unnamed island off an unnamed coast, objects are disappearing: first hats, then ribbons, birds, roses - until things become much more serious. Most of the island's inhabitants are oblivious to these changes, while those few imbued with the power to recall the lost objects live in fear of the draconian Memory Police, who are committed to ensuring that what has disappeared remains forgotten. When a young woman who is struggling to maintain her career as a novelist discovers that her editor is in danger from the Memory Police, she concocts a plan to hide him beneath her floorboards.

Tucked away in an old building at the end of a narrow alley in Kyoto, the Kokoro Clinic for the Soul can only be found by people who are struggling in their lives and genuinely need help. The mysterious clinic offers a unique treatment to those who find their way there: it prescribes cats as medication. Patients are often puzzled by this unconventional prescription, but when they “take” their cat for the recommended duration, they witness profound transformations in their lives, guided by the playful, empathetic, occasionally challenging yet endearing cats.

In search of lost rune technology, Ainz heads for the dwarf country with Aura and Shalltear in tow. On his arrival, instead of a welcoming party, he’s greeted by an army of creatures known as the kuagoa, poised to lay waste to a dwarven city. In his quest to obtain the secrets of the runes and even the rune crafters themselves, Ainz may find himself facing not only these strange subterranean creatures, but also the most powerful race that calls the Azerlisia Mountains home—frost dragons!

After having fulfilled the requirements for his promotion to Rank S, Kelvin, the eccentric Summoner who transmigrated from another world, finds that a series of festivities are being prepared in his honor. To his surprise and delight, he learns that part of it involves a one-on-one practice round with Silvia, a Rank S adventurer nicknamed "Ice Princess." Eagerly anticipating this match against a truly worthy opponent, he promptly dives into his training like never before.