検索キーワード： ナレーター "Hanako Footman" すべてのカテゴリー

Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in the Tokyo Detention House convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, whom she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation’s imagination, but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew, and Kajii can’t resist writing back.

Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in Tokyo Detention Centre convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, who she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation’s imagination but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is, until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew and Kajii can’t resist writing back.

Ayumi is a young man with special powers to bring back the dead to meet the living. A gift passed down in his family, he is able to arrange meetings according to strict rules and always under a full moon. After years in this role, he begins to question its meaning, and how his powers affect his own desires in the real world. Find out how Ayumi and his clients learn to lose their regrets, open up to the unexpected, and cherish what they already have in this profound and moving novel by Japan's leading storyteller.

When a young woman from Tokyo contacts the go-between to request a meeting with a deceased TV star who once helped her, she doesn’t expect a teenage boy to show up. Dressed in a designer duffel coat and carrying a tattered notebook, Ayumi Shibuya offers an extraordinary service: he reunites the living with their dearly departed. Meeting his clients at a luxury hotel, Ayumi lays down the ground rules: each reunion is a one-time arrangement that the dead can refuse, the service is entirely free, and the meeting must take place during a full moon.

'What are you looking for?' asks Tokyo's most enigmatic librarian, Sayuri Komachi. She is no ordinary librarian. Naturally, she has read every book on her shelf, but she also has the unique ability to read the souls of anyone who walks through her door. Sensing exactly what they're looking for in life, she provides just the book recommendation they never knew they needed to help them find it.

We discover why appreciating the beauty of sakura, cherry blossom, allows for a moment to deeply experience a season through a single entity (Cherish). In the traditional tea ceremony, we see the importance of kiwameru, the Japanese word for achieving mastery or perfection (Perfect). In umami, we taste how something simple and delicious can nourish the heart (Savour). We explore why the things left unsaid, ma, are just as important as the words we say (Harmonise).

Welcome to the Japan of tomorrow. Here, the practice of radical sympathy toward criminals has become normalized. The incarcerated are considered victims influenced by their environments to commit crime and are labeled accordingly as Homo miserabilis. A grand, yet controversial, skyscraper in the heart of Tokyo is planned to house lawbreakers in compassionate comfort—Sympathy Tower Tokyo. Acclaimed architect Sara Machina has been tasked with designing the city’s new centerpiece but is filled with doubt.

Beautifully read by Hanako Footman, actress and narrator of Four Seasons in Japan by Nick Bradley and Butter by Asako Yuzuki. The Menu of Happiness, translated from Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood, is the third book in the bestselling, delightful Japanese sleuthing series for fans of Before the...

Welcome to The Cherry Blossom Bookshop, a mysterious haven for book lovers that appears only during the fleeting cherry blossom season. Nestled amidst the bloom of delicate petals, you’ll find a sanctuary for those burdened by regrets and past sorrows. Here, Sakura, the enigmatic young owner, and her wise tortoiseshell cat, Kobako, patiently await the arrival of souls in need of solace and healing.

In her most personal book yet, the iconic star of the hit Netflix series Tidying Up with Marie Kondo and #1 bestselling author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up opens up about the cultural traditions that have inspired her philosophy—and can make our lives better today. “This book...

Follow the bank of the Koitogawa river until you reach the beach. From there a path of white seashells will lead you to the Chibineko Kitchen. Step inside, they'll be expecting you. These are the directions Kotoko has been given. She arrives at the tiny restaurant, perched right by the water, early in the morning. Still reeling from the sudden death of her brother, she's been promised that the food served there will bring him back to her, for one last time.

Within the Tokyo underworld there is an industry which exists to break up marriages. It is known today as 'wakaresaseya' - agents who, for a fee, can be hired by one spouse to seduce the other and provide grounds for divorce on favourable terms. Inspired by a real case, this is the story of Kaitaro Nakamura, a wakaresaseya agent, who is hired by a man to seduce his wife. Kaitaro falls in love with his target, Rina, and after the divorce she moves in with him, unaware of his role in the demise of her marriage.

In their Saitama office, Ashikawa is the kind of woman Nitani knows he will likely marry: sweet, obliging, and determined to wean him off his addiction to instant noodles. But he finds himself increasingly unable to respect her – or the sugary treats she shares around the workplace, winning their colleagues’ affection with baking rather than hard work. Oshio is bolder and uninhibited – she is Nitani's drinking buddy. In the oppressive office atmosphere, the pair grows closer, both outsiders struggling with the rigid status quo.

Hidden away in a corner of the Ginza neighbourhood is a venerable stationery shop. To venture inside is to find everything your stationery-loving heart desires, from the most delicate paper to fountain pens that fit exactly to the shape of your hand to gorgeously coloured inks. The shop owner intuits your every need, inviting you to take a seat at a small wooden table on the top floor, where you'll find the words flowing, helping you unlock repressed memories, secret longings and your own mysteries.

Tucked away down a Kyoto backstreet lies the extraordinary Kamogawa Diner, run by Chef Nagare and his daughter, Koishi. The father-daughter duo have reinvented themselves as “food detectives,” offering a service that goes beyond cooking mouth-watering meals. Through their culinary sleuthing, they revive lost recipes and rekindle forgotten memories.

Asa tries to give her classmate a biscuit. Nami evades her classmates' playground game of acorn-throwing. Happy decides she's not interested in doing anything other than lying down on her sofa. Each of these three stories begins in a reasonable place-but by the end you'll find yourself in another world altogether.

A golden summer, and six talented teenagers are looking forward to the brightest of futures—until a daredevil game goes horribly wrong, leaving three strangers dead. 18-year-old Megan takes the blame for the crime, leaving her friends to get on with their lives. In return, they each agree to a 'favour', payable on her release from prison. Twenty years later Megan is free. It is payback time. And her friends start disappearing, one by one . . .

One photograph, one treasured memory, one chance to go back . . . If you could relive one day of your life, which would you choose? In a cosy photography studio in the mountains between this world and the next, someone is waking up as if from a dream. A kind man will hand them a hot cup of tea...

*COMING IN FEBRUARY 2026! The second book the series: The Calico Cat at the Chibineko Kitchen* “Wonderful . . . A cozy, emotional gem . . . Each chapter is a quiet, healing moment, filled with food, memory and the comfort of cats.” —The Seattle Times Your table awaits at the Chibineko...

Asha has spent her life on an island community built on the principle of truth. But she discovers she has been lied to about something huge – a secret sister called Willow. Willow has always believed her twin sister died years ago. So when she receives a message in the middle of the night from a girl claiming to be Asha, she doesn’t know what to think. Can they piece together the truth about their pasts and find their way back to each other?