Yakuza, My Brother is a story based on true events. Raz, an Israeli scholar, befriends Yuki, a young, intelligent, well-educated but marginal man. Yuki disappears one day under mysterious circumstances, apparently because of his involvement with the Yakuza, the Japanese organized crime syndicate. Raz is perplexed. Along with his scholarly interest in Japan, he embarks on a personal quest to find and perhaps save his young friend. He knows the trail to Yuki leads through the Yakuza. He finally manages to penetrate one of the most important crime families by employing some uncommon methods. While pursuing his scholarly interest in the Yakuza, Raz never forgets Yuki, his lost friend. Ultimately, after dramatic and harrowing travels around East Asia, he finds a man who might be Yuki. But then again, he might not

"Odo Yakuza Tokyo' is an intimate personal account of a Belgian photographer documenting the inaccessible subculture of Japanese organized crime: the Yakuza. Anton Kusters teams up with his brother Malik and documents the inside of the Shinseikai family, who control Kabukicho, the infamous red light district, in the heart of Tokyo. From funerals to covert training camps, business meetings to full on tattoo displays, the modern day enigma that is "Yakuza" in Japan is shown. The feeling of subtlety and massive underlying tension is present thoughout the images, constantly reminding us that this world we live in is not black verses white, not good versus evil ..."--Cover flap.

To save his family, he sold his innocence. To save his sisters, he sold his body. To save his love, he sold his soul. Why? That's what brothers do... 2009 Rainbow Award Winner - 3rd place in Contemporary Novel category

Plus size beauty Ebony Drake has been poor all her life. Instead of wishing for her situation to change, she decides to change it. She moves away from her drug addicted mother to start her life anew. The last thing on her mind is love until she meets the mysterious Rain Tanaka. Ebony doesn't know what he sees in her, all she knows is that he scares her with the way he makes her feel.Rain Tanaka has spent his life taking care of his family. He realizes quickly, he had been a fool in thinking everything he needed was found at home. Ebony Drake, is the missing piece. He knows he shouldn't get involved with her, but there's just something about the dark skin beauty that pulls him to her. However, just when things begin to heat up between them, he has to walk away.No matter how much Rain tries, he can't erase Ebony from his sweat filled dreams. Risking it all, Rain will do anything to get the love he left behind back. He should have remembered the code; NO ONE disobeys the Yakuza.

When yakuza underboss Shigure Matsunaga meets Kenneth Harris at a boring social event, he's surprised to find himself attracted to the blond gaijin with the mismatched eyes. Shigure is even more pleased when he discovers Ken not only speaks Japanese fluently, but is fluent in Japan's ways, even the more violent of the martial arts. Ken's expertise at kendo is not his most striking quality--it's the passion beneath his quiet, almost fragile exterior that ignites Shigure's lust, and the two come together as explosively as they spar. Shigure is a dangerous man in a dangerous position. He's been trying to keep the peace with the Daito-kai--his hated rivals--but the danger on the streets is escalating, threatening those Shigure most wants to protect. He may claim to love his gaijin, but before he can keep Ken safe, Shigure will have to overcome hostility from his people, a hidden enemy, and, the most insidious opponent of all, his own hard-won pride.

The first volume of the acclaimed global sensation, from one of Japan's most notable manga artists: Yaichi is a work-at-home suburban dad in contemporary Tokyo; formerly married to Natsuki, and father to their young daughter, Kana. Their lives suddenly change with the arrival at their doorstep of a hulking, affable Canadian named Mike Flanagan, who declares himself to be the widower of Yaichi's estranged gay twin, Ryoji. Mike is on a quest to explore Ryoji's past, and the family reluctantly but dutifully takes him in. What follows is an unprecedented and heartbreaking look at the state of a largely still-closeted Japanese gay culture: how it's been affected by the West, and how the next generation can change the preconceptions about it and prejudices against it. (Please note: This book is a traditional work of manga, and reads back to front and right to left.)

