All about trains and fuzzy blue rabbits from London, linguistic quirks of the Japanese language, and finding someone's "secret talent"

One thing I like about living in Japan is the rail culture here, so very different from the freeway- and automobile-based transportation system of Southern California. Trains have crisscrossed Japan since the first tracks were laid down in 1872, and you can go just about anywhere you want by rail, either a speedy bullet train between major cities or convenient local train when taking shorter trips. While you still need a car to really get around out in the inaka (boonies) where we live, residents of larger cities like Tokyo can easily get along without owning a car, and considering that a monthly parking space can cost up to $500 per month, that's probably a good thing. One of the most convenient train lines in Tokyo is the Yama-no-te loop line, which circles all of Tokyo and provides an easy way to get to most locations, as well as a fun drinking game for college students: get off at one stop, drink, get on the next train and go one station down, drink some more, repeat. There are plenty of advertisements in trains for various products, and every once in a while a company will buy every spot of advertising in a Yama-no-te train when it really wants to get its message across. The other day I got inside a train and was amazed to see pictures of Brits wearing cute plush rabbit ears, with the slogan "Go! London" everywhere, designed to make Japanese tourists think about taking a vacation there. I'm certain the advertising campaign succeeded in making Japanese feel all warm and fuzzy about Londoners.

One of the more interesting aspects of having bilingual kids is the conversations you can have with them about how they perceive their two languages. My kids grew up speaking Japanese primarily, but many trips to the U.S. and interaction with me kept their English skills up to speed. I like to ask them if they feel their personalities are different when switching from one language to the other, and seeing what insights they might have for me. The other day my son asked me what the difference between the words sutoraiku (strike, with a 'ku' sound on the end, ストライク) and sutoraiki (the same, this time with a 'ki' on the end, ストライキ) was. Japanese is quite impoverished phonetically, with just five vowels compared to the twelve vowel sounds we produce in English -- for example, the schwa or the unique way a New Yorker pronounces the first syllable of "coffee" -- and they sometimes split English words into chunks that are easier for them to digest. The words strike with a 'ku' sound on the end is the term Japanese use for a strike in baseball or bowling, but the word with a 'ki' on the end is a labor dispute, two very different concepts in the minds of the Japanese. Some other split words include mishin (a sewing machine) vs. mashin (any machine, mecha or robot); bureiki (what stops your car) vs. bureiku (what you take when you're tired); and one that I invariably mess up, garasu (glass, what your windows are made of) and gurasu (a glass that you drink out of). Socially, Japan is a different place from the West, and human relationships often have more formality than they might in the States. Therefore it takes time to really get to know a Japanese person, and it's not uncommon to keep on discovering things along the way, even years later. One interesting aspect of Japanese relationships that pops up from time to time is kakushi-gei (ka-ku-shee-GEI、隠し芸), the "secret talent" that people will hide from everyone else, only to pull out suddenly for dramatic effect. Jun is the J-List employee who brings you delicious snacks and "wacky things from Japan." When he first started working here we took everyone out for Indian food to welcome him, and he showed us his secret talent of being able to eat curry and rice deftly with his hands like they do in India, a skill he'd picked up while traveling the Silk Road. Once I took DVD and Japan iTunes-card meister Tomo out to dinner at a Japanese curry restaurant but realized I didn't have enough money to cover his meal, so he ordered the 1300 gram Super Curry Plate, which you get free if you can eat three pounds of rice and curry within 20 minutes -- he did it with time to spare. Other J-List staff members have secret abilities, too, like Yasu, who can do a great Eddie Murphy impression in Japanese; super-packer Saori, who possesses vast knowledge of American punk bands; and our newest employee Asami, proficient in Brazilian martial arts. Are you ready for White Day, on March 14th? This is the day when men who received a gift of chocolate on Valentine's Day give some sort of return gift -- okaeshi in Japanese -- to the wives, girlfriends, daughters and female co-workers who gave them something. It's pure marketing fluff, of course, but kind of fun, and companies are happy to take advantage of the event by thinking of ways to sell products. Even Apple gets into the spirit of White Day their Japan store page, by suggesting that men buy engraved iPods for their better halves as a way of saying "Thanks for the chocolate!" We've got a big announcement for you all today, with the return of our Domo-kun T-shirts and hoodies to the site. As you probably know, Domo-kun is the incredibly cute official spokesmonster for NHK, Japan's public broadcast system (the initials stand for Nippon Hoso Kyokai in case it ever comes up in casual conversation). We've got our classic Domo-kun men's T-shirt, our stylish Fitted Tee for girls, and a super item for those in cold parts of the world, our super-warm Domo-kun hooded sweatshirt. Check out the great new Domo-kun items on the site now! Remember that J-List carries great Japan-only snacks like Pocky, Pretz, Meltykiss and much more, with a staggering 200 "oishii-licious" products in stock. We've also got all varieties of the delicious Japan-only flavors of Nestle Kit Kat, including Sakura (great for spring), Strawberry, Green Tea and the brand new Peach, available by the individual pack or as a discounted sealed boxes. Japan's summers are hot and humid, though, and soon we'll have to take all chocolate products off the site to keep them from melting, so if you'd like to enjoy this year's great crop of J-Snacks, the best time to make your order is now. Since this winter has been such a warm one in Japan, we expect to have to take the chocolate snacks off the site earlier than normal, probably in April this year. Check out our selection of great snacks now! 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" (a yes/no verification screen will be displayed to filter products from our mature site). To see all the J-List products, check out J-List or the JBOX.com updated products link.

