Various surprises that were waiting for me when I went to live in Japan

Before I moved to Japan, I had a lot of preconceptions about what life would be like here, based on watching Japanese animation and dramas. But when I arrived here back in 1991, I was actually surprised at some of the things I didn't find, starting with the near total lack of anything bearing the name teriyaki -- the flavoring is used but is never referred to with that name, except the McDonald's Teriyaki McBurger. I'd read a few James Clavell novels, and subliminally expected the Asian idea of "face" to be at least a small part of Japanese life -- yet the concept is so rarely mentioned here, it took me several years to learn how to express it in Japanese. I thought of Japan as being an ultra-modern country, yet when I got here, my life resembled the year I spent in New Zealand back in the 1970s -- things that most Americans take for granted like dishwashers and electric dryers were extremely rare in Japan. There were plenty of things I didn't expect to see, too, like Jehovah's Witnesses (yes, they have them here), grown-up women who act kawaii (cute) like silly anime characters, whole city grids without a single named street, Japanese translations of Harlequin Romance novels, and more vending machines within walking distance of my house than on the entire SDSU campus.

One unique aspect of the Japanese language is the high number of foreign-loan words used in daily life. The Japanese even have a writing system that's used exclusively for writing foreign words, katakana. Like its sister hiragana, katakana lets you express sounds as syllables, like ka-ki-ku-ke-ko, but never the consonant "k" by itself. Modern written Japanese is a constantly churning mix of kanji (for core meaning), hiragana (for grammatical particles) and katakana (for expressing words from other languages). Certain categories of words tend to be borrowed from English -- anything having to do with cars or technology, and many occupation titles (engineer, illustrator, programmer). Often foreign words are imported with slightly altered meanings -- for example, the Japanese use a Japanese word for a street address (juusho), but use the English word adoresu for referring to an email address. The problem is that more and more words are written in katakana these days, which creates a "comprehension gap" between young and old Japanese, with people over 40 understanding less and less. The problem is so bad that there are actually "katakana dictionaries" you can buy in stores, which help explain what these strange foreign words mean. (The Wordtank electronic dictionaries that J-List sells also include katakana dictionaries.) Just as some English speakers throw a dash of French into their writing to show off their intelligence, Japanese businessmen and news commentators love to pepper their speech with English words like "consensus" and "manifesto" and "initiative" which can cause plenty of confusion.

Here are today's "really cool products" that I thought were especially noteworthy. Note: the J-List links below may be for adult products and should probably be considered "not safe for work." To see all the J-List products, check out J-List or the JBOX.com updated products link.

	Japanese Keychain -- Makoto ~ Shisengumi Flag. During the struggle between the last Shogun and anti-foreign conservatives trying to restore the Emperor to power, there was a group of samurai called Shinsengumi, who defended the shogun by ruthlessly attacking his enemies. This is the flag of the Shinsengumi, showing the character for "sincerity" (makoto).
	Hello Kitty "Asakusa" Strap. We've wanted to sell these hard-to-find souvenir items for a long time, but you usually can only buy them if you're based on the area, Asakusa in this case. This is a nice keychain of Hello Kitty, in very traditional Japanese dress.
	Gothic Lolita Bible vol. 16, One of the most popular magazines we sell at J-List, G&LB is always a hit with our readers becasue it captures Tokyo's gothlife in an excellent way, with lots of delightful color. Each issue comes with a pattern you can use to make a complete outfit.
	Moe Rurubu -- Tokyo City Guide For New Type ~ Tokyo Annai. Coming to Japan? Want to know where all the cool shops are in Tokyo? Well, get this great otaku shopping guide which shows you all the great places to go, from Shibuya's Mandarake doujinshi wonderland to cosplay stores in Akiba and good places to find rare items. The cover can be removed, revealing a normal guide book, for those who are shy about being so openly otaku around other people.
	Costume Play International 2. Cosplay, or costume play, has been a staple of the Japanese adult world for a decade or more, from elevator girls to bus guides to famous anime characters. Now cosplay isn't just for Japanese, but is a "global standard" according to the cover of this new TMA release, in which four gorgeous Western actresses -- Tory Lane, Brooke, Sona and Jucie Lu -- perform Japanese-style cosplay.
	Soul of Popynica -- Space Battleship Yamato. The Soul of Chogokin series by Bandai is famous with fans becausae it presents incredibly detailed toys of the highest quality. Now a new series, Soul of Popynica, strikes out in a new direction. This incredibly detailed replicas of the Yamato -- known in the U.S. as Star Blazers -- is just too cool for words.
	Nyanko Reversible Plush -- Carrot & White Radish. It's a plush toy! It's a cat! It's a carrot and Japanese daikon radish! The latest offering from San-X is really cool.
	Otoko no Tashinami. Okay, this is one of the oddest things we've ever sold at J-List, so add that it took us a couple of days to get the description posted. It's a series of "wisdom of salaryman" with a slight hentai twist, captured on a card with a matching diorama illustrating the point of wisdom. One odd one was "If you are patient long enough, any door will open for you" (which showed a man hoping to get a peek inside a girl's skirt on a train). God bless the Japanese, they're so wacky.