The stability of the Japanese people, and how words from English are "plugged into" Japanese

Japanese have always impressed me as a very stable people, often living their entire lives in the same area and having strong local communities. My wife's family has been living in our city for as long as records exist, and she grew up knowing everyone in our neighborhood. There's a word that describes a close friend you've had since childhood, osana-najimi 幼なじみ (oh-SAH-NAH NAH-gee-mee) and now our children play with the kids of neighbors my wife used to play with when she was small. When our kids started elementary school, they went to the school that my wife went to 30 years ago...which was also the school that her mother went to before that, something that totally boggles my American mind. I've moved many times during my life, living on the East Coast of the U.S., New Zealand, San Diego and ultimately Japan, and the idea of having roots that go back that far is really amazing to me.

There's nothing more interesting than studying a foreign language, of learning the way its unique grammatical rules work so you can form sentences and ideas and communicate with others. Language is always rule based, and even dialects like Ebonics and Cockney which may sound "wrong" to speakers of standard English are formed around their own suites of unique grammatical rules. The Japanese make heavy use of foreign loan words, usually borrowed from English, but since the grammar of the two languages is different, something is needed to "bridge" the two. Conveniently, there are two such grammatical aides built right into Japanese. The first is the adjective particle na which allows an adjective to be plugged into a Japanese sentence without breaking any rules, and you can hear phrases like surimu na onna スリムな女 (a slim, slender woman), dandii na otoko ダンディーな男 (a "dandy" or handsome man), and torendii na dorama トレンディーなドラマ (the latest trendy drama on television). I've even heard the word "epoch-making" used in this fashion -- as in, epokkumeekingu na ibento エポックメーキングなイベント (in case you are wondering, the word also comes up automatically in the Japanese input method), presumably meaning an event that is truly Earth-shattering in nature. The other tool to help foreign words be used in Japanese is the catch-all verb suru which means "to do." Words you might hear in Japanese include getto suru ゲットする (GET-toh suru, to get or find something), doraibu suru　ドライブする (doh-RAH-ee-bu suru, to go for a drive), kamingu auto suru カミングアウトする (kah-min-GU ah-OO-toh suru, lit. to do "coming out" or to come out of the closet about something), and of course, sekkusu suru セックスする (to have, well, you know). The staff at J-List uses lots of English in their Japanese, too, and you can hear terms like sukyan suru　(to scan something), pikku suru (to pick products in preparation for shipping) being used everyday.

Remember, J-List now sells our English-translated dating-sim games by direct download, allowing you to get great interactive H games right on your computer, without waiting for the CD-ROM to be delivered in the mail. See our extensive selection of downloadable games today.

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.

	Spirited Away Stamp -- Sen & Kaonashi. Japan's "anime stamp boom" continues -- here's another stamp from various Ghibli productions (Spirited Away, Laputa etc.)
	Range Murata Figure -- Normal Color Full Set *Set of 5* ~ PSE Solid Collection Ver 2.0. We love Range Murata's artistic works, so beautiful and dreamy, and now they're available in three dimensions with a new line of figures. We've got several sets of these in stock (no need to buy random duplicates and throw them away).
	Keroro Sergeant w/ Kero Ball -- Keroro Platoons (Sgt. Frog). Sergeant Keroro is a frog from outer space who has come to invade the Earth. His manga is being translated by Tokyo Pop. We've got cool figures and various other stuff.
	B2UP - Bust Up Gum. By customer request, this is the Bust Up Gum that was featured in Wired a month ago. It's got pueraria mirifica, an herb that's known for breast-enhancing qualities. Featured in Wired, on the BBC and elsewhere.
	Sanrio Dream Party -- Full Set (Set of 8). I really love this item, I don't know why -- very colorful diorama figures of the Sanrio characters. I wish the world were bright and fun like this.
	Senningiri vol. 031 (Region All). So, there's this guy in Japan who wants to sleep with 1000 women (sennin giri = "more than 1000"). He's documenting each girl in this magazine, so you can follow along if you like. He's up to 882!
	Kera Maniax vol. 1. Enter the world of Gothic Punk, brought to you by Ker, the excellent magazine on Japanese fashion trends.
	R2D2 Shampoo Bottle -- Star Wars. Looking for something cool from Japan? How about Star Wars shampoo bottles? We thought so.
	Erotic Ballerina 3. Japan has a big thing for leotards, and I can understand why -- they're pretty cool, nice and stretchy. Here's another "girl doing naughty things" for SOD's fans.
	SOD Summer Festival!!. SOD's Zenra series is legendary, and they've made many wacky productions. Their latest is Zenra Summer Festival, very traditionally Japanese (yet with a twist). Zenra means "totally nude."
	Mentos Apple ~ Red Apple. A flavor of Mentos sold only in Japan, this is Red Apple. I'm eating some right now -- it's good!
	Karami 29 -- Shou Nishino. I really like the format of Karami -- a magazine dedicated to just one model, filled with different types of pictures, an interview, and more. And man, Shou Nishino is one gorgeous woman.

Hanging around Akiba. This is an advertisement for a pachinko machine company. His hair is a big pachinko ball, see?

An ad for AU's newest service, auctions you can participate in with your keitai (cell phone). They were posting some Star Wars items that people could bid on.

This is something I'm interested in reading. It's the story of how Char Aznable (formerly known as Casval Rem Daikun) and his sister survived the assassination of their father by the Zabi Family, by Yasukazu Yoshikazu. It's up there with Char's Deleted Affair, the story of Char's secret love with Hamaan Kahn. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you're not an old school anime fan.

I went to Shibuya with some friends. This is one of the top ten famous buildings in Tokyo, the Shibya 109 building. We were hunting for...

Guinness, at a very nice Irish pub we found. The beer was good, the fish and chips were tasty, and we were among friends.