Thoughts on Tokyo, the truth behind internationalization, and the triumph of inefficiency

I went into Tokyo on business yesterday, and as is often the case, I was amazed that the city is able to function as well as it does with its massive daytime population of 14 million -- a whopping 5655 people per square kilometer. Just as New York is comprised of several boroughs, Tokyo is made up of various parts, including 23 wards (ku), 26 cities (shi), and even sections designated as towns and villages (determined by population size), in effect making the metropolitan area operate more as a prefecture than as a city. Although Tokyo has an extensive system of freeways and major roads, driving there is the most stressful thing you can imagine, and I nearly always take trains, since there's nothing more convenient. The end result of this is that I have no perception of the geographical layout of Tokyo at all, but only think of the city in terms of which train line will get me to Shinjuku or Akihabara. Yesterday I was delayed by the bane of Tokyo train riders, the jinshin jiko, which means "injury accident" but is a polite way of saying that someone decided to end it all by throwing themselves in front of an oncoming train.

One of the things any pop Japanoligist can tell you about are the Japanese traditions of tatemae and honne (TAH-tay-MAH-eh and HON-neh), two concepts which are woven into the fabric of Japan's society. Tatemae, meaning "facade," represents the the ideas expressed in public, or the way we pretend society is, while honne is the way we really feel, or the way the world really is. Ever since coming to Japan I've heard a lot about kokusai-ka, a word that means "internationalization" and which supposedly represents Japan's desire to open up to the rest of the world and experience other cultures and new ways of solving problems. Frankly, I've always felt that this was a prime example of tatemae in action -- something that sounds good in a newspaper article but is meaningless in practice -- since the average Japanese, just like the average American or Korean or Frenchman, has a natural tendency to believe that the way things are done in their country is intrinsically better than anywhere else. However, I was surprised to find a little honne after all, when my daughter told me the kinds of international foods they've been dishing up at lunchtime at her public elementary school: Korean bibinbap rice bowl, Indian kima curry with naan, Italian focaccio bread, French mille-feuille for dessert, and so on. The idea is to improve the kids' minds by exposing them to various foods from around the world, and I think it's a great one.

Sadly, one of the major economic themes of Japan today is the triumph of inefficiency. When you drive past road construction, there are sure to be several men whose job it is to stand by the road with orange flashlights, ostensibly directing traffic even though everyone ignores them. Then there are the ever-present "parking old men" who do nothing more than stand in parking lots and direct you to a parking spot that you could have easily found yourself. Japan is a very cash-centric country, and personal checks (or cheques, for our European readers -- internationalization!) don't exist here at all. When individuals or businesses need to send money to someone, they usually go to the bank and execute a manual bank transfer (furikomi), paying a $6 fee to the bank for this privilege. And just today I saw another classic example of inefficiency: people who are paid to sit by the side of the road and click a clicker as cars drive by, to count the numbers of cars using a given road at a set time. Japan is supposed to be a technically advanced country, so why don't they come up with a high-tech device that can do this?

Just a heads up: J-List stocks virtually every PC dating-sim game in English, including older classics like the Himeya games, Hobibox's Viper series and Love Love Show, and the collection of three classic games by G-Collections, DOR. Several games are close to selling out, so if you're a collector of Japan's unique H-games, you might consider picking them up before they go.

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.

