I've lived in Japan since 1991, a very long time indeed. After you've lived here a certain number of years it's possible for foreigners to apply for permanent residence status (the equivalent of a green card), which I obtained in 2001. Some gaijin who love living in Japan opt to go all the way and apply for Japanese citizenship, but I've decided that this path isn't for me -- it's more fun being an American who can speak Japanese than to be a blonde Japanese who talks kind of funny. Every time I go to through Narita I encounter two of my pet peeves, though. The first is the little card visa holders have to fill out when going through immigration: "Reason for returning to Japan?" Since I consider Japan to be my true home, having to write a "reason" is always annoying, and I leave it blank on purpose every time. The second minor annoyance are the Japanese signs that say Okarinasai (oh-KA-eh-ree-na-SAI), which means "welcome home," next to English signs that say "Welcome to Japan." The unwritten implication is that only Japanese people live in Japan, whereas anyone who speaks English as his native language is just visiting here, which is always mildly offensive to me.
While going through the airport I was reminded again of how much Japan takes its cues from the United States. When going through customs, you're required to declare any cash amount over US$10,000, just as when entering the U.S., and the amounts of how much wine, tobacco and coffee you can bring in without paying duties are also very close to the rules that apply in America. Compared to Japan, it seems that Europe is a lot more comfortable with breaking with the U.S., as seen in the recent "no" vote on software patents (which I cheered).
I'm happy to be back in Japan, but I'm happy for another reason as well: today is "D Day" for our hikari fiber (fiber optic) Internet line, which was installed this morning. It's taken us five years of hard lobbying including involving our city's mayor, but we finally have a decent Internet connection at J-List, with a maximum speed of 100 Mbps. J-List is located in a small city that's not exactly known for its tech companies, and what's worse, we're in the middle of the agricultural part of town (our office is surrounded by rice paddies), so it's been a lot of work getting NTT to bring fast internet to us. But our patience has finally paid off, and things are much faster now!
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.
 | White Bikinis Special DVD. Japan is the land of fetishes as you know, and white bikinis are another fetish that you can explore through J-List. Just featuers really beautiful models in white bikinis (and comes with a DVD). |
 | Moe Cos -- Aimi. Moe (with an accent on the second syllable, so that it's pronounced moe-EH) is a word that means the perfect kind of gorgeous anime character, and this is a cosplay DVD that features real live versions of anime characters, especially from the show Ikki Tousen (Battle Vixens). Very nicely done, especially the chick with the eye patch. |
 | Dengeki Layers vol. 2. The most popular cosplay magazine at J-List is Cosmode, but this is another very nice magazine too: Layers, which is filled with pictures of good costumes from various events, and has a pattern in each issue too. |
 | Uniform Trance -- Akira Shiratori (region 2). I don't know what it is about Wanz Factory, but they sure can make good covers -- Akira-chan is just about to jump out at you, she is so gorgeous. This is another cosplay DVD, since costume play seems to be the theme for the day. |
 | urara. It's a tea cup! It's a tea pot! It's a saucer! This is one of the coolest Hello Kitty things we've seen in a while. |
 | Crystal Dragon Strap -- Gold. At the San Diego Comic Con a lot of people asked if we had phone straps, and that made me happy -- apparently American phone companies have finally started putting phone strap holes on their damn phones! Straps are, of course, a staple in Japan, and there are many cool ones sold here. Here's one! |
 | Kurio San Plush Keychain. As if the Occhan series (an old man and woman who bathe in a cup of hot green tea) wasn't odd enough for you, here is Kurio, a little man who is born from a walnut. It certainly is cute! |
 | Newtype July 2005. We sell many magazines by "reserve subscription," but Newtype is such a classic that we get some extra issues for people who want to check it out. It's the seminal anime magazine, with huge pages that are filled with gorgeous color art and information on the latest on what's happening in Japan -- and not just what American publishers want you to know about. |
 | Mizuho Kazami 1/6 PVC Figure ~ Onegai Teacher. If you missed out on the first version of this figure a year ago, be happy -- here's a super sexy alternate version of Mizuho in her lingerie, eating her signature Pocky (or "Pochy" in this case). A really excellent figure -- don't miss out on it because we've only got four of them in stock! |
