No Pianos, Pets Or Foreigners!

No Pianos, Pets Or Foreigners!
Author: Joe Palermo
Publisher:
Total Pages: 135
Release: 2020-03-17
Genre:
ISBN:

A young Japanese woman was running through Tokyo station screaming "Save me! Save me!" There was a Japanese man chasing her and closing in. He grabbed her wrist and caught her about 10 feet in front of me. The woman was still yelling "Save me! Save Me!" but the Japanese people in the crowded station ignored her, not wanting to get involved. This is the beginning of just one of the stories from my experience living in Japan in the 1980's, where I had moved right after graduating university. It was still rare to see an American who could speak Japanese fluently. This book guides the reader though my many adventures navigating through Japanese culture while living in the outskirts of Tokyo, as well as Tokyo proper.

Teen Killers Club

Teen Killers Club
Author: Lily Sparks
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2020-11-10
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1643852302

Framed for the murder of her best friend, a young girl joins a super-secret society of teenage assassins to avoid a lifetime behind bars--and discovers her own true self--in this mesmerizing debut novel. Seventeen-year-old Signal Deere has raised eyebrows for years as an unhappy Goth misfit from the trailer park. When she's convicted of her best friend Rose's brutal murder, she's designated a Class A--the most dangerous and manipulative criminal profile. To avoid prison, Signal signs on for a secret program for 18-and-under Class As and is whisked off to an abandoned sleep-away camp, where she and seven bunkmates will train as assassins. Yet even in the Teen Killers Club, Signal doesn't fit in. She's squeamish around blood. She's kind and empathetic. And her optimistic attitude is threatening to turn a group of ragtag maniacs into a team of close-knit friends. Maybe that's because Signal's not really a killer. She was framed for Rose's murder and only joined the program to escape, track down Rose's real killer, and clear her name. But Signal never planned on the sinister technologies that keep the campers confined. She never planned on the mysterious man in the woods determined to pick them off one by one. And she certainly never planned on falling in love. Signal's strategy is coming apart at the seams as the true killer prepares to strike again in Teen Killers Club.

Strange Nights, and Some Days Too

Strange Nights, and Some Days Too
Author: Ken Seeroi
Publisher:
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2020-07-04
Genre:
ISBN: 9781735174624

With wry humor, deep cultural insight, and an impressive capacity for malt liquor and black pepper potato chips, Ken Seeroi takes you through real-life tales of women in short skirts, men with no teeth, a friend's suicide, a fight with a yakuza, and a maze of smokey back-alley bars throughout Japan. This raucous, first-hand account is unvarnished Japan seen from the inside, detailed in fifty-eight astonishing stories. Inside: What to do after you get arrested; Dating versus having sex in Japan; How to get a job in Japan (and when to walk away); Renting an apartment as a "foreigner"; How to secure a visa, then not get deported; Why Japan's safe, but not that safe; How to survive a massive earthquake; When to use Japanese, and when not to; Why you want a very small Japanese motorcycle; and The one thing you must never do in Japan.

Istanbul

Istanbul
Author: Orhan Pamuk
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2006-12-05
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0307386481

From the Nobel Prize winner and acclaimed author of My Name is Red comes a portrait of Istanbul by its foremost writer, revealing the melancholy that comes of living amid the ruins of a lost empire. "Delightful, profound, marvelously origina.... Pamuk tells the story of the city through the eyes of memory." —The Washington Post Book World A shimmering evocation, by turns intimate and panoramic, of one of the world’s great cities, by its foremost writer. Orhan Pamuk was born in Istanbul and still lives in the family apartment building where his mother first held him in her arms. His portrait of his city is thus also a self-portrait, refracted by memory and the melancholy—or hüzün—that all Istanbullus share. With cinematic fluidity, Pamuk moves from his glamorous, unhappy parents to the gorgeous, decrepit mansions overlooking the Bosphorus; from the dawning of his self-consciousness to the writers and painters—both Turkish and foreign—who would shape his consciousness of his city. Like Joyce’s Dublin and Borges’ Buenos Aires, Pamuk’s Istanbul is a triumphant encounter of place and sensibility, beautifully written and immensely moving.

Chizawa Bay

Chizawa Bay
Author: Shawn Mahler
Publisher:
Total Pages: 214
Release: 2020-10-20
Genre:
ISBN:

"What's on the surface is not what's underneath." Honne Tatemae (本音建前) Japan presents its best face to the outside world at all times. And while the nation is full to the brim with honorable and lovely men and women, the soul of Japan, if it were ever truly laid bare, would make a lot of people blush.Chizawa Bay: As Ugly As I Am is a slice-of-life literary novel based on the lives of a rural fishing village in Central Japan. The story centers on Sensei, a Tokyo-educated scholar and pearl farm owner, and his friendship with Makoto, the de facto leader of a group of jobless and homeless ne'er-do-wells. Sensei is the town's most beloved citizen, a man for whom any one of Chizawa's fishermen and farmers would lay down their lives. His birthday is coming up and Makoto and friends fear for his safety. He'll be turning forty-two, a bad age to be in Japan for it is a designated age of yakudoshi ("a year of evil"). Makoto and company go to great lengths to help Sensei avoid the curses of yakudoshi and though they are well intentioned they do him far more harm than good.Chizawa Bay is a humorous, thought-provoking novel. It is a playful glimpse inside the minds and hearts of the Japanese, a story written to lift the veil on an often misunderstood and misinterpreted culture. It is a story that will expose readers to a different way of thinking about and appreciating beauty.

