My weekend trip to Akiba, times when Japanese do or don't apologize, and the history of the stapler in Japan

I took the train into Tokyo on Sunday to meet a friend in Akihabara, the area of Tokyo famous as the electronics and all-around underground pop culture capital of Japan. I hadn't been there on a Sunday in a while and was bowled over by the sea of people I saw, from otaku of every stripe doing their their shopping to middle-aged men headed home with computer purchases under their arms. Part of the reason it was so crowded was that the majority of Japanese get their monthly pay on the 25th, so people were flush with cash to go shopping with. Every Sunday they close off the main street and let people take it over for their own purposes. I caught an interesting "guerilla live" or street concert where singers will appear out of nowhere with a portable karaoke machine and start singing natsukashii (nostalgic) anime theme songs while a crowd of listeners gathers around and cheers. It was pure fun.

I've talked before about how an important trait among Japanese is kenson (KEN-son), meaning humility or modesty. It's much better for a person to be self-effacing -- for example, to deny a compliment on how good their English is -- than to appear boastful and proud, which is why it can be difficult to say something nice about a Japanese person without them disagreeing with you. For all the noise made about Japan not apologizing for certain past events, Japanese people pretty much apologize at the drop of a hat, and there are many situations where the Western concept of "thank you" would be expressed as sumimasen ("excuse me for inconveniencing you") instead. This isn't always the case, of course. For example, most people will refrain from apologizing after a car accident as it could imply accepting fault. Another example of not apologizing would be our bank, the largest in our prefecture, famous for their haughty attitude because they're #1. No matter what small mistake their staff might make -- forgetting to credit a money transfer, say, or improperly filling out a document requiring it to be done over -- the bank's employees are trained never to apologize. This is called tonosama shobai (toh-no-sah- mah SHO-bai), roughly translatable as "running your business as if you're a feudal lord in ancient Japan," and I guess it's a way to show your customers that you are an extremely strong leader in your field, since no other company could get away with that kind of crap. If you've ever wondered at some of the bizarre actions taken by Sony over the years -- the hubristic attitude that nothing could assail their strong position in video games, the Sony-only media formats, the rootkit DRM scandal of last year -- now you know what the concept is called in Japanese.

When English speakers come to Japan, we're generally pleased to hear familiar words being used around us. Although phrases like "after service" (service after a purchase), "plus alpha" (meaning "a little extra something"), "unit bath" (a bathroom designed as a single unit) and "recycle shop" (any shop that sells used items) might sound a little odd, at least they're easy to figure out without too much trouble. Not all foreign loan words come from English: there are words like arbeit (part-time job, from German), enquette (questionnaire, from French) or pan (bread, from Portuguese) that we must get used to. Then there are words whose origins can be incredibly confusing, such as why the Japanese word for stapler is hochikisu. It turns out that the E.F. Hotchkiss company made fine "paper fasteners" (staplers) at the beginning of the 20th century, and a shipment made it to Japan around 1910. The Japanese were fascinated with this ingenious device and, not knowing it was called, dubbed it a "Hotchkiss." If you think something as boring as a stapler can't be innovative, you should check out the TAMAHOTCHI, the cute new egg-shaped stapler that's shaped like an egg, but one that staples papers for you quite handily. Winner of the Good Design Award!

Remember that J-List carries Japan's outstanding PC dating-sim games, fully translated into English for your enjoyment. Many games can be purchased either as a shrinkwrapped CD-ROM or as a convenient Internet Download Edition, giving you a great choice. Since we've got so many titles to choose from, you can find something that you'll love no matter what your tastes are? Like cat girls? We've got you covered. How about fantasty RPGs? Sure. Or games outstanding story-based dating-sims? We have many to choose from.

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. We also recommend watching our "new products" RSS feed

	Sekirei - Engagement ~ Sakurako Gokurakuin visual collection. Fabulous new artbook from Sakurako Gokurakuin, love the art in this!
	Hiragana Times Sep 2007 No. 251. New issue of Hiragana Times, for anyone studying Japanese or who just wants to read about Japan. This issue features "stupid Japanese inventions"!
	ERINA -- Matsui Erina 1st Photobook. Erina-chan looks great in her first ever photobook. Kawaii!
	Revoltech No.34 Super Valkyrie VF-1J ~ Macross *Preorder*. Macross fans, this is something for you -- a fabulous VF-1J from the original series, which comes with armor to make an Armored Type -- cool!
	Maaryan 1/8 Figure. Drill Maaryan Kick ver. ~ ToHeart2 Another Days. Fabulous new figure just released. Such, ahem, detail.
	Ryofu Housen 1/7 Cast-off Figure ~ Ikki Tousen (Dragon Destiny)　SIF EX by Yamato *Preorder*. Preorder figure. This is a "Cast Off" so that means we'll run out wary early like we did with the dynamite Tamaki figure.
	TAMAHOTCHI Egg Shaped Stapler. This is cool -- it's an egg, but it's a stapler, and a great play on the Tamago / Hotchkiss / Tamagotchi thing. This is part of an interesting initiative called Universal Design.
	NYAN-PON ~ Lucky Cat Pair Netsuke. Super "kawaii" Lucky Cat phone straps -- a pair, so you can give one to your significant other!
	FUKU-CHAN ~ Lucky Owl Pair Netsuke. And these are the "Lucky Owl" versions.
	Double Eyelid Clear Stickers --- 20sets . Japanese like to get plastic surgery to make their eyes look more "Western." Here are some stickers you can use instead.
	Putifresh DX Banana Bento Box Set . This is a deluxe bento set that gives you a 2-tier bento box, a cup to hold your drink, chopsticks, case for chopsticks and a cloth bag to hold it all in. Great!
	Japan-made Oreo Cookies!! Supposedly, Japanese Oreos take different from ones back home. This is your big chance to compare them side by side.
	Meiji Xylish Hyper Cool Gum Flap Top Bottle. Spicy black gum from Meiji, in a cool flip top container.
	Figure Maniacs vol. 11. Figure Maniacs is great because it's like a history book of all the best figures ever made. You can "own" them all inside the book!
	Mr. Sumicho & Ms. Midorino Ramune Candy . The name is weird, but the ramune candy is good.
	Japanese USB Keyboard -- Black ~ Elecom. Another item from Elecom, this is a Japanese keyboard that's quite useful for Windows users who want Japanese on their keyboard. It's also usable with PS2!

Welcome to Akihabrara, abbreviated Akiba since it's hard for Japanese people to say too,

Basically, there are lots of electronics stores, including some very old school places that frankly don't like all the otaku types who have been taking over the area. DVD stores, manga stores, an Animate, a few dozen Maid Cafes. You know, all the good stuff.

Walking along the man Chuo Dori road. To the left was a huge line of people waiting to get some idol's autograph.

Oo, gotta watch that.

This is the first live (i.e. live performance) I sat in on. She was singing 1980s stuff, which is the best (to me). Yes, I am old school... Interesting to note that she's wearing a U.S. made anime shirt.

This was another performance, but the girls were handing out advertisements for a shop while they sang, so it felt rather spammy.

Headed back. I saw this and wondered if they have any idea what the hell Esperonto is?

My daughter's summer art project. "Drinking and driving, don't ever do it!" Recently my wife and both kids were hit from behind by a drunk driver. The strength of the BMW she was in saved them, but it was a scary, scary thing. Try to see the detail on the guy drinking a bottle of bourbon inside the blue car.

I conclude this blog post with a picture of my stupid cat displaying his "fuzzy dice."