Four four K's that my prefecture is famous for, and all about pollen in Japan

Last week a woman looked out her window and saw smoke rising in some nearby mountains. She promptly called the fire department, who went up to fight the fire, only to find that it hadn't been smoke that the lady had seen, but massive sheets of pollen kicked up by the Spring winds. Yes, Japan can be a nightmare for people with allergies, with many pollen-producing plants that torment allergy sufferers at various times of the year. One of the worst offenders are sugi trees, Japanese cedars that pump pollen into the air from January to April. I'm sometimes asked why Japanese wear those white face masks which became prevalent throughout Asia during the SARS scare. The masks help protect others from a person's germs, and also hopefully reduce the amount of allergens breathed into the body.

If you ever travel around Japan, you'll quickly pick up on how each region of Japan promotes certain things that it's supposedly famous for, called meibutsu (lit. "famous things"), which are often types of food. Nagoya is famous for curry upon, fat noodles in a curry soup, and if you go to Osaka, be sure to eat takoyaki, balls of batter with octopus meat inside, and sauce and sliced bonito flakes on top. Kyushu is known for tonkotsu ramen, with a white pork-based soup, and our own Gunma Prefecture is famous for "four K's": katsudon (pork cutlet cooked in a delicious sauce), konyaku (a firm, gelatinous food known as Devil's Tongue in English), kara-kaze (the cold, biting wind that blows in the winter) and kakaa-denka (strong-willed women who run their households with an iron fist). Gunma is famous for another reason: the plane carrying singer Kyu Sakamoto crashed here in 1985 in a terrible accident that claimed 520 lives. Kyu was the singer of the Sukiyaki Song, known as Ue O Mite Aruko (I Look Up When I Walk), which became the #1 song in the U.S. in 1963. He also sang the popular song Ashita ga Aru Sa (There is a Tomorrow), which became the unofficial theme song of the Japanese economic recession.

Do you have a cat's tongue? If so, it means that you can't eat hot food or drink hot drinks, just like a cat. The Japanese say that anyone who avoids hot food has a cat's tongue (neko jita). What is you have a lazy eye? If so, then you are "rom-pari" which is Japanese for "Rome, Paris" -- i.e. one eye is looking at Rome and the other is looking at Paris. If you're thinning on top, you might have "bar code hair." And if you sneeze, the Japanese say that someone must be gossiping about you -- one sneeze means someone is saying something good about you, two means they're saying something bad, and three sneezes means you've caught a cold. Or something like that.

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.

	Yoko Kumada & Misako Yasuda. Bikini idols are a popular staple of "sexy media" in Japan -- you can gawk at them all you want and it's not really something bad. These girls are Yoko Kumada (a girl who I find very cute, although she had the bad timing of debuting when I was still in my Yuko Ogura phase), and the darling Misako Yasuda, who may just be my new favorite.
	Gloomy Soft Vinyl Figure -- Pink. Gloomy Bear is another of the "so cute you may claw your eyes out" characters in Japan, but he's got style -- and claws, that are bloody with his last victem, since this is the maniacally suicidal bear from Japan. This is a very large soft vinyl figure, really cool for display anywhere.
	Carry Pod -- Grey ~ Protective Case for iPod. Got an iPod? Then we recommend these cool soft cases by Elecom, a Japanese computer peripheral maker. Holds a standard iPod (they say 20 and 40 gb, but any 3G or 4G should fit). Comes with a handy carbiner clip too, which are very popular in Japan these days.
	Hentai Glasses Lady -- Nene (region 2). There are many Japanese fetishes, as you know if you read my blog or check out J-List. One of the more basic ones is meganekko or "glasses girl." This is one fetish I can really agree with -- I don't know why, but the elegance of a girl looking at you over her classes is irristable.
	Love Games in Yamanote Line ~ Koi no Yamanote Sen Game. Chosuke Nagashima is a popular hentai artist, creating stories based on characters with "female teacher" and "OL" themes. This is his newest work, and man, his art looks good, better than anything I've seen so far. This is a story of love found on the Yamanote Line, the train line that loops around Tokyo. Very nice artwork and his mature style.
	Satoshi Urushihara Illustrations Fai. Satoshi Urushihara is one of the top hentai artists of the past decade, a man so talented he's caused thousands of his fans around the world actually memorize how to say his name correctly. This is an art book of hes newest works, which are really amazing. The book is devided into two sections, girls in clothes and his signature nudes with, ah, exceptionally well developed proportions.
	Rich Fran -- Cocoa & Green Tea. Apple may call this the year of HD, but to J-List, it's been the Year of Matcha, with dozens of great green tea based products. But if I had to pick the most delicious, I'd have to say that Cocoa and Green Tea Rich Fran is just about it. The sweetness of the chocolate blends well with the slight bitter taste of the matcha. Mmmm!

