Greetings from J-List December 31, 1997

Well, it's time to fire up your web browsers, everyone, because I got back from Tokyo last night with the proverbial "car full of dojinshi." It was a very fun and educational trip this time around, and I have more photos and comments right here. Incidentally, if you ever want to see old pages containing pictures from Japan I've posted over the months, see my personal homepage for an archive.

I had fun this year, buying a lot of stuff, trying as much as possible to get as many of a given item as possible. It was tiring, and crowded, and hectic, but it was also great to be there in the heart of the Dojinshi movement. The new items are up as you read this, and there should be no problems with bad links or anything. So let the dojinshi wars begin!

When checking out the new items, please do scroll all the way down to the bottom of the dojinshi. In addition to many items that had been "sold" (but that we had extras of), there are some major bargains waiting for you (i.e., $5 and the like) on items that we still have too many in stock of. Thanks.

Want a gorgeous, large-size calendar of one of the most popular ladies of J-List? (No, it's not Kaori.) Check out the calendars page for some more ridiculous deals as I try to get rid of the last of the calendars.

New Years' is a very important time here in Japan, a season when you greet the coming year with a positive attitude. "Big cleaning" is done all through the house on the 30th and 31st, and everything is made as clean as it can be. New shoji paper is put on the doors (my wife did this today), and new toothbrushes are bought. Finally, on the evening of the 31st, it's customary to eat toshi-koshi soba or buckwheat noodles for crossing into the New Year.

Note that Japan will basically shut down until the 5th of January. We'll be here, of course, but the post office will be completely closed. We apologize for any inconveniences in mailing of packages.

Greetings from J-List December 25, 1997

Merry Christmas to all of you, or Merry Christmas Eve, at least, depending on what part of the world you're in. All of us at J-List sincerely hope that you have a wholesome and good Christmas with family, friends and loved ones this year.

Tonight we have a bunch of new products for you. First and foremost, there are a bunch of new magazines and shashinshus, including more copies of the popular Lewd Flower hardcover photobook (Chiasa fans take note), and one very original item on the shashinshus page. There videos on the Video Warehouse pages -- about 100 new videos, actually, that are available right now, without any waiting, with great videos by Kanazawa Bunko, Ozawa Madoka and others in. Also new to J-List are a cache of new Video CDs, including a Video CD version of Madoka Ozawa's "Kaguya Hime II" DVD title

Have you gotten a chance to enjoy JAST USA's excellent (IMHO) game, Season of the Sakura? If not, this is a good time for you to pick up your copy. Since we're a bit overstocked, we're reducing the price by $5 on this title. Coupled with the free shipping you get if you order anything else on J-List pages (even a CD single from the JPOP page), this makes for a real substantial savings. If you want to see more about JAST USA's interactive anime games, see the Games page, or check out JAST USA.

Although Christmas isn't even a holiday here in Japan, we're giving Kaori and Tomoe the day off to spend time with their friends/boyfriends. (Alas, they do have boyfriends...) I'll be manning the computers off and on over Christmas, but if you've got email into us and don't get a reply, please be patient and I'll get to you as soon as I can.

Once again, Merry Christmas to all.

Greetings from J-List December 22, 1997

J-List's Christmas Present to everyone has arrived early, in the form of -- a massive update for you!
First and foremost, we've got a bunch of nice ones, including hot new issues of Bejean, Suppin and Dela Beppin, to add to the recent new magazine arrivals of last week.

But it's near the end of the year, and that means it's a time to do "O-soji" or "big cleaning, and take stock of what we have. We've uncovered a a huge number of magazines, CD ROMs and shashinshus that had not been posted to the list. We've got multiple copies of popular magazines like Photoshot, Nowon, Urecco, Beppin, and much more, including some of the most popular and coveted issues ever. Check out the magazines pages, as well as the shashinshus page for the new items.

One thing we found is that we really do have far too many CD ROMs -- far, far too many. So I'm declaring a massive, final sale on our non-Video CD CD ROMs, and lowering the prices of everything by up to $10 per item from their already-reduced levels. For less than an issue of Beppin School, you can pick up a CD ROM for Mac or Windows that has over 200 sexy pictures, up to an hour of Quicktime movie adult sampler quickies, game software and demos, and all-color magazines to boot. J-List is the only place on the web or elsewhere that you can get CD ROM Choice, CD ROM Collection, the Windows and Mac 100% series, and the excellent MPEG Soft Catalog. So check out our magazine, CD ROM and shashinshus pages for some cool items at bargain prices.

And we've got more good stuff for you on the calendar page, too! In addition to a new addition -- a calendar by the lovely Kanazawa Bunko -- most of the prices are lessened to half or below what they were in October, and we're really eager to get rid of them before 1998 gets here and the time for calendar buying is over. We still have tons of great calendars, like Ozawa Madoka, Henmi Emiri, and much more.

Finally! Just when you thought we were done, we have a whole bunch of those ever-popular Chiasa Aonuma videos, MV133 (which is the same as LD1 High School Chiasa). Hopefully this will tide everyone over for a while, but if you're a Chiasa fan, you should get your copy while we've got them in stock.

