Cultural reasons behind self-introductions in Japan, how to find good sushi, and Zeta Gundam III

A word you hear a lot in Japan is jiko shoukai (自己紹介) which just means "self introduction" but which has a special cultural meaning here. In almost any situation where people will be interacting, be it a classroom, a part-time job or the local PTA board, a new member will always stand and make a formal self introduction, telling the others their name (including how to write it in kanji), where they're from, what their hobbies or other interests are, and so on. Giving this information to the other members of the group allows them to categorize the newcomer properly, and in a country like Japan where factors like age and how long a person has been associated with an organization can determine their position in the senpai/kouhai (senior/junior) system, an official self introduction is important for everything to work properly. The new member of the group will usually use the phrase yoroshiku onegai shimasu, which is often translated as "nice to meet you" but is a lot deeper than that -- it carries with it a humble request that the current group members take the new person under their wing and aid them in the future. Jiko shoukai are used in ESL teaching a lot, too, and since formal self introductions are seen as the "most basic" form of human communication in Japan, the first thing a Japanese student of English leans to do is introduce themselves.

Our landlocked prefecture of Gunma is as far from the sea as you can get in Japan, but we love sushi nevertheless, and are always looking for good sushi restaurants. Japanese usually eat their most famous food mawari-zushi style, with plates of sushi moving along a conveyor belt, allowing you to take whatever you feel like eating as it glides by. Over the past half decade or so, Japan has experienced a deflationary spiral, with the prices for several everyday items actually falling. During that time, it seemed that the only sushi restaurants that could flourish were the cheapest ones, which offered plates of sushi for 100 yen or less. My wife and I disliked this trend, since the neta (the fish part of the sushi) at these places always left a lot to be desired, and life is too short to eat bad sushi, after all. Happily, we finally found a place that serves better quality fish at reasonable prices, with delicious red maguro and beautifully shaped ebi and tako, just the way we like it. As I've mentioned before, the very best sushi in Japan can be found in Narita City, near the airport. If you're ever in the area in the evening, take the train to Narita Station and ask any taxi deiver where Edokko sushi is (it's a three-minute walk from the station).

I took the day off early yesterday to go to a movie with my son. It was the third and final chapter in the Zeta Gundam: A New Translation movie trio, which compiles the 1985 Zeta Gundam anime series into three movies, adding new animation and various scenes in. As a card-carrying old school anime fan, I've always liked Zeta Gundam, the proverbial "Empire Strikes Back" of the Gundam world, when everything came together just so. It was great seeing the new designs for the characters as well as the new, improved ending. Being the father of a ten-year-old boy has given me a great excuse to experience a second childhood along with him. Oh, see the trailer here (Quicktime 6 req'd).

The Japan-only Kit Kat flavors have been extreme popular this year, and now we've got a new variety: delicious French Bretagne Milk, a white chocolate Kit Kat created by Le Patissier Takagi, who you may know from his appearances on Iron Chef. It's in stock on the site now! We've still got the excellent Green Tea Kit Kat for 2006 in stock, too, although we've sold through more than a quarter of our stock in just a week, so we recommend picking yours up sooner rather than later.

Spring is here, and there's no better way to deal with the constantly-changing weather than with one of our J-List hooded sweatshirts! J-List's hoodies are soft and warm, made of the best 80-20 blends available. We've got wacky messages like "Looking for a Japanese Girlfriend" and "Support the Emperor and Expel the Foreign Barbarians" as well as other aesthetically pleasing kanji. We're happy to announce reduced shipping on all our hoodies both inside the U.S. and for international customers, making it easy to pick up a hoodie!

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.

