Japanese society is now in the midst of a dramatic transformation. An extremely low birth rate and rapidly aging society is resulting in a declining Japanese labor force, fueling a need for non-Japanese laborers and others to maintain economic growth. However, despite a sense of impending crises, Japan continues to be ill equipped to accept non-Japanese workers and add to the diversity already existing within its borders. Currently, many of the benefits of inclusive societies, which lead to a more innovative and fulfilling society, are being curtailed by a pervading notion that Japan is monocultural and that diversity leads to too many problems. Readings on diversity issues: From hate speech to identity and privilege in Japan examines the state of diversity in past and present-day Japan and how Japanese people and the government navigate JapanOs multicultural society, as well as the way cultural minorities negotiate their lives in a country which still has difficulty accepting diversity.

Retirement literally began with a splash for Bill and RuthAnn Harper. It all started when they spied the 64-year-old wooden Chris-Craft motor yacht lying idle at a California dock after a long career of its own. The Harpers, landlocked in Bakersfield, California were mulling over what lay beyond their working years. They knew they'd continue to spend as much time as they could in Italy, but suddenly a new thought hit them. Why not launch a new way of living in which home became a floating adventure along a constantly changing shoreline? Here was the perfect boat for such an odyssey. This book is the story of how this dream navigated the challenges of distance, inexperience and plain old red tape to become a reality. A vessel had to be overhauled and shipped to Europe, an Italian berth located, foreign regulations met, a new language learned. Today, in the new Porto di Roma, not far from where the Tiber River enters the Mediterranean, "i Gatti Felici" bounces at anchor, a symbol of retirement and regeneration, a tale of Americans discovering the Old World, and a reminder that life is a tide in constant motion.

TO TOUCH THE STARS
She was Dion the Wolfwalker, and through her telepathic bond with the Gray Ones, she could hear the packsong and run with the wolves. And now, as fate ripped from her almost everything she held dear, her wolfbond became her only reason to live, for she could not deny the Call of the wolves to help them. Driven by the need of the Gray Ones, she would seek out and confront the mysterious beings of the sky--the ones who had once brought death to the world. In eight hundred years, no human had survived that contact. But Dion could not avoid it. Only by facing the aliens could she save herself . . . and the future of the wolves!

"From the Paperback edition."

Dion was a healer and a wolfwalker, and the unique telepathic bond that she shared with the wolf Gray Hishn sometimes seemed to amplify her sensitivity to her patients. But she never guessed how strong that bond could be, or what kind of power it could wield, until she found herself lost in the wilderness, with angry slavers at her heels and war on the horizon. Suddenly she and her fellow travelers were fighting for their lives in the snowy winter wastes, where the wolves were their only guides, the greatest secret of the ancients their only salvation...and Dion their only hope to survive.

"From the Paperback edition."