Showing results by narrator "Brian Nishii" in All Categories

Two detectives. Two identical women. One dead body—rapidly becoming two, then three, then four. All knotted up in Japan’s underground BDSM scene and kinbaku, a form of rope bondage which bears a complex cultural history of spirituality, torture, cleansing, and sacrifice. As Togashi, a junior member of the police force, investigates the murder of a kinbaku instructor, he finds himself unable to resist his own private transgressive desires. In contrast, Togashi’s colleague Hayama is morally upright to a fault, with a stalwart commitment to the truth.

In the Empire, cultivation is restricted. Weapons are forbidden. Tyranny reigns. When disaster strikes for Oren and his family, there is only one choice: flee the local magistrate and his arrogant son who wants to destroy their family. But to leave the empire means heading to the north: a land of barbaric tribes and monsters. Oren and his family embark on a long and hard, danger-filled journey to escape the Empire, but politics are at play, and the shadow of the empire is cruel, cold, and long.

Combining the whimsy and possibility of The Midnight Library with the mystery and revelatory power of The Secret, Come along for the ride of a lifetime in this heartwarming Japanese bestseller, a story about recognizing opportunities, embracing happiness, and discovering what true fulfillment...

The island of Tarawa, a tiny spit of sand out in the middle of the Pacific, teemed with five hundred pillboxes filled with artillery pieces and highly motivated Japanese soldiers. Their commanding officer encouraged his troops, saying, “It would take one million men one hundred years” to conquer Tarawa. They were convinced that the Americans would be slaughtered before they ever got ashore.

A goblin with no body and a monster with no face. A resourceful samurai and a faithful daughter. A spirit of the moon and a dragon king. This collection of 15 traditional Japanese folktales transports listeners to a time of adventure and enchantment. Drawn from the works of folklorists Lafcadio Hearn and Yei Theodora Ozaki, these tales are by turns terrifying, exhilarating, and poetic.

Inspired by the real-life Glico-Morinaga kidnapping, an unsolved case that terrorized Japan for two years, Lady Joker reimagines the circumstances of this watershed episode in modern Japanese history and brings into riveting focus the lives and motivations of the victims, the perpetrators, the heroes and the villains. As the shady networks linking corporations to syndicates are brought to light, the stakes rise, and some of the professionals we have watched try to fight their way through this crisis will lose everything—some even their lives.

The island city-state of Singapore harbors unique customs and traditions largely unknown to the West. A booming economy and embrace of conformity overshadow its gambling dens, red-light districts, and a collective passion for ghostly and gory tales. Now, in Singapore Noir, some of its best contemporary authors delve into its seedy side.

"Narrator Brian Nishii perfectly conveys the author's joy and feelings of isolation at discovering science fiction as a child, the exhilaration of world-building as a science fiction writer, and the imaginative process of predicting our world in 50 years."—AudioFile "We’re mysterious aliens...

The hero of The Invisibility Cloak lives in contemporary Beijing—where everyone is doing their best to hustle up the ladder of success while shouldering an ever-growing burden of consumer goods—and he’s a loser. Well into his forties, he’s divorced (and still doting on his ex), childless, and living with his sister (her husband wants him out) in an apartment at the edge of town with a crack in the wall. He gets by just by making customized old-fashioned amplifiers for the occasional rich audio-obsessive. Then an old friend tips him off about a special job....

Having won the battle with the demon, Yang Wu leaves Thunder Pearl behind to study at the Lion Academy. Ahead of him lie underhand struggles of clans and secret societies, ancient secrets, and dangerous enemies. He will have to go through many trials and fights, putting his life and health on the line. To survive and stay on the top, Yang will have to get to know himself better and master his new powers. A champion never gives up. He stares death in the eye as he prepares himself for his next fight, chanting the ancient mantra in his head.

Mikura is finally starting to get used to his new life in the Beastly Wilds. Things were going great with his Beastfolk neighbors—until one day, he makes a seemingly innocent comment that turns his life completely upside down! Things only get even more interesting when a visit from his parents unearths a mysterious incident from his childhood adventures in the Beastly Wilds! What secrets are the Beastly Wilds keeping, and how will they change his relationship with Techi?

Early one morning, a body is found lying next to the railway tracks just outside of Kuki Station in Saitama Prefecture, shot dead. It is identified as belonging to the owner of a local mill which is embroiled in a labour dispute. Suspicion initially falls on the workers' union, then on a new religious sect that has been gaining followers recently. Chief Inspector Onitsura and his assistant Tanna are called in to investigate, and soon set off in a journey across Japan, from Tokyo to Kyoto and Osaka, and finally to the island of Kyushu, in a hunt for the killer.

I see the world through statistics. Logic and routine. That's what keeps me sane. Killian Doyle is my polar opposite. His merciless, passionate nature terrifies me. He kidnapped me to force his brother, my friend, out of hiding and back into the mafia. He says he'll let me go when he doesn't need me anymore. I understand what he wants. The only real question is what I want from him. Because right now, I'm confused enough to think I want him to keep me forever.

Many people want to use the young champion of the great Raven clan for their own agenda. Yang is given a choice without a choice. Having survived the deadly trials at the Lion Academy, he is thrown into a new hell. From now on, he is a member of the Night Guard—the hated masters of low warfare...

International business requires a deep level of industry insight but also a keen understanding of the cultural differences that impact how business is done. If you’re an American working in China or Japan for the first time, you may not realize the way each culture thinks and reasons is quite different from your own, which can lead to frequent misunderstandings. You may be unaware, for example, that Americans reason in a linear manner, Chinese in a lateral manner, and Japanese intuitively.

Classical guitarist Satoshi Makino has toured the world and is at the height of his career when he first lays eyes on journalist Yoko Komine. Their bond forms instantly. Upon their first meeting, after Makino’s concert in Tokyo, they begin a conversation that will go on for years, with long spells of silence broken by powerful moments of connection. She’s drawn by Makino’s tender music and his sensitivity, and he is intrigued by Yoko’s refinement and intellect. But neither knows enough about love to see it blooming nor has the confidence to make the first move.

As summer closes in, Mikura and Tokatechi enter a new stage of their life, now a married couple. But it doesn't feel like there has been too much drastic change in their blissful, leisurely life. Mikura's busy cooking like always, while Tokatechi's busy with her work in the orchard. As time goes by, Mikura's circle of unique acquaintances steadily grows within the Beastly Wilds, and he gradually learns more about this beautiful forest of secrets.

'a master class in eyewitness storytelling . . . this gripping narrative chronicles one of history's darkest nightmare moments' - Annie Jacobsen, author of Nuclear War: A Scenario On the 80th anniversary of the devastating bombing of Hiroshima, the stories of the hibakusha are more important...

"Brian Nishii narrates this imaginative tale set in Japan about the complexities of death, life, and cats...A brief, charming parable." — AudioFile Magazine The international phenomenon that has sold over a million copies in Japan, If Cats Disappeared from the World--now a Japanese film--is a...

Turns out, the rumors about my ruthless boss were true. He's mafia. And I just witnessed something that could ruin his life . . . and mine. So, imagine my surprise when instead of killing me, he kidnaps me. Now, I'm on a secluded island with a man who should terrify me. But he doesn't. Because he's different here. Here, I see a man so beautifully broken I'm starting to feel things I know I shouldn't. He stole my freedom . . . I can't let him steal my heart too.