Greetings from J-List March 26, 2004

Hello and TGIF from your friends in Japan!

Japanese study English, but there's always a subtle conflict that no one acknowledges: do they study American English or British English? The Japanese have always had great respect for England, and have patterned much of their government after the U.K. Still, the Japanese tend to study American spelling ("color" not "colour") and pronunciation, as a general rule, because of the long influence of the postwar occupation and Hollywood movies. The problem is, it's not a fixed rule -- British English is sometimes used in schools, just enough to confuse the poor kids. When my wife was in Junior High school, she took part in a pronunciation contest. She practiced and practiced the text she was supposed to read, but unfortunately, the teacher who helped her with the material had learned British English, and the two accents confused her terribly.

Proper names are also notoriously difficult to read in Japanese. My wife's family's last name, Yanai, is read as "Yanagi" or "Yauchi" in almost every other part of Japan besides our city, and sometimes people in out city can't read our last name, despite the fact that the mayor has the same last name as us (we're distantly related, I think). Place names can be difficult for Japanese to read, unless they happened to grow up in that area. All the place names in Northern Japan, which was inhabited by the indigenous Ainu people for thousands of years, have odd names can't be written with standard characters -- and as a result, most Japanese often can't read the names.

Studying the names of Japanese companies can be interesting. For example, I'll bet you never knew that Kyocera is short for "Kyoto Ceramics." The number one car company in Japan is Toyota, which is located in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture (near Nagoya) -- but the company came first, and the city changed its name to Toyota City in 1959 "to reflect its bright prospects to develop and prosper as an automobile city." The number two Japanese car company is Honda, founded by Soichiro Honda to make motorcycles after the end of World War II. Mazda, which is more than half owned by Ford now, is really called Matsuda in Japan, but they came up with the name Mazda so they could sound less Japanese in foreign markets. Datsun's name has an interesting story -- DAT were the first letters of the names of three founders, and they considered the company they were founding to be their son, thus DATSON. However, "son" (with a long vowel, so that it rhymes with bone), means "loss" or "disadvantage" in Japanese, so they changed it to "sun," a much more cheerful word. Datsun was later bought out by one of its distributors, Nissan (which means "Made in Japan" -- if you said "America-san" it would be "made in America"). Subaru, based near J-List, is the Japanese name for the star cluster we called the Pleiades. Some popular beer companies are Asahi ("morning sun"), Kirin (named after a magical Chinese dragon), and Suntory (the president's name as Tori-san, so he reversed it to come up with the name of his company). Other interesting names are Daihatsu ("Osaka Engineering Tools"), Pocky manufacturer Glico (which gets its name from the word "glycogen"), and Bridgestone (named after its founder, Mr. Ishibashi, which means "stone bridge").

For the new update, we've got a great new volley of new products for you, with everything from new snacks to photobooks to magazines to anime items and toys. Please check out all the great new items!

Remember that J-List offers a huge selection of cool toys from Japan, which are usually sold in the Japanese marketplace and not available outside of Japan. From Japan-market Hot Wheels to Kubrick toys and high-quality soft vinyl anime figures, we've got some really cool stuff for your collection.

Greetings from J-List March 24, 2004

Hello from a frosty, cold Japan. Although we had some extremely warm days last week, winter snuck back to remind us that it was still with us, and now we've even got some snow now on the Kanto Plain.

Almost all Japanese with a high school education study English for six years, three in Junior High School and three in High School -- if you ever want to have some fun, ask a Japanese how many years they've studied English, and watch them count up the years one by one, even though you'd think they knew the number off the tops of their heads. Despite all these years of study, most Japanese don't attain competency at English. The main problem is that "English" as a subject is learned only for testing purposes -- to get into a good high school or university, you need to do well on the English section of the entrance exam, but the ability to communicate in English is never tested. The Japanese draw a stark distinction between "English" (grammar and vocabulary) and "English conversation" (using English to converse). Another reason that Japanese have trouble mastering English is the difference between ESL (English as a Second Language) and EFL (English as a Foreign Language). In reality, English is not used in daily life in Japan at all, so it is by definition a foreign language. Unlike Europe, where English is often used as a lingua franca between visitors from different countries, English is almost never needed on a daily basis in Japan. Only Japanese who are exceptionally motivated to learn English because they like it and want to communicate with people all over the world, such as the J-List Japanese staff, can hope to overcome these barriers.

My son has had his first taste of "entrance exam hell," even though he's still just eight years old. In Ota City, a new experimental school is opening, which aims to break the long chain of ineffectual English education by teaching the standard Japanese curriculum in English, with native English teachers speaking only English in class. Even though the school is quite far from our house, we've jumped on this chance to provide a better education for our son, since there aren't any international schools where we live. To get in, he had to pass a test, and we prepared for a month for it, brushing up on his math and kanji. It was stressful, although he thinks he did well on the test. The interview with three officials from the new school was even worse: my wife, my son and I had to answer various questions that the officials wanted to know before our son could be admitted into the school, sitting in the center of the room in three chairs. As we feared, they were concerned that our son already being able to understand English might cause problems with the rest of the students, who don't know any English at all. Our fingers are crossed that he will get accepted.

We're going ahead with our server update right now, which will eventually add various new features and improvements to the site. All looks well right now, but if you notice any problems or find you can't check out, please tell us about the problem. Remember, you can always use our secure email form (link is in the upper left hand corner) to send purchase information if you like.