Weird Japanese food, and my collected wisdom from living in Japan

Japanese food is famous for containing things not usually eaten by Westerners, something which I was reminded of when my mother and nephew were staying with us. The Japanese eat a lot of raw fish in the form of sushi (raw fish on rice) and sashimi (cut raw fish eaten by itself), and such delicacies from the sea as ika (squid), tako (octopus) and ikura (salmon roe) are not on the menus in most American homes. Another interesting food the Japanese eat is natto, fermented soybeans, which are very good for you -- my kids know I hate it, so they come and breathe natto breath on me as a joke. Although not common, I've eaten basashi (raw horse meat), a delicacy from Kyushu, and I've also had deer, turtle and alligator at exotic Chinese restaurants, too. Some people also enjoy inago (cooked locusts) and hachinoko (bee larvae, ugh). My wife loves to eat miso soup with whole crab inside, and she scrapes the kanimiso or crab's brains out so that it mixes with the soup. Perhaps the most bizarre food in Japan is shiokara, the intestines of squid, sometimes pickled in saltwater. If you ever come to Japan, don't worry about these odd foods -- there are plenty of normal alternatives for you to eat instead.

During my time in Japan I've picked up various knowledge, some of it pretty useless. Totoro is originally based on the troll from Billy Goats Gruff, and Mei and Satsuki are both born in the month of May (Satsuki is the old Japanese name for the fifth month of the year, and Mei's name comes from the English word May). Alien Baltan, the crab-like creature that Ultraman battles, gets his name from the homeworld of Mr. Spock, since Vulcan and Baltan sound very similar in Japanese, and Godzilla's many-headed nemisis King Ghidorah's name comes from the fact that "Hydra" in Japanese is pronounced "hee-dora." Char's Counterattack, the film in which the two heroes of the Gundam universe have their final battle, should really be called Char Strikes Back, since its title in Japanese sounds similar to the Japanese title of the Empire Strikes Back. Spielber's film E.T. is almost certainly based on a Japanese fairy tale called Taketori Monogatari (Tale of the Bamboo Cutter), about a couple who find a baby in a bamboo forest which turns out to be a princess from the moon. And although I didn't know it at the time, the small hibachi we used to cook hamburgers on our apartment balcony when I was a child is a Japanese word -- but in Japan, a hibachi is a great hearth found in homes dating back a hundred years or more.

The most famous dog in the history of Tokyo is Hachiko, an Akita dog who was owned by a university professor in the 1920's. Every day, Hachiko accompanied the professor to Shibuya Station, and in the evenings, the man would come back to find the dog waiting faithfully at the station, a happy expression on his face. This continued for years, until one day, the man died suddenly. Loyal Hachiko waited for his master to return for ten years, wagging his tail in front of the station every day until he, too, died. Tokyo residents have erected a bronze statue in Hachiko's memory, which you can see at the Hachiko exit of the station if you're ever in Tokyo. It's so famous, it's very useful as a meeting point for friends -- "Meet me at Hachiko."

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.

	Kanji Quiz Toilet Paper. This is one of our most popualr products: joke toilet paper that helps you learn kanji while you poop. Very popular with people studying Japanese, and presumably those giving gifts to them. My mother took some back from Japan with her.
	Whole Strawberry Chocolate. With all the war and famine in the world today, what we need is more delicious snack foods from Japan, right? This is a real strawberry that has been dried, coated with white chocolate, then dipped in milk chocolate. Man it looks good...
	Ero Pon -- Series Vol. 1 ~ Ujou Harada. Bondage photography is very big in Japan, and here's a rare item: detailed figures based on Japan's famous bondage scenes. It's really something special for collectors.
	Nihongo Journal June 2004. We were happy to see that the issues of Nihongo Journal, a monthly magazine that helps gaijin learn Japanese, was popular: we nearly sold out of the first issues we posted last week. Here are some more.
	Lady Balloon - Balloon Fetish from Japan. Just when you think you've heard of all the Japanese fetishes, there's another one: balloon bursting by pretty girls who sit on the balloons until they pop. On a rudeness scale it's quite tame, and we can understand the fascination some men might have with this. The best part is when they show the balloon bursting in slow motion.
	Marusan Plastic Model Collection. Talk about bizarre -- the Japanese have created a set of miniature plastic models that are themselves replicas of popular "pura-models" sold in the 1960s and 70s. Dude! That's out there.
	Sakagura Kikou Series 2 -- Individual Box. Miniatures from Japan are very cool, since they're so good at it making little toys that look like the real thing. These are tall bottles of sake (called isshobin or "a bottle you can drink all your life since it's so big") that comes with the box to put the sake in, but also delicious food served at a Japanese eating establishment.

