Greetings from J-List April 23, 2004

Hello again from all your friends at J-List!

To the Japanese, English is very "kakko ii" (cool), and they love to decorate their clothes, cars and language with English words. Just as some English speakers throw a dash of French into their writing to show off their soigne, Japanese businessmen and news commentators love to pepper their speech with English words like "consensus" "manifesto" and "initiative" which can cause plenty of confusion for the majority of Japanese who don't know what these words mean. Sometimes it's hard even for me to understand the English the Japanese use: English words sometimes get imported into Japanese with slightly different meanings, for example "claim" (it means "complaint" in Japanese, almost the same thing but not quite), "cunning" (it means "cheating" as in cheating on a test), "rouge" (lipstick), "manicure" (nail polish). Due to a quirk of Japanese phonology, words are often imported in their plural form, thus the Japanese use such words as shirts, suits and fruits even when talking about one shirt, suit or fruit. The Japanese are also very creative with their adopted second language, and regularly invent new words, such as "shutter chance" (a good opportunity to take a picture), "charm point" (what makes a person special in the eyes of others), and "skinship" (a term for the loving touch of a mother's skin against her baby's while in the bath).

"You've been in Japan too long when you're speaking English with your gaijin friends, but all references to money are in Japanese." This is a funny phenomenon, but true: even when speaking English, gaijin living in Japan will tend to use Japanese for numbers and yen money amounts. The number system used in Japan and China revolves around the unit 10,000 ("man," pronounced "mahn"), rather than 1,000 as in the Arabic system; thus, the number 10,000 is "1 man" (ichi mahn), 20,000 is "2 man" (ni mahn), 100,000 is "10 man" (juu mahn) and so on. The conversion from one numeric system to the other is just frustrating enough that most foreigners will be happy to leave their numbers in Japanese, if the person they're talking with understands the words. Thus a gaijin living in Japan is likely to say, "I bought a new cellular phone, but it cost me 2 mahn en" (20,000 yen), or, "My car broke, and it's going to cost 10 mahn en to fix it" (100,000 yen).

History truly does repeat itself: Tamagotchis, those lovable virtual pets that took the world by storm back in 1996, have been re-released in Japan by Bandai. The new generation of Japan's most famous egg-shaped pets are much improved over the past versions: the new toys feature IR ports that allows Tamagotchis to virtually link with each other, date, get married, and have children -- they can even get divorced. We've got all the brand-new Tamagotchi Plus pets in stock, so check them out now!

Remember that J-List has separated its content into two different domains: jlist.com, which shows all products including those for adults, and jbox.com, which features all our anime, T-shirt, snack and other products. If you're looking for our non-adult products, you can go right to them on the jbox.com domain.

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

• First, for Shirow Masamune fans, we've got a great film comic of the hot new Appleseed movie that's about to be released in Japan -- the visuals in this thing are fantastic!
  
• Fans of the Gothic & Lolita Bible series will love the new issue, filled with incredible gothic photographs and a complete pattern to make your own costume
  
• Hello Kitty lovers, we've got a beautiful knit plush Kitty toy that's really amazing -- a great addition to your room, from Japan
  
• Also, another cool item for summer: an automatic Hello Kitty shave ice maker, which creates delicious Hawaiian-style shaved ice for you to keep cool with
  
• We love the miniature detailed toys from Rement -- their newest creation are the moving rides that you find on the top floor of department stores here, a great memory from Japan's bygone Showa era (full sets in stock)
  
• Panda-Z fans, we have a new toy for you, a beautiful 3D rendition of Pan Taron, Panda-Z's brave pilot, as well as fresh stock of the other toys in the series
  
• For fans of our delicious snacks from Japan, we've got some great new items, including a limited edition March of the Koalas cookie with milk coffee inside; a delicious new blueberry cheesecake pies from Lotte; and Macadamia chocolate and nuts with Beckham on the box
  
