Thoughts on flying to Japan, comparing sports and sexy waitresses, and more oddities of written Japanese

Well, I've completed my return journey, and am safely back in Japan. Whenever people hear I'm flying across the Pacific they usually assume it's a really horrible experience, however I'd say it can actually border on pleasant. With the amount of entertainment choices available to me as a modern traveler, from the new Harry Potter book to my MacBook loaded with games and movies to the shiny new iPhone I couldn't resist buying (I'm very happy for that "prepaid" hack that lets you use the phone without signing up for the two year contract), I was doing just fine. Since there are no connections involved, it's a lot more convenient flying to Japan than the three planes I had to take when traveling to Baltimore, for example.

It's funny how some of the differences between Japan and the U.S. turn out not to be all that different at all. For example, when I first got to Japan it seemed odd to me that sports teams were usually named after companies instead of cities, e.g. the Yomiuri Giants, named for the giant Yomiuri newspaper company, or the Hanshin Tigers, owned by the Hanshin (which means "Kobe and Osaka" in case you were curious) railroad line. But after proper reflection, is this custom really any different from the trend of American stadiums being branded with corporate names, like Qualcomm Stadium and Petco Park in San Diego? Not really. Japan is certainly a country that has a different dynamic at work when it come to sex, and I've met gaijin in Japan who were less than happy about restaurants like the famous Anne Miller's that have built a name for themselves around extremely attractive waitresses dressed in sexy "push-up" waitress uniforms. And yet, this really isn't any different than what you can see at any Hooters or similar places in the U.S. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the core idea for the Anne Miller's uniforms (roughly equivelent to the Playboy Bunny in terms of general cult status here) were directly "inspired" from the classic St. Pauli's Girl from the beer ads, since they look very similar. I talked last time about words like meganekko (眼鏡っ子）, a word which means "girls with glasses" and which is pronounced "meh-ga-neh-KKO," with a short pause where the double "k" goes. When properly written in hiragana, the "basic" writing system of Japanese, this short pause is called a "small tsu," essentially the kana character read "tsu" written at half size (i.e., っ as opposed to つ). Linguistically it's called a glottal stop, and while many languages have them, it's odd to find a language that has a written character for the sound. Usually expressed in the Roman alphabet with double consonants, some words that have this brief pause include gakkou (gah-[small pause]-KOH, school), nattou(nah-[small pause]-TOH, fermented soybeans) and matcha (mat-[small pause]-CHA, green tea). For anyone interested in learning to read Japanese, one reason I recommend textbooks or flashcards that only feature hiragana, katakana and kanji as opposed to romanized Japanese is, forcing yourself to learn the actual characters that the Japanese use not only helps you learn to read better, it also helps your Japanese pronunciation, since the rules of English (like silent 'e' and all that) will only trip you up when trying to pronounce words correctly. Remember that J-List sells hundreds of cool products for fans of Studio Ghibli, the animation studio of Hayao Miyazaki. From Totoro plush toys and bento boxes to toys for fans of Kiki's Delivery Service and Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away and more, we've got many great items for the Miyazaki fan in your family, even if it's you. Why not browse our outstanding selection of Ghibli related products 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." To see all the J-List products, check out J-List or the JBOX.com updated products link.

	Sabra Magazine 012 July 2007. Sabra is always a pleasure to post on J-List.
	New Half Club vol. 54. For fans of this popular Japanese fetish.
	Ultra Jump May 2007. New issue of Ultra Jump, with 400 massive pages of top manga for you.
	Welcome to Hinamezawa. A really innovative ero DVD release that's a mystery based on a popular game and manga.
	Nagikaze ~ Calm Wind -- Eri Nishida. This is Eri-chan's latest photobook, and she is really worth looking at.
	Hare Hare SOS Dan II ~ 2. Dynamite item for Haruhi fans who are also "sukebe."
	Cosmode 016 ~ Costume Model Magazine . Get into your costume mode with Cosmode!
	Figumate Melanchory of Haruhi Suzumiya vol.2 -- Individual. Haruhi figures that are so cute, you will want ot own them all.
	Swing-Style vol. 1 ~ Swing Style 1. Yui Toshiki has a new manga -- yay!
	Sakura Small Plate ~ Blue. An attractive sakura-themed plate for your kitchen.
	Lucky Daruma Cat Statue. Cool item for Lucky Cat and Daruma fans.
	Japanese Tapestry ~ Sake is Awesome! Sake is truly awesome. Proclaim it with this fun wall hanging.
	No Smoking/No Drinking Coin Bank . Quit smoking or drinking with this effective coin bank.
	Hello Kitty Happy Message Board ~ Pink. Fun way to leave messages to friends the Sanrio Way.
	Japanese Sake Brand "Scissors Bag" w/ Carabiner ~ Otoko-Yama -- Black. Show the world you love sake with this stylish canvas bag. I use one of these to hold my wallet and other important documents, and attach it to my keys with the carabiner. It's quite handy.
	Rudy 1/7 Figure Illustrated by Shunya Yamashita . New figure from Shunya Yamashita, who is fast becomming Japan's #1 illustrator and sexy model maker.
	Shinagawa-Maki -- Long Seaweed Cracker Roll. Yummy seaweed cracker treat.