BookDragon Japanese

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit (vol. 1) by Motoro Mase, translated by John Werry, English adaptation by Kristina Blachere

27 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Welcome to a chilling debut series, which introduces readers to a strange new world in which the government knows exactly when you're going to die. As children are immunized upon entering school, a random sampling of the immunization syringes contain exploding capsules which will prove fatal on...

Astro Boy (vols. 1-5) by Osamu Tezuka, translated by Frederik L. Schodt, lettering and retouch by Digital Chameleon

20 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Middle Grade Readers, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Astro Boy, the little-boy-robot-who-could is probably Osamu Tezuka's most recognizable creation. Known as the "godfather of manga," Tezuka created Tetsuwan Atom (Mighty Atom) in Japan way back in 1951, and continued to present his manga adventures for decades. Renamed Astro Boy in the West, in 1963,...

Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 002 and 003 by Naoki Urasawa and Osamu Tezuka, co-authored by Takashi Nagasaki, supervised by Macoto Tezka

15 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

HOLY MOLY! And I was worried that things couldn't get better after Volume 001. Can we say WOW together? Even if you're not a manga fan, go get this series. I grabbed the original Tezuka Astro Boy series to read again, too, while I'm waiting for...

The Naked Eye by Yoko Tawada, translated by Susan Bernofsky

14 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, European, Fiction, Japanese, Southeast Asian, Translation, Vietnamese

Every time I read a Yoko Tawada title, I almost want to go finish my almost-ABD PhD (in post-war German and Japanese literatures). Sadly, I recently got the news that my advisor/mentor passed away, so going back would be impossible without him; even though I didn't...

Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 001 by Naoki Urasawa and Osamu Tezuka, co-authored by Takashi Nagasaki, supervised by Macoto Tezka

07 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Osamu Tezuka, the godfather of manga, introduced his beloved Tetsuwan Atom – better known in the West as Astro Boy – way back in 1951. The adorable robot boy became a worldwide phenomenon, thanks to his animated incarnation that began in 1963. Since then, somewhere, somehow,...

Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie

13 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Afghan, British, British Asian, Fiction, Indian, Japanese, Pakistani, South Asian

Even though it's only April (and the book doesn't even hit stands until next month), I'm announcing with absolute certainty that Burnt Shadows gets my unwavering vote as THE Book of the Year. I'll only be too happy to eat my words because that can only mean...

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (vols. 1-2) by Nagaru Tanigawa, art by Gaku Tsugano, characters by Noizi Ito

11 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Mystery solved: For awhile (way too long), Luddite me was maintaining our main Smithsonian APA Program website (no snickering!), and every time I booted up the machine I had to work on, an adorable anime character in a little sailor suit would pop up, pointing...

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya by Nagaru Tanigawa

11 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

In case you missed it ...

A Drifting Life by Tatsumi Yoshihiro, edited and designed by Adrian Tomine, translated by Taro Nettleton [in Bloomsbury Review]

06 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Translation

This 850-plus page autobiographical epic is truly a portrait of an artist as a young man, done manga style. A child of 10 in 1945 post-war Japan, Hiroshi – Tatsumi’s pseudonymous stand-in – makes manga obsessively. His regularly winning contest submissions soon bring him acclaim,...

Erika-san by Allen Say [in Bloomsbury Review]

26 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Japanese, Japanese American, Repost

The prolific, Caldecott Medal-winning Allen Say debuts his latest picture book, as gorgeous as all the others. As a child, Erika falls in love with Japan through a framed picture her grandfather bought as a young man. "I want to go there when I grow...

The Snow Day by Komako Sakai

01 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Japanese, Nonethnic-specific, Translation

Told with evocative, gentle pictures, The Snow Day opens with a young bunny who wakes up to a snow day – which means no kindergarten! Afraid that her little one might catch cold, the Mommy bunny asks him to wait until the snow stops. But...

Wabi Sabi by Mark Reibstein, art by Ed Young [in Bloomsbury Review]

01 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Chinese American, Fiction, Japanese, Repost

Little Wabi Sabi, a lovely kitty living in Kyoto, Japan, has a very special name ...

The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng [in Bloomsbury Review]

01 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, British, Chinese, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Japanese, Malaysian, Repost, Southeast Asian

IF YOU READ ONE BOOK, LET IT BE THIS EPIC STUNNER! One rainy evening, an elderly gentleman finds himself opening the door to his past in the form an elderly woman who arrives bearing a gift....

Ral & Grad (vol. 1) by Tsuneo Takano, translated by Tony Cusdin with English adaptation by Kelly Sue DeConnick [in Bloomsbury Review]

01 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Repost, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Marked with a “Parental Advisory,” this is not your regular kiddie fare. Imprisoned in darkness since birth, Ral and his powerful shadow dragon, Grad, who shares Ral’s very being, are finally released at age 15 to...

Fairy Tail (vols. 1-2) by Hiro Mashima, translated by William Flanagan [in Bloomsbury Review]

01 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Middle Grade Readers, Repost, Translation, Young Adult Readers

The first two volumes of one of Japan’s top 10 manga bestsellers make their Stateside debut. Join the over-the-top adventures of newly inducted magic-key-carrying wizard Lucy (did she have to be so Barbie-like? Please!), motion-challenged fire...

The Wakame Gatherers by Holly Thompson, illustrated by Kazumi Wilds [in Bloomsbury Review]

01 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Japanese, Japanese American, Repost

Young Nanami shares an afternoon with her two grandmothers: her Baachan who lives with her family in Japan, and her Gram, who is visiting from the coast of Maine. Together the three share an ancient tradition...

MW by Osamu Tezuka, translated by Camellia Nieh [in Bloomsbury Review]

01 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Repost, Translation

Who knew the “godfather of manga” could be this dark? When a mysterious poison gas kills the inhabitants of a Japanese island that was once home to a foreign military base, two survivors are inextricably linked...

The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (vols. 1-4) by Eiji Otsuka, art by Housui Yamazaki, translated by Toshifumi Yoshida, edited by Carl Gustav Horn [in Bloomsbury Review]

01 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Repost, Translation

Four fabulous volumes (the fourth just out) about a mismatched clan that makes up the fantastically talented Kurosagi (“black crane”) Corpse Delivery Service. Five unemployed Buddhist university students band together to help corpses find eternal peace,...

TEKKON KINKREET: Black & White by Taiyo Matsumoto, translated by Lillian Olsen [in Bloomsbury Review]

01 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Repost, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Two young urchins, Black and White, run the streets of Treasure Town, a decaying urban playground of violence and destruction. Because they have superhuman abilities, even the local police and the yakuza (Japan’s criminal underworld) can’t...

Mail (vols. 1-3) by Housui Yamazaki, translated by Douglas Varenas, edited by Carl Gustav Horn [in Bloomsbury Review]

01 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Repost, Translation

From the artist who brought you the inventively creepy Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service series comes a three-volume thriller that will cause goosebumps, even in 95 degree weather. Reiji Akiba, who grew up blind,...