Our love of Japanese hot springs, thoughts on government and the private sector, and the most beautiful Pocky box ever

As part of my son's homework, he keeps a diary about the past day's events, alternating entries between Japanese and English. It seems that every Sunday night's entry is the same -- he writes about what Japanese hot springs we went to that weekend. Japan is a very volcanic country, which means there are a lot of underground hot springs, or onsen (pronounced OWN-sen) to tap for bathing. Most every weekend we head out in our Mazda Bongo Friendee (sort of an MPV with a top that can be raised, like the old Volkswagon Vanagons) and enjoy a steaming hot bath somewhere in the mountains. Bathing in hot springs has been a part of Japan's culture for centuries -- one of the most famous onsen towns in Japan is Kusatsu (koo-SA-tsoo), located right in our prefecture, and it's been known for its baths for the past eight hundred years. One of the small linguistic quirks of the Japanese language is that there are separate words for cold water (mizu) and hot water (yu), and gaijin will invariably use the wrong word, to the amusement of everyone here. Bathing is so important in Japan that the word yu commonly gets the honorific o attached to the front (e.g. o-yu), as a sign of respect.

Last weekend we picked a nice-looking onsen in a village called Showa-mura and headed up there. It wasn't our first choice for a destination, but some of our regular hot spring spots are located high in the mountains, and we didn't want to hassle with driving in snow. The facility, the Showa-no-yu General Welfare Center, was pretty much what we'd come to expect: a washing area where you clean your body before bathing; a good mix of indoor baths to choose from; an outdoor bath where you can take a dip while enjoying "vibrant greenery"; and a sauna. There was also a large common room where you can relax, have a beer and enjoy some karaoke or a game of go after your bath. Also as expected, the facility was built by the local municipal government and operated with tax money, rather than by a private company. From swimming pools to the Kampo life insurance sold by the post office to a chain of luxury hotels subsidized by postal savings accounts, there are dozens of areas where the Japanese government intrudes on the private sector, doing things that often could be done efficiently by regular companies. The overall effect of this interference by the government is that Japan is less of a market-driven country and closer to something like socialism, a fact born out by the extremely low rate of entrepreneurship here. On the one hand, I'm happy to have access to a nice, hot bath in a small village that probably couldn't support such a venture without public money, but on the other hand, I wonder if Japan's public works-based approach to driving the country forward can be sustained.

Pocky has gone from being a wonky snack that a few anime fans knew about to being a major force in the world-wide snack market. The chocolate-covered pretzel stick, named for the pokki! sound they make when you break one, was first introduced in 1965, by Glico, a confectionery company founded by a man who swore to improve the health of Japan's children by introducing sweets containing glycogen harvested from oysters (which is where the name Glico comes from). There are many different flavors of Pocky available, from traditional chocolate to slightly bitter Men's Pocky to the luxurious line of Pocky that look like decorated cakes and even the surprise of the season, Black Sesame Pocky. Now Glico has introduced two new varieties of thick Mousse Pocky for 2006: Murasaki Imo (a purple-colored sweet made with sweet potato), and a favorite of J-List customers, the new Green Tea Mousse Pocky! In addition to being just plain delicious, the new Mousse Pocky boxes are some of the most beautifully-designed I've ever seen, with amazing traditional Japanese images on them. Sure to be a collector's item in years to come -- no B.S., I think I will save a case of each in a cool, dry place just in case it goes up in value someday. Available by the case, too!

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.

	Loco Misa -- Misako Yasuda. Misako Yasuda is a bright shining point of light in Japan's idol world, and this is just about the best photobook of hers I've seen. I like the format, with huge, oversized glossy pages.
	Comic AG Super Erotic Manga Anthology vol. 27. Another issue of AG, which is the best bi-weekly hentai manga mag being published in the U.S. today. Well, it's the only one too, but nevermind that. Seriosly, all fans of hentai artwork need to make a conscious effort to support this magazine so that it can continue to flourish.
	Tokyo Platinum Club ~ Tokyo Shirogane Club. Longtime J-List readers might just be thinking what we're thinking -- that the girl on the cover of this book looks just like Kaori, J-List's first employee. It's not her, trust us.
	Welcome to Max Airline -- Manaka Satoh. The Max Airline is Max-A's answer to their Max Cafe line of waitress fetish adult movies, this time featuring stewardess costumes.
	Erotic Dice Game Travel -- Ai Kurosawa. This is a fun new production from Soft on Demand, in which Ai Kurosawa (JAV idol and all around beautiful woman) shows her thanks to her fans by having sex 39 times (3 9 = san kyu in Japanese, which means "thank you"). The Magic Mirror Box is just too trippy...
	Natural High Female Employee! I've long thought, why don't the adult studios in Japan make a production in which the cameraman or director gets to play a role? Well, Natural High has read my mind, with this "revenge of the AD" release.
	Black & Erotic Lady & Swap -- Izumi Hasegawa (region 2). Another Japanese Girl vs. Black men from the USA release from Moodyz. I like this series because (among other things) the linguistic interplay between the two groups (usually zero English spoken by the girls, of course) is hilarious to see. And other thiings.
	Forever. If you watch only one anime based on an H-game, hunt down and watch Kimi ga Nozomu Eien Ni, or the Future that you Wish For. It rocks. Meanwhile, here's a doujinshi based on the game/anime.
	Miina Kudo PVC Figure -- Onegai Twins. Man, I love figures like this. This is Miina from Please Twins. You just want to reach out to her and enter her little plastic world.
	Karen Onodera PVC Figure -- Onegai Twins. The matching twin figure. Since most fans will want to buy both, we've put in a buy-both-get-15%-off discount on the site.
	Poko to Issho ~ Together With Poko. It is a good time for fans of futanari right now, with great books like this, and the other book we published today. Amazing art and "dick girl" concept here.
	Haruyo Morita 1000 Pieces Jigsaw Puzzle -- Shishi no Mai ~ 50 x 75cm. A really stylin' puzzle from Japan, just for you. I can't get enough of Haruyo Morita.
	Glico Mousse Pocky -- Murasaki Imo. This is the new Mousse Pocky, a thick, creamy, purple Pocky made with a traditional sweet from Japan, Murasaki Imo. Now, this is really delicious, but even if the taste of the Murasaki Imo isn't for you, damn this box looks great!
	Glico Mousse Pocky -- Green Tea. This is the 2006 edition of Green Tea Mousse Pocky, although I am tempted to call it Matcha Pocky since technically, Matcha is quite different from Ryokucha (which is what normal green tea is called in Japanese).
	Hello Kitty Pen Pouch -- White ~ Enamel Type. Excellent Hello Kitty retro item for collectors, featuring Kitty-chan as she looked in 1976.
	Keroro Netsuke *Afro Hair Ver* -- Sergeant Keroro. Sgt. Frog, aka Keroro Gunsou, aka Keroro Gunso sometimes (I hate transliteration in the age of Google), with a 'fro. Dude!
	Geisha Comb. If you buy no other comb this year....