	Akiba Walker . A new item for J-List, this is basically a (Japanese) guide to all that's cool in Akiba. Lots of maid cafe stuff.
	Japan Underground 3. Another dynamite Japan Underground photobook that captures the secret underbelly of Tokyo as you've never seen it. Power plants! Subways! Urban ruins!
	Shuffle! Oct. 2005. Another issue of Shuffle, a nice amateur magazine with lots of cute Tokyo girls.
	Spinoff -- Ruka Ogawa. Positively beautiful G cup idol in a new nude photobook.
	A Day of Beautiful Leg Female Teacher. Japan's leg fetishism can't be explained, it has to be witnessed. Here's a really good new offering from Japan's top stocking fetish company.
	Stop the Time! Part 4. Another wacky Stop The Time! offering, which explores the things you might do if you had a watch that could stop time.
	Tattoo Lifestyle Sep. 2005 Vol. 6 ~ Tattoo Life Style vol. 06. See the current state of the art in tattoo art in Japan with this book.
	Kousoku ~ Restraints. Here's something cool, a manga from Megahouse with a focus on various kinds of "restraints."
	Totoro Note Holder Clip Case -- Dondoko. Hard to explain what this is, so click to enlarge it if you're curious. It's a paperclip case that also holds important notes up high so you can see them.
	Dot the Dot Condom ~ Menthol Type. Japanese condoms are famous for their excellent engineering (many are made by Bridgestone, go figure). These are "dekopoko" condoms with little bumps built into each one.
	Specially Selected Chopsticks Set. You want good quality chopsticks? These are some of the coolest chopsticks I've ever held, each made from a different kind of good.
	Samurai Guild. How cool is this? An "H" manga that's in evey way a nod to the quality and depth of Samurai Champloo.
	Glico Pretz -- Honey & Pancake Flavor. Pretz in Honey & Hotcake flavor, what next?
	Nestle Kit Kat -- French Bretagne Milk ~ Le Patissier Takagi. Nestle's Kit Kat empire continues, with a new flavor of delicious white chocolate Kit Kat with a cool-sounding name.
	Jungle Emmy -- Kaiyodo Bome Collection. Another cool Bome figure, which I presume is an original creation that's closely based on some anime character (something Bome is good at).
	Monotone Portable Ashtray -- Type A. If you're going to smoke, it's good to show good smoking manners. You can do this with this handy portable ashtray that locks, so you won't spill ashes in your pocket.
	Buden Deluxe Pen Case -- Dragon & Cloud w/Kanji Charater for "Steamed Bun". This is an odd item, a denim pen case that unfolds to reveal all your stuff. Honestly, this is just too cool, especially with the kanji written on the outside.
	Keroppi Chirimen Shoulder Pouch -- Kero Kero Keroppi. More fun with Keroppi.

Some shots from the film. If you're afraid of spoilers, stop reading now, although Zeta Gundam fans seem to extremely rare, well below the species threshold. Here's a shot of Camille, which according to Wikiedia is spelled Kamille (ugh).

This is Hamaan Kahn, the cool bitch of the Zeta universe. Damn, now I have to watch Gundam 0083 to see her 5 second cameo in that show.

The ending was reworked. While I won't give anything specific away, I'll say that "all the stupid stuff was undone" (and that goes for all of ZZ Gundam). Here's a money shot of Sayla, Char's sister and a character in the original series (famous for saying "Casval-oniichan!").

Mirai had to get a scene at the end, too. Amuro, too.

Another shot of Hamaan. God I love the redesign on her.

This totally snuck up on me! One of my favorite comics ever, coming to to a theatre near me. How thoughtful.

The cell phone industry in Japan, ways that language reflects culture, and buying a "mansion"

The local cell phone industry has been turned on its ear by the news that Europe's Vodafone was quitting the Japanese market. Vodafone bought ailing J-Phone and tried to make their successful business model work in Japan, but technical issues and business mistakes such as introducing blocky "candy bar" phones in a country that prefers sleeker flip-style handsets kept them in the red. Yahoo mogul Masatoshi Son, the Japanese of Korean descent who is often seen as the Bill Gates of Japan, is rumored to be buying Vodafone's assets. I hope he makes a successful run of it, as the cellular industry here could use a dose or two of healthy competition. Things seem to have gotten into a rut, with NTT Docomo and KDDI's AU both seemingly happy with their respective market share of 50% and 33%. Change may already be on the way, though, in the form of the upcoming "Big Bang" reforms that will require carriers to let customers take their phone numbers with them even if they change to competitors.

Language reflects culture and vice-versa, and there are many examples of this phenomenon here. Japan is a place that usually values one "correct" way of doing things -- for example, studying hard to get into a famous university then going to work for a respected company as a salaryman is seen in a better light than, say, quitting your job as an English teacher to start a company selling all forms of Japanese pop culture, as I did with J-List. There are many words that represent this tendency to prefer doing things the way they should be done, such as chanto ("properly") or kichinto ("correctly"). Ditto for writing Chinese characters -- each kanji has an exact stroke order that must be learned, and when people count something on paper here, they write the five-stroke kanji for "correct" rather than make "chicken scratch" tally marks as in the West. There's even a proper way to sit, called seiza (meaning "correct sitting"), which is a polite way of kneeling with your rear end resting on the bottoms of your feet. Seiza is widely used in martial arts, flower arranging, and zen meditation, as well as many formal settings when you need to show respect to others. Last weekend, my daughter attended tea ceremony with the Girl Scouts, during which everyone had to sit in seiza style for two hours or so. My "gaijin" daughter had no problem maintaining the kneeling pose, but my Japanese wife's legs kept falling asleep, the great amusement of the instructor.