	eonna Nov. 2005 ~ e onna with DVD Region All. 'Nother issue of eOnna, which is one of the most popular magazines we sell. The combination of really beautiful actresses who -- surprisingly -- keep their clothes on, and the DVD, make this a hit product.
	Tokyo Voyage -- Jun Natsukawa. One of the most popular bikini idols in Japan, this is a nice photobook with Jun Natsukawa.
	Kera Maniax vol. 3. A cool new goth-loli book with lots of photos. Nice blending of the old Kera with FRUiTs.
	Enchanting Lingerie Pub. Back in the old days, when I was translating Three Sisters' Story (the first H game brought out in English), there was a scene with a "lan-pub" or lingerie pub, where girls dress in sexy underwear. A decade later (ye gods, it has been that long!) and the genre is being explored once again.
	Virgin Lesbian Vol. 11. Newest release in the Virgin Lesbian series by U&K, pretty much the #1 company bringing out yuri content in Japan.
	Gamera Microman -- KM-05 ~ Kigurumi Microman Series. I am jazzed about this, since I loved nothing more in my youth as much as Gamera the radioactive flying turtle, and Micronauts, the cool, so-flexible-they-can't-be-played-with toys. There's also a Godzilla version.
	Kana Iriya 1/8 Scale Figure -- Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu. "Sky of Iriya, Summer of UFOs" is the catch phrase on this character. I don't know what it means, but the image of this cute girl, with the summer breeze blowing her skirt up just so, is pretty darn cool.
	Doki Doki Clover Heights. Nice hentai manga about the life and times inside an apartment building called Clover Heights. Brings back memories of the old Paradise Heights game days.
	Tokimeki Megane ~ Throbbing Glasses. For fans of girls with glasses, and you know who you are, this is a nice anthology manga featuring lots of girls with glasses on.
	The Japan Book. Another book that tells you a lot about Japan, from history to religeon to culture and more. Quite good. This one is all in English, not a bilingual book like some of the others we've had.
	AIR Art Works. I never played AIR, but I wish I had. I did love the anime, which was one of the most beautiful character-centric anime shows I've ever seen. This is the art from the game (so it's "ecchi," unlike the anime).
	Unazukin -- Strawberry ~ Fruit ver. New Unazukin design, this time with a strawberry them. Looks good enough to eat.
	Rilakkuma Posing Plush -- Relax Bear. A nice plush teddy bear of Rilakkuma, the cute San-X character who's supposed to get you to relax more.
	Meiji Porte -- Green Tea & Black Sesame. For fans of Japanese snacks, this is Porte, which I see I mentioned as Polte in the update email (stupid meaningless R/L difference). Green tea with black sesame seeds and chocolate all around.
	Shinkansen Collection Z -- Set of 10 *Full Set + Rare Items*. Talk about cool -- little models of the most famous Shinkansen in Japan.
	Marukawa Black Tongue Gum (60 Pieces) - Kuro-Beh Cola Flavor. Something very popular with elementary school kids today is Black Tongue Gum, cola-flavored bubble gum that turns your mouth totally black.
	Hello Kitty Soap Lather Net.Increase the lather in your washing machine, and add some much-needed kawaii to your laundry.
	Totoro DX Plush *Giant* -- My Neighbor Totoro. This is one of those "just plain cool" items I'm very happy to carry at J-List. When I came to Japan back in 1992 I bought the largest Totoro plush I could find, but it wasn't as big or cool as this one.

Pictures from my trip to Tokyo, hopefully with improved quality since I am using a camera now, not my phone. Thi sis the famous Yama-no-te loop line that goes around Tokyo.

Ad for Nova, the English school that promises you a "study abroad experience without leaving your local train station area."

Some parts of Tokyo are new and spiffy, like Shinjuku and Shibuya. Then there are the old places, which can't have changed that much in the past 50 years. Asakusa-bashi is one such place.

They've made a branch of the Yoyogi Animation School in Akihabra -- smart move.

Wanted!! Pinky Street...

The mathematical aspects of Japanese grammar, Japan and its environment, and ways to fluster a Japanese person

A show I like a lot is NHK's Eigo de Shaberanaito ("I must say it in English"), which helps motivate Japanese learners of English by, say, showing actresses with no special language ability taking on difficult challenges like interviewing famous Hollywood stars who visit Japan. In last night's episode, a Japanese fan asked Patrick, the token gaijin-who-can-speak-Japanese- really-well you see on a lot of television shows, how he learned to speak the language so well. His answer was that, to him, Japanese was a very "formulaic" language, with a simple sentence structure that's straightforward and "markers" for the various parts of the sentence, such as the subject (wa, in Japanese は), the object (o, を), the predicate (ni, に), and so on. I agreed with this statement 100% -- the grammar of Japanese is almost mathematical in its directness, and from my very first year at SDSU I found it a pleasant challenge, even taking into account the parts of sentences that get omitted because everyone understands that information already. Something that helped me a lot in the beginning was memorizing a particular sentence then "swapping out" the subject, object, etc. with other words, until I had internalized it.

