How the iTunes Japan store reflect Japan's oddities, my mother-in-law and our old sofa, and understanding Japan through Big Macs

Slate.com ran an article yesterday on Apple's Japanese iTunes Music Store and how frustrating it was that fans of J-POP music around the world couldn't use the service unless they had a credit card registered to an address in Japan. The article mentioned that certain "underground shops" were providing the prepaid cards to get around this restriction -- gee, I wonder who they were talking about? Besides causing the near-total "Slashdotting" of the J-List server while thousands of people followed links to buy the cards from us (which is why the server was sluggish if you were online yesterday, sorry about that), the article made me grin knowingly, really feeling the author's pain. Japan is an island nation in almost every sense of the word: geographically, of course, but also culturally and socially, and mainstream society here seems perfectly happy to live on a slightly different plane of existence from the rest of the human race. When Japanese record companies negotiated with Apple to make the Japan iTMS, making sure that Japanese bands like Gackt or X Japan or the dreamy voice of Okinawan vocalist Rimi Natsukawa were only available to domestic customers probably made a lot of sense to them. Part of the reason for this is the Japanese fear of the unknown, the terror that there might be a downside lurking in some new idea, requiring that any response should be delayed for as long as possible while the situation is thought through. But I'm convinced another big reason for Japan's unwillingness to interface with the rest of the world more is its "English Complex," the quiet embarrassment that many adult Japanese feel over not being able to communicate effectively in English despite six to ten years of study. The whole situation is so silly -- I mean, these sprawling corporations were the ones pushing for a truly global world economy, and now that it's arrived, they want to change their minds? Anyway, if you'd like to become a customer of Apple's Japan iTMS and browse and buy great Japanese music, we've got the prepaid music cards you need. The cards work with the iTunes that's already installed in your Mac or PC, operate in your native language (except for some Japanese bands and song titles which are in Japanese), and best of all, you can listen to your music on any iPod in the world.

One phrase you learn pretty quickly after coming to Japan is mottai nai (mo'-TIE-NIGH), which translates as "what a waste," which is short for, "what a waste to throw this perfectly good sofa away, I think I'll put it in my hallway instead." Back in my ESL days I did a lot of private teaching, visiting peoples' homes to tutor their kids in English, and so I got to see how a lot of Japanese families lived. One of the most common trends I noticed were homes that were filled with clutter, with books and mail-order catalogs and portable electronics and fish tanks covering every inch of the home, and nary a table or shelf left empty. The combination of high population, tiny land mass and economic prosperity seems to have lead to too much stuff floating around most homes. Exacerbating the problem is the tendency of older Japanese, who remember when they were lucky if they had plain white rice to eat once a day, to never throw anything away. This is the case with my mother-in-law, who can't get into her bedroom because our old sofa is in the hallway, blocking the door -- it would have been mottai nai to throw it away, so she kept it.

I talk a lot about how Japan is said to trail behind the West socially, following about a decade or so behind while the U.S. and Europe blaze trails in new directions. Many areas of Japan's society, from laws governing child safety seats in cars to sekuhara (sexual harassment) at work to rules about who can smoke and where, regularly take their cues from the West. In some ways it's a good strategy -- I mean, it makes sense to wait a decade and see how the U.K.'s "big bang" banking reforms play out before implementing a similar program yourself, and there's a Japanese proverb that advises us to "strike a stone bridge three times with your walking stick before crossing" to ensure that it's safe. The newest area of Japan's society to look towards the Occident might just be eating habits, if the recent release of McDonald's "Mega Mac" (a Big Mac with four meat patties instead of two) is any indication. The limited-edition burger sold a whopping 3 million units in just a few days, and some stores had to stop selling them lest they run out of meat for their other hamburgers.

We've got a great announcement for fans of Japan's PC dating-sim games: the return of English-translated titles from G-Collections, with two new games available for preorder! First there's Bazooka Cafe, a great game in which you must take over your father's coffee shop and run it while he recovers, aided by unbelievably beautiful women who make sure every day at Cafe Ariel is an exciting one. Then enjoy a fresh new concept with the excellent "battle simulation adventure" game Pretty Soldier Wars A.D. 2048, in which beautiful robotic girls known as "Biosoldiers" fight the youma, an alien life form with a terrible hunger. Both games are available for preorder on CD-ROM now, for fans who want to show their support by preordering!

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.

	Self Portrait #7 -- Kaede Matsushima. I can't get enough of this woman -- slender, beautiful, petite, with a sweet self-effacing personality consider what she's, er, doing for a day job.
	Bazooka Cafe. Great new game, coming soon from G-Collections (and us).
	Pretty Soldier Wars A.D. 2048. This is a great game too, with actual battle that you control, and naughty tentacles too.
	Lewd Road to Hell - Gedo Inpocho Nice erotic work from Izumi Doin and Toen Comics, with a focus on female ninjas and, er, tentacles.
	Beauty Glasses 2 ~ Bijyo Megane 2. A photobook featuring nothing but beautiful girls with glasses! Score!
	Gekkan -- Risa Goto by Meisa Fujishiro. The Gekkan ("Monthly Edition") is a great photomagazine dedicated to a single persona, in this case the gorgeous Risa-chan.
	Rich Strawberry Kit Kat. Yum! The new Strawberry Kit Kat is here! Last year we sold out way before the end of chocolate season, so get your boxes before it's too late!
	Kogepan Plush Doll -- Aroma of Coffee. Super cute little bred guy who is not popular (because who would buy burned bread from a bakery)? A very cute and well made plush.
	Nihongo Journal Jan 2007. Nihongo Journal helped me learn Japanese -- I would read it in the bath, in the sauna (got really funny looks too). Now you can do the same!
	How to Draw Costumes ~ Costume no Kakikata Zukan. Great book teaching you how to draw various costumes.
	Revoltech No.019 -- Convoy (Transformer) ~ Kaiyodo. Man, this figure of "Convoy" is cool.
	Mikakuto Shigekix Super Ramune. Delicious and TART candy to eat. I love ramune flavor especially.
	Chirimen Hello Kitty Omamori -- Pink. Wow, real Japanese 'omamori' charms that feature Hello Kitty!
	Feng Shui Sunshine Buddies -- Green ~ Lucky Fortune *Kichiun Shofuku*. New Sunshine Buddies with a deluxe new design. They loll their heads from side to side and relax you.
	Revoltech No.018 -- Giant Robo ~ Kaiyodo. I loved the old Johnny Socko and his Flying Robot show, which was admitedly gay as hell. This is somewhat cooler.
	Street Fighter II Soundrop -- Full Set *Set of 8* ~ Bandai Gashapon. Fabulous new Soundrop series -- features the STII attack sounds when you press the buttons.
	"Ashlet"-- Japanese Toilet Ashtray . This is cool -- a real Japanese style toilet for your cigarettes!