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

• First, for Studio Ghibli fans, we've got a fabulous item: detailed PVC figure keychains from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, a super item for all collectors
  
• Also very cool, we have a pair of high-quality money purses featuring classic Totoro and Cat Bus plush designs, by Sun Arrow
  
• Ghost in the Shell continues to be a massively popular series in Japan, with the newest GitS movie by Shirow Masamune -- we have a great new series of "high grade real figure" candy toys by Bandai (full sets in stock)
  
• For Macross fans, don't miss out on the 1:48 scale Super Valkyrie from Yamato, complete with all armor and a great body that really transforms
  
• Do you love the awesome style and fashions in Gothic & Lolita Bible? We've got vol. 11 in stock for you, full of beautiful photographs and a full gothic costume pattern!
  
• For fans of unique Japanese snacks, enjoy "wata gum" (cotton candy-like fluffy gum) in green apple flavor; tasty Choco Flake by Morinaga; and a delicious Caplico ice-cream cone that features whipped chocolate instead of ice cream
  
• Also, we've got another cute keychain mascot + cookies combo item featuring the lovable Relax Bear, a bear who always knows how to take it easy
  
• Other restocked snacks include Punitto, a gummi-filled soft candy, Poiful, an incredibly delicious gummi jelly bean from Japan, and more of the popular Watering Kiss Mint gum
  
• J-List carries many unique items from Japan, like the very cool fude (foo-day) pens which allow you to write as if you were using a beautiful Chinese writing brush -- see many new fude pen items in stock today
  
• Hello Kitty fans, get ready for summer with a delicious and fun Tabekko Ice slushie maker, which turns any juice into a fun to eat slushy treat
  
• Also for Sanrio fans, a super cute Hello Kitty kitchen time that has many cute uses
  
• Japanese erasers are fun to collect -- we've restocked the traditional Japanese food erasers for you
  
• Add a little Japanese traditional flavor to your kitchen with miso soup bowls, a great Japanese tray and traditional Japanese toothpicks
  
• Domo-kun fans, we've added fresh stock of the very cool plush keychain set
  
• For anyone wanting to study Japanese, we have more dictionaries in stock, including a handy E-J dictionary and fresh stock of the popular kotowaza (Japanese proverb) dictionary
  
• For collectors of beautiful Japanese anime art, we've restocked the Character Design Bible vol. 1 & 2 as well as Canabis Works by Toshiyuki Tanaka
  
• For fans of the Spirit of Wonder figures we'd posted to the site, we've posted smaller sets of this series, allowing you to see what figures are included in each set (no random figures)
  
• For Domo-kun fans of the fairer sex, we've got a new version of our popular block figure parody of the famous monster in a shapely fitted shirt for you (posted on Friday but not mentioned in the update)
  
• Finally, find more "tongue brushes" that help you keep your mouth clean, fresh stock of the Nausicaa and Meeve soft vinyl figure, the last Hello Kitty blankets we'll be getting in this year, and more!
  

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

• First, for fans of Japan's unique dating-sim games, we've got the newest release from G-Collections: Do you like Horny Bunnies? 2, the sequel to their very popular game of cosplay and naughty bunny girls (we also have a set of both games for a special price)
  
• For fans of beautiful Tokyo girls, we've got the new issue of Yasashiku Shite Ne, or Be Gentle with Me, another Japanese couples magazine with a great name
  
• Then enjoy the new Yo! Video Girls, a full color magazine complete with giant poster that also comes with a 120 minute DVD full of great JAV for you
  
• For fans of Yinling of Joytoy, the delightful Race Queen and sexy idol from Taiwan, we have a super giant-size posterbook full of her boldest photographs yet
  
• Next, we've got the great new hardcover offering by Sayaka Kitagawa, a very flexible girl with a knack for naughty gymnastics
  
• Also, the lovely photobook of Akiko Kato, captured for you in a glossy new work
  
• For hentai manga fans, we've got some great new works for you, including a manga dedicated to explosively built girls, a tale of romantic love, and a beautiful manga version of Kanon
  
• Yaoi collectors, we've also added a great new yaoi tale for you about falling in love with the wrong man
  
• DVD fans, we've got some excellent products for you, starting with the gorgeous new release of the super-chesty Kyoko Ayana (region free)
  
• From Dogma and director Hitoshi Nimura, enjoy a group of "hitozuma" (married women) with one thing on their mind (region free)
  
• Then from SOD and female JAV director Chie Sugawara, enjoy a new DVD featuring naive girls who study men's bodies for the first time (region free)
  
• Next up, an interesting DVD featuring women who are very tall, at least 5'7" or taller, a bizarre Japanese fetish (region free)
  
• From Wanz Factory, enjoy sensual performance by Mai Sakashita, who becomes a very "bad girl" for you (region 2)
  
• Then from Waap Entertainment, a unique new concept indeed: performances with incredibly realistic-looking dolls (region 2).
  

The Jmate.com website has been updated again, this time with a review of Ami Ayukawa's so-lovely Bad Girl DVD offering, including lots of screenshots. The URL is http://www.jmate.com/

Do you love the anime films of Hayao Miyazaki? Remember that J-List stocks all the excellent region 2 DVD releases for Studio Ghibli movies like My Neighbor Totoro, Castle in the Sky Laputa, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and more. These DVDs are released in Japan directly by the studio and include many features that make them great for collectors. All discs feature English subtitles and/or dubbed tracks and are great for fans who want the definitive versions of these anime classics overseen by Mr. Miyazaki himself. The only catch is, you need a region free DVD player to watch them -- and J-List humbly recommends the two excellent units we currently have in stock.