Bon Odori: Buddhist summer festival of the dead, which honors ancestors.

chonan: The eldest son who usually inherited all family property and traditionally, was responsible for the care of his elderly parents.

daimyo: A feudal lord.

gaijin: Foreigner.

Issei: First-generation Japanese immigrant in America.

koto A Japanese harp or zither.

mon: Family crest.

Nihonjin: Japanese person(s).

Nikkei: A person of Japanese ancestry.

Nisei: American-born children of Japanese immigrants; second-generation Japanese Americans.

odori: Dance; dancing.

samurai: Japanese warrior or military class during feudal times in Japan.

shamisen: A Japanese instrument, similar to a banjo.

soroban: Abacus; calculator.

yogore: Dirt, filth, soil; derogatory term.

yoshi: An adopted son; a son-in-law; a man who marries the eldest daughter in a family without sons and is adopted into her family to carry on the family name.