Questions about ice cream in Japan, on Japanese students who use their dictionaries too much, and funny corporate slogans in English

I was once asked if the Japanese eat any flavors of ice cream other than Green Tea. The answer, of course, is a resounding yes -- they're quite into various types of ice cream, from standard flavors that everyone knows to some unique varieties that may seem a little odd to you or me. Take a trip to a Japanese ice cream shop and you'll see plenty of familiar flavors, like vanilla and chocolate and sakura (cherry), as well as some flavors that might be new to you, like ume (Japanese plum), sweet potato or traditional sweet azuki beans. Often, ice cream makers base new flavors on food trends, like rose flavored ice cream to make your body smell nice from the inside out, healthy "black sesame" ice cream, or this year's big boom, mango. Every once in a while I run across articles about really rare flavors of ice cream in Japan, like crab, octopus, beer or wasabi. While these products do exist, they're not generally eaten by the average Japanese person, and usually represent some region of the country's efforts to define themselves as the "squid ink flavored ice cream capital of Japan" or something. Since the Japanese like to pretend they're culturally closer to Europe than to Asia, ice cream is often consumed in the form of gelato, although "soft cream" (what soft-serve ice cream is called here) is also popular. One of our family's favorite treats is to take standard vanilla ice cream and sprinkle matcha powder over the top, which is great when it all starts to melt together. By happy coincidence, we just happen to have gotten some matcha powder in stock today.

Yes, Virginia, there really is squid ink ice cream...

One thing that always frustrated me as an ESL teacher was my students' over-reliance on dictionaries. Language is about communication, and as a general rule conversations stop when one party puts their nose in a dictionary to look up a word. It's therefore important to learn how to get around difficult words that would otherwise create a linguistic roadblock, to be able to explain a concept in a different way. I once went hitchhiking up to Northern Japan, and during my trip I decided I wanted to buy a flashlight so I could read in dark places. Trouble was, I didn't know the word for flashlight in Japanese, so I had to describe what I meant in other ways until I want I wanted -- it was surprisingly challenging. In ESL class I'd split my students up into groups and have them describe various words to each other, to help them get used to communicating ideas indirectly. This is extremely important when, say, talking about Japan to people form other countries. Let's say a Japanese person wanted to describe a kotatsu -- a low table with a heater inside and a blanket over the top, which is used in the winter to warm your legs -- to someone from another country. No dictionary will help since the concept is totally foreign, and it's important for them to learn how to find other words for what they want to say. "Netz. Make the style." This is the official slogan of Toyota's "Nets" showrooms in Japan, used in most of their TV commercials. I'm not quite sure why virtually every Japanese company has to have a slogan in English -- perhaps it's tied to my theory that use of English allows advertisers to access emotions in viewers that couldn't be reached any other way -- but nearly every company has one. They're designed to give you a positive image of the company in encapsulated form, such as small-car maker Daihatsu's "We Do Compact" or UCC Coffee's "Good Smile Coffee." The Meiji chocolate company's slogan is "Delicious...open!" which brings to mind opening one of their packages to find something good inside. When Mitsubishi started having problems with its vehicles, it quietly changed its official slogan from "Heart-Beat Motors" to "Changes for the Better" to show that they were working to fix their products, although I'm sure no