The "eyes of others" as a social engine, interesting new directions for 7-11 in Japan, and fun with Japanese words part XXVI

One of the engines that drives Japanese society and makes Japanese people the way they are is called hito no me (HEE-toh no meh), which translates as "the eyes of others." In all that you do in Japan, there is the sense that you're being watched by everyone around you, and that if you stray too far outside the invisible lines of what is acceptable, you'll be judged harshly by your neighbors. This tendency to be concerned with appearances is a big part of daily life here, and it's part of the reason why Japan can seem a very homogenous place when viewed from the outside. In Japan, you throw your garbage out on set days, and knowing what kind of trash is okay to put out on any given day can require a Masters Degree in Trashology. But if you don't follow the rules and put exactly the right trash out that morning (not, by the way, the night before, even if you're a gaijin who works til 11 pm at an English school and prefers to sleep til noon), you'll suffer the ire of the ever-watching people around you, which subtly causes you to conform in ways that no threat of punishment could. Since most people in Japan are considerably thinner than they are in the States (at 100 kg, I am gargantuan for Japan, and have been asked if I was a professional wrestler), there is always that pressure to conform to the others around me and lose weight -- which is a good thing of course, if it improves health. In the U.S., we try to value adversity and individuality, and if we saw someone walking under an umbrella even though it wasn't raining outside, we might chuckle and say that he dances to his own tune. But in Japan there's less chance that doing something that no one else is doing will be viewed in a favorable light.

I think I found studying Japanese at SDSU enjoyable because it was so different from English -- there were so many linguistic concepts that didn't exist in my native language, which sometimes made constructing sentences easier in Japanese (no messing with past participle and present perfect tense, as they don't exist), and sometimes more challenging. One group of intriguing expressions that fall into the latter group are "repeating phrases" the are pregnant with meaning. The phrase soro soro adds the idea that the time for something has come to a sentence (e.g. soro soro ikimasho, "Let's go (because it's time we should be going)"). Another similar phrase is waza waza, meaning "to go to all the trouble" (waza waza motte kite kurete arigato, "Thanks for going out of your way to bring it to me"). If you have a sparkling new car, it's pika pika (pee-KA pee-KA, gleaming with newness), but if you don't take care of it, it'll be boro boro (old and rusty). These descriptive repeating words get blended with English, too, with words like rabu rabu (love-love, describing a couple that is very much in love), and ero ero (which describes most males I know, similar in meaning to ecchi).

As the Japanese economy limps on, some companies are having to reinvent themselves to survive, and one such company is the beleaguered Ito Yokado group. Their department stores has fallen on hard times, but the chain of 7-11 convenience stores that they own is still doing well, so the company decided to reorganize their whole group under the name "7&i Holdings," with a revamped 7-11 logo. Now while driving through our city we can see normal 7-11 convenience stores here and there, and one department store with the same logo, like a giant 5-story version of 7-11 that happens to sell clothes and furniture. The company also operates Denny's restaurants in Japan, and sure enough, these have all been "re-branded" with the new logo. While the food in Denny's in Japan is pretty good (they lack the 800-calorie strawberry shakes that they sell in the States, though), having a 7-11 sign stuck on the side of a restaurant can really make you think about food and we perceive it.

