A step by step guide to researching the market, getting a job, moving to Japan and succeeding as an English teacher abroad. Includes the popular ODo You Have What It TakesO questionnaire.

Ganbatte (gan-ba-tay) is a Japanese philosophy focused on doing the best you can with what you have. Though there is no direct translation, "keep going," and "give it your all," embody the sentiments behind the word. Just as wabi sabi shows the beauty of imperfection in life, ganbatte teaches you how to get past obstacles and be motivated to keep moving forward. In Ganbatte! author Albert Liebermann provides an inspirational, yet practical guide to becoming more resilient the Japanese way. In 50 short chapters, some deeper and some more playful, Liebermann guides you through ways you can adopt the ganbatte approach to achieve a happier, more fulfilling life--and a happier, more fulfilled self. These include: Separating "difficult" from "impossible" Making use of failure Cultivating patience Working mindfully with a sense of awareness Continually improving Practicing meditation Pushing through a crisis Taking the slow route Sprinkled throughout the book are "Ganbatte Rules"--short, actionable steps you can take to move forward in a part of your life where you may be stuck (whether it's fitness, love or starting a business). A foreword by Hector Garcia, author of the bestselling Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life, introduces the concept of ganbatte and how he learned of its existence from one of Japan's centenarians. While many aspects of life are beyond our control, how we deal with setbacks and difficulties is as much of a choice as how we approach everyday tasks. This book helps you tap into your own ability to persevere and encourages you to stay motivated and hopeful in difficult times. If you apply the tenacity and resilience of the Japanese in your daily life, difficult becomes easy, and impossible becomes possible.

Fifty vignettes of everyday life in Japan, seen through the eyes of an American woman teaching English there. From the Art of Tea to Zen Buddhism, these short essays, illustrated by beautiful color photographs, take the armchair traveler on an exploration of this often mysterious culture.

From the author of the critically-acclaimed debut People Who Knew Me comes the story of one man’s determination to abandon his will to live. Jonathan Krause is a man with a plan. He is going to quit his advertising job and, when his money runs out, he is going to die. He just has one final mission: A trip to Japan. It’s a trip he was supposed to take with his girlfriend, Sara. It’s a trip inspired by his regrets. And it’s a trip to pay homage to the Japanese, the inventors of his chosen suicide technique. In preparation for his final voyage, Jonathan enrolls in a Japanese language class where he meets Riko, who has her own plans to visit her homeland, for very different reasons. Their unexpected and unusual friendship takes them to Japan together, where they each struggle to make peace with their past and accept that happiness, loneliness, and grief come and go—just like the cherry blossoms. Haunted by lost love, Jonathan must decide if he can embrace the transient nature of life, or if he must choose the certainty of death.

Explore the Far East from the comfort of home through the cuisines of ten Asian countries, paired with movies by some of Asia’s most visionary filmmakers. With Asian food and film blogger Celeste Heiter as your guide, and Chopstick Cinema as your culinary and cinematic passport, savor the delicacy of Vietnamese Crab-Filled Summer Rolls as you inhale the intoxicating Scent of Green Papaya; relive the bone-chilling saga of a haunted village over a steaming dish of Pad Thai; spend a contemplative evening on a serene lake in a floating Buddhist temple as you nibble on Korean Kim Bap and Mandu Dumplings; feast on Samosas and Chicken Vindaloo while cheering a rag-tag team of Indian locals in a cricket match against the British raj; or spend a summer in rural Cambodia to learn the true meaning of a simple bowl of rice. Based on her belief that anyone with basic cooking skills can prepare an authentic Asian meal using ingredients that are readily available at almost any well-stocked food market, Celeste has selected her favorite Asian dishes from among the hundreds of recipes featured on her Chopstick Cinema blog. The menu for each country is a collection of ten dishes: nibbles, cold and hot appetizers, soup, salad, noodles, main course, two side dishes, and dessert, along with a shopping guide and online sources for hard-to-find ingredients; followed by a review of Celeste’s favorite film from each country, and recommendations for several alternate films. With a pair of chopsticks in one hand, and your remote control in the other, satisfy your appetite for Asian food and adventure that’s sure to be as memorable as the real thing.

