1. Congratulations on the release of your new book! Tell us a little bit about your background and the process that led to creating this wonderful book. 

Thank you so much! I'm thrilled to share The Super Kawaii Coloring Book with everyone. I've always been excited by art that brings out happiness in people, and kawaii style perfectly embodies that! My background is in illustration and animation, and creating adorable, playful characters has always been my passion. This book is a culmination of years of doodling cute little characters on my ipad. Seeing them all come together in one place has been a dream come true! 

2. Can you introduce our readers to the Kawaii genre, and talk some more about what you love about drawing and creating in the Kawaii style? 

Kawaii, which means "cute" in Japanese, is a genre known for its lovable, simple, and sometimes silly characters that just make you smile. Whether it’s a tiny kitten, a smiling piece of toast, or a cheerful cloud, kawaii art has a way of brightening your day. I love working with this style because it reminds me to appreciate the small, joyful moments in life. Drawing kawaii characters feels like an instant mood boost, and I'm excited to share that with readers through this book. 

3. Are there any particular pages or characters in your book that you are especially fond of? Any cute kittens or clouds or sea creatures that stole your heart? Tell us about them! 

Oh, that’s such a fun question! There’s a page with two little chubby pineapple penguins playing on the beach — they were so much fun to draw! And there's a whole spread of underwater friends, including an octopus with big, curious eyes and a sea turtle who’s all smiles. One of my favorites has to be the crickets playing cricket; that'd be a funny game to watch. Each character has its own personality and quirky characteristics, and I hope they make everyone smile as much as they did for me while drawing them! 

4. What are your hopes for this book as it gets out into the world? Can coloring cute Kawaii characters and scenes bring about world peace? (We think yes!) 

I hope this book becomes a happy escape for anyone who picks it up. Colouring kawaii characters can be so relaxing and joyful. It’s a little time for yourself to unwind, be creative, and embrace that playful part of your imagination. And while world peace might be a tall order, I do think these happy, calming illustrations can bring a bit of peace to everyone’s day! 

5. Where can people find you online? And do you have any future projects in the works that you can tease for us? 

You can find me on Instagram and TikTok, where I share my latest doodles, tips 'n tricks, and behind-the-scenes peeks into my creative process. As for future projects, I’m currently working on a video game, filled with cute characters! I can’t wait to share more soon!

Get out your pencils, markers and crayons and get ready to immerse yourself in the world of Japanese Kawaii cuteness and cool! The 124 whimsical and wonderful scenes, characters and vignettes in this book are yours to experience and transform. 

Perfect for all ages and abilities, and available now.

Congratulations on the success of Gamblers, Fraudsters, Dreamers & Spies! Can you tell us a little bit about your background and how the book came to be?

I have lived in Japan for 40 of the past 60 years. I first went to Japan in the early 60’s with the USAF. Stayed and went to Sophia University and then worked for Encyclopedia Britannica editorial. Then I wrote a book called The Chrysanthemum and the Bat about the respective cultures of the US and Japan through the lens of baseball—the national sport of both countries. Back then there was a nationwide telecast of Tokyo Giants games every night. Baseball was the only thing I could actually understand on TV, which helped me learn the language. 

I did a follow-up baseball book in 1989 called You Gotta Have Wa which became a best seller. The shady proprietor of an Italian restaurant in Tokyo I patronized approached me after having read Wa and told me his colorful life story about arriving in Japan after the war and getting involved on the black market with Japanese gangs. After extensive research, that story turned into Tokyo Underworld, which was a huge best seller in Japanese, hitting #1 on many Tokyo lists and optioned five times by Hollywood. 

I began working on a sequel about similar underworld characters I ran into along the way. I initially called it Tokyo Outsiders, but the title eventually became Gamblers, Fraudsters, Dreamers & Spies.

Give us a sense of what drew you to these colorful people and stories, and how you were able to obtain such detailed information about things that are usually hidden from plain sight. Is there a unifying theme or idea that you are seeking out?

Yes! Crime unifies people across cultures. It brings people of diverse backgrounds and languages together in the pursuit of profit. People like to talk about themselves and brag about their misdeeds, I discovered, if you approach them in the right way. Verifying all their tales took a lot of time, with countless visits to the library, the police, newspaper morgues — just constantly digging up characters from the past. Doable —  but time consuming!

Are there any particular characters or stories that struck a deeper chord for you in the process of researching and writing about them? Do you have any favorites?