• Restocked snack items include Coconut Milk, Almond Crush and Orange Pocky, Petit Pizza crackers, Sushi Gummi, Tomato and Grilled Corn Pretz and more
  
• Also, delicious gum from Japan, including sugarless Red Berry gum, Ume (Japanese plum) gum, and Black Black caffeine gum from Lotte
  
• Also, delicious strawberry, yogurt and coffee candies made with tofu milk
  
• We've got cool things for your kitchen including authentic Japanese chopsticks and a traditional spatula for making monja-yaki
  
• For fans of Japan's trademark cute culture, we've got pencil cases featuring Mini Mini Pingu (as if Pingu by himself wasn't cute enough)
  
• Also: a dynamite notebook featuring the Domo-kun characters
  
• We have some unique pens from Japan, which write in marble colors and feature the smell of delicious desserts of the world
  
• Protect yourself from running out of water with a handy folding emergency water container from Japan -- holds 5.5 liters of liquid
  
• Fans of the Bandai Hot Wheels, which are sold only in Japan, we've got a big restocking of popular items for you, including the Knight Rider 2000 KITT, Speed Racer Mach 5 CW, the Delorean from Back to the Future, and my favorite, the Airwolf helicopter
  
• We just love the Japanese Stitchlock staple-less staplers, which knit sheets of paper together for you -- we've restocked various DX (deluxe) StitchLock units for you
  
• J-List is proud to sell the high-quality high school uniforms by Matsukameya of Nagoya -- we've restocked the popular matching High School Briefcase Bookbags too, just in time for the summer anime conventions
  
• Want to relieve painful feet? We've got some cool "shiatsu" inserts for your shoes that will have you "genki" in no time
  
• Finally, we've got a great way to store business cards, more Laputa playing cards, more dictionaries for students of Japanese, more maps of Japan, and more!
  

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

• For fans of Japan's 18+ magazines, we've got the new issue of Bachelor in, featuring the "Best of Unpublished" of Yulia Nova (yum)
  
• Also, we've got the new issue of Good DVD 5 Hours, featuring a full color magazine with a massive 5 hour DVD for your enjoyment
  
• Cosplay -- dressing up in anime costumes -- is huge in Japan, and we've got a new magazine dedicated to this thrilling category
  
• For fans of Japan's ultra-cute bikini models, enjoy Miracle Beauties, a photo magazine featuring all the top names in Japan's swimsuit idol world
  
• We have a great hardcover photobook by Sayaka Uchida, one of our favorite Japanese sexy models
  
• Then enjoy Michiko Omukai's delightful new photobook offering, which will blow your mind
  
• Also, don't miss the excellent Natural Beauty featuring Japan's highly developed tradition of rope-tying and more
  
• H manga fans, we have some great new works for you, including a new offering from Hit Comics, a new treat for fans of hermaphrodite artwork, and more
  
• Also, various restocked manga titles including Alice First and Second, Nakadashi Senka, Sweat and Tears, and many other popular works
  
• We've got some great new DVD titles for you for the weekend, starting with Concentrate Momo-Jiri, a great focus on the luscious rear ends of beautiful JAV idols (region free)
  
• Then enjoy a new release featuring the stylish and elegant Maria Takagi (region free)
  
• SOD has more Holed Panty action for you, a unique and uniquely Japanese creation (region free)
  
• From U&K, enjoy more all girl action with amazing lotion play (region free)
  
• Then from Waap Entertainment, we've got two great DVD releases featuring the best performances of the lovely Nao. (region 2)
  
• Finally, enjoy various restocked titles, including Bunko Kanazawa's DVD that comes with a toy, Mai Hagiwara's debut as a JAV idol, the Other Side of Kyoko Ayana, and much more.
  

