Commomorating Karaoke Culture Day, a cruel joke on the population front, and all about mixed bathing in Japan

Japan is a big fan of naming special days to create awareness about things we take for granted, like Sweet Potato Day (Oct. 13) or Rubber Manufacturing Day (May 6) or Teddy Bear Day (Oct. 27, the birthday of Theodore Roosevelt, from who the name originates). Why do I know these silly dates? Because every time I start my car, a computerized voice greets me and tells me what special day it is. Today happens to be Karaoke Culture Day, a day to pause and think about the beneficial effects karaoke has had on all or our lives, or something like that. Karaoke sprung into being in 1971, created by musician/inventor Daisuke Inoue, who had been asked by customers at a live house he performed at to record instrumental versions of his songs so they could sing them at company events. With the recent invention of high-tech 8-track tape players, stereos were getting smaller, and Daisuke got the idea for a portable song machine with a microphone jack that would allow people to sing their own songs. The company he founded to market tape-based karaoke machines launched the modern karaoke industry, but it fell on hard times when Laserdisc-based karaoke came along and stole the marketplace, causing Inoue to step down as president to take responsibility for not leading the company more effectively. Unfor- tunately for Daisuke, it never occurred to him to patent the idea or trademark the name "karaoke," mistakes which would cost him hundreds of millions. The name, incidentally, comes from "kara" (empty, as in karate, which means "empty hand") and "orchestra." Since I learned Japanese in part by hanging out at Japanese karaoke restaurants in San Diego and reading the words as they appeared on the screen, I tip my hat to Mr. Inoue, and hope he's enjoying his retirement.

The population of the United States has just hit the 300 million mark, an event that seems like a grim joke considering that Japan's population has probably reached its peak of 127 million at just about the same time, and has started to decline as deaths outstrip births. I guess I'm not quite sure how to feel about the issue of population shrinkage. On the one hand, Japan has a high population compared its small size, with 327 people per square km, compared with 383, 27 and 3 for England, the U.S. and Canada, respectively, so it seems that the idea of a lessening of population pressures could be a good thing. But does a falling population mean that an eternally shrinking GDP is in Japan's future? Some people suggest this, but I don't buy it, since Japan is currently an extremely inefficient place, and if they can manage to copy just a fraction in productivity gains seen in the U.S. in recent years, the economy can grow even if the overall population declines. In reality, the macro-level changes that Japan is facing on the population front are likely to affect the average person far less than more localized trends, such as the tendency for young people to flee the extreme rural parts of the country for larger cities. During my bachelor days I travelled from one end of Japan to the other, visiting places like Aomori Prefecture at the top of Japan's main island of Honshu, known for its apples and sad enka songs, and Tottori Prefecture, home of Japan's only desert. These regions are very sparsely populated, with lonely train stations that have so few passengers passing through that it isn't feasible to keep even one employee there -- hence, you buy your ticket and give it directly to the train conductor when you got on the train. As usual, I'm sure the changes Japan is going through are things that will just be dealt with as we go forward in human history.

Bathing in public baths (sento) and hot spring spas (onsen) is a fun part of life in Japan, and something my family and I are big fans of. By and large, being in the buff in front of others is something you don't give a second thought to -- it's just part of the culture here, like beer vending machines and aloe flavored yogurt. While Japan is famous for images of men and women bathing together, kon'yoku or mixed bathing is actually very rare these days -- I've only found one mixed bathing bath, and believe me, I've looked hard. Although men are strictly forbidden from entering the womens bathing area, there's an unwritten rule that female staff may enter the men's bath to clean at any time, despite the natural state of all the men bathing inside. Usually the women are obasans (older women in their 50s or so), but every once in a while an attractive younger woman will come in to straighten the buckets or check the bath temperature, causing the occasional dash to hot water by gaijin who shall not be named.