Japan is truly the land of contradictions, and sometimes it seems impossible to know the real Japan. Take the issue of the environment, for example. On the one hand, Japan is an ultra-industrialized country that has sacrificed a huge portion of its limited land mass to the twin Gods of Asphalt and Conrete, covering much of the country with roads and dams and Shinkansen tracks. An over-reliance on public works to stimulate the economy has led to a staggering amount of waste, with many projects of dubious benefit, such as mummifying the sides of mountains with concrete to guard against possible rockslides. When you point out that Japan has caused harm to its environment, the argument is made that the country's large population -- 1/2 that of the U.S., crammed into 1/25 the space, or even less if you take away all the uninhabitable mountain areas -- makes it impossible for Japan to be as concerned with environmental issues as the U.S. or Europe, and the inevitable Japanese mantra shigata ga nai (it can't be helped) is trotted out. And yet, there are many ways the Japanese show real vision when it comes to the environment. Gomi (garbage) is always separated into "burnable" and "non-burnable," with the former incinerated in high-tech facilities that burn the trash and trap most of the harmful gases that result -- and heat the local town's swimming pool at the same time. Cars are taxed annually on the sizes of their engines, with a gas-guzzling Toyota Crown owner paying around $800 per year while owners of fuel efficient small cars or hybrids pay a mere $30. Every few days a guy drives around our neighborhood calling for old newspapers to recycle, which he'll trade rolls of new toilet paper for. And when you go to the store to buy more Charmy Green dishwashing liquid, you have the choice between buying a regular bottle or a refill pack that costs slightly less and doesn't add to the gomi problem.

Want to know how to fluster a Japanese person? Ask them pronounce difficult English words, such as the word "jewelry," which twists L and R sounds in unnatural ways. Other words the J-List staff reports as being difficult are "McDonald's" (which takes six syllables to say in Japanese, Makudonarudo), "strawberry daiquiri" and that old standby, "election." There are two words for love in Japanese, too, and if you want to have some fun ask your Japanese friends what the difference between them is -- they'll stumble as they try to come up with a way to explain the difference. The two words are koi (恋, which usually describes romantic love) and ai (愛, a higher kind of love that is used for family or anyone who's very dear to you, or the steady, slow-burning love of marriage). Incidentally, these two words are combined into a compound word to make a general word for love, which is ren'ai (恋愛）.

The "top 20" links on the main J-List and JBOX.com pages are a good way to browse the most popular products we sell, allowing you to quickly see what other manga, DVD, magazine, photobook, toy, Japanese study and other items other J-List customers are buying that week. Now we've updated our scripts so that you get to see the top 50 products in each category, a great way to see the most popular products neatly organized for you. We also recommend hitting the "3 days update" link which makes it easy to browse items updated in the last 3 days only, so you can see what's new and updated at J-List!

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.

	ERI -- Eri Shibuya. Very pretty model in this new hardcover photobook. Beautiful example of how good Japanese photography can be. It's an example of the new trend in Japanese photobooks, very sexy without showing actual nudity.
	Figure Girls. Is this a good idea or what? Taking beautiful Japanese girls and posting anime figures on, under and around their bodies. This is a haiku, man.
	Moe Moe Maid Bus Tour. Remembering that Moe is not Moe, as in the bartender at Moe's Tavern, but Moé, e.g. mo-EH, this is a cute bus tour of sexy maids.
	The Face is in Tokyo & The Body is in the Car. Another bus tour! Are they on to something or what? In this newproject from Million, sex Japanese idols stick their heads out of a curtained bus and talk to passers-by, while they're being twiddled with inside the bus. Twisted?
	Kuga San to Iroiro ~ Various Things With Kuga. We have a fistful of doujinshi for you today. I really liked the art in these Mai-Hime books m'self.
	*Onsen Manju* Nyanko Plush Mascot (Small). Another cool item from San-X, this is an Onsen Manju (a Japanese dessert steamed with heat from a hot springs) with an way-too-cute cat baked inside.
	Maid Zukushi ~ Maid Dukushi ~ Eat Up Maiden. One of the top hentai artists over the years has been Maguro Teikoku, whose hilarious name means Empire of Tuna. This is a nice maid-fetish manga he has penned.
	Unazukin -- Daruma ~ Limited edition! A new Daruma edition of the oh-so-cute Unazukin little Bandai doll that nods (unazuku, in Japanese) or shakes his head when you talk to it.
	Mai Shiranui 1/8 Scale Figure -- Garou Densetsu. Very stylish prepainted anime figure. How do they get the hair to look like that??
	Nintendogs Fuki Fuki Swing -- Chihuahua ~ Gashapon. And for Nintendogs fans, we've got some really cute phone straps which feature all the Nintendogs friends. Put it on your phone, keys, or (just a suggestion) your Nintendo DS!
	Byodoin 1000 Pieces Puzzle -- 75 x 50cm ~ Kyoto Temple Series. One of the top places to visit in Japan is Byodoin, a beautiful temple complex in between Kyoto and Nara. This is what is pictured on the back of the Japanese ten yen coin.
	Shikishi -- Cherry Petal. We continue to bring you wacky and sometimes useful things from Japan, like these shikishi, Japanese writing boards. Basically, they're handy to have around -- write messages on them when giving them to departing friends, have famous people sign them, etc.
	Sun-Star Paper StitchLock Zn. This is just plain cool, a device that knits sheets of paper together so you never need a stapler. This is the really deluxe model, which is heavy, wroght of solid iron (hence the "Zn") and very stylish.
	Zebra Check Age Pen Set - Great for study! The Zebra Check series is a tool for Japanese students to memorize any information. You blot out some information in your textbook that you need to memorize, cover it with the ruler, and quiz yourself on the word. Then remove the ink with the magic ink removing pen!
	Catchy Japanese Phrases ~ Nihongo Maruanki Cho. I've recommend this before, and here I go again. It's situation-based Japanese learning, i.e. here's what to say in a given situation. Somethiing I wish I'd had 15 years ago!