	Urecco DVD vol. 245 Nov. 2006. Urecco is still a great magazine, filled with pictures of beautiful women, and now a DVD for you to enjoy.
	Japanese T-shirt "Domo-kun" (Men's Standard). Domo-kun fans, we're happy to announce the return of NHK's official Spokesmonster to our humble pages. Now better than ever before! We've also got cool a greatDomo-kun hoodie on the site, too.
	Japanese T-shirt "Domo-kun" (Girl's Fitted). We've also got our stylish girl's Domo-kun shirt back on the site. Looks great!
	Legs of Yamato Nadeshiko ~ Cosplay Henka. More long, silky legs for you to enjoy from Japan.
	First Arisa ~ Saisho no Arisa -- Arisa Kuroda. Gorgeous glossy photobook of Akira Kuroda.
	W Cast -- Hotaru Akane & ICHIKA (region 2). Wow, this is quite a combination, Hotaru Akane and Ichika performing together. I can't think of a cooler pair of actresses in Japan right now.
	Figumate vol.1 Full set + Rare Figures (Set of 7) ~ Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu vol.1 . Haruhi Suzumiya is the most excellent anime series to come along since Evangelion, and we've gotten in cool figures from the series. Hurry, the full sets we have in stock are quite rare.
	Photography in Japan 1853-1912. This is one book I'm going to get myself -- a collection of *400* photographs from Japan from 1853 through 1912, from the age of Perry to the end of the Meiji Era. My gosh, what a great idea, and such a beautiful presentation!
	Hello Kitty Plush in Kimono *Pink ~ Large. This is the kind of thing J-List lives to sell -- high quality, really uniquely Japanese thiings that are just plain fun.
	March of Koala -- Cafe Latte. Yummy new taste of March of Koala, or March of the Koalas. Does it have an official English name??
	Toppo -- Double Berry Cheesecake. Mmm, baked Toppo pretzel sticks with berry cheesecake inside, wow!
	1st Grade Kanji Chart. A handy wall chart featuring all the kanji you need in your first year of study. Very handy!
	Pentel Deluxe Brush Pen (Fude Pen) -- Bold Line - XFP5M. Why write with a normal pen when you can create Japanese brush writing?
	Front Innocent vol. 1 ~ Satoshi Urushihara. Satoshi Urushihara is just a god when it comes to creating amazing artwork and characters, and his work is still the best.
	Hiyoko Brand -- Hiyoko Kobayashi Illustration. We also restocked this amazing artbook collection from Hiyoko Kobayashi, whose pen name means "baby chick."
	Iron Man Shigekix . More Shigekix goodness for you, this time in a package that will improve your energy as well as your brain power.

I don't know why, but Ueno Station, located in Northn Tokyo, is my favorite.

There's something really old about it, and you can feel the Taisho Era still present on every train platform.

Competition has actually come to Japan's cellphone world, and I'm happy to see it. Here KDDI's "au" company, the one I use, is taking aim at NTT Docomo with their twin spokeswomen, Yukie Nakama (who looks kind of creapy here) on the left, and Ryoko Shinohara (who sang the theme song to the Street Fighter II movie way back in 1994), in a nice Spring-themed ad series.

More pictures of the ads. They talk about something called the Republic of London Bunnies, which is so cute I think I'll stop reading the ad lest I give myself "cuteness poisoning."

They have cool dalmations in London?

Popping into a convenience store, where they're selling "White Day Guilt" to all men who haven't bought their White Day return gift yet.

"Gentle as the breeze, deep as the ocean, constant as the moon, mysterious LOVE." Thank you, Hello Kitty.