DISCOVER THE JAPANESE SECRET TO FINANCIAL WELL-BEING: The Kakeibo is a wonderful tool for anyone who wants to make keeping track of their spending more streamlined People in Japan are masters of minimal living, able to make do with less in all aspects of life, whether it's de-cluttering personal belongings or savvy seasonal cooking. At the heart of all this is the kakeibo: the budgeting journal used to set savings goals and track spending. The premise is simple: at the beginning of each month, the prompts in this book help you to plan how much you would like to save and what you need to do in order to reach your goal. The kakeibo then gives you space to jot down your weekly spending and reflect on the month just gone. The act of completing your journal ensures that saving is a part of your everyday life, while also giving you the opportunity to reflect and improve every month.

Control your spending, save money, regain peace of mind, and make your life happier and healthier with Kakebo—the traditional Japanese method of money management that is still widely used today. Having enough money to live is one of the most important factors affecting our health. Trying to balance expenses—utility bills, housing, healthcare, food, and for many, the costs of raising children (not to mention paying for college!)—leaves us worried and stressed. But there is a solution: Kakebo, a practical, proven method that helps you keep track of every penny, manage spending, and save up to thirty percent more! With this invaluable guide you’ll interact with your spending every day for two years, and learn how to manage your personal budget. Designed like a diary, it allows you to record all your daily expenses week by week so you can see exactly where your money goes. Each day is divided into four categories: 1. primary needs—food, personal hygiene, children; 2. optional needs—shopping, cosmetics, gifts; 3. culture and free time—restaurants, books, entertainment; and 4. extras/foreseeable expenses—such as travel, repairs, tuition, and taxes. Kakebo begins with setting a monthly budget. At the beginning of each month, enter your fixed incoming funds and outgoing expenses, and set a savings target. Then, each day, record your various expenses. By keeping close tabs on what you’re spending, you’ll be able to identify the waste and see the most significant areas where adjustments can be made. Kakebo also offers practical and motivating tips that teach you how to save more successfully. Kakebo isn’t just about money—it helps to develop self-awareness, self-discipline, and self-esteem, and promotes peace of mind. Best of all, you can begin any time of year—individually marking the months and days without wasting any pages. Plus, its simple yet inviting for-color graphics help you break down each expense and easily identify see where adjustments need to be made.

An introduction to the theatrical art of comic storytelling that originated in the Edo period, Rakugo sheds light on Japanese culture as a whole: its aesthetics, social relations, and learning styles. Enriched with personal anecdotes, Rakugo explicates the art's contemporary performance culture: the image, training and techniques of the storytellers, the venues where they perform, and the role of the audience in sustaining the art. Laurie Brau inquires into how this comic art form participates in the discourse of heritage, serving as a symbol of the Edo culture, while continuing to appeal to Japanese today. Written in an accessible manner, this book is appropriate for all levels of student or researcher.

A fully revised edition of one of the most influential books ever written on personal finance with more than a million copies sold “The best book on money. Period.” –Grant Sabatier, founder of “Millennial Money,” on CNBC Make It "This is a wonderful book. It can really change your life." -Oprah For more than twenty-five years, Your Money or Your Life has been considered the go-to book for taking back your life by changing your relationship with money. Hundreds of thousands of people have followed this nine-step program, learning to live more deliberately and meaningfully with Vicki Robin’s guidance. This fully revised and updated edition with a foreword by "the Frugal Guru" (New Yorker) Mr. Money Mustache is the ultimate makeover of this bestselling classic, ensuring that its time-tested wisdom applies to people of all ages and covers modern topics like investing in index funds, managing revenue streams like side hustles and freelancing, tracking your finances online, and having difficult conversations about money. Whether you’re just beginning your financial life or heading towards retirement, this book will show you how to: • Get out of debt and develop savings • Save money through mindfulness and good habits, rather than strict budgeting • Declutter your life and live well for less • Invest your savings and begin creating wealth • Save the planet while saving money • …and so much more! "The seminal guide to the new morality of personal money management." -Los Angeles Times

"Centers on the life of Ding Wenyu, a privileged, womanizing, narcissistic professor of languages, and traces the course of the affair that transforms him from outlandish rake to devoted lover."--Jacket.

