Greetings from J-List March 12, 2003

Hello from Japan, where a generic name for an actor/singer/idol is a "talent" (tarento).

Although big cities like Tokyo and Nagoya have great train and subway systems, in most of Japan if you're going to get anywhere you really need a car. The Japanese are in love with their automobiles and get great enjoyment from driving. But car culture in Japan is a little different from that of the U.S. First of all, almost all cars are sold through dealerships run directly by each car company -- GM's Saturn dealerships are largely based on this Japanese model of selling cars. Although there are a few experimental self-service gas stations in Japan, most of the time a team of three employees will fill your car's tank for you, cheerfully washing your windows and taking the trash out of your car, if you have any. Gas is expensive in Japan -- around $3.20 a gallon currently -- but of course you don't drive as far in Japan as you do in, say, California. In Japan, all vehicles have to receive a general check-up called "sha-ken" every 2 years, which is part tax, part safety inspection. Because sha-ken usually costs $800 and up (the larger your car's engine is, the higher it goes), it acts as a "penalty" for driving an older car, and encourages Japanese to get rid of their cars and buy a new one more often then they would otherwise. On the other hand, although most people (especially gaijin living in Japan) complain about the sha-ken system, safety and reliability of cars is greatly improved by the regular maintenance. Amazingly, when you have to "junk" a car you must pay a company around $100 to come and take it away, rather than receiving money for it as you would in the U.S.

We've received a huge number of questions about the "see through clothes" (clothes with nude pictures printed on the outside that are supposedly all the rage in Japan). Unfortunately, along with the "breast scarves" you may have seen, this is nothing but a big Internet hoax. According to Yasu, some years ago a Japanee man ran a website with these Photoshopped images of these see-through clothes, but the site is long-since gone. Trust us -- none of this stuff exists here in Japan. See more info on the hoax here: http://www.canada.com/ottawa/story.asp?id=%7BEEC34647-E137-4A8F-AC85-3222E72BACE3%7D (note: if this link doesn't survive being sent through our listserver search at Canada.com for "skirt hoax")

Although it's still quite cold in Japan, the Season of the Sakura has officially begun with the first chilly cherry blossoms (sakura) popping out to see the sun in Tokyo's Ueno park. Every year Japan goes ga-ga over sakura, which usually bloom for a just a week or ten days in late March or early April, turning every park or street in Japan into a beautiful panorama of life before blowing away in the wind. One of our favorite activities during sakura season is "Hanami" which means "flower viewing" -- you bring a blue tarp to your favorite park, crack open beer or sake, and consider their fleeting beauty of the sakura petals falling all around you, perhaps while belting out a song on a portable karaoke machine.

And speaking of Sakura, we've got some great news -- the JAST USA Memorial Collection, which includes the original three JAST USA games in a totally updated engine (including the popular game Season of the Sakura, my own personal favorite bishoujo game), is in stock and shipping now! Its sister product, Milky House Memorial Collection, which gives you two classic games and the original Borderline CG collection by Sakaki Naomoto all on one handy disc, is also in stock and shipping! It's been a long battle, but we're happy to finally have these great products available for fans of Japan's dating-sim games.

For the new update, we've got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:

• First, for fans of Japanese Race Queens, a lovely photobook featuring these lovely girls
  
• Also, an artistically beautiful photobook featuring the beautiful model Rie Hasegawa
  
• For fans of Hello Kitty, several cool items including a spiffy Kitty notebook with a bright red color, a great item for mother's day if your mother loves Hello Kitty, as well as fresh stock of many Kitty items for Sanrio fans
  
• Also, for students of Japanese costumes, we've got a super "uniform data book" featuring illustrations and information on some of Japan's most popular cafe, restaurant and bakery costumes
  
• We love unique anime toys sold only in Japan, and we've got some cute figures in the "Key Collection" from the popular bishuojo games Kanon and Air
  
• Also, for fans of "super deformed" toys, we've got three "Choro-Q" vehicles from the classic 60's Captain Scarlet TV show, and fresh stock of the hard to find Reservior Dogs Kubrick figures
  
• We've gotten in fresh stock of several of the more popular Blythe dolls from Takara, all so fashionable and fun to collect and display
  