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 DVD -- Anri Suzuki (with DVD Region All). Anri Suzuki stars in the new More and More, a great photomag dedicated to one single star, with tons of photos, an interview, and super DVD too. Very nice photography in here.
	Forget-me-not ~ Wasurenagusa -- Mika Kaneda. Enjoy the lovely photobook of Mika Kaneda, so cute!
	Room 443 -- Kaori Kohara. Another cute-as-a-button idol from Japan, she looks equally nice in bikini or elastic shorts.
	Public Sex in a Gondola Box! Ah, those Japanese are so wacky -- what are we going to do with them?
	Riding Deep Kiss & Rodeo Sex -- Madoka Kikuhara (region 2). So, the Japanese (correctly) have a thing for girls in cowboy hats and "horse riding" sex, which is the girl on top.
	Dengeki Comic Gao Mar. 2006. New issue of Gao, the really big manga with over 500 pages of great stuff from Japan. This issue comes with a free figure from My Wife is a Magical Girl (a play on the Japanese title of Bewitched).
	Hitomi's Clinical Records 3 ~ Hitomi no Karute 3. Sexy nurse manga by Kenji Umetani, very nice.
	Rising Carp T-shirt - L Size ~ Navy (Match Label). A new "Match Label" shirt based on matchbook designs from the Meiji Era, a great new concept from Japan. Features carp on the front and kanji on the back, and a sewn-in "match label" tag.
	*Sitting* Jiji Mascot Keychain -- Kiki's Delivery Service. Plush pet for fans of Kiki's Delivery Service, the excellent film by Hayao Miyazaki. Incidentally, in case you've seen the English version (which was very good), did you know the commedian who did the voice for Jiji (also Troy McClure/Lionel Hutz from the Simpsons) was murdered? See Wikipedia for info.
	Nihongo Journal 4 Apr. 2006. New issue of Nihongo Journal. Do you see a pattern here?
	Faye PVC Figure -- Front Innocent by Satoshi Urushihara. Utterly gorgeous figure for fans of Urushihara's artwork. Not quite safe for work, unless you work at a job like me. Note that we only have a few of these...
	Kitty Healing Pillow -- Lavender. This is really cool -- an attractive pillow that you can rest on which is filled with lavender potpourri to sooth away your stress.
	Tea Bowl & Tea Brush for Japanese Tea Party -- "Tenmoku" Tea Bowl. Make your own tea ceremony with this cool bowl and tea brush!
	Doraemon Trio Set -- Fork, Knife & Spoon. Cool set of eating utensils for Doraemon fans.
	My Melody DX Pen Case -- Friends. I really like the "quilted" feel of this -- very nicely made, and a cool way to store your pens/pencils and make the person sitting next to you die with envy too.
	Ring Ring Tamagotchi -- Full Set *Set of 6* ~ Bandai Gashapon. I personally love the design of the Tamagotchi characters -- they're so bizarre and unique. Here's a gashapon set of the toys, full set or individual (take your pick).

Here's the Ito Yokado department store in Maebashi, with its spiffy new 7-11 logo.

And their Denny's/7-11 logo.

Denny's in Japan is all about washoku (Japanese style food), and there's no Big Mac clone, no giant thick shake (with an extra stainless steel cup in case you didn't get enough the first time), no Grand Slam or breakfast menu.

The miso soup is good at Denny's ni Japan. Much better than the non-existent miso soup at Denny's in the U.S. And you know, if you can see from this pic, these are the coolest, most carefully carved balsa-wood chopsticks I've used in a long time.

The true bellweather for a restaurant is how good its ice coffee is, and Denny's was really good, right up there with Kizoku no Mori and Silk Road, two local restaurants whose ice coffee we revere.

All about the word "banzai," a giant love hotel in my city, and more on differences between languages

The word banzai is one of the most well-known Japanese phrases in the West, up there with geisha, samurai, ninja and kamikaze on the list of words most everyone knows. It literally means "10,000 years" and is most famously a gesture of respect for the Emperor. Shouting tenno heika banzai! literally means "May the Emperor live for 10,000 years!" making it analogous to the British phrase "God save the Queen." Although the term will forever carry the image of Japanese soldiers during World War II, it's much older, and has been in use in China since the Tang Dynasty in the 8th Century AD. In modern day Japan, it's mostly used as a general term of support, commonly heard at political rallies or shouted by headband-wearing employees of department stores before a big seasonal sale.