A friend of mine just bought a mansion in Kyushu. It may sound like he's got a lot of money, but in Japanese the English word mansion (マンション) is one of many words that has been redefined to mean something slightly different, in this case a high-rise apartment that's usually owned rather than rented. There are many examples of this subtle re-mapping of English words in Japan, including bike (always a motorcycle, never a bicycle), rouge (what lipstick is called here), manicure (nail polish), hip (buttocks), short-cut (a short hair-cut), limousine bus (those comfortable busses they have at airports), cooler (air conditioner), and lynch (which just means "to beat someone up" in its Japanese usage). Yes, words are tenuous things. Once I was teaching English, and a (very attractive) female student introduced me to her her boyfriend who was sitting in on the class. The trouble is, that wasn't the term she used -- instead, she introduced him as her "lover" (in Japanese, koibito or "love person") which caused the temperature in the room to rise considerably for the rest of the lesson.

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 One Gal vol. 006. Senningiri means "more than 1000," and that's what this series is about: one slightly strange man, doing it with chick after chick and documenting it all.
	Very Best of Hitomi Hayasaka. Hitomi Hayasaka's best works can be seen on this 4 hour DVD from Million, a great item for fans of this little sports car of an AV actress.
	Tekoki Clinic ~ Fan Thanks Day. Tekoki means "hand job," and SOD's long-running Tekoki Clinic brings this Japanese fetish together with dedicated nurses, who act the part so well it's really a shocker.
	Love Doll Mihiro. Mihiro's newest DVD offering looks like a good one, especially since she's so cute in that gothic outfit. General cosplay, including race queen, maid, and more.
	Slave Contract. The newest English manga from Icarus Publishing is Slave Contract, a rather dark but really well written "H" manga. We hope manga fans will support the publisher Icarus Comics since they could use your help!
	Kenki sa 100 Ninmae. We've posted a bunch of new doujinshi to the site, and since I'm on a To Heart kick, I decided to showcase this one
	Unazukin -- Sakura. Two new Unazukin colors today: Sakura (this one) and Dandelion (also very cute). These are electronic toys that nod their heads as you talk to them.
	Action! A really outstanding "H" manga from Souryu, which means "Twin Dragon." Focuses on futanari themes.
	Takoko in Commuter Train. Is this odd? It's a woman being pressed against the window of a crowded train. Kind of cool, the things they think of.
	Porco Rosso Plush -- Small. Porco Rosso is, I think, one of the coolest Miyazaki films -- very subtle, no flashy robots or Ohmu. This is a plush toy of Porco, who said the famous words "A pig who doesn't fly is just a pig."
	Doraemon Takecopter. Doraemon is the oh-so-popular Robot of Cat Type from the future, and one of his many tricks is a take (TAH-kay, bamoo) copter that allows him to fly.
	No Longer Human & Cherry -- Osamu Daizu 1 ~ Japanese Classic Literature. Looking for a new way to study Japanese? If you've had 3 or more years, we recommend the novels we've been coming out with. This is Dazai Osamu's "No Longer Human" (very well known work of literature).
	Morinaga Choco Ball -- Cheese Cake. Morinaga's Choco Ball is a delicious treat from Japan, and now they've made it a little weirder by adding cheesecake flavor.
	Matsuri (Festival) Happi -- Red. Happi, sometimes written "happy coats" to the chagrin of gaijin like me, are short summer kimono for festivals, and they feature the kanji for festival right on the back.
	Navy Dragon Fly Slippers. A nice pair of slippers from Japan, freat for indoor use. Features dragonflies on the top and wara (tatami grass) where your feet go.
	Kitty & Mimmy Mini Mascot Netsuke. Another cute netsuke for your keitai.
	Totoro Music Box -- Omiyage ~ Present. YATMB. Yet another Totoro Music Box.

