The collection reveals copious ways in which the Japanese try to usher in luck, wealth, and good harvests. They offer sacred mochi to the gods. Flattening it brings longevity, eating it on a kid's first birthday helps the child grow, and coloring mochi red repels evil. People rely on fortune telling, using everything from palms, blood types, and facial features to birth dates, dreams, and even the shape of lingering snow. Folks treat certain birthdays as auspicious, thanks to visual wordplay with kanji. Finally, because turtles symbolize luck and longevity, people use 亀 (turtle) in shop names.

These essays show how the Japanese spot omens in small details. If a sandal thong breaks, that portends doom, such as death or an accident. When a product logo slopes to the right, the item alarmingly symbolizes economic decline. To stave off misfortune, people take measures: After lightning strikes, they chant to ward off bad luck. When a party must end, a host announces this euphemistically, avoiding words that suggest separation or divorce. People associate the 水 of 水曜日 (Wednesday) with a term for "to be canceled," so realtors typically take Wednesdays off to avoid having contracts canceled.

As this bundle shows, ingrained religious and spiritual beliefs drive Japanese superstitions. Prohibitions around chopstick usage govern table manners (e.g., believing that crossing chopsticks symbolizes death). Gods and people are thought to eat together, and the ends of chopsticks are associated with the divine. Thunder might be a divine scolding, and lightning prompts people to use protective amulets. After nightmares, repeating an incantation supposedly makes a supernatural being eat the dream so it won't come true. Women refrain from visiting a certain Japanese island; not only is the land sacred but the ground itself is a Shinto god.

These essays show how Japan excels in hospitality. From swanky accommodations for VIPs to banquets and wedding receptions, Japanese hosts make everyone feel like guests of honor. You'll learn about traditional restaurants that resemble large, understated houses and that are so expensive that some Japanese people may never dine in one. You'll find out about banquets, where each course comes on its own tray and where the contents, layout, sequence, and placement of each tray on the table are predetermined. And you'll discover the formality and elegance of dining on trays, which is unthinkable in the West.

When it comes to equipment for everyday dining in Japan, there are abundant choices. From saucers to soup bowls to share plates, dish designs vary. Dining tables can be so low that people must sit on cushions or tatami mats. Trays for presenting goodies vary depending on whether they're for cakes, other sweets, or tea. And chopstick styles differ according to whether they're for cooking or for a man, woman, or child. Chopstick etiquette is paramount, and the staggering number of chopstick no-nos drives home the concept of copious possibilities, so many of them wrong!

These essays teach vocabulary for home furnishings (futons, beds, tables, desks, chairs, and shelves) and flooring. Two essays explore the alcove known as a tokonoma. You'll also learn the figurative meanings of "putting away bedding" and "flipping over a table." Beyond that, you'll discover terms for "clinical," "power struggle," "barbershop," "putting plans on ice," "position of authority in a government or company," and "hotbed of crimes," even delving into matters of floor area, dentures, air circulation, windfalls, faultfinding, Bon offerings to ancestors, trellises, hospital size, theater stages, a Guinness world record, round-table conferences, and dining platforms across rivers.

With these four kanji, you can lose yourself: You can put your heart and soul into pursuing a goal. You can become so passionate that you're obsessed. You can become intoxicated by an onsen or fascinated by music—even drunk on your own charms. You can admire a teacher so much that you're hopelessly devoted. Is all of this positive or negative? On the plus side, a fanatical mindset enables you to create elaborate things, feel deeply, commit fully, and master skills. On the minus side, you will likely annoy others as you slide into monomania and perfectionism!

The Japanese accessorize in ways that no one else does. Find out about shoes made of rice straw or wood, umbrellas made of paper and oil, and handheld fans in the military. Then there's the figurative take on these items, including expressions about sheltering children, inciting people, padding numbers, and wearing two hats (but in Japan they're shoes!). The shapes of umbrellas, folding fans, and straw sandals have also sparked people's creativity; see what the Japanese perceive as having similar silhouettes!

Collars, hats, and sleeves can help you make bold fashion statements. These essays show how the Japanese have accomplished that with both traditional clothing and Western styles. Figurative takes on these four kanji astonish even more. Collars are associated with heart-to-heart talks. Hats help you say that you admire someone. The foot of a mountain is figuratively its hem. As such, 裾 can represent "extent of something" and "outskirts," even symbolizing the edge of a coral reef. And sleeves are connected with leaders, passivity, coldness to people, and destiny, plus the wings of buildings, stages, and desks.

Land encircles water in various ways, and each essay in this collection spotlights a different shape of that sort: (1) an elongated body of water that's parallel to the coast and set off by islands or reefs, (2) a narrow place where the sea comes a long way into the land, (3) a circular atoll that is the rim of an extinct underwater volcano, and (4) a portion of ocean partly enclosed by land. These essays focus on famous places (e.g., Niigata, Edo, and Taiwan), explaining how those names connect to certain bodies of water.

Japan boasts a complex coastline, and as these essays show, that's for better and for worse. The numerous capes jutting out into the sea have caused disastrous shipwrecks, one of which exposed inequity that sparked outrage in Japan. But this island nation also abounds in winding beaches, and those gentle curves have influenced the designs of everything from pottery and furniture to family crests. The endpoints of the main islands beckon to tourists who want to visit the southernmost point, for instance. The outline of one cape as seen from space even gave rise to a popular song.