J-List is based in Isesaki, Japan, a small city near the geographical center of Japan, with a population of around 200,000, thanks to some neighboring towns that incorporated into our city a couple years ago -- pretty much the only way a town's population goes up here. Local landmarks in our city include a giant Ferris Wheel painted to look like a sunflower, a big sign forbidding anyone from bringing nuclear weapons within city limits, and a giant love hotel that looks like the cruise ship Queen Elizabeth. Because Japanese young people usually live with their parents into their 20s (or indefinitely, if they're the oldest son or daughter), it can be difficult for couples to find free time alone to, well, you know. So they go to a love hotel, where they can "rest" (2 hours) or "stay" (all night). Many rabuho (as they're abbreviated) are organized around a theme, such as the Taj Mahal, the Forbidden City in Beijing, Alkatraz, and even Disney and Hello Kitty. Since couples going to a hotel want privacy, the management makes sure they never need to see anyone -- at some places, you can check out by phone, and put your money in a tube that will be delivered to the front desk.

When you learn a language as different from English as Japanese is, you have to get used to concepts not always translating over on a 1-to-1 basis -- words just don't match up with each other like they might between say, English and Spanish. When the Japanese talk about other planets, they often use the word hoshi, which is confusing since this word really means star, not planet. There are separate words for white ducks (ahiru) and brown ducks (kamo), and gaijin will invariably produce the wrong word 100% of the time, to his great embarrassment. There are many English loan words used here, but sometimes they're split into two different words, to make them easier for the Japanese to use. For example, the word for a strike in baseball is sutoraiku but a labor stoppage is a sutoraiki (ki on the end instead of ku). Some other dualistisic loan words include gurasu for a glass of water but garasu for glass in a window, or bureiku for taking a break when you're tired but bureiki for the pedal you press to stop your car.

At J-List, we carry a great line of Japanese T-shirts that feature fun, wacky and aesthetically beautiful messages in kanji. Today we're adding some interesting T-shirts from Japan, called "Match Label" since they sport detailed tags featuring matchbook images from the Meiji Era, and a beautiful Japanese image of a lion on the back. The shirts are really well made, with thick 100% cotton fabric, hand-sewn labels, and come in size LL (about equal to U.S. size L).

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.

	As am I ~ Asami. Dynamite naughty photobook (but with very tasteful photos) featuring the lovely Asami, who has chosen to forego a last name, I guess.
	Mother-in-law and Sister-in-law 2 (region 2). Forbidden love between in-laws...
	I Am A Cat. Learn about Japanese literature with the English translation to I Am a Cat, one of the most famous novels of the 19th century.
	The First Kiss -- Tomo Anna. Tomo Anna is a new face in the JAV world, performing on the SOD label. Her "charm point" is that she's got soft, luscious, sexy lips, and I'd have to agree with this assessment at the present point in time.
	Black Tights 4 Hours. Ah, a fetish I can get behind -- black tights, those smooth coverings for legs that are so nice to run your hand over.
	Fainting Serenade -- Mai Hagiwara. I've been a long, long fan of Maichy, the nickname of Mai Hagiwara, and I've enjoyed seeing her in her new, ah, career too. Here's her latest release.
	Bepop School Card Collection -- Class A. A nifty collection of sexy trading cards.
	Tsubasa Chronicle Character Collection -- Full set *Set of 4*. I watched the first three episodes of Tsubasa Chronicle, and want to see more. It's really a good show, a universe where all the characters from CLAMP's other works exist.
	A Slave ~ Do Rei. Very nice H manga featuring yuri, futanari and other themes. Almost entirely lesbian actually (but for a few parts).
	Meiji Rich Fran Blueberry & Cassis. This is the most delicious thing I've eaten in a while. Meiji Fran sticks with blueberry and cassis on top.
	Star Wars Action Figure Database vol. 1 . This book caused a lot of natsukashisa (nostalgia) around my house, as my son and I read through it, looking at the cool old stuff they used to have. I mean, pristine pics of the original Early Bird Set! I used to own that!!
	Bakunyu Fantasy ~ Bakunyu Genso. Very nice H magan focusing on "bakunyu" ("explosive breasts").
	Nihongo Journal 3 Mar. 2006. We have a new issue of Nihongo Journal, now back in print after a year. The new issues are great, and come with the audio CD right inside (used to have to buy them separately, back when I was studying Japanese).
	Totoro *Acorn* Alarm Clock w/ Sho Totoro. This is a cool alarm clock featuring Totoro. Made of real wood!
	Laputa Tie Clip -- Laputa Robot ~ Castle in the Sky. For the anime fan who has everything, we've got .... a sterling silver Laputa tie clip, with beautiful case!
	Kitty Leather Cell-Phone Case -- Pink. Is this not cool? A very stylish case for your keitai (cell phone), complete with handy strap so you can take it to fashionable events.
	Lion Portrait T-shirt - L Size ~ Navy Match Label. We now carry T-shirts direct from Japan, with these cool shirt that are based on old matchbook art from the Meiji Era. The tag featuring the match book design sewn into the shirt is a really cool feature.

