Kiku: The Japanese Art of Good Listening

Listening connects us to others and the world around us. Learn how to harness its power in this life-changing new book.

Drawing on the Japanese concept of 'kiku', sociolinguist and listening expert Haru Yamada shares a transformational guide to becoming better listeners in our daily life. Kiku is a particular type of listening that goes beyond the superficial. It is a deep listening that brings us together.

Kiku offers a brand-new insight into the art of listening and an informative roadmap to help you to listen with intention and meaning in your daily interactions. Once you understand how hearing and listening work, you'll start noticing your own. You will gain a deeper understanding of the world. You'll read rooms better because you'll be reading more deeply between the lines of the people around you. Kiku is an essential guide to unlocking the power of listening in your relationships, at work and at home, and in the wider world around you.

Review

Kiku--listening with fourteen hearts-is as powerful as the metaphor is beautiful. Combining expertise in the field of linguistics with deep knowledge of Japanese language and culture, Haru Yamada shows that you're already listening in many different ways. Understanding those differences, you can harness and hone the skills you have, to better connect with your own inner voice and the people you talk to. -- Deborah Tannen, Distinguished University Professor, Georgetown University and author of You Just Don’t Understand

About the Author

Haru Yamada is a sociolinguistics researcher and writer with a PhD from Georgetown University. Haru's life mission is to champion listening, in many ways enforced by a serious accident which left her nearly deaf and with a lifelong hearing disability. Her goal is to make listening a thoughtful part of everyday practice. She currently lives in London with her French partner, two multilingual, biracial, multicultural children in a hybrid working, bigenerational home.