Continuing our shopping in Karuizawa. Of course, to go anywhere special is to see tons of omiyage for sale, and this place is no different. The word means souvenir for the folks back home.

A delicious-looking chocolate cake set with the name of "Forest of the Snow Fireflies." Very poetic.

In classic Japanese style, English can be seen on many of the packages. It's good that many cacaos wer eused to make these.

Readers in Europe might be natsukashii (nostalgic) to see Heidi, Girl of the Alps, a popular anime from the golden age of anime when you could actually be moved to tears. I guess Karuizawa, which is up in the mountains, feels kind of Alps-ey to the Japanese, so the fit is there.

A welcome sight to any gaijin!

American magazines in the Japanese news marketplace, creases on your eyelids, and the truth about slurping noodles

Japan is a very literate nation, and there are many daily newspapers and weekly magazines that report and compile the news for Japanese readers. Over the past decade, as people here have gotten used to more and more participation in all forms of Japanese life by American and European companies, the American magazine Newsweek has worked to make a name for itself in the Japanese-language news market. Although most of us take the Time-Newsweek-U.S. News magazine format for granted, I'm sure it took some time for Japanese readers to get used to it. Compared with Newsweek's general approach to the week's evebts, most Japanese magazines are more specific, covering politics (AERA, Focus), business (Nikkei Weekly, President), arts and literature (Bungei Shunju), local events (Tokyo Walker, Pia), and so on. While color pages are always present, most Japanese magazines are still largely black-and-white, making Newsweek's all color printing a pleasant surprise for readers. There's one other big difference: it's common practice for some weekly news magazines typically read by men to include a few pages of beautiful models who appear au naturel, to give a little kick to the week's news, something that Newsweek doesn't emulate. The past week's issue had an interesting article asking "who owns English?" which discussed how the language is changing as it's adopted by countries all around the world. Japanese tend to obsess over "correct" English from America and the U.K. to the exclusion of all else, yet English is everywhere, in use in nearly all corners of the world, and always changing. So when the makers of Pocari Sweat come up with a new slogan for their sports drink ("Re-Body," click here to see the commercial I'm talking about), maybe it's not quite as weird as it first sounds.

Last night we had udon (oo-DON) noodles at my house, which are the fat, white noodles, as opposed to the thinner, grey soba (buckwheat) noodles. If you know anything about the way Japanese people eat noodles, you can probably guess that it was a very loud dinner, with everyone slurping away at full volume. We weren't being rude or anything -- you're supposed to slurp your noodles while you eat, bringing the little bowl of noodle sauce close to your mouth and sucking in both noodles and the sauce as you guide the noodles with your chopsticks (this makes it taste better). On several occasions I've found myself on the receiving end of comments from Japanese people that I eat "very quietly," not slurping my noodles enough, but after fifteen years here I think I've got the slurping thing down. While slurping ramen, soba or other noodles is perfectly okay, this doesn't extend to spaghetti, and every once in a while we see someone in a restaurant slurping his pasta like a vacuum cleaner, to the amusement of the other patrons.

In Japan, there are often concepts that are very difficult for Westerners to grasp. One measurement of beauty here is related to the number of creases in a persons eyelid when their eyes are open -- one crease (hitoe, hee-TOE-eh) or two creases (futae, fu-TAH-eh). Single-creasers have slender, traditionally Asian eyes, while those with double creases have larger eyes that look European to the Japanese. Getting plastic surgery to change the appearance of your eyes is quite popular among TV stars and young Japanese (although not as much as South Korea). I have to admit, I'd never considered that people had different numbers of creases in their eyelids until coming here -- it was a totally alien concept to me. Incidentally, we sell a wacky item called Double Eyelid Makeup, basically eye makeup that's very sticky, which "glues" your eyelids so that your eyes look larger, more like a foreigners'. We love to bring you our trademark "wacky things from Japan," this this item certainly fits the bill!

The Final Fantasy XII Potion was a smash hit, the most popular item over the weekend by far. Happily, we've been able to get additional supplies of this great item, which is a blue-colored health drink loaded with herbs and caffeine that comes in a gorgeous blue glass bottle that looks like a health potion from Final Fantasy, with one of six different caps. Whether you want to recharge your hit points or just display this oh-so-cool item, we've got stock for you, and at a reduced price, too. Also, we've posted full sets of these great potions to the site now, at least until our stock of these sells out. Each potion comes in a special box and contains a foil-wrapped card, and will be carefully shipped to you by our dedicated Japanese staff.