Let's go eat a steak in Japan!

Besides love hotels that look like ships, my prefecture has a fairly good steakhouse and microbrewery. In the genkan (er, near the front door), there's a fascinating "history of beer in Japan" essay printed on glass. Unfortunately no one in Japan cares about this, so they cover it up with signs.

At this steak house, they put a special daikon sauce on, and then cover it with a napkin to keep the sizzling sauce from burning you.

Here's the steak. It's Aussie Beef of course, since Japanese beef is a huge delicacy and American beef is nowhere to be found.

Here's another pic of a love hotel I found. I just love the silhouette of the couple.

Modern Japanese problems and "Amakudari," politeness in Japan, and when to show reflection for something

First of all, the J-List website was down for a few hours on Friday night due to a server glitch, which we solved by switching in a new machine. We're very sorry for the inconvenience if you were trying to use the site during that time window.

All modern democracies face various problems, including how to deal with aging populations, how to manage fiscal resources to provide the maximum benefit to the public, and so on. A major problem in Japan today is amakudari, which literally means "descending from heaven" and describes the tradition of high-ranking government bureaucrats retiring from public service then entering the employment of companies in industries they used to regulate, trading their name and kone (personal connections) in exchange for a high salary. There's a government-mandated two-year waiting period before outgoing ministry officials can work in the private sector, so the officials promote the creation of "special corporations" （特別法人） to fill various needs, for example building a beautiful glass-and-steel facility to provide services for the elderly in a rural part of the country (whether it's really needed or not). When the official retires, he can work at this "special corporation," whose finances come from the public purse but whose expenditures are almost completely free of outside inspection, then move on to his high-paying private industry job when his two-year waiting period is over. Japanese taxpayers are rightly upset by both the massive wasting of their tax dollars as well as the inability of Japan's politicians to tackle this huge problem.

Japan is a country that believes in getting along harmoniously -- a good idea, considering that they have half the population of the U.S. crammed into an area the size of New Mexico, if you go by habitable land. The Japanese have evolved a system of politeness that acts as a guide in many formal and business and some day-to-day situations, which consists of two parts. The first is that you should act in a humble way, keeping strong opinions to yourself in certain situations and deflecting praise others might direct at you away from yourself ("no, this cake I baked isn't delicious at all"). You then raise up certain others to a higher position than you -- say, someone you're doing business with, a customer in your shop, or a guest in your home -- with special language, called "exalting" speech. Certain common phrases, like irasshaimase (ee-RAH-SHAI-mah-say, meaning "welcome"), which is what employees in a businss say to customers as they come in, are based on this formal system of politeness. Of course, Japan isn't always such a well-mannered place, and you can verify this by going to a supermarket and watching the middle-aged women beat each other for the last tray of sashimi, but by and large, politeness plays a big part of getting along in Japan.