The Season of the Sakura in Japan, and all about motorcycling across Japan

It's sakura time in Japan right now, as cherry blossoms around the country explode in beautiful fireworks of pink. This year was very rare: because it was so cold last month, the cherry blossoms were at least two weeks late in opening. A few days ago the weather turned very warm, and the sakura bloomed with a vengeance, attaining zenkai (when the flowers are fully opened) in less than a day. Cherry trees are very common in Japan, and virtually every city has parks and avenues with beautifully landscaped sakura trees. In addition to weather forecasts, the TV news issues "sakura reports" that give information on the state of cherry blossoms in every prefecture, and over the weekend Japan was clogged with happy people doing hanami, or flower-viewing, basically an excuse to spread out a blanket and have a party with friends while enjoying the beauty of the flowers all around you. Although she's just eight, my daughter is a very spiritual person, and she remarked that there are a lot of sakura trees near the small graveyards that dot rural areas in Japan. It was good, she said, that the "hotoke-sama" (a word that describes both Buddha and the spirits of one's dead ancestors) can enjoy the beautiful flowers and be happy. Unfortunately the season of the sakura is all too short: already the flower petals are starting to fall, and in a week they'll be gone.

Japan has a lot to offer foreigners who come to live here, with something different for everyone. Some might experience the country through its martial arts, or submerge themselves in the study of its language. Some fall in love with the famous works of Japanese literature by Souseki Natsume or Yasunari Kawabata, while those with an otaku bent can enjoy a dream life here, surrounding themselves with the icons of their compulsions. And then again, there are the foreigners who experience Japan through motorcycles, cruising around the country and exploring the open road, and I have gaijin friends who find great satisfaction in putting thousands of kilometers on their Harleys or their Kawasakis, trekking to the tops of volcanic mountains to find naturally occurring hot springs and attending festivals in the mountains of far-off Hokkaido. If you'd like to see the travels of some free-spirited foreigners I know, check out this page.

Japan can be a very strange place when it wants to be, as J-List readers are well aware. Now we've gotten in one of the most bizarre ever: a sexy "Girlfriend Knee Pillow" (hiza makura) made of soft injected foam, a perfect replica of a mini-skirted pair of legs for you to lay your head on when you need some care and understanding.

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.

	My Melody *Otedama* Plush Keychain. This is a plush that has beans inside, so it's basically a bean-bag toy version of My Melody, one of the most popular Sanrio characters in Japan these days. You can juggle them, they're very soft and nice to hold.
	Japanese Sake Brand Cafe Bag. This is another cool item in our Sake Brand series: a Cafe Bag, which is the same thing as a Scissors Bag but wider, with two carabiner hooks to secure itself to your belt loops. Features really cool kanji from the famous brand of sake, Aka-Fuji (Red Fuji).
	*Chun-Li* Microman Action Series. Micronauts, you may know, were sold by Takara in Japan under the name Microman. While Micronauts have faded from our memory (I won't deign to mention the awful Palisades remakes that were so lame), Takara has kept the Microman toys in production without missing a beat. Here is a cool Street Fighter II character that uses the patented Micronaut poseable body design.
	digi + KISHIN girls -- MEGUMI. Megumi (that's her only name) is one of the popular busty idols managed by the Yellow Cab talent agency, which also handles such stars as Eriko Sato. I love her becuase she's smart as hell as well as being so pretty, and can talk circles around any man. If you've seen the Japanese trivia show Hey! Spring of Trivia, she's a regular on there.
	Hidamari no Pooh -- Hidamari no Tami Series. The Hidamari no Tami (aka Sunshine People) are toys by Takara with heads that rock back and forth, thanks to the power of solar energy. This is a cool new variation: a Whinnie the Pooh that will help you to relax.
	A Nest of Lesbian 4 Hours. It's funny how many phases the Japanese adult video world has passed through since we started all this in 1996. Back then there was no "indies" world, and the companies were all fat cats who didn' thave to work hard to sell products. Back in those days, it was odd how little there way in the way of lesbian erotica -- almost nothing, really. Now, it's common to find adult videos that explore girl on girl love.
	Girlfriend Knee Pillow. Last but not least... Looking for something really odd from Japan? Here is is: a soft foam pillow that looks like a pair of legs, so you can rest your tired head on your virtual girlfriend's lap and feel better.