One of my favorites is MK Taxi founder Sadao Aoki. He was an ethnic Korean who overcame discrimination to found a truly great Taxi company. He's the only person in the history of Japan to sue the Japanese government (over a taxi monopoly that fixed prices) and win. Another one is Carlos Ghosn — the arrested Nissan CEO who escaped from Japan in a music box.

How do you think your book will help western readers understand modern Japanese history?

Simply put, Japanese history can be very colorful and easy to read about and understand when presented through the prism of crime.

Thanks for your thoughtful answers, Robert! Where can people find you and your writing online?

People can find me on Substack at  Robert Whiting’s Japan, and on my website, Tokyo Junkie. I'm also active on X/Twitter and Facebook.

Critically acclaimed author and longtime Japan resident Robert Whiting turns his attention to the fascinating stories of foreigners who made waves and achieved notoriety in post-World War II Japan. In this rare insider's look at Japan through the eyes of foreigners, this book covers a fascinating swathe of Japanese history.

Available Now: Amazon | B&N | BAM | Bookshop

Find Us at Booth #606 at Boston Fan Expo 2024

Find Us at Booth #1807 at Baltimore Comic Con 2024

Find Us at Booth #3456 at New York Comic Con 2024

Explore our Comic-Con curated title selection online!

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Giveaways coming soon!

We're excited to release Hōjōki this week — a timeless and impressively relevant reflection on the concept of impermanence and the beauty to be found in nature. Author Matthew Stavros brings us a beautiful new translation of one of the earliest and best-known collections of Zen Buddhist poetry by the monk Kamo no Chōmei.

Check out some of the interiors and companion materials below, and head to your favorite bookstore to pick up a copy — or shop at this link!

May is Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and we are excited to celebrate brilliant AAPI authors and important AAPI themes all month long! Stay tuned to Tuttle channels (including this newsletter)for special features and giveaways throughout the month of May.

And take a peek at a few of our AAPI-centered titles below, or shop the whole collection at this link!

Tuttle is proud to release  the manga adaptation of Kokoro by Sōseki Natsume, Japan's foremost novelist. Kokoro is a timeless psychological study of a young man's deep alienation from society. The brilliant prose and universal themes of friendship, betrayal, and the struggle for meaning in a changing world — retold in the illustrative style of modern manga — are sure to engage a whole new generation of readers! 

Take a peek at the cover and interiors below, and then head to your favorite bookstore to pick up a copy... Or shop this title and many more at this link!

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Congratulations on the recent release of The Amazing Beasts of Philippine Mythology! This book really is a stunning showcase of artistry from all of the illustrators involved in the Ang Ink Artist’s Collective — plus it’s just so informative and fun to read! Can you start by telling us a little bit about yourselves, and about the Collective?

DF: Hi! I’m Dani Florendo. I am illustrator from Baguio City. 

DG: I’m Dani Go, a Filipino-Chinese illustrator based in Manila. 

And we’re illustrators from Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan. Ang INK or Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan is an organization of illustrators from the Philippines that advocates for the promotion of children's book and media illustration. We have been around for more than 30 years and still actively pursue our advocacy and work today.

Tell us about how this book came together, from the initial concept of the book to bringing all the illustrations and descriptions to life.

The book is actually a refresh of a project from 2009 that Ang INK worked on with a similar concept, It was called “Mga Tambay sa Tabi-Tabi: Creatures of Philippine Folklore." It started as an Ang INK exhibition of original artwork, which was eventually compiled and published. Like with this new book, each illustrator focused on a unique mythological creature and some of those same creatures that were in that book have been reinterpreted for this book. The main differences being that the creature catalog wasn’t as dense and it did not categorize them into types.

The book is a compendium of mythical creatures, from demons and dragons to ogres and vampires, and more! What are some of your favorite creatures, and why?

DF: Definitely the Berocca is still my favorite. I grew up with the concept of the “mu-mu” or an umbrella term for a scary monster. My teachers would tell me it’s a woman cut in half that eats unborn fetuses and punishes naughty children. I found out later that the image of said creature was the “manananggal." This entire project however taught me that with every different community and Indigenous group, we have our own version of the creature. I also have Ilocano blood so to find out my own community has its own version made me ecstatic...or horrified? I think this creature is the closest to what my teachers were talking about. Plus I was a picky and naughty eater so it made sense!