This is the true story, as told to the doctor who looked after him just before he died, of the life of one of the last traditional yakuza in Japan. It wasn’t a "good" life, in either sense of the word, but it was an adventurous one; and the tale he has to tell presents an honest and oddly attractive picture of an insider in that separate, unofficial world. In his low, hoarse voice, he describes the random events that led the son of a prosperous country shopkeeper to become a member, and ultimately the leader, of a gang organizing illegal dice games in Tokyo's liveliest entertainment area. He talks about his first police raid, and the brutal interrogation and imprisonment that followed it. He remembers his first love affair, and the girl he ran away with, and the weeks they spent wandering about the countryside together. Briefly, and matter-of-factly, he describes how he cut off the little finger of his left hand as a ritual gesture of apology. He explains how the games were run and the profits spent; why the ties between members of "the brotherhood" were so important; and how he came to kill a man who worked for him. What emerges is a contradictory personality: tough but not unsentimental; stubborn yet willing to take life more or less as it comes; impulsive but careful to observe the rules of the business he had joined. And in the end, when his tale is finished, you feel you would probably have liked him if you'd met him in person. Fortunately, Dr. Saga's record of his long conversations with him provides a wonderful substitute for that meeting.

A New York Times Top Ten Book of the Year and National Book Award finalist, Pachinko is an "extraordinary epic" of four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family as they fight to control their destiny in 20th-century Japan (San Francisco Chronicle). NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2017 * A USA TODAY TOP TEN OF 2017 * JULY PICK FOR THE PBS NEWSHOUR-NEW YORK TIMES BOOK CLUB NOW READ THIS * FINALIST FOR THE 2018DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZE* WINNER OF THE MEDICI BOOK CLUB PRIZE Roxane Gay's Favorite Book of 2017, Washington Post NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * #1 BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER * USA TODAY BESTSELLER * WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER * WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER "There could only be a few winners, and a lot of losers. And yet we played on, because we had hope that we might be the lucky ones." In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger at the seashore near her home in Korea. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she is pregnant--and that her lover is married--she refuses to be bought. Instead, she accepts an offer of marriage from a gentle, sickly minister passing through on his way to Japan. But her decision to abandon her home, and to reject her son's powerful father, sets off a dramatic saga that will echo down through the generations. Richly told and profoundly moving, Pachinko is a story of love, sacrifice, ambition, and loyalty. From bustling street markets to the halls of Japan's finest universities to the pachinko parlors of the criminal underworld, Lee's complex and passionate characters--strong, stubborn women, devoted sisters and sons, fathers shaken by moral crisis--survive and thrive against the indifferent arc of history. *Includes reading group guide*

Kathy Garver, the teenage heartthrob from the hit series Family Affair (1966–1971), was no one-hit wonder, but a journeywoman actress who appeared in such classic films as Night of the Hunter and The Ten Commandments long before she became a television icon. This memoir is a recollection of a working actress’s experiences, from the many films, television shows, and stage plays in which she performed, to her second career as a voice-over specialist in popular animated films and audiobooks. Featuring anecdotes, Hollywood history, and details of her relationships with such stars as Charlton Heston and Jon Provost, Surviving Cissy is a veritable quilt of Kathy’s exciting life.

EISNER AWARD WINNER • The acclaimed global sensation, now in one volume—a “beautifully rendered meditation on the struggle for gay acceptance in today’s Japan" (CNN) Yaichi is a work-at-home suburban dad in contemporary Tokyo; formerly married to Natsuki, and father to their young daughter, Kana. Their lives suddenly change with the arrival at their doorstep of a hulking, affable Canadian named Mike Flanagan, who declares himself to be the widower of Yaichi's estranged gay twin, Ryoji. Mike is on a quest to explore Ryoji's past, and the family reluctantly but dutifully takes him in. What follows is an unprecedented and heartbreaking look at the state of a largely still-closeted Japanese gay culture: how it's been affected by the West, and how the next generation can change the preconceptions about it and prejudices against it. As Mike continues his journey of discovery concerning Ryoji's past, Yaichi gradually comes to understand that being gay is just another way of being human. And that, in many ways, remains a radical concept in Japan even today. In the meantime, the bond between Mike and young Kana grows ever stronger, and yet he is going to have to return to Canada soon—a fact that fills them both with impending heartbreak. But not before more than a few revelations come to light. (Please note: This book is a traditional work of manga, and reads back to front and right to left.)