I bought a new camera, the very nice Canon Ixy LI3 and the smallest one they make (almost the smallest camera sold in Japan). This camera purchase came about after I finally realized I hate my phone's camera, which had been significantly downgraded from the previous model, and I was tired of taking blurred photos with it. So readers who have requested that I post more pics, hopefully you will get more pics.

Wow, Mac technologies taking up two of the three icons. That's not bad. As a long time Mac user, it's not always been easy to take stupid manufacturers who take a generic product like an EIDE hard drive and then mark that it's only compatible with Windows. Come on, guys.

Home made Valentine's Day cake for me, yum! It's nice having an appreciative wife and daughter in the home.

Also, some really yummy homemade chocolates.

This is Hayami Mokomichi, pretty much the #1 heartthrob in Japan right now, something that is bound to happen if your name is weird like "Mokomichi." He adorns my wife's wall.

Valentine's Day and Chocolate in Japan, learning about Japan through "fighting five team" shows, and Japanese linguistic poverty

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and all throughout Japan men are looking forward to receiving the gift of chocolate from females around them, in keeping with the custom here. There are two kinds of chocolate a man can receive, the first of which is giri choco or "obligation chocolate." which female coworkers might give to males they work with because they feel it's expected of them. Then there's the stuff that we all really want to get, honmei choco or "true heart chocolate," hand-made chocolates, cakes or other treats from our wives, daughters or girlfriends which show their love and appreciation for us. Of course, when you are given a gift in Japan you always have to give something back (this is called o-kaeshi), and so Japan's marketers have created White Day on March 14, a day when men who received chocolate must give something back (often white chocolate or, if she's okay with it, sexy underwear).

There are many ways to approach an understanding of Japan -- through its anime, or JPOP music, or perhaps through Japanese television dramas, which are quite interesting. Another way you might enter into an exploration of Japan's pop culture is through the Super Sentai TV show series, the "fighting five team" shows in which color-coded heroes do battle with evil minions, invariably combining into a giant robot to finish off the giant monster-of- the-week in a big explosion at the end. Ever since creating Secret Sentai Goranger three decades ago, Toei has created a new series every year, making adjustments to the stories and characters along the way -- changing them to ninja or galactic police officers, for example. Since most every Japanese person watched these shows when they were small, you can ask them which "sentai generation" they belonged to. J-List's Daisuke and Tomo loved Electronic Team Denjiman (1980), while my wife was there for the original Goranger series (1975). I got to experience these shows alongside my son as he was growing up, too. He loved Emergency Rescue Team GoGo-V (1999) more than anything else, and it was a real eye-opening experience for him when we got a tape of Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue (the U.S. version of the same series) and got to see the fire engine that transformed into a robot to do that corny "ladder punch" in English. I'll never forget the last episode of Time Ranger, when the characters took their Time Robo back in "time" to visit all the past five-team shows. The Super Sentai series has links to other shows, of course, such as the venerable Kamen Rider (Masked Rider) and anime classics like Science Ninja Team Gatchaman and Voltron.

One of the curses of the Japanese is their unique kana-based phonetic system that breaks every sound down into consonant+vowel or vowel-only syllables, which leads to Japanese being very phonetically impoverished and is the reason why Japanese often have thick accents when speaking English. One of the simplest words to you or I is probably the word the, yet the closest you can come to this pronunciation in the katakana writing system is za -- the dental fricative sound is quite alien to the Japanese vocal system. The Japanese Ministry of Education has recently started teaching English in elementary schools, but since there aren't enough native English teachers in Japan, the special classes are being taught by my daughter's normal homeroom teacher. The kids had to learn to sing Puff the Magic Dragon by writing katakana characters over the English lyrics, which came out as Pafu, za majikku doragon, livedo by za shee... Fortunately, my bilingual daughter was there to help them with the pronunciation, and she was a big hit.