Calling all fans of Japanese calendars! We've gotten a huge volley of 2007 calendars in stock, and have posted them to the site for you to browse. Among the calendars we have on hand and ready to ship out to you are Domo-kun (a great item for fans of NHK's famous brown spokesmonster), gorgeous idols like Mihiro, Yukie Kawamura, and Sonim, super anime characters like Boy Detective Conan, Negima, My Neighbor Totoro, beautiful images of Japanese castles and gardens, and more. We also have two items that I can't recommend highly enough: this year's outstanding Ghibli Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service 3-D calendars, which feature Totoro standing by the famous bus stop and Jiji the Cat, both of which are great for displaying photos in when 2007 is behind us.

Last time we officially announced that our new yaoi PC dating-sim game, Absolute Obedience, was in stock and shipping, and now we've got another announcement for fans of this popular genre from Japan: J-List's San Diego staff will be attending the upcoming Yaoi Con in San Francisco, October 20-22 in the heart of San Francisco. We'll have our great English-translated BL games as well as other fun stuff for you to browse, and our famous J-List tissue, of course. If you'll be at the show, please come by and say hello to us! You can see more information on the convention here.

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.

	Karami 23 -- Nana Natsume. Nana Natsume is one of the most beautiful women in all Japan. Enjoy her new photomagazine.
	Wife's Specialized Subject ~ Hitozuma Senka. Hitozuma, literally meaning "a person's wife," is a big theme in Japan, don't ask me why. This is a nice manga based on unfaithful women with very developed bodies.
	QG ~ Q-too Girls (Cute Girls). This artist's pen name is "ED" -- is he trying to tell us something? Anyway, this is one of the most well crafted manga works I've seen in weeks or months. Really special art and design here.
	Yuika no OOO -- Yuika Hotta. Although Yuika's last name will remind native English speakers of the word "hot" being pronounced-ah by-ah famous-ah plumber-ah named-ah Mario, it's just a name (HOH-tah). Not that-ah she isn't-ah Hot-ah, though.
	Bifurcation Woman -- Kaede Matsushima. I know my own fetish. It's for "seito-ha" or "honest, good-girl types." That must be why I like Kaede-chan so much.
	Fuzoku Full Course -- MIMI. I also like this girl quite a lot, especially that cat-like face and indies eagerness to please the customer. Yowza.
	Angelium. Nice ero-anime release from Kitty Media with themes of Greek Gods. You gotta love that.
	Folgore 1/72 Scale Plastic Model -- Age of Flying Boat (Original of Porco Rosso). Killer plastic model (er, "model" -- living in Japan makes you want to differentiate the plasatic kind from the slightly less plastic kind for some reason) of the plane from Hayao Miyazaki's under-appreciated, but outstanding, film.
	Negima Figumate -- Set of 10 *Full Set + Rare Item* ~ Magister Negi Magi Vol.5. I really think these Negima figures look cool. We have several sets in stock.
	Oni Musume 3 -- Doggy Style Ver. ~ Bome Collection Vol.16. Great new creation by Mon-Sieur Bome.
	EDWIN Three-Fold Wallet. A really nice wallet from Japan, featuring secure "magic tape" (Velcro) to hold your stuff safely.
	Sakura Tabi Socks -- Pink. These are socks, but they're better, since they're also tabi, with the split toe and everything. Really cool.
	Genki no Mi -- Veg and Fruit Soft Candy ~ Orange. Vegetable and fruit join in this bold, er, new offering from Japan.
	Japanese Mug Cup -- I Love You. I love these coffee cups, with excellent ceramic roughness to them and cool kanji messages printed on the sides.
	Glico Mini Strawberry Pocky. These Pocky boxes are small and easy to buy several flavors of. I like strawberry myself.
	Nabisco Green Tea Puffy Chocolate. Yum! This Nabisco Green Tea chocolate cookie bar thing looks good. I wish I were eating it right now.
	Tamagotchi Character Bell Keychain. Tamagotchi is more than just a cool electronic pet. It's a paradigm, and you can get in on it with these Tamagotchi character bells.