DG: I think one of the monsters I illustrated was interesting. It’s called the Mameleu and it’s a sea dragon with giant horns, glowing eyes and a tongue with hair-like spines! It sounds like our ancestors had an amazing imagination. Another notable one that I was terrified of as a kid (and even as an adult) is the Tiyanak, a demonic entity that masks itself as an orphaned baby to gain sympathy from its prey.

We love that the monsters range from cute and silly to creepy and disgusting! What kind of readers would most enjoy this book, and what do you hope they get out of it?

We think middle grade kids would really enjoy this. That’s the point in a child’s development when they start to geek out a lot about a multitude of things and are eager to dive into illustrated compendiums, anthologies, encyclopedias, and the like. You just want to see a lot of different things in one book and you get that with this book! The styles, stories, origins and creature types are so varied! 

It’s also for the kids at heart. Those who remember growing up with the stories of these amazing beasts of the archipelago will definitely love to see them illustrated in imaginative, comical, modern and cute ways. Beware of this creepy parade of creatures! 

DG: I hope that kids get inspired to look more into Philippine culture and create more stories using characters and creatures from our history and our mythology. I think that when I was growing up, the media around it wasn’t as developed and accessible, so a lot of my earlier influences were from American or Japanese books and comics. There wasn’t a lot of interest yet in creating books and comics around these topics, but today’s kids are lucky to have so many creators who can respect and refresh the source material!

Can you speak to the importance of including the bilingual text in each description, and how that can help with Tagalog language learning?

It’s kind of the norm for most of our local children’s books to include both languages at this point. I think they understand that bridging that gap between the languages will help kids here learn english and vice versa.

Not all of us grew up owning and reading a lot of the local children’s books. I imagine it works like any subject that a child finds themselves interested in. When they seek out content and realize that language will heighten their understanding of something, it makes learning much easier.

We remember that kids see books as companions and teachers as well, hence including the Tagalog language is to also promote speaking the national language among all Filipino children, whether they are based here or abroad!

At Tuttle we are huge fans of Philippine mythology in general, and it seems like there’s an almost endless array of stories and creatures to explore. Are there any other myths or legends that you hoped to include in the book but were unable to?

DG: I think this book has so much more than I would have ever managed to learn about on my own! I’m sure that different regions and tribes would have their own versions and descriptions for these creatures and it would be interesting to compare their distinctions. If I was to add other creatures, I would hope we had some form of “mandrake” creature that releases a deafening cry when it’s pulled out of the ground incorrectly. A demon ampalaya would be amazing.

DF: I would definitely like to explore the hierarchy of certain creature groups. I envision it more like a video game with their stats and what type they are. There are still numerous undocumented creatures from the farther communities in the country. I’m happy we at least have this documented so far so hopefully there will be more research to bring these creepy creatures out of the shadows and into the light.

A lot of Western readers might not be familiar with these Filipino myths. What would you like them to learn about Filipino culture through the illustrations and stories in the book?

DG: First and foremost, to appreciate the talent and the artistry that comes from here! Ang INK has been around for more than 30 years and only now have some of our members’ work been recognized by foreign countries and audiences. That means these stories are relevant and can connect to people of other cultures as well! I want more people to know how creative this country and its people are, and re-telling our myths and legends is a way of showing that.

DF: Our creatures are also reflections of our past. Major events like droughts, floods, harvest, and war that our country witnessed birthed these creatures. They usually become the reason for said events: be they evildoers or saviors. With that we get to learn more about us and how our country became what it is today.

Thanks so much for your thoughtful and insightful answers! Can you tell us about any upcoming projects that you and the Ang Ink Artists Collective are working on?

We are looking forward to our annual exhibition that will be happening in the latter part of the year at the Ayala Museum. Ang INK always plans a yearly exhibition and supports its members through participation in various art markets and organization-initiated workshops. 

We are working on organizing another INK fest, a mini fair that showcases the INKie’s talents through lectures, workshops, shows and mini markets. Stay tuned on our socials and website to get updated on these upcoming events! 

Lastly, we just opened membership applications for 2024, so if you are from the Philippines or a Filipino with a passion for illustration and anything Kidlit or media, we encourage you to join our community! 

As far as book projects go, we’re hoping that if the book gets traction, we could develop a second book with a new set of creatures and showcase the talents and imaginations of other INKies. Maybe explore other compilations and compendiums of Philippine culture, like profiles on the different islands and provinces, endemic flora and fauna, historical personas, and much more!

Meet the creepy creatures and amazing beasts from Philippine mythology!

