“Kiku” is a Japanese word for listen. It is comprised of smaller characters that together, as my guest Haru Yamada puts it, “generate the secret alchemy of listening: an ear 耳 on the left and fourteen 十四 hearts 心 on the right …conjuring a person listening with the energy of fourteen hearts.”
Think for a moment what it means to listen with the energy of fourteen hearts…
Haru Yamada is a self-described global nomad and sociolinguist who loves thinking and writing about how people talk and listen across cultures. Her book, 聴くKIKU The Japanese Art of Good Listening was released in the UK in March 2025, and in the US in October 2025. You can find her Sounds Good writing on Substack at @haruyamada.
Theme music by Sean Balick. ”Wahre” by Cloud Harbor via Blue Dot Sessions.