The JMATE.com website has been updated again, with new reviews of DVDs by Kanabun and the popular Casual Romance Club. The URL is http://www.jmate.com/

Remember that J-List offers the highly detailed miniature "candy toys" (so-named because you usually get candy inside the box along with your toy) from Rement. We really love these super detailed miniature food items, which are little replicas of the wax food that Japanese restaurants display to show customers how good the food is. My own favorites are the Washoku Zanmai (famous Japanese dishes), the miniature sushi (so delicious!) and the meticulously crafted Pucchi Supermarket -- each box contains several food items, a shopping basket, and even a printed receipt. So cool! We sell full sets of these cool items too.

Greetings from J-List April 19, 2004

Hello again from all your friends at J-List!

There are many expats living in Japan from a broad mix of countries -- Peru, South Korea, Brazil, Canada -- and it's fun to make friends with people you might not normally cross paths with if you lived in your home country. I've had fun talking over American politics with friends from Australia, and I've had some interesting conversations with Iranians who frequent the public bath I go to a lot (speaking Japanese with them, since they don't know English and I don't know Farsi). I've also had many Chinese friends over the years, too. There's a secret rivalry between Chinese students of Japanese and "white" gaijin like me, though: we're jealous that they can already read kanji, so it takes them a lot less time to master Japanese than it does for us. When I took level 1 of the Japanese Ability Test (the highest level, required if you want to attend a Japanese university), I was one of a very few blonde heads in the room: most of the other test-takers were from China or other Asian countries. We native English speakers get our revenge, though, as Japanese is peppered with thousands of complex English words like "character designer" and "shutter chance" and "amenity communicator," which are hopelessly difficult for Chinese speakers of Japanese to understand.

Have you ever wondered what all the name suffixes added to the ends of Japanese names mean? Well, I'll tell you. "-san" is the basic name suffix that everyone has probably heard of, and it indicates formality, like adding Mr. or Mrs. to a name in English. Used with the last name usually (e.g. Fujita-san), it can also be added to the first name (Tomo-san) to show some politeness while also showing familiarity. Two other common name suffixes, "-chan" and "-kun," are used when talking to girls and boys (e.g. Rina-chan and Kazuki-kun) who are younger than the speaker, and both indicate a degree of closeness. In Japanese companies or in school settings, there are strict differences between upperclassmen/superiors ("senpai") and underclassmen/juniors ("kohai"). When speaking, underlings will use "-san" and speak with polite verbs when addressing their superiors; those in a superior position tend to use "-kun" and use informal verbs when talking to their juniors, in essence verbally reinforcing the top-down relationship in ways that can't be expressed or comprehended in American English. Some other name prefixes that are used often include "-sensei" (for teachers, doctors, and sometimes politicians); "-senshu" (athletes, e.g. Matsui-senshu, when referring to Hideki Matsui); and "-announcer" (a name suffix for newscasters).

Yes, Japanese naming customs are quite different from the West. Last year, I went to the U.S. with my daughter and Daisuke Furuta, one of our employees here in Japan. My daughter called me aside to ask me why everyone in America called Daisuke by his first name rather than "Furuta-kun." Calling someone by their first name (called "yobisute") is somewhat odd in Japanese, and implies an extremely close relationship, hence my daughter's confusion. Once I called a female student of mine and asked her mother if she was home. I accidentally referred to the student by her first name only, and her mother was immediately on her guard, wondering what kind of relationship this gaijin had with her daughter. (I was innocent, honest.)

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

• First, for fans of Go Nagai's timeless Cutie Honey, we have two great PVC figures featuring these lovely girls, complete with stands to display them proudly
  
• Next, we've got a big restocking of many popular Totoro and Studio Ghibli items, including the Totoro aluminum bento box, Soot Sprite magnets, and the very big Totoro plush toy from Sun Arrow
  
• Also, look for various newly restocked Domo-kun items, including the large Domo plush (the biggest one ever made), Domo-kun phone straps, and the large Domo-kun plush cube
  
• Speaking of Domo-kun, we've got two really cool plastic document protectors which allow you to carry your important papers while looking cool
  
• Do you love delicious Japanese snacks? J-List always stocks the newest cool snacks from Japan -- enjoy tasty Strawberry and Coconut Pocky, in stock for you!
  