Well, that's all for now. I'm taking a day off tomorrow to go on a cruise around Yokohama harbor with my wife. Best holiday wishes to all!

Greetings from J-List December 21, 1997

It was a lovely day here in Japan, a very comfortable temperature with none of the freezing "karakaze" wind that Gunma is famous for. We're happy because we got to meet Hosokawa Fumie, the former co-anchor of the legendary Japanese adult TV show, Gilgamesh Night. She was quite surprised to hear she has a cult following on the Internet. Read all about it on our homepage.

We have lots of new items on the web pages today, including the new CD ROM Choice (over 240 sample pics, with lots more stuff on two CDs), dynamite new issues of Urecco and Cream, and other new magazines like Jo Mag. As always, we're happy to be able to offer excellent products for you, so please stop by the web pages for more information.

We're still desperate to sell the last calendars. We have over 60 calendars still in stock, so I have lowered the prices of virtually all remaining calendars by at least $5. All this with free shipping -- it makes the calendars we have left a real bargain. Please try to take some of these calendars off our hands

That's all for now, folks. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Greetings from J-List December 15, 1997

Lots of new items for you today. First of all, we have twenty or so new videos on the "Video Catalog" page. These are for-order videos that can be ordered through our distributor. There are some dynamite choices, including all-new Aonuma Chiasa, Ozawa Madoka and Kanazawa Bunko videos.

Moving right along. we have new magazines: the new Bejean, which features Akira Fubuki and many other lovelies, and the new Best Video. These are excellent examples of high-quality Japanese magazines, which are very popular for their excellent photography and models.

Finally, an announcement: since we still have too many dojinshi, I am declaring a "buy-3-get-1-free" sale on all of the dojinshi we have in stock right now, effective starting now and going through Christmas Day. This applies to all the dojinshi, including the popular Rocket Brothers works, Look Out/Okachimentaiko, Choccola, all the rest. As before, choose four dojinshi, and least expensive of them will be the "free" one. Shipping is charged normally

Thanks for everyone's understanding and support regarding my father's funeral arrangements. Your warm words have meant a lot to me. We should be back up with the credit card processing by the time you read this.

Greetings from J-List December 13, 1997

Greetings from Japan. It's dojinshi time again around here, with about 45 new "one-shot" dojinshi added to the list. Competition is always fierce for these items, so check the list while you have time. There are some great items up, for fans of Sailor Moon and Evangelion and Plastic Little, and more. Better hurry!

J-List will be unable to process credit card orders sent through the secure server until Tuesday, December 16 (America time), due to an unfortunate event: the sudden death of my father, aged 70, in his home in Severna Park, MD. We'll be back up as soon as we can, to avoid inconveniencing anyone more than necessary. We're re-organizing our family slightly so that my sister can attend the funeral in my absense. We appreciate your understanding -- thanks.

My parents were divorced when I was two years old, so I didn't get many chances to spend time and get to know my father. My wife and I are really glad that we were able to spend the week we did with him back in the summer, when we had so many problems with the J-List email -- it meant a lot to us that he could hold Kazuki and little Rina on his lap, and get to know our children. All of that was indirectly thanks to all of you at J-List, so thanks, everyone. You never treasure the ones you love enough until they're not there anymore.

Greetings from J-List December 11, 1997

Well, we've had a busy day, with no less than ten big boxes of videos showing up out of the blue.

I am happy to say that we finally have the problems with the elusive LD1 'High School Chiasa' videos resolved. The bad news is that LD1 has been determined to be a duplicate of the PER201/MV133 video -- those damn Japanese video makers are pretty shifty. People who were waiting for copies of LD1 will receive either PER201 or MV133, unless you have already bought one of these. Email us if you have any questions -- we apologize for the inconvenience. LD1 will not be coming in at all, so I have removed them from the page entirely.

For fans of J-List's Japanese adult videos, we have a treat -- a BUNCH of videos added to the Video Warehouse. All of these videos are in stock NOW, and ready to go out any time, without any waiting. New additions include lots of good MV and PER items, as well as the popular PEM series of "slightly odd" videos. There are about 100 new in-stock videos on the page now.
Some fans of J-List's anime toys page pointed out that not all the items I said were added to the page were actually posted. This was because I forgot to change one tiny field in the database. All the new items are up now.

J-List has a new mailing address in the U.S., for people mailing payment. It is

Peter R. Payne
P.O. Box 421106
San Diego, CA 92142

The reason for the change is an unhappy one -- my grandmother, who had been collecting and reporting the checks to me, had a mild stroke two weeks ago, and will be unable to continue helping out. If you have mailed anything to the old address recently, don't worry, all mail will be forwarded for six months. But try to use the new address from now on -- thanks.

Greetings from J-List December 10, 1997

Today was a Good Day. First and foremost, my Powerbook G3 show up -- ah, the joy of being "edge, even if for only a few months. The speed and power of this thing is incredible, though, consdiderably faster than all the 200 mhz 604e desktop Macs here at J-List. I will post some benchmarks to my personal homepage later.

