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

Issei: First-generation Japanese immigrant in America.

judo: A form of Jujitsu developed as a sport and a means of self-defense without the use of weapons.

katakana: The Japanese alphabet, written with a square style.

kenjinkai: Association of people who came from the same prefecture in Japan.

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

sake: Japanese liquor; rice wine.

shoji: A translucent sliding panel of rice paper on a wooden frame, used in Japanese homes as a partition or door.

sukiyaki: A Japanese dish of thinly sliced meat, onions, and other vegetables cooked quickly, often at table, with soy sauce, sake, sugar, etc.

yen: The basic monetary unit of Japan.