In this beautifully illustrated book, you will find everything you need to know about sushi, from how to choose and order it, to how to eat it. You will even learn how to make it at home. And if your efforts in the kitchen inspire you, how to become a sushi chef. Along with the history, evolution, and art of sushi, sections include nutritional value, health benefits, and safety concerns. The pronunciation guide, together with a thirty-nine-page sushi glossary and a reverse dictionary, are especially helpful in identifying and ordering sushi. Taken in leading sushi restaurants, full color photographs enhance your journey into the world of sushi. You will also discover the answer to such fascinating questions as whether or not sushi originated in Japan, the ideal temperature for serving sake, and how sushi knives are made. Whether you're a sushi virgin or a sushi veteran, by the time you finish reading The Sushi Book, you will be a sushi connoisseur!

"From crawling through Buddha's nose at Todai-ji Temple to finding peace in Hiroshima, discover the secrets of savvy expatriates, seasoned travelers, and inspired locals. With its unique stroytelling style, and insights into dining, shopping, sightseeing, and culture, To Japan With Love is a one-of-a-kind guide for the passionate traveler"--Cover [p.4]

Ganbatte is a Japanese word that means "do your best." In this vivid debut collection, Sarah Kortemeier wrestles with striving to meet this goal. Shifting between continents, languages, and remembered violences, she explores what it means to experience history as a tourist. She also asks how the grandchildren of those who fought in World War II move forward with the burdens of the past. Refusing to offer easy answers, Ganbatte reveals life overseas in flashes and jagged bursts of memory, minute collages observing moments of humor, loneliness, friendship, and grief from the mundane (how to distinguish parsley from cilantro in a Japanese grocery store) to the existentially overwhelming (how do we, as a species, cope with global trauma?). These formally diverse poems advocate for openness and curiosity as habits of mind when confronting personal and collective struggle.

The classically trained chef and wellness author shares favorite Japanese rituals & recipes in a common-sense guide to finding balance, joy & good health. Where we come from is who we are. And Candice Kumai’s Japanese heritage has informed her journey back to health at every turn. Now, in Kintsugi Wellness, Candice shares what she’s learned and guides us through her favorite Japanese traditions and practices for cultivating inner strength and living a gracious life. Interwoven with dozens of recipes for healthy, Japanese-inspired cuisine, Kintsugi Wellness provides the tools we all need to reclaim the art of living well. “Candice has created a guide to an ancient, common-sense and approachable way of living. In a crowded wellness space, Kintsugi Wellness truly stands out.” —Sophia Amoruso, Founder and CEO, Girlboss “All aspects of our well-being are connected. And with Kintsugi Wellness, Candice Kumai uses her own journey to show how Japanese traditions can enhance not just our bodies, but our minds, our hearts and our spirits. Candice Kumai is a true new role model, showing how ancient practices can help us thrive in the modern word.” —Arianna Huffington, Founder of Thrive Global and CEO and Co-founder, Huffington Post

Following the first volume of Remembering the Kanji, the present work provides students with helpful tools for learning the pronunciation of the kanji. Behind the notorious inconsistencies in the way the Japanese language has come to pronounce the characters it received from China lie several coherent patterns. Identifying these patterns and arranging them in logical order can reduce dramatically the amount of time spent in the brute memorization of sounds unrelated to written forms. Many of the “primitive elements,” or building blocks, used in the drawing of the characters also serve to indicate the “Chinese reading” that particular kanji use, chiefly in compound terms. By learning one of the kanji that uses such a “signal primitive,” one can learn the entire group at the same time. In this way, Remembering the Kanji 2 lays out the varieties of phonetic pattern and offers helpful hints for learning readings, that might otherwise appear completely random, in an efficient and rational way. Individual frames cross-reference the kanji to alternate readings and to the frame in volume 1 in which the meaning and writing of the kanji was first introduced. A parallel system of pronouncing the kanji, their “Japanese readings,” uses native Japanese words assigned to particular Chinese characters. Although these are more easily learned because of the association of the meaning to a single word, the author creates a kind of phonetic alphabet of single syllable words, each connected to a simple Japanese word, and shows how they can be combined to help memorize particularly troublesome vocabulary. The 4th edition has been updated to include the 196 new kanji approved by the government in 2010 as “general-use” kanji.