To Kill A Unicorn

To Kill A Unicorn
Author: DC Palter
Publisher: Pandamoon Publishing
Total Pages: 325
Release: 2023-12-16
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

At this Silicon Valley startup, murder is a feature, not a bug… SüprDüpr is the hottest startup in Silicon Valley until one of the company’s physicists disappears and hacker Ted Hara sets out to find his missing friend. Led by a glamorous young scientist and funded by billionaire crypto investors, SüprDüpr promises to revolutionize transportation. But as Ted investigates the secretive company, nothing is what it seems. Are the millions the company is spending building a homeless shelter truly corporate philanthropy? Or is the company a complex real estate scam? As the homeless residents of San Jose begin disappearing, too, it appears something far more sinister is happening downtown. But why was his friend searching for a pair of elephants before he disappeared? Days away from the technology unveiling that will confer unimaginable riches on the company’s investors, Ted becomes trapped in a web of corruption protecting its founder. While avoiding the police, he has to find out why people are disappearing before it’s too late. A crazy ride through the high-tech world of Silicon Valley, To Kill a Unicorn shows how far startup founders are willing to go to build their unicorns.

Blown to Bits

Blown to Bits
Author: Harold Abelson
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Total Pages: 389
Release: 2008
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 0137135599

'Blown to Bits' is about how the digital explosion is changing everything. The text explains the technology, why it creates so many surprises and why things often don't work the way we expect them to. It is also about things the information explosion is destroying: old assumptions about who is really in control of our lives.

Goodbye Butterflies

Goodbye Butterflies
Author: David Fish
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2017-12-08
Genre:
ISBN: 9781981587841

Don't Let Stage Fright Sabotage Your Next Big Performance, Presentation or Competition You'll never achieve your full potential as a performer, public speaker, or athlete until you find your way beyond stage fright. The stakes are that high. Goodbye Butterflies' breakthrough DIY stage fright solution offers genuine hope to musicians, actors, dancers, and other performers, as well as public speakers, athletes, and even casual sufferers who become anxious in front of others. Developed by veteran educator, professional musician, and noted stage fright authority Dr. David Lee Fish, Goodbye Butterflies leads you step by easy step towards freedom from your nervousness using the same exclusive READ method he developed for his popular online course (goodbyebutterflies.com). Let Dr. Fish show you how to: calm your nerves unleash your talent enjoy the spotlight While helping you find the way beyond your stage fright, Goodbye Butterflies reveals why it's almost impossible to tackle your anxiety head-on. You'll also learn why getting nervous isn't your fault and doesn't mean you're somehow broken. In addition, you'll uncover the deep danger lurking beneath your nervousness. As an important extra, the approach at the heart of Goodbye Butterflies will help you achieve a state of flow to achieve peak performance when you perform, speak, or compete. No other method offers that. A large bonus section includes instructions on how public speakers and athletes can also benefit from Goodbye Butterflies and profiles famous stage fright sufferers, including Alan Rickman, Helen Mirren, Adele, Katy Perry, and Lorde. Praise for Goodbye Butterflies Having spent the last 30+ years in the entertainment industry as a director, producer, writer, actor, sportscaster and voice-over artist, I'm all too familiar with the nemesis known as stage fright. Working through Dr. Fish's Goodbye Butterflies has helped me better understand this unwelcome guest, who often shows up unannounced. It can be managed and put in its place with the proper perspective, which helps release the artistic flow that is necessary to share the performance that rings true to the audience - be it one person or millions. Mel Fair (Halloween, Super 8, Scandal, Justified, Weeds) Goodbye Butterflies is an essential weapon in the arsenal of any serious performer and anyone else whose career depends on persuading, entertaining, or motivating others. And that's EVERYONE! Dr. Fish is revolutionizing entertainment & public speaking. What Dale Carnegie is to "winning friends & influencing people," he is to performance. DO THIS!!!" Pat O'Connor (artist manager & CEO - POC Media, Inc.)

For Fukui's Sake

For Fukui's Sake
Author: Sam Baldwin
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2012-11-19
Genre: Japan
ISBN: 9781467924146

'Witty and highly entertaining; a fascinating insight into the lives of ordinary Japanese people' - Helen Arnold, 1001 Escapes 'Jocular and candid; essential reading for backpackers and Japanophiles' - Ginny Light, former online editor, The Times 'Really evokes that excitement of 'discovering' Japan for the first time. I thoroughly enjoyed it'- Jan Dodd, Rough Guide To Japan 'A fascinating journey and call to action' - Mark Hodson, writer, Sunday Times Far from the high-tech, high-rise of the super-cities, there lies another Japan. A Japan where snakes slither down school corridors, where bears prowl dark forests and where Westerners are still regarded as curious creatures. Welcome to the world of the inaka - the Japanese countryside. Unhappily employed in the UK, Sam Baldwin decides to make a big change. Saying sayonara to laboratory life, he takes a job as an English teacher on the JET Programme in a small, rural Japanese town that no one - the Japanese included - has ever heard of. Arriving in Fukui, where there's 'little reason to linger' according to the guidebook, at first he wonders why he left England. But as he slowly settles in to his unfamiliar new home, Sam befriends a colourful cast of locals and begins to discover the secrets of this little known region. Helped by headmasters, housewives and Himalayan mountain climbers, he immerses himself in a Japan still clutching its pastoral past and uncovers a landscape of lonely lakes, rice fields and lush mountain forests. Joining a master drummer's taiko class, skiing over paddies and learning how to sharpen samurai swords, along the way Sam encounters farmers, fishermen and foreigners behaving badly. Exploring Japan's culture and cuisine, as well as its wild places and wildlife, For Fukui's Sake is an adventurous, humorous and sometimes poignant insight into the frustrations and fascinations that face an outsider living in small town, backcountry Japan. For more info see: ForFukuisSake.com