Books from Kodansha USA

  • The Flowers of Edo
    The Flowers of Edo
    By Michael Dana Kennedy

    Seated in front were Commander Robert A. Macpherson, Air Officer, and Lieutenant William Burgess, a VF-88 division commander. Behind them was a large chalkboard, covered with numbers. Up front three empty seats were waiting.

  • Seppuku: A History of Samurai Suicide
    Seppuku: A History of Samurai Suicide
    By Andrew Rankin

    Chinese histories such as Sima Qian's Historical Records (91 BC), which subsequently circulated in Japan, make frequent mention of rebellions, ... as the rebel general Xiang Yu, who cut his throat on the bank of the Wu River in 202 BC.

  • The Essence of Shinto: Japan's Spiritual Heart
    The Essence of Shinto: Japan's Spiritual Heart
    By Motohisa Yamakage

    Through the author’s emphasis on the universality of Shinto and its prevalence in the natural world, the book will appeal to all readers with an appreciation of humanity’s place in nature and the individual’s role in the larger ...

  • The Book of Human Insects
    The Book of Human Insects
    By Osamu Tezuka

    Toshiko Tomura is a genius; the darling of the intelligentsia. A modern-day Michelangelo, this twenty year-old is already an established international stage actress, an up-and-coming architect, and the next recipient...

  • Now You're One of Us
    Now You're One of Us
    By Asa Nonami

    "It is said that marriage is about compromise, and no one understands this more than newlywed Noriko, who marries into the well-established Shito family. Four generations, eight in-laws--all under one...

  • Prophecy, Part 3
    Prophecy, Part 3
    By Tetsuya Tsutsui

    In this concluding volume, the members of Paperboy gather to prepare to carry out their next act of vengeance against a hypocritical politician.

  • Yakuza Moon: Memoirs of a Gangster's Daughter
    Yakuza Moon: Memoirs of a Gangster's Daughter
    By Shoko Tendo

    On her last day at the bar she looked up at the full moon, a sight she never forgot. The moon became a symbol of her struggle to become whole, and the title of the book she wrote as an epitaph for herself and her family.

  • Confessions of a Yakuza
    Confessions of a Yakuza
    By Dr. Junichi Saga

    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.

  • General Will 2.0: Rousseau, Freud, Google
    General Will 2.0: Rousseau, Freud, Google
    By Hiroki Azuma

    According to Japanese thinker Hiroki Azuma, the way forward must be sought through what network technology is actually good at: aggregating and processing the traces we leave (without always meaning to) every time we wade into the world of ...

  • The Cage
    The Cage
    By Kenzo Kitakata

    Kazuya Takino leads a quiet life running a supermarket in the Tokyo suburbs. But when an extortionist tries to force him out of business, he finds himself drawn into the...

  • The Ghost in the Shell
    The Ghost in the Shell
    By Kafka Asagiri, Tow Ubukata, Gakuto Mikumo

    Neither a utopia nor a dystopia, it’s still a world of nations at strife, as dominated by corporations as ever.

  • The Guin Saga Book 2: Warrior in the Wilderness
    The Guin Saga Book 2: Warrior in the Wilderness
    By Kaoru Kurimoto

    The Guin Saga is epic heroic fantasy in the same vein as Robert E. Howard's Conan, the Barbarian. More than a hundred books strong and growing, the saga has sold...

  • Black Jack, Volume 1
    Black Jack, Volume 1
    By Osamu Tezuka

    But because Black Jack keeps his true motives secret, his ethics are perceived as questionable and he is considered a selfish, uncaring devil. The Black Jack series is told in short stories.

  • Light One Candle: A Survivor's Tale from Lithuania to Jerusalem
    Light One Candle: A Survivor's Tale from Lithuania to Jerusalem
    By Solly Ganor

    Beginning in prewar Lithuania, Light One Candle tells of the ominous changes that took place once Hitler came to power in 1933, of Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese consul who wrote thousands of exit visas for Jews fleeing the Nazi onslaught, ...

  • Apollo's Song
    Apollo's Song
    By Osamu Tezuka

    Master storyteller Osamu Tezuka's Apollo's Song is a lyrical tour-de-force on the human spirit, the destruction of hate, and the triumph of love.

  • The Name of the Game is a Kidnapping
    The Name of the Game is a Kidnapping
    By Keigo Higashino

    And the name of this game is a kidnapping!

  • Message to Adolf, Part 1
    Message to Adolf, Part 1
    By Osamu Tezuka

    It is 1936 in Berlin, Nazi Germany.

  • Japanese Core Words and Phrases: Things You Can't Find in a Dictionary
    Japanese Core Words and Phrases: Things You Can't Find in a Dictionary
    By Kakuko Shoji

    Japanese Core Words and Phrases brings these recalcitrants to bay. The book is divided into two parts, each of which is arranged in alphabetical order.

  • All About Particles: A Handbook of Japanese Function Words
    All About Particles: A Handbook of Japanese Function Words
    By Naoko Chino

    This handbook provides all the information one would need on these tricky units of grammar. All About Particles covers more than 70 particles those that are used regularly as well as those used less frequently in more than 200 uses.

  • Where is the Justice?: Media Attacks, Prosecutorial Abuse, and My 13 Years in Japanese Court
    Where is the Justice?: Media Attacks, Prosecutorial Abuse, and My 13 Years in Japanese Court
    By Hiromasa Ezoe

    Media Attacks, Prosecutorial Abuse, and My 13 Years in Japanese Court Hiromasa Ezoe ... The headlines on the front page screamed, “Recruit Scandal!,” “No Relationship with Secretaries,” “Ezoe Says Ready for Diet Questioning,” and on and ...