The history of Valentine's Day in Japan, thoughts on why the Japanese are so harmonious, and a really cute picture of the Yamato

You probably know that they do Valentine's Day a little differently in Japan than in the West. Here, Feb. 14th is a day for women and girls to give chocolate to men and boys, and all throughout Japan, millions of fathers, husbands, boyfriends and would-be-boyfriends look forward to scoring some chocolatey goodness. In Japan, you never receive a gift without giving one in return, called o-kaeshi, and March 14 has been designated as "White Day" when males give something back to females who gave them chocolate the month before. (In South Korea they've taken this a step further with "Black Day" on April 14th, a day when single males who didn't receive chocolate bitterly eat black noodles, wallowing in their single-ness.) My son and I were looking forward to some delicious handmade chocolate today but we're out of luck, as both my wife and daughter are bedridden with this year's bout of influenza that's going around. Zan-nen! (ZAHN-nehn, meaning "what a bummer!")

In case you'd like to know the history of Valentine's Day in Japan, I'll tell you. The first Valentine's Day advertisement in Japan appeared in Showa 11 (1936), when a chocolate shop in Kobe called Morozoff promoted its wares as being perfect for lovers to enjoy together. World War II got in the way, and it wasn't until after the war that people could think about anything as frivolous as chocolate. In 1958, the manager of the Isetan department store in Shinjuku got the idea of having a Western-style Valentine's Day chocolate sale, but it was a total flop -- they sold just five boxes of chocolates! Attempts to raise awareness of the day continued with poor results, but in the 1970s, chocolate maker Morinaga hit on the idea to promote Valentine's Day as a day for women to give chocolate to boys and confess their love, and the rest is history. Currently, 60% of females in Japan report giving chocolate to someone, which makes for a lot of happy fathers, husbands, boyfriends and would-be-boyfriends.

I've talked before about what the Japanese call kokumin-sei (koh-ku-meen- SAY), a kind of "national personality" that's basically the essence of what makes Koreans so Korean and the French so very French. One of my favorite aspects of the Japanese is their dislike of confrontation and general willingness to get along with each other on a daily basis. By and large, you won't find yourself being hassled much in Japan, and even some of the scarier people you might encounter, like yakuza in the public bath with their full-body tattoos, are quite polite as long as you're polite to them. This harmonious attitude extends to the legal system, too, making lawsuits extremely rare. When there's an automobile accident, for example, the two insurance companies work it out between themselves, weighing the various factors before coming to an agreement on how to divide fault between the two parties, and it's virtually unheard of to have issues decided in a courtroom. There are quite a few identifiable mechanisms that help the Japanese get through the day harmoniously, like the mantra sho ga nai" which means it can't be helped," and the basic golden rule of society that you should never cause meiwaku (inconvenience) to others. There are some possible theories about why the Japanese are so good at getting along. Perhaps it comes from having to learn to live in a small country with many people around, or maybe it has to do with Japan's decision to become a peaceful country after their defeat in World War II, or just maybe it's a by-product of the long period of absolute rule by the Shogunate during the feudal Edo Period. My own theory comes from the ethnic name of the Japanese people, the Yamato, which is also Japan's first name for its own country, dating back to the 4th Century. The characters literally mean either "Great Peace" or "Great Harmony," and it seems natural to me that a country with such a name would value getting along with one another in a peaceful way.

Remember that you can get all the great anime, manga, toy/hobby, fashion, and other magazines in Japan sent to you each month, thanks to J-List's popular Reserve Subscription service. Here's how it works: for most items, you have the option of either paying month-to-month or paying for a full year in advance. If you choose the former option, we'll reserve the current issue of the magazine(s) you want each month, charging them to a credit card on file if like, or else by check/money order or Paypal. The amount charged is the same every month, e.g. $8.50 each issue of Newtype Japan, plus the shipping. If you want to choose the annual payment option, you can pay for all the issues and SAL shipping together and get a discount. The annual option is great for anyone who wants to pre-pay for the issues (including libraries and universities who use our services), and our convenient month-to-month option is recommended for anyone who wants the flexibility to stop or change subscriptions at any time.

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.

	Sabra Magazine 002 Feb 2007. New issue of Sabra, featuring the gorgeous Jun Natsukawa , born by a river in the summer during the month of June (okay, I just made that part up).
	Kagura Japon -- Megumi Kagurazaka. Fabulous photobook featuring thee lovely Megumi-chan!
	Oui, Mon Amour -- Rika Ishikawa. Rika Ishikawa shines in her photobook, too. I've always loved this girl, even more than Gomaki, and that's saying something.
	Origami Treasure Chest. Lots of origami information here, and unlike some of the items we sell, it's not in Japanese.
	60's Infamous Fancy Shop. Wow! Another reason why I like Japanese AV! This is a fantastic 60s themed collection of performances, with the producers really going all our to make the settings and costumes look perfect. Is there this much innovation in the U.S.?
	*Gashapon* New Super Mario Soundrop -- Full Set ~ Set of 8. Killer new item for Mario fans -- Soundrop keychains that make cute Super Mario sounds when you press the buttons. Full sets are in stock, but I have to warn you that this is so popular in Japan we couldn't get our initial order filled, so we're way understocked.
	Dengeki Layers vol. 11. FABULOUS issue of this great magazine. The Rozen Maiden cosplay was enough to pay for the whole book.
	Tachikoma Soft Vinyl Figure. Wow! This giant Tachikoma soft vinyl figure is positively to die for -- get yours now!
	Coffee Beat. Enjoy these coffee bean-shaped chocolates, which are fun to eat.
	Rubber Sole Setta Black Hanao. Cool new sandals for larger feet. These are very stylish.
	Miniture Ohina-Sama on Peach Tree. Lots of really cute little decorations for the coming Hina Matsuri (March 3) are on the site now.
	Frog Healing Eye Mask. You can be healed through the amazing power of this, er, frog mask?
	Kodansha's Furigana Japanese Dictionary ~ Japanese-English, English-Japanese. A killer dictionary for gaijin like you and me. Furigana are the hiragana characters written over kanji to show you how they're ready (my textbook made a really awful joke to the effect that they were called "hurrygana" since you were in a hurry and didn't have time to look up the kanji).
	Suprise Wild Swan. It takes a real man to put an inflatable swan between his legs.
	Domo-Kun Deluxe Character Strap Keychain - DOMOKUN TV. Just a remiinder that all but a few of our Domo-kun items are nearly sold out, and that if you want to score some cool Domo-kun items you should buy quickly.
	Lotte "No Time" Gum. It's hard to describe the 'natsukashii' feeling I have about this gum, which I chewed when I first came to Japan. It brushes your teeth for you.
	digi KISHIN -- Chiaki Kuriyama. Ah, Chiaki, you beautiful latent anime otaku you, I love you so much...

Some friends of ours just built a new house (on top of a restaurant), and invited us over. It was built by our friend Mr. K.

Is this not cool? It's like a showroom for Pier 1 Imports, but in a good way.

Like many in Japan, they had only a little room to work with, so their tatami room is only a 4-jo. You measure rooms in Japan using tatami mats, e.g. this room is quite big, it must be a 20-tatami (jo) room, and so on.

Picture from in front of our favorite soba noodle restaurant. This is the same racoon-dog thing as in the Ghibli film Raccoon Wars.

My, he is happy to see us! This is just one of the many ways Japan can confusing poor gaijin. Supposedly the testicles on these raccoon statues are good luck, although I couldn't comment on the penis.