But today was a Good Day for one other reason. For the past eight months, my wife and I have been working hard to get permission to build on a patch of land my Japanese family owns. The land was previously zoned as agricultural use" land, in an area that, for reasons of tradition and silly local politics -- could not be built upon. Finally, though, after many months and pulling of strings, permission to build on the land has been granted. This means that J-List will be moving out of our current small three rooms and into a medium-sized two-story office building sometime around May of next year -- a welcome change for all of us. This step has been the dream of my wife and I for most of the life of J-List, and we're taking everyone here out for sushi on the weekend. We couldn't be happier.

We have some nice new items for you today, mostly on the anime/toys page, where you'll find the GERWALK version of the great Macross "completed model" (really a detailed, moveable toy). Three different versions of the GERWALK Valkyrie are on the page. Also, you can see a slew of new models from Gundam, Macross and Macross 7.

Also new to the page are -- more magazines and shashinshus. We've got two new issues of Girls, a Big-4-style high-quality magazine, as well as a few Beppin Schools and more. Also, the cat-like Kitahara Rina has a softcover "mild mook" nude shashinshu on the photobooks page -- enjoy them.

Greetings from J-List December 9, 1997

Hope you are all having a nice Monday. It rained cold, drizzly rain here in central Japan all day, so it was a nice day to turn the heater up and work all day. One of the problems of places with great weather, such as San Diego (I hear it's in the balmy 70s this week) is how hard it is to make yourself work (or study, if you're in college) when the weather outside is fine.

We have some nice new things for you tonight. The new issues of Milky Tsushin and Sakuranbo Tsushin are in, as are January 1998 issues of Fantajenne. All are popular items, so take a look at the site to see the pictures that I've posted. We also have more issues of the very popular Photoshot on the shashinshu page.

Also in are more copies of the popular CD ROM Choice vol. 5, to go with the new copies of vol. 6 and 7, which we got in last week. These are top-quality CD ROMs featuring hundreds of samples of "hentai" games currently shipping here in Japan.

I am waiting with bated breath for my new baby, a Powerbook G3, the ultra-fast Macintosh notebook (http://www.powerbook.apple.com) that is on its way to me here from San Diego. This hot notebook is 74% faster than the 240 mhz Powerbook 3400, and even blows away all but the fastest desktop Macs, including my trusty Power Computing clone with a 200 eh 604e. I can't wait to take it for a spin.

Well, that's all for now. Take care, and enjoy your day.

Greetings from J-List December 7, 1997

Just when you think that the world is going to be a peaceful place for a while, we go and get another 75-or-so dojinshi and throw them onto the list. Yes, it's time for the Dojinshi Wars again, folks, and we've got some nice ones. Anyone interested in dojinshi should probably check out the ones we're adding now, or risk being disappointed when the great books you want are gone.

While you're checking for that rare Rayearth dojinshi you've always wanted, be sure to scroll all the way down. We're trying to clear our our previous stock in anticipation of more dojinshi coming in at the end of the month, when the "Fuyu-komi" (Winter Comic Market) arrives. Thanks!

Other than that, we're all doing fine here in Japan. I have officially closed down all but one of my English conversations classes, which frees up about ten hours for me that I can devote to keeping things running smoothly around here. That a chapter in my life has ended gives me a little pause -- I was a teacher of English as a Second Language for 7 years -- but I am actually happy to be done with it. Incidentally, anyone interested in reading about teaching ESL in Japan should check out my personal homepage, where I have some comments.

That's all for now. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Greetings from J-List December 3, 1997

December is here, and that means the Winter Comic Market -- the massive Dojinshi fair that powers the whole dojinshi craze in Japan -- is going to be here soon. Which means we're going to get lots of dojinshi in. In order to make room for them, we're having a sale on the dojinshi we have in stock now -- up to $7 off almost everything in our stock. Please check out the dojinshi page now. Incidentally we do have about 15 new dojinshi that we just got in -- including some really cool ones. Take a look.

We got a nice bunch of new calendars in for everyone -- nice calendars like Amuro Namie and Henmi Emily, more copies of the popular Amuro and Fubuki desktop calendars, and a bunch of the deluxe Evangelion wall calendars. They are great, although frankly, I am worried that we have over-ordered -- so I have put all the new calendars on the list at low prices. In addition, we'll still pick up all shipping for the calendars. Please help us out by checking out the calendars page.

Other than that, fans of Aika Miura should not fail to check out her new shashinshu, which just came in, too. It is a darn nice book...

We got a phone call from our local post office, who loves us, by the way, since we give them so much business. They have asked that we hold all outgoing mail to Canada until the strike is resolved. We'll let all Canadian customers know as soon as we hear anything on this end -- hopefully the strike will be over soon. I imagine there will be a lot of disappointed kids in Canada this Christmas otherwise...
Well, it's my bed time, so goodnight for now. Have a nice day.