We've had the good fortune of being befriended by a delightful lady who has been the Japanese-section manager of Sophia Books, a multi lingual-multimedia bookstore in Vancouver, BC Canada. Kiyoko Tibbets has become and remains a tremendous support and friend in supplying much information on the Japanese Temari books, and while Sophia does not have an online secure server, you can get in touch with them in various ways to place an order. Knowing the difficulty of obtaining Japanese books here in North America, Kiyoko has continued to provide lots of info with the request to share it here on TemariKai.  Click here for the current availability  and price list.   Sophia Books is that wonderful kind of shop that I sure wish we still had around ...

        The inventory of Japanese Temari books varies of course, depending on demand and the shipments from Japan. They have been getting more difficult to obtain, but Kiyoko has told us that since there appears to be such a growing interest and following of Temari in North American and Europe now, she is hoping that the Japanese publishers will do some more production runs of the Temari books. This connection with Sophia is  one of the the best ways to obtain any of the Japanese books - purchasing through Sophia Books is very easy even though they don't handle online ordering. You may contact the Sophia staff and your order will be mailed to you via Canadian Post (I think this is called "good old fashioned personal service")....   book prices are standard publishers' list, and US price depends on the current exchange value on US versus Canadian dollars.

How to order directly from Sophia Books:
        It's a simple process to place an order directly with Sophia Books from outside of Canada  You do not have to go through a third party bookstore here in the US or other country to place an order - and in fact if you do you may well incur additional markup charges at the local store you are requesting to place the order for you. Sophia's is a regular retail store ready to serve you and ordering is safe and easy.
        Kiyoko is now (Summer 2008) in semi-retirement and at the store on Sundays, but Masumi and Yuki are on hand to help out, as well. Everyone is familiar with Temarikai.com and TalkTemari. One of these ladies will reply to you as soon as they can, without needing to wait for Sunday when Kiyoko is in the store. Here is how:

• Either email info@sophiabooks.com (or use postal mail) Sophia Bookstore with your order information: the books you desire, your name, email address, postal mailing address, and phone number where you can be reached during normal business hours Pacific Standard Time. Sophia Bookstore hours are M-F 9am to 7pm, Sat 10am - 7pm, Sundays/holidays 12pm-6pm (Pacific Standard Time)
• When you are advised of the total amount of your order, you can submit credit card information in various secure ways. DO NOT include full credit card information in one email (if ordering by postal mail or fax, ok). The safer thing to do is to send part of the account number in one email and then the remainder with the expiration date in a second email. Or, you can phone or fax your information.
• Supplying your phone number is most important since if needed, Kiyoko, Yuki or Masumi  will call you to confirm your order and to arrange payment.  Please be sure to address either form of note to the attention of Kiyoko/Masumi/Yuki re: TEMARI  in the subject line of the email, or note an ATTN: Kiyoko/Masumi/Yuki/TEMARI on the lower left corner of the envelope if you send a postal note.
• Your order will be confirmed by email (or a postal note if you are not email enabled). Which ever way you choose, it is preferable to receive a written order from you either by email, mail or fax - this way there is much less chance of errors in spellings of names, etc.
• Please note that Masumi and Yuki are available to help us out in addition to Kiyoko;  it may still take a few days for them to get back to you, especially if they need to research your order, but rest assured that they will.
  

        One sticky item that sometimes gets things garbled is book titles - very often in conversation those of us on the list will "nickname" a book which of course does not have much meaning to anyone else, but even when using translations of titles, translations can vary. Kiyoko advises to always identify the books you desire by the ISBN number... this is a universal language in the book world.  Even for a book published in Japanese the ISBN number will be in Arabic numerals. (The only excpetions are older books published prior to the ISBN system being initiated). The cross reference  listing of Japanese books with English title translations we enjoy is due in great part to Kiyoko's efforts - and we give her our gratitude for this; it's still preferable to order by ISBN number.

        You can find more information about all of the known-to-us Japanese Temari books on the Temarikai.com  Japanese Book Listing  -

Important note: The TK listing is meant to be as complete a reference of all known books as is possible. In addition to active titles, it includes older out-of-print books as well as commemorative (that are often limited editions/privately published) books which generally are no longer/not available through standard publishing distributors. In some cases (both instructional and commemorative), books that are out of print may be found on the secondary/auction markets, both in Japan and the US. Depending on demand, Japanese publishers do return books to limited printings, so stocks available can change. The Temarikai.com listings indicate if the book is known to be out of print or privately published; please be aware of the status of any book and relevant availability limits thereof. if a book is out of print or privately published, it can't be obtained through standard distributor services even by sources that do accomodate special orders.