The title track "Sunday in Kyoto" tells the story of a Cajun musician who lives with his Japanese partner in Kyoto, enjoying Sunday afternoon jam sessions with friends from far away places. The other songs on the album introduce Joe's mother who snorts like a hog, little Miss Adèle who calls herself "Hello," and a rooster who serves eggs for breakfast. It's zany-crazy and kids will love it!

In this appealing search-and-find informational picture book, readers join a little boy named Toshi as he and his grandmother explore six of their favorite places --- the riverbank, the town, the forest, the country, the park and the beach. At each location, Toshi finds treasures to add to his collection, from a dragonfly wing to a glittery rock to a guitar pick. Best of all, his grandmother always knows what everything is! Each scene is featured in a full-spread illustration, with lots of potential treasures labeled. Following that is an activity in which readers help Toshi identify his found treasures from each place by matching them to related items (for example, pink peony petals matching the peony plant, and a coin matching the coin purse). Answers at the back of the book reveal interesting facts about them all, adding context. The animals that Toshi and his grandmother encounter are also shown at the back of the book. Using an innovative technique that mixes fiction and nonfiction, this book is the perfect resource for life science lessons on habitats and the environment. It encourages observation skills, curiosity and critical thinking --- building blocks for studying science. This book would be a terrific inspiration for a trip around the neighborhood in which children can find, identify and draw treasures of their own. It could also be used as a starting point for storytelling, in which children imagine the story of a treasure --- Toshi's or their own --- before it was found.

Whether your family is nuclear, blended, extended or unrelated; whether you are single, divorced, living together or married; at a family dinner or dinner party; engaged in combat with the neighbors or the relatives -- there is simply no substitute for the core of civility that must reside at the heart of every house, condo or apartment if it is truly to be a home. With her trademark wit and insight, Miss Manners knocks household discourteousness off its foundation by revealing the secrets of: Getting the housework done when you can't complain about the servant problem -- because the servant is you Kindling warm memories rather than heated conflict at family occasions Making use of common rooms instead of turning them into a mess or a museum -- while everyone huddles in their respective allotted upstairs spaces alone Reviving the art of entertaining to make friends who will love you for yourself (it beats staying home alone watching TV) Being pleasant enough to the neighbors so you're not afraid to walk out your own front door Refusing to recognize that the harried household cannot meet proper standards of behavior, especially since all households are now harried, Miss Manners explains how to return a sense of propriety -- and most of all, tranquility -- to domestic life.

Look around you - what do you see? You may discover to your surprise that the people who are most at peace with money are the ones who walk nimbly between having too little and having too much. They have found a balance between indulgence and austerity; between success and happiness; between motivation and inspiration; and between any number of other poles we tend to think of as either/or choices, but which in reality are simply posts on either side of a doorway through which we must pass. For many of us the subject of money is unavoidably stressful. Managing our personal finances is complicated, time consuming and often, particularly in the slow countdown to pay day, dispiriting. The good news is that in Japan - where a Zen approach to life is more widely practiced - a pathway to a better relationship with money is being carved, by Ken Honda. This beautifully written book will reinvent the way you see your personal finances. You will come to understand that money flows like water and arrives like a guest. You'll rethink your own attitudes and examine the way they were shaped by beliefs about money you were taught as a child. When we heal the fear and anxiety we have about money, we successfully achieve prosperity and peace. Take the zen path to financial security and happiness.

ONE OF AMAZON'S BEST ART & PHOTOGRAPHY BOOKS 0F 2018 AN NPR AND PITCHFORK BEST MUSIC BOOK OF 2018 PICK ONE OF TIME'S 25 BEST PHOTOBOOKS OF 2018 NEW YORK TIMES, ASSOCIATED PRESS, WALLSTREET JOURNAL, ROLLING STONE, AND CHICAGO SUN HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE PICK The perfect gift for music and photography fans, an inside look at the work of hip-hop photographers told through their most intimate diaries—their contact sheets. Featuring rare outtakes from over 100 photoshoots alongside interviews and essays from industry legends, Contact High: A Visual History of Hip-Hop takes readers on a chronological journey from old-school to alternative hip-hop and from analog to digital photography. The ultimate companion for music and photography enthusiasts, Contact High is the definitive history of hip-hop’s early days, celebrating the artists that shaped the iconic album covers, t-shirts and posters beloved by hip-hop fans today. With essays from BILL ADLER, RHEA L. COMBS, FAB 5 FREDDY, MICHAEL GONZALES, YOUNG GURU, DJ PREMIER, and RZA