Oh, crud, I just realized that I’ve been reincarnated into my favorite manga as the first boss defeated by the heroine at the start of the story!Worst yet, it turns out my fiancé is the strongest of the Four Grand Magi and the very villain who slanders my character as a disgrace on her deathbed! I’m outta here!This is the story of the weakest manga villainess who seeks out the slow life instead of the villain life.

Mia and Prince Fernand are tying the knot! Though eager to attend her sister's wedding, Philia is apprehensive about returning to Girtonia, the land that sold her away. Her fears prove justified when the nuptials are interrupted by Erza announcing a demon has infiltrated the castle! Even worse, the disgraced Prince Julius seems to have a hand in this newest mess. But nothing can compare to the greatest shock of all--when they finally face off against this demonic foe, Philia finds she cann...

The theme of issue 172 is "Gazing Deeply into Our Sacred Consciousness." In The Power of Our Beliefs, Masami Saionji discusses how looking within ourselves and believing in our true self enables us to awaken our divine spark. Also features a report on Fuji Sanctuary's 100th online prayer gathering, and new chapters from Masahisa Goi's books Endless Life, Essays on the Bible, Vol. 2, and Anan, Book 2.

You Can Change the World: The Global Citizen's Handbook for Living on Planet Earth should be required reading for anyone who cares about the future of the planet. Written by renowned scientist, futurist and Club of Budapest founder Ervin Laszlo, You Can Change the World answers two pertinent questions-first, what is at the root of all the conflict and crisis in today's world? And second, what can actually be done to move toward a world where we can live in peace, without marginalizing and ...

Thanks to her deal with Roselia, Ellie is now in possession of the precious material she needs to craft a weapon capable of defeating her most powerful enemy—Bulat, the God of Thunder. Most blacksmiths aren’t skilled enough to work with the tricky thunder dragon horn that’ll serve as the base of her new rapier, but Ellie isn’t worried. She has the perfect person in mind: Gaien the Divine Artisan, one of the members of the empire’s Merchants’ Guild Council. She and her group head to the cit...

What started as a half-serious "perfect husband" checklist turns into a royal engagement!Stacy climbed her way up to the top of the church as a powerful saintess--but in a male-dominated society, her cruel father just sees her as marriage material for political gain. Tired of being treated like a pawn, she comes up with a solution: a list of 8 unreasonable, non-negotiable, and self-indulgent conditions for any potential husband. That way, no one will possibly quali...

Queer Intimacies and Cultural Dissent in Japanese Life: Quiet Subversion offers an intimate cartography of LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, and others) expression across contemporary Japan.Featuring over 100 profiles of activists, artists, politicians, scholars, theologians, manga creators, and media figures, this book introduces “quiet subversion” as a methodological framework for understanding how dissent operates through ambiguity, relatio...

This book presents the fundamentals of the separation mechanism of the environmentally benign polymer-based aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) and applications of ATPS to separation and/or enrichment of inorganic compounds with batch extraction and chromatographic techniques. It first describes the structures of the aqueous polymer phases formed in the ATPS. Then the effect of the background electrolyte on the distribution of ionic solutes is discussed. A subsequent chapter shows the applica...

This book offers a comprehensive exploration of the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ individuals in Japan, framed through the central concept of precarious visibility. While the COVID-19 pandemic serves as a pivotal case study, the scope of this work extends beyond that moment to examine how legal precarity, entrenched cultural expectations, and pervasive social stigma shape queer lives in Japan and abroad. Drawing on rich first-person narratives and qualitative analysis, the book illuminates t...

Cultures of Modernity and the U.S.-Japan Cold War Alliance reconsiders the origins of postwar U.S.-Japan relations by focusing on “modernization” ideologies that the Americans and the Japanese shared in the 1940s–early 1950s. Mobilizing a wealth of English and Japanese-language sources, the author identifies parallel groups of modernist thinkers in America and Japan – including politicians, bureaucrats, intellectuals, scholars, and journalists – and follows how different strands o...

Everything is a result of the choices we have made. At any moment, by changing our consciousness and changing our choices, we can change our life into a happier one. Everything comes down to the choices we make in this moment. — Masami SaionjiOur life is comprised of a series of choices and decisions made day by day and moment by moment, and every choice we face presents a new fork in our path. In this collection of talks delivered in 2004, Masami Saionji untangles the web of influ...

Arguably one of the most iconic mega-cities in Asia, Tokyo, the capital of Japan, plays an important economic and cultural role. It has been featured in various media as a liveable city with a well-developed public transport system. Yet, what international media coverage often misses out are its unique neighbourhoods and districts. Known as kaiwai, they are scattered in a mosaic from downtown Tokyo to its suburbs, exemplifying a type of urbanism wholly unique to Asia and foreshadowing a fu...