• For Sailor Moon fans, see fresh stock of the popular soft vinyl figures which sold out in record time last week
  
• If you love My Neighbor Totoro, we've got some excellent new Totoro music boxes in stock by Sekiguchi, excellent items for any collector
  
• Also, a dynamite item: a 2003 Totoro schedule including full calendar, diary and more
  
• For fans of Japanese snacks, enjoy fun gummi treats, Shrimp & Salt flavored Pretz (reminscent of the famous Ebisen shrimp flavored rice crackers eaten here), and another famous flavor from Japan, dried, tart plums (ume-boshi) from Okinawa
  
• Also, look for fresh stock of several popular items including miso soup, furikake, traditional strawberry candy from Japan, and fresh stock of virtually all popular flavors of Pocky
  
• Also, we have two new flavors of Glico's popular chewing gum, new Watering Kiss Mint (in lemon mint and clear mint flavors)
  
• If you're a fan of Japanese cars, why not start collecting the popular Tomica die-cast cars sold in Japan? We've got two new models in stock for you
  
• Also, look for fresh stock of several popular Japan Hot Wheels, featuring designs only for the Japanese market
  
• After a long day at work, enjoy effervescent bath tablets that turn your bath into a Japanese hot springs
  
• For fans of classic Japanese cinema, see the complete works of Mamoru Ishii, creator of the Jin-Roh and Kerberos movies, in stock now
  
• Finally, find a great way to scoop rice, a neat Japanese coin tray as seen in real Japanese shops, authentic Japanese origami paper, more cute Luna Nagai trading cards, and more!
  

For our adult customers, we've got many new 18+ products. They include:

• For fans of excellent Japanese adult magazines, we have the new issue of Urecco, filled with some of the most beautiful Japanese women we've seen in a long time
  
• Also very lovely, a photobook dedicated to "oneesans" (a word which means "older sister" but implies sexually liberated girls in their 20s in this context)
  
• We've got a new issue of "I Want You to Look At Me" featuring really beautiful amateur girls doing bad things in Tokyo love hotels
  
• For fans of Japan's excellent hentai manga culture enjoy many new offerings, including a super wide "World Wide Love!" hentai comic from Megastore Comics and Izumi Yujiro
  
• If you love hentai doujinshi, we've got the new Next Climax Magazine doujinshi frmo Okachimentaiko, featuring
  
• Also, for yaoi fans, a new work for collectors about a love between a doctor and his patient
  
• For DVD fans, we have some great items for you today, starting with Ami Sakurai's erotic "The Idol" release from Kuki -- 3 hours of her sweet sex (region free)
  
• We just love Cocolo, the silky, sexy AV star from Japan, and now you can enjoy 3 hours of her "Naughty Costume Play" in which she dresses in many famous anime costumes (including Street Fighter, Gundam and more)
  
• See the best moments of the Angel series from Idea Pocket, with huge stars from the 90's AV world back again for you (region free)
  
• From Soft on Demand, see the best erotic hits of Airi Kago, the sexy and erotic AV star, including her popular "reverse fuck" performances (region free)
  
• Also, enjoy the erotic "Highest Class S&M Club" performance by the delicious Kirari Koizumi (region free)
  
• And finally, for fans with region free DVD players (which J-List conveniently sells), we've got a super value-priced DVD "Information Love Letter" from Audaz (region 2) -- just $10 for this fabulous disc!
  

We've updated the J-Mate site for you with new reviews of erotic DVDs for you from Japan. Now that the server change is completed, look for lots of great changes to the J-Mate site in the near future. In the meantime, read lovely reviews of DVDs by Sena Sakura and Akira Watase and English interviews with Japan's top AV idols. The URL is http://www.jmate.com/

To bring our unique form of Japanese pop culture to a greater number of people in the world, J-List runs advertisements in several magazines like Giant Robot, While You Were Sleeping, AG, and others. It's always hard to know if our message is getting out there though. If you learned about J-List through a magazine ad, please drop us a line to tell us about it so we know we're advertising in the right publications. Thanks!

Yasu's baby has dropped by for a visit, and boy is she cute! See the photos we've posted at my personal homepage. The direct URL is here: http://www.peterpayne.net/Merchant3/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=PP&Product_Code=PICS-YASUKOCHAN&Category_Code=PC