Related to the idea that humility is a good trait for people to have is the concept of hansei, which can be translated as reflection, introspection, and contemplation. Parents strive to bring their kids up so that they are able to honestly reflect on their mistakes, and the Japanese version of being taken out to the woodshed is to be made to sit seiza style (kneeling while sitting on your feet) for one hour and reflect on what you did wrong. I received a lesson in hansei soon after I came to Japan. I was riding my mountain bike (it's a requirement of the Geneva Convention that all gaijin in Japan ride a mountain bike) when suddenly an elderly woman scrambled out in front of me. She had been looking for cars, not bicycles, and didn't see me at all, which resulted in me crashing into her and careening over the handlebars. An ambulance came to take her to a hospital so she could be checked out, and the police came to make an official report. I remember being surprised when they immediately told me that the accident was completely my fault -- I figured that a collision between a bicycle and a pedestrian would be something like 50-50, since neither is an automobile. When I asked about this, the policeman got angry with me, and I realized that I had failed to show the proper attitude of reflection and concern for the woman I'd hit that was called for in a situation like that. Fortunately, the woman was fine, and I learned something about how to get along in Japan.

J-List loves to bring you things from Japan you can't find anywhere else, and one thing we love to sell are wacky J-Snacks. This year Nestle brought out a limited edition Green Tea Kit Kat made with Uji Cha, a delicious variety of green tea grown near Kyoto. While the deluxe-sized package containing 17 individually wrapped Kit Kats is great for keeping in your desk or putting in a bowl for everyone at work, it might be a bit much for those who just want to see what they taste like. Well, we've got a new Green Tea Kit Kat Half Set, with a more manageable eight individually wrapped packs of Kit Kat at a reduced price. Enjoy!

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.

	Fruits No. 105 Apr. 2006. Another issue of Fruits, which captures Harajuku fashion cultuer for you.
	Bakuro -- Kyoko Fujikawa. I have to say, this is impressive -- a "giri giri" photobook featuring moe incredible photos that are "sexier than nude."
	Maid in Heaven Supers. More maid stuff for yo today, this time in the form of an art bok for a popular maid themed H game.
	Nihongo Journal 2 Feb 2006. A new issue of Nihongo Journal, a great way to study Japanese!
	Moe Moe Megane-chan -- you. (region 2). Meganekko is the fetish of glasses girl. Cat girl is the fetish of cat ears on cute girls. Maid-cos is the fetish of maid costume play. Enjoy hem all in ths great release from Waap!
	Nestle Green Tea Kit Kat -- Half Pack (8 Packs). Looking to try Green Tea Kit Kat before it disappears before summer? Well, we've got a nifty "half set" for you now.
	Megami Paradise. A rare treat, a great hentai manga that's an anthology of doujinshi about Please Teacher, Please Twins and Oh My Goddess.
	New Gamera Soft Vinyl Figure -- Movie Monster Series. I think I preferred Gamera to the more popular Godzilla for the same reason that I'm a Mac user now -- something about the underdog, the less popular thing, that's attractive.
	Meiji Rich Fran -- Crushed Cocoa & Praline Chocolate. A nice dual-coated stick snack, with delicious cacao and praline chocolate. Mmmm.
	Satchel Nyanko -- Red ~ Nyanko School. So, the Nyanko Series continues, branching out into cute little school backpacks with plush cats sewn into them.
	Pencase Nyanko w/ Pencil & Eraser ~ Nyanko School. A pencil case with matching plush pencil and eraser for Nyanko fans, from San-X.
	Meiji Mountain of Mushroom -- Truffe Ice. More Truffle Ice goodness from Meiji.
	Pinafore *Maid Cafe* -- Maid Cafe Collection Plus. A sexy figure for fans of Japan's maid and waitress fetish. Comes with stand.
	Cos-Cha *Cafe & Kitchen* -- Maid Cafe Collection Plus. A great maching figure, with maid costume and even a tray. Cmoes with stand.