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.

	More and More! -- Rio Kitajima. Ryo Kitajima is a lovely nude actress who is the only person featured in this great issue of More and More. Enjoy her lovely photos and movies on the DVD.
	Girls on Light Velocity ~ Kousoku Girls. This is a fabulous color photobook by Shou Tajima, the creator of the animation sequence of Kill Bill, who will thrill you with his amazing illustrations in this very special book. Not to be missed!
	The Palace of a Virgin Special. Sony PSP fans, here's a new UMD movie release that's region free, so you can watch it on any PSP in the world.
	Full Set of Final Fantasy XII Premium Bottle Potions (Set of 6). By customer request, we've added full sets of the Final Fantasy potions, allowing you to get all six of them in one fell swoop.
	Karami "URA". Karami is a magazine with a really good idea: take one actress and only one, and wrap a whole "mook" (a cross between a magazine and a book) around her. Here are great photographs from four different top name models for you.
	SOD Employee Special Reception. Soft on Demand female employees create a new fantasy for you, allowing you to be the guest of honor at a special "drink party."
	Totoro Music Box -- Camphor ~ Kusunoki. Spring of 2006 will be remembered as the Great Ghibli Music Box Season, or maybe not. Anyway, we've got some more of the larger, more gouka (deluxe) music boxes on the site.
	Korea Tour -- Full Set ~ Puchi Sample Series. I'm really not sure if most readers of J-List will be able to appreciate how shibui (edge) this is, but these are the most famous food, gift and other items from South Korea as seen through the eyes of Japanese people -- recreated in perfect miniature. Go, Re-Ment!
	Once Upon a Time in Jolly Japan ~ Nihon Mukashi Banashi -- Yukai na Ohanashi. While the name isn't the best I've ever seen, this is a nice collection of Nihon Mukashi Banashi (Tales from Old Japan) in both Japanese and English, Recommended for students!
	Jiji Sharp Pen & Ball Pen -- Kiki's Delivery Service. A cool combination mechanical pencil and ball-point pen for fans of Kiki's Delivery Service.
	Nekoko Mobile PC System. This is something that's just too cool: an original anime character that's got a PC built into her sexy body, with display abover her head, the CPU on her shoulder, keyboard across her chest, and mouse...mouse...now where is that mouse?
	Vermilion Giant Prayer Beads. Turn to J-List for all your Buddhist prayer bead needs. These cool beads can be a fashion statement or a religeous article, both at the same time!
	Two Toed Tabi (Ninja Shoe Style) Socks -- Black Argyle. Tabi are the famous Japanese shoes worn by ninja, and there are indoor varieties too, used for weddings or other ceremonial events. This is a nice item: a pair of socks that's got the split toe tabi thing.
	Keroppi Chirimen Netsuke -- Kero Kero Keroppi. Kero Kero Keroppi is enjoying a popular re-release by Sanrio, and this is the latest plush version: Keroppi made with chirimen, the fabric that kimonos are made of. Very cool!
	Double Eyelid Makeup. Just when you think you've gotten used to Japan's oddities, they throw something weird at you, like makeup that makes your eyes look larger and "gaijin"-like.
	Lotte Black Black Gum. Black Black is the most popular item in J-List's history, if you go by numbers of packs sold (something like 50,000). Loaded with caffeine and other good stuff.
	Tokugawa Aoi Pins. All families have a Kamon, or Family Crest, in Japan. My own family's is a circle with three lines through it (signifying "three"). This is the crest of the Tokugawa clan, the most famous ever.

I went up to Karuizawa again over the weekend, and decided to visit the outlet center they have there.

Being an outlet, they have lots of stuff like L.L. Bean, Levi's and Eddie Bauer, which may be boring to you, but when you live in Japan these are shops that are convenient to have around. Here you can see that the Nike shop keeps their English at the level of most customers.

I liked this restaurant name.

Among the many stores in this large shopping center, there's one that sells Bounty paper towels, which are a big hit with Japanese housewives, tired of their puny Japanese paper towels.

I wasn't ready for a big jolt of culture shock, when I saw all the Spam you could buy. I mean, the only time I ever had anything to do with Spam was when we played our annual game of Spamball (you hit a can of Spam until it breaks open) at the anime club at SDSU. I go to Japan for a while, and Hormel gets delusions of grandeur?