J-List carries the amazing DVDs of Yulia Nova, an amazing Russian model who was discovered by Japanese photographer Satoshi Kizu and became a huge success here in Japan, as well as across the Internet, where her amazing body and matching charm made her a hit on the Internet. J-List carries all of Yulia Nova's DVD releases, and just for you, we've lowered the price of the first three DVDs to just $19.95 each, making this a great chance for you to pick up her first three discs and experience her loveliness.

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.

	Senningiri the Movie DVD vol. 10. Senningiri means "more than 1000" and this is one (slightly strange) man's attempt at making love with 1000 women.
	Japanese T-shirt - Ecchi (Ecko Parody) - Girl's Fitted Tee. New version of our wacky Ecchi shirt, which is a big inside joke since the average person on the street won't know that Ecchi ("H") is a euphemism for sex in Japan.
	Dengeki Layers vol. 8. Cosplay fans, this is the popular Dengeki Layers, featuring photographs and how-to articles on how to make costumes. The photos are the best part, of course, with hundreds in each issue.
	Deep and Impact -- Miho Yabe. Miho Yabe is a really slender, really sexy photobook idol. Taka Kato is one of the most famous adult film stars in Japan. The two really come together in a fascinating way in this super-erotic photobook.
	Dreaming Boin -- Nanami Komachi. Nanami-chan certainly has the "Boin" action going, with her 96 cm G cup. This is her new DVD, another debut (for some reason, debut releases are very popular).
	24 Hours Anytime and Anywhere Sex -- Emi Kitagawa. In the 24 Hours Anytime and Anywhere Sex series, actresses are called up on to have sex instantly, with no warning or set up as to what they'll be asked to do. This is a gorgeous new actress on the SOD label, and we think she looks pretty good.
	Glamorous Roses. For some reason, the word "glamor" was remapped in Japanese as "having large breasts," thus by definition anyone who is glamorous has very large breasts. This is breathtakingly erotic work by the up-and-coming Yumisuke Kotoyoshi that fans won't want to miss!
	Chun-Li PVC Painted Figure -- Sculpted by Tone (Amehare). Who doesn't wish Chun Li were real, a cute, pouting beauty we could discuss the aesthetic look of kanji with? Here's a really nice Chun Li figure with stand.
	Yha! Hip & Lip Mar. 2006. This is a popular magazine at J-List, because it combines really good photography with good hentai manga.
	Neji Hyuga Collective File DX -- Naruto Figure. Cool new figure for Naruto fans, of Neji. Man, why don't they make all anime figures this cool?
	A. Mario Bros *First Ver* -- Controller Keychain w/ Sound ~ Nintendo Dotgraphics. Like Nintendo toys? These keychains are really to die for, featuring not only the cool "dot graphic" of Mario, Zelda and other favorites, but the sounds as well. Dude!
	Lotte Sasha - Matcha (Green Tea). Although there were a lot of greeen tea products this year, it was nothing like the 2004-2005 season, which saw dozens of new Matcha products released by Japanese candy companies. To make up for this fact, here's a really cool chocolate and whipped matcha treat from Lotte.
	Wa-Gokoro DX Miso Soup (3 Packs) -- Fried Tofu & Seaweed. I love miso soup, and the kind with abura-age (ah-bu-ra-ah-GAY), or fried tofu, is the best.
	Lotte Coffee Gum -- Limited Item. Lotte Coffee Gum is back! Now you can enjoy the taste of delicious coffee in a stick of chewing gum. It's uncanny how good this stuff tastes. It was a hit product 4-5 years ago but they stopped making it, only to bring it back for a limited run this year.
	Monotone Portable Ashtray B Type. If I were a smoker, which I'm not, I'd carry a little Japanese ash tray with me and keep my ashes and butts with me.
	Love Sign Mini Towel -- Love Under Construction. So, this is a line of mini towels (which you or I would call a washcloth) that are so darned cute. This shows "Love Under Construction." I thought they were perfect for Valentine's Day.
	Love Sign Mini Towel -- Beginer of Love. Another cool design, "Beginner of Love."