Monsters and magical creatures spring vividly to life on every page of this book thanks to the exceptional artistic talents of some of Asia's leading children's book illustrators. 

Purchase your copy here!

PJ calls it "an exhilarating conversation with Andrew Keen, one of the most influential podcasters and writers in tech... One of my favorite conversations about the themes surrounding the book. Hope you’ll find it as stimulating to hear as I felt while we were talking."

Listen and subscribe to Andrew's podcast on Apple or Spotify, and watch the full interview below:

From Emmy-winner, Brazilian best-seller PJ Caldas, comes a story about immortality, martial arts and AI that will make you change the way you look at life, science, and the crazy times we are living in.

"A genre-bending masterpiece" —Booktrib

The Girl From Wudang is available now wherever fine books are sold, or right here.

Congratulations on the release of both Volumes of Learn Japanese With Manga! Tell us a bit about your journey of learning Japanese and then wanting to teach others, especially in book form.

Thank you so much! First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Marc Bernabe and I'm a professional translator of manga and anime mainly for the Spanish market in Spanish and Catalan, and I'm the author of the Learn Japanese with Manga series released by Tuttle. I'm very happy to do this interview and to have been given the chance to present these books, to tell you what they mean for me and how they can help you learn Japanese.

I started learning Japanese about 30 years ago in Barcelona, Spain. I was, and I still am, a big fan of manga and I have thousands of manga volumes at home. As a teenager, I loved to read manga and watch anime and I always had wanted to learn Japanese in order to understand these exciting books and shows in their original language. I eventually became a translator and now I win my bread thanks to my Japanese language learning experiences.

I always wanted to convey this passion to others, so I started writing a section about learning Japanese in an anime magazine. And what better way to learn Japanese if you like manga than to do it through these kinds of materials, right? This is why I created the Learn Japanese with Manga series. They have helped many Spanish speaking people (and also French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Catalan) learn Japanese. I'm very happy that the books are now getting an English language release.

Learning a language using manga is such an interesting concept! Can you speak to how manga as an art and literary form aids in language learning, especially as compared to more traditional methods?

Learning any language is always a very difficult task and I think one of the main points you have to keep in mind while doing it is to keep the motivation up. If you are not motivated, it will be really difficult to learn a language.

In the case of people who like manga, anime, and other forms of Japanese popular culture, I thought it was a very good way to use manga as a tool and an aid for learning. This is one of the main driving impulses that made me write these books: I wanted to offer a tool for people to really have fun while learning Japanese and help them keep the motivation up. This is very important and I think that with these books you can really do it.

What types of learners would most benefit from this manga approach?

I think you don't need to be a manga or anime fan to learn Japanese with the Learn Japanese With Manga series. Of course, if you already like manga, anime, and other forms of popular Japanese culture, then it is an obvious way to enter. But if you don't, it's not really a problem at all. The Learn Japanese With Manga books are aimed at anybody who has an interest in learning Japanese. It's quite an easy way to approach the language and to have fun while learning it.

This is very important because having fun while learning a language is essential. If you don't have fun, if it's very boring, then it can be really hard and difficult to keep the motivation up. I think these books are very helpful in this way as well.

What were the easiest and most difficult language lessons to turn into manga?

Actually, any matter can be challenging to teach using any certain tool. In this case I'm using manga, but I could just as well be using other resources such as anime or music or whatever.

All the lessons were difficult to express in a comprehensible and easy to understand way. In every lesson I try to explain a different part of the language, for example names, adjectives, verbs and so on. Every lesson has a central theme and I explain that theme thoroughly in the first pages. Then I use manga as examples to show how what we learned in the theory part of that lesson works actually in context. This is the method I’m using and I think it will be very helpful for many people. It certainly has with many people that have started learning Japanese thanks to this book in other languages such as Spanish or French.

Why do you think manga has become such a huge global phenomenon, and what important aspects of Japanese culture does it communicate?

I don't have a clear answer to why manga may have become such a global phenomenon, really. I think it might be because the stories they tell are very interesting to many kinds of readers. Young readers can find an interesting manga for them and adult readers can also find exciting stories for them.

Anybody can read manga and enjoy it, and there's a big market out there and there are many reading options, so I think this phenomenon deserves to be studied thoroughly. I don't have the right answer: it's just interesting, it's nice, it's exciting and that's the only thing I can manage to say in this short interview.

Of course, as a lot of manga are based in Japan and the action happens in Japan and many of the characters are Japanese, many Japanese situations will arise. People will remove their shoes when entering a house, they will eat their food with chopsticks, and they will do the hanami – the sakura cherry blossom viewing party – in April, and they will do many other Japanese things. We can see these situations in manga and we can learn Japanese culture through that, so it's a very interesting world to be in. I hope that with the Learn Japanese With Manga books you can also enter this fascinating world and learn a lot. Not only about the Japanese language, but also about Japanese culture and customs and way of life. It’s very interesting to learn about other cultures.

Learning a language can be a really long process, and I once heard someone compare learning Japanese to climbing Everest! Can you offer some guidance and encouragement to those who might be struggling to learn their target language, especially Japanese?

Yes, of course learning any language is hard, but as Westerners learning an Eastern language, Japanese is especially hard mainly because of the writing system. Because the writing system is so different, it's the hardest part of learning this language.

My guidance and encouragement would be to find your motivation. If you are not motivated enough to learn Japanese, then it's very difficult to continue learning the language. So try to find your motivation and cling to it. In my case, my motivation was my desire to read manga in Japanese, to watch anime in Japanese and to be able to communicate with Japanese people. So this is what kept me going while I learned the language: this was my driving impulse and I hope you can find yours. I actually think manga can be very much yours, so keep on! It's a good and proven way! Try and find your motivation, that's all.

What other books, audio, or resources can you recommend that have helped you in your language learning journey?

As I have told you before, I started learning Japanese about 30 years ago. I think the scene has changed a lot. Now you have several apps that are very useful, you have a lot of online resources and books. So my point of view could be very misleading nowadays.

Anyway, I have two recommendations of books that helped me a lot while I was learning the language. The first one is Remembering the Kanji by James W. Heisig. This is a very imaginative way to learn kanji.

And the second is a series of three books. The first one is called A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar, and then you have the Intermediate and Advanced ones. These three books are really useful while learning the grammar. Why do they use this or that expression and in which context, for instance.

These would be my recommendations, but I'm an old-timer so I think you may know better than me. Maybe you know a lot of apps like Midori or other apps or online resources that can help you better than these books. What I can say is that these books were very meaningful for me when I started 30 years ago.

We really appreciate this conversation and your thoughtful answers! Do you have any upcoming projects that you can tease for us?

Yes, I actually have written a lot of books in Spanish about Japanese culture and Japanese way of life and so on. My latest book was released in Spain some months ago. It’s called Destino Japón (Destination Japan) and it's a travel guide. I wrote it with three other authors. It was very hard work to write this guidebook and I'm very proud of it.

I love Japanese manga and anime and all these kinds of things, but I also love traveling through Japan. It's one of my passions, and writing this guidebook and giving my impressions of what I like about Japan and what kind of places I recommend to go and what kind of food I recommend to eat and so on has been very meaningful for me. So I hope in the future this guidebook will be also released in English and I hope you can all use it to travel to Japan and enjoy the country as much as I do.

You can purchase Learn Japanese With Manga Volumes 1 & 2 right now:

That's the name of  Pia Wurtzbach's debut novel, and it officially launched at last week's Manila International Book Fair. In case you're not familiar, Pia is a former Miss Universe and current entrepreneur, advocate, and global media personality with over 20 million followers online. And now, she's an international author! 

Here's our Director of Sales and Marketing, Laura Ferguson, announcing Tuttle's partnership with this amazing author and her exciting new book:

The book is already generating plenty of buzz! Just check out Pia's glittering Instagram page where she shares post after post of book praise in her Stories.

And nowhere was the buzz more palpable than at last week's Manila International Book Fair, where hundreds of fans crowded around Pia to hear more about her book and its main character, Cleo. About her protagonist, Pia had this to say: "Cleo is loosely based on my life story, but as you go through the chapters, you will see that she embarks on her own unique journey. It’s not entirely me. We have different paths to explore. I’ll leave it up to you to discover when you read the book."

(photo via @piawurtzbach)

Check out this great carousel from Pia's page — and be sure to read the second-to-last slide! We have a feeling this is only the beginning of Pia's journey as an author, and Cleo's journey as a character.

We wish Pia Wurtzbach all the success in the world as her book releases now in the Philippines and everywhere else this November!

What happens when climbing the ladder of success means compromising everything you believe in…including yourself?

Queen of the Universe, the debut novel by Pia Wurtzbach, gives a window into the hidden rungs of that ladder, and on the pain that comes with slipping and falling.

Releases November 7 — Preorder Now!