• Other new snack treats include more "Collon" cream-filled cookies, delicious melon soda flavored Hi-chew Kids, and healthy Clorets sugarless breath gum with Xylitol
  
• Also, see fresh stock of many popular items like March of the Koalas, Wata-pachi and Wata-gum cotton-candy-like treats, Mentaiko Pretz, delicious rice crackers, Pocari Sweat powder, and Bontan Ame, the famous Japanese candy that you can eat, wrapper and all
  
• From the people who brought you pink nipple cream to cure dark nipples, we've got a dainty "Secret Fragrance" for ladies' undergarments and other "important areas"
  
• We've got a deluxe new Paper Stitchlock in stock, which you can use to seamlessly stitch sheets of paper together -- never needs staples!
  
• Kitty fans, we've got some neat new items for you, including a pair of safety scissors for any small hands, as well as fun Hello Kitty maracas -- great for parties
  
• Also for Sanrio fans, we've got "decoration cup" featuring a super cute new character Cinamoroll, an, er, rabbit who likes cinnamon rolls, but he's very cute
  
• Take up Japanese brush writing with our deluxe calligraphy sets -- everything you need to start practicing beautiful written kanji calligraphy
  
• Love Hina fans, we've got full sets of the newest PVC mini-figure collection, featuring all the lovely bikini-clad Love Hina gals
  
• Finally, find a cool all-wood pencil case, tons of cool Hello Kitty restocked items, handy bento boxes, restocked Japanese study tools, and more!
  

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

• First, we have a great H magazine for you, the new issue of Ura Dela Beppin, filled with the naughty acts of real Tokyo girls
  
• Next up, enjoy one man's journey to be with over 1000 women, in the new issue of Sennin Giri (lit. "more than 1000 girls")
  
• Photobook fans, enjoy the super new offering of Yui Haruka, with the rather odd title of "H Stick"
  
• We've got a great photobook featuring the most beautiful Russian women we've seen in a long time, a special treat from Japan
  
• Also, a very hard photobook in Japan's "gouka-bon" style
  
• Then for fans of extremely beautiful Japanese models in cosplay, we've got a super new photobook featuring the lithe Jun Natsukawa dressed as an OL, elevator girl, nurse and more
  
• For our H manga customers, we have some great new comics for you from Japan, including a dynamite love story from Tenma Comics, parody lovers, and a great new release from Amanojack
  
• Also, many restocked manga for you, including many restocked hermaphrodite manga -- almost a dozen items back in stock for you to check out
  
• For DVD fans, we've got some great new items for you, starting with the great "international sex tour" of Nanami Nanase, performing for you in beautiful Las Vegas (region free)
  
• Then enjoy 4 hours of special performances with top JAV idols in super cute uniforms for you (region free)
  
• From Soft on Demand, we have a great two-part "24 hours special" tag battle with Izumi Hasegawa and Ai Kurosawa, who must perform at any time in any situation during a 24 hours period (region free)
  
• From Waap Entertainment, we've got a great new Dream Shower release for fans of fabulous wet JAV stars -- Mika Shiina performs for you in this new work (region 2)
  
• Then we've got the lovely Cocolo who appears in a great new "soap girl" work by Moodyz (region 2)
  
• Finally, look for various restocked DVDs, including several No Cut!! and other popular low-priced DVD titles!
  

Remember that J-List currently stocks all the oh-so-cool Furuta Star Trek models, extremely detailed replicas of the greatest ships of the Star Trek universe, from the TOS original to Next Gen and beyond. We currently have various sets of these toys in stock for you, however our current stock is going fast, and we're pretty sure we'll sell out of this dynamite series in a short time, with no more available to us ever. If you'd like to own this amazing series of Japanese miniature models, we recommend you pick up a set very soon.