As these essays show, people's relationships to insects run the gamut. Mosquitoes annoy, bite, or even kill us, so we repel them. The beloved firefly has inspired poems, songs, paintings, tourism, and firefly parks. Bugs play key roles in "The Tale of Genji," famous manga, one film, and photographs. Insects also serve as food; the Japanese eat locusts and bee larvae, as well as honey (which can become wine and medicine). But bee stings hurt badly, so there's that! Finally, insects have given rise to fun Japanese figurative language about ephemerality, hard work, and much more, as many quizzes reveal!

A Facebook friend posted pictures of once-gorgeous actors with wrinkled, dried-up faces. His caption: "Moisturize, people!" These essays convey the same message. The ones on 肌　and 膚 provide a primer on skin, including terms for dermatological problems, ads for onsen water that exfoliates skin, a photo of skin-friendly soap, and phrases likening skin to mochi, snow, and eggs. Essay 1757 also cites Confucian ideals about not damaging skin, and an essay 1704 quiz asks what color Japanese people think they are. Essay 1528 focuses on dehydration, including that of skin. And essay 1379 showcases marketing copy about moisturizers.

These essays are practically meant to be read together. Sizable passages in essays 1233, 1837, and 2009 differentiate 誇, 慢, and 傲. The bundle presents positive types of pride, including healthy self-regard, restaurant signs about proudly serving noodles, and pride in one's college, hometown, historical buildings, or advances such as the Shinkansen. The collection also shows how the Japanese condemn arrogance, boasting, hyperbole, and ostentation, an aversion originating with a Buddhist view of pride as a "poison." Because 玩 has to do with toying with others, essay 1982 also touches on arrogance multiple times.

The longer you live, the more shame you suffer, says an old Japanese proverb. Shame can involve feeling exposed. The Japanese experience deep embarrassment about misusing words (and kanji!). The exposure might be literal; essays 1572 and 2031 mention how evacuees feel when fleeing a disaster naked. Indeed, the body provokes much shame; essay 1572 features a shocking quiz with恥 (shame) in five genital-related words. Shame has its own body language. Essay 1212 on 肩 presents a common term related to shoulder position and shame, and essay 2100 discusses shame-filled, head-on-the-floor prostration when apologizing for a grave error.

Do these kanji frighten you? After all, they overlap considerably. You could render おそれる (to fear) with all four characters, and people often use 恐 and 怖 interchangeably to convey myriad fears (e.g., of business risks). But this bundle makes important distinctions. You'll see that 恐 connects to respect (e.g., for Nature's power), politeness, financial crises, and uncertainty about the future. The essay on 怖 explores uniquely Japanese phobias. Meanwhile, 虞 expresses concern and caution in the face of threats. And 惧 mainly relates to endangered entities (species, occupations, or railways) and the fear of extinction.

This bundle provides a solid introduction to manga, especially essay 1838, with its definitions of "manga" and related vocabulary, a manga history, a list of manga genres, and explanations of the symbols used in these cartoons. Essay 1238 supplies essential context about the history of amusement in Japan, including a manga magazine. Essay 2113 discusses the sudden rise of the manga and anime subcultures in the 1970s, which led to classic works inspired by Osamu Tezuka, who started the so-called manga revolution. And essay 1630 showcases Shigeru Mizuki's epic manga about World War II, with translations of four panels.

Japanese calligraphy reflects the state of an artist's mind, spirit, and body. In one novel, a character studies her father's brushstrokes to assess his health. Applying ink to paper is soulful; one leaves behind traces of oneself that way. As essay 1821 shows, Zen has influenced sumi-e (ink paintings). That essay examines calligraphy and sumi-e from all angles, as do the other essays to some degree, including the way to liquefy inksticks (a meditative practice), the red marks with which teachers correct calligraphy, the vermilion stamps that serve as calligraphers' signatures, and the significance of bold strokes versus diluted ones.

This bundle is a masterclass in the artistic mindset. Essay 1290 celebrates vibrant colors, whether for painting with watercolors or oil or for designing spaces. Essay 1388 explores traditional craftsmanship, particularly highlighting the beauty of Japanese carpentry and the rigors of apprenticing for ages to master a skill. Essay 1590 covers several fields, from carving wood, making sculptures, and engraving metal to creating traditional tattoos that form a complete picture over much of the body. Essay 1965 extols the virtues of extreme detail, especially in doing elaborate drawings that bring dreamworlds to life with extraordinary realism.

These four kanji are practically symbiotic. The verb 嗅ぐ takes 香り, 臭い, and 匂い as direct objects. Although people usually reserve 臭い for stenches and 匂い for fragrances, these words (both におい) can be interchangeable. Each could convey that something "smacks of" a quality. Whereas 臭い can mean that a man looks suspicious, as if he "smells of" a crime, 嗅 enables people to sniff out crimes! Three of the kanji have ties to religion, and with 香 as "incense," that connection is strong.

From the eyebrows to the lips, we express emotions nonverbally by twitching parts of the face, blushing, or smiling. Learn how the Japanese use 眉 (eyebrow) in terms related to worry, melancholy, relief, and disapproval. Read about charming perceptions of facial structure; an eyebrow is an "eave" for the eye, and other parts are metaphorical girders, vehicles, and gates. Discover rich idioms, such as "scorched eyebrows" and "fox pups have white cheeks," and see how the Japanese associate certain facial parts with exhaustion, delicious food, ordering others around, travel expenses, and long-term financial considerations.

Storms produce down-to-earth concerns about when the rain will begin, the damage to crops and buildings, and more. Such grounded thinking permeates these essays. But they also include wildly fanciful beliefs: lightning impregnates rice, thunder is a scolding from a god who might wield a hammer, and a chant or a charm affords protection from lightning. Weather inspires copious metaphors, such as "political storm," "tempest in a teapot," and "thunderous applause." There's also 花に嵐 (inevitable storm that blossoms have to face); literally, it knocks off blossoms, and figuratively it means that one is bound to encounter difficulties.

Buddhist views of impermanence once influenced words for "fragile life," words that include 浮. Later, a fear of death inspired living hedonistically in the "floating world"; related terms again feature 浮 (as "transient"). Because bubbles vanish without a trace, 泡 figures into words for "short-lived company" and "fringe candidate" (one who quickly disappears). Dreams (夢) slip away every day, and several words for "fleeting" combine 泡 and 夢. Similarly, dew evaporates, and one famous poem likens the poet's vanishing life to dew (露) and compares his world to a dream (夢).