Showing results by narrator "Clay Boutwell" in All Categories

Meet the oni. Horns on his head, a huge body, an iron club in his hand, and a great fondness for sake. Japanese children know him before they can read. He is the one who is "it" in a game of tag, and a harsh, cold person is said to be "like an oni." But the oni turns out to be far more...

Meet the kappa. Green, about the size of a small child, with a shell on its back and a dish of water balanced on its head. It turns up in warnings about swimming in rivers, in the name of a sushi roll, and in a proverb about how even an expert can come unstuck. This first volume of Learn Japanese with Yokai uses the kappa to carry you through three readings in real Japanese. First, a guide to the creature itself. What a kappa looks like, where it lives, why it loves cucumbers, and why a Japanese speaker might call a strong swimmer a kappa.

The Trolley Cart is Akutagawa Ryūnosuke's short story トロッコ (Torokko), written in 1922. An eight-year-old boy named Ryōhei watches the workers on a half-built railway near Odawara push their little open carts uphill and ride them down. He wants nothing in the world so much as to push one. One afternoon two young workers say yes, and the ride goes farther than he ever meant it to. Japanese schoolchildren have read this story for generations.

Two of Japan's most beloved folktales—and more than two hours of guided listening built to make real Japanese finally click. An old man keeps a pet sparrow he loves like a child. His sharp-tongued wife has other feelings—and one afternoon, over a bowl of spilled starch, she does something cruel. What happens when the old man goes looking for his little friend, and what he chooses to carry home, has been teaching Japanese children about kindness and greed for centuries.

Meet Chiyo-ni. A morning glory has wound itself around her well bucket overnight. Rather than tear it off, she goes next door to borrow water. That single act, and the seventeen sounds she wrote about it, made her one of the most loved poets Japan has ever produced. Fukuda Chiyo-ni was born in 1703, widowed young, and became a Buddhist nun in her fifties. She wrote right up to her death poem at seventy-three. Her haiku are small, kind, and often funny, and they are written in the real Japanese of three hundred years ago. This audiobook teaches you twenty-five of them, whole.

Meet the tengu. Long nose, red face, the robes of a mountain ascetic, and a fan that raises a great wind. He guards the deep mountains, flies, disappears under a straw cloak, and taught the ninja everything they know. His name is also what a Japanese speaker reaches for when someone has grown too pleased with himself. This second volume of Learn Japanese with Yokai. First, a guide to the creature himself. What a tengu looks like, the mountains he lives in, the powers he is said to have, and the scroll he hands a student who finishes training.

Finally, a fun and easy way to learn REAL conversational Japanese! We believe the best way to learn vocabulary - by far - is to study words within their proper context. The dialogues found herein are all about context and how Japanese is actually used among friends and new acquaintances. Each dialogue has three tracks associated with it. The "Japanese dialogues" are all recorded by native voice actors and actresses.

This complete Audiobook is designed to not require the e-book or paperback. Improve your Japanese listening comprehension while walking the dog, driving in your car, or while cooking dinner.

Learn Japanese vocabulary while listening to the stories of Momotaro and Usagi to Kame (Tortoise and the Hare). For upper beginners of Japanese and higher.

For beginning to intermediate students of Japanese. Listen and learn Japanese with two well-known Japanese folktales: "Inch-high Samurai" and "Kaguya-hime", the Moon Princess. The first is about a tiny, yet brave samurai who ends up saving a princess and seeing his wish come true. The second story is the famous moon-princess Kaguya, who was found in a bamboo stalk. "Kaguya-hime" is one of the oldest Japanese tales and perhaps the world’s first science-fiction story.

An anonymous telegram introduces Carl Brooke to both his future wife and her conflicted brother, who harbors a dark secret from the Civil War. The discovery of a deliberately cut tree reveals the presence of a mysterious one-legged man and the possible reemergence of Carl's nemesis, Thomas Drake. 

A string of thefts ends in a grisly murder. Certain evidence leads Captain Barnwell to suspect a former thief, Rutherford Nordlinger, as the culprit. Carl Brooke becomes personally involved as Nordlinger’s guilt is questioned. In the style of Arthur Conan Doyle, Clay Boutwell brings back the Agora Society and its premiere scholar, Carl Brooke. This is the second novella in the Agora series, the first being Two Tocks Before Midnight.

Akira Tanaka's past as an undercover agent in Tokyo's underworld has caught up with his present. Now he must find out who kidnapped his only daughter, and why. Can he rescue her before it's too late? The lives of a father, a daughter, and a yakuza's daughter are all intertwined in this fast-paced 7,500 word short story. This is the first in a series of thrilling adventures featuring Tanaka.

It is 1890. In the twilight of his years, Carl Brooke records his reminiscences as a member of the Agora Society. Each letter describes the society's involvement in solving a crime, often coming to the aid of Captain Barnwell of the Boston police.

Finally, a fun and easy way to learn REAL conversational Japanese! This was created for upper beginners of Japanese. Due to the natural speed of the conversations, those brand new to Japanese may find it challenging. This is a standalone product. You don't need anything written to review before, during, or after listening to At the Restaurant. However, we do sell the ebook companion with more grammatical explanations, all vocabulary, and all the dialogues from this audiobook.

Carl Brooke, a scholar of ancient Near Eastern languages, now spends his twilight years chronicling the adventures of his youth as a leading member of the Agora Society, a society dedicated to the betterment of man. Fans of Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot will enjoy Carl Brooke and his Agora Society in these five very different cases.

A woman enters the Boston Police Department, presenting to Sergeant Sully a bloodied knife and a confession that she had committed murder. The body was indeed discovered where she said it would be, and the knife was confirmed to be the murder weapon. Only one problem with her story: She could not have done it.

Join Carl Brooke and Captain Barnwell on their final adventure together. Reeling from the horrific pain of the loss of Anne, his wife, Carl Brooke must face his ultimate nemesis, Thomas Drake. Did Drake play a hand in Anne’s death? Can Carl stop Drake before he harms his daughter, Mary?

An art critic is brutally murdered, and the subject of his last review is suspected. Did the artist do it, or was it one of the family members - all of whom had motive and opportunity? Join Carl Brooke and Captain Barnwell as they uncover the clues and weed through the red herrings to discover the surprising identity of the murderer.

Captain Barnwell, a longtime honorary member of the Agora Society, presents to the members a solved case one clue at a time. Three suspects. One murderer. Who is the murderer and why?