Problems in Japan's business world, boneheaded moves by Seven-Eleven Japan, and all about futons

There's a fight brewing in Japan's business world, as investment fund Murakami Asset Management, the largest shareholder of the popular Hanshin Tigers baseball team, tries to take the team public. His goal is to allow Tigers fans to show their support by becoming shareholders, and of course earn his fund a nice return in the process. He's encountering significant resistance from the directors of the team, who don't want to see their crown jewel mishandled, and purist fans in Osaka are also angry about the cold world of business intruding on their love of baseball. The situation is similar to that of T-shirt-wearing president of Livedoor, Takafumi Horie, who had difficulties executing a leveraged buyout of Fuji TV, something that isn't done very often in Japan. The fact that there can be a controversy about something like this at all brings into question concept of "ownership" of a stock in Japan. The Hanshin Tigers won the Japan World Series this year and has been incredibly popular with Japanese fans.

In other business news, a staple of the Japanese retail industry is falling on hard times. Ito Yokado Group, the company that operates the national chain of department stores Ito Yokado as well as owning all Seven-Eleven and Denny's in Japan, has been having a bad couple of years. Sales at the company's flagship department stores have been falling, and 80% of the profit the $6 billion group earns comes from the 10,000 Seven-Eleven stores in Japan. There is nothing more finicky and hard to satisfy as a Japanese consumer, who demand both exceptional quality and low prices in everything they buy, and Ito Yokado is having a tough time of finding the right mix of fashion and value to delivery to its customers. It may be just me, but I think part of their problem might have to do with the boneheaded idea of changing the company name to "Seven & I Holdings" and replacing the famous dove logo on their department stores with the Seven-Eleven image. "Holdings" sounds like so much corporate felgercarb, and the idea of buying clothes from a building with a Seven-Eleven logo on the outside is just bizarre. Jack in the Box restaurants used to be operated by Ralston Purina, but if they put the famous dog food maker's logo on their restaurants, sales would fall pretty fast, I think. Do you sleep in a bed or on a futon? Both are popular in Japan, although the trend is definitely towards Western beds among young people. Futons are sleeping mats large enough to sleep one person comfortably. They fold up into three sections for easy storage, and are useful to keep around when guests drop by unexpectedly -- just pull a spare futon out of the closet. Futons must be hung out to dry every few days or they'll accumulate moisture inside, which is unhealthy, and the Japanese believe the sun shining on your futon kills germs (they're certainly nice to sleep in after they've been hung out to dry). The Western "futon" is usually comprised of a large stuffed pad and a wooden frame, but like California Rolls, this is a completely made-in-the-the-West concept. We've got another big volley of 2006 calendars in stock, with 40 or more anime, swimsuit idol, traditional and cultural, and men's calendars in stock and ready for your immediate order. Browse our stock right 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.

	2006 Calendar -- Michi ~ Proverb (1 Tube). This is always a popular genre of caendar at J-List -- beautfully written messages in kanji, which are great on many levels. This one has hiragana readings by the kanji, good for students who want to study.
	2006 Calendar - Nude Onsen Girls -- Lone Journey. Another popular calendar series is always the Nude Onsen (hot springs) Girls, and this year's is as lovely as ever. A great way to enjoy the beauty of a nude woman and Japanese culture at the same time!
	RED Impact ~ Origin Picture Fan Book. Azuki Kurenai is one of the most popular H manga artists in Japan today, and here is a nice new item: a color art book that's filled with his breathtaking characters.
	Fetish Romance ~ Fechi Romansu. When you are around hentai as much as I am, it becomes interesting to analyze the psychological aspects of these fantasies. Here's an H manga about women who are fawning over male characters, a very nicely done collection of fantasy stories.
	Lotte Original Crunky Chocolate. We all know there's some weird English to be found in Japan, but Crunky, a crunchy chocolate by Lotte, is up there with the best of them.
	Evangelion Star & Constellation Mini Figures -- Set of 4 *Full Set*. Set of four wacky Evangelion "Super Deformed" figures, including my favorite character, Hikari (the class president, or whatever iincho is in English.
	Mihiro photobook NAMA with DVD. Mihiro is back in a new nude photobook that's very nice -- see Japan's most lovely JAV starlet in a variety of great places and poses. And it comes with a 70 minute DVD.
	"Pata Pata" Tea Dog Mascot w/Chocolate Snack. Tea Dog (Ochaken) is a line of character toys based on types of tea (green tea, oolong tea, etc.), and here's a cute character mascot keychain for you. Comes with delicious chocolate cookies, too.
	Black & Semen -- Momo Iizawa (region 2). Moodyz continues their popular series that pits a Japanese girl against several big black guys from the U.S.
	Wa Zakka - Japanese Sundries -- Full Set *Set of 5* ~ Re-ment Puchi Sample Series. Another series of extremely detailed miniatures from Re-Ment, this is Wa Zakka, translatable as Japanese Sundries. Very cool series (full sets are in stock).
	Mizuho Kazami *White* Wedding Dress -- Onegai Teacher. Here is the lovely Mizuho Kazami dressed in her wedding dress, both long and "mini skirt" versions. She's pretty hot for an alien.
	Black 26.5cm Genuine Tabi (Ninja Shoes) . Among the wacky things J-List sells, we have authentic tabi, the boots with separated toes which were worn by ninja, and are worn by Japanese dykes, by which I mean daiku, which are carpenters.