Bold, visual, profound, symbolic: Japanese kanji characters communicate powerful graphic messages that look great on skin, walls, stationery, T-shirts, and more Here are dozens of edgy, targeted characters hand-picked to help you find the inner you and express yourself in a distinctive stylish way. With cultural clues, readings, font varieties, and ideas for proper use. Don't embarrass yourself with bad ink! Shogo Oketani is an editor and author in Tokyo, Japan, and a long-time student of Japanese martial arts, philosophy, poetry, and history. Leza Lowitz is the author of twenty books of fiction and poetry and is owner/teacher at Sun and Moon yoga studio in Tokyo, Japan.

"A must-have for anyone who is new and serious about exporing the subject further. Also recommended for advanced practitioners who may want to 'brush-up' on their Sanskrit." -- "Yoga Magazine UK"

"This slim volume is a lot more than its title lets on." -- "The Asian Reporter"

..".A joy to read: it has accuracy in its translations, beauty in its presentation, and conveys the spiritual richness of the yogic tradition. It will definitely enrich the life of many yoga teachers and students." -- "Ascent Magazine"

Joseph Campbell called Sanskrit "the great spiritual language of the world." Designed by ancient Indian holy men to express the states of enlightened consciousness through syllabic sounds, Sanskrit is widely used in the West during yoga practice to channel spiritual pathways and to discuss important meditative and philosophical concepts. This book introduces 180 Sanskrit words (including "chakra," "karma," "om," "namaste," "veda," "nirvana") with Devanagari scripts, pronunciations, chants and brief cultural/historic explanations. A practical reference that makes an excellent gift book for any student of yoga, meditation or Eastern religion.

Leza Lowitz is a much-published writer and director of Sun and Moon Yoga Studio in Tokyo.

Reema Datta grew up in India and teaches Ashtanga yoga and Ayurvedic cooking in San Francisco.

A powerful novel-in-verse about how one teen boy survives the March 2011 tsunami that devastates his coastal Japanese village.

Successfully captures the raw emotions of loss, grief, and what it means to move forward. BuzzFeed On the day the tsunami strikes, Kai loses nearly everyone and everything he cares about. But a trip to New York to meet kids whose lives were changed by 9/11 gives him new hope and the chance to look for his estranged American father. Visiting Ground Zero on its tenth anniversary, Kai learns that the only way to make something good come out of disaster is to return and rebuild. Heartrending yet hopeful, "Up from the Sea"is a story about loss, survival, and starting anew.

Fans of Jewell Parker Rhodes's "Ninth Ward" and Karen Hesse s "Out of the Dust "will embrace this moving story. An author s note includes numerous sources detailing actual events portrayed in the story.

"Selected Persian (Farsi) Translations of Yoga Poems: Lines to Unfold By" Leza Lowitz's poetry is inspirational. While the poems are about Yoga poses, they relate to the many larger challenges of life, expanding beyond the physical and relating to the many spiritual aspects of life that both practitioners and non-practitioners of Yoga would relate to. The translations share the richness of Leza Lowitz's work with the Persian-speaking readers and enable them to enjoy the depth of her poetry.For more information regarding BAHAR BOOKS, visit: www.baharbooks.com

On the sixtieth anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, Silence to Light illuminates the tumultuous period, and the aftermath, of World War II and the war in Asia. Through fiction, memoirs, film scripts, poetry, photography, and manga (Japanese cartoons), the volume brings to light the personal and communal memories that have disappeared into silence. Readers get a new and vivid perspective on such events as the Manchurian Incident, the rape of Nanking, Japanese American internment, and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The authors include well-known Japanese figures, such as Yukio Mishima and Dazai Osamu, and such contemporary authors as Hayashi Kyoko, Choko Ishigaki, and Keiji Nakazawa. American authors adding their perspective include Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, Donald Richie, and Gladys Swan. Work by Linda Gregg, Martha Zweig, and other American authors is also included.

Mountain/Home presents new translations of Japanese literature from the country’s medieval period to the present. The narrative arc of the selections follows the evolution of Japan’s national self-image. Because Mount Fuji, more than any other national symbol, has represented the soul of Japan, Mountain/Home begins with works inspired by the mountain’s presence. They include excerpts from some of the first literary works in which Mount Fuji appears: the mysterious Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, early court poetry, and the Confessions of Lady Nij?¯, among others. These works are followed by a chapter from Lady Murasaki’s brilliant novel, The Tale of Genji, and Edo-period haiku by Bash?¯ and Issa. In the twentieth century, Japan went through its darkest years. But out of the trauma of militarism, war, devastation, and defeat came outstanding fiction by Dazai Osamu and Natsume S?¯seki, as well as avant-garde poetry by Yoshioka Minoru and Ayukawa Nobuo. In recent decades, contemporary optimism has produced writing that breaks new literary ground without forgetting the past: experimental fiction by Kurahashi Yumiko and poetry about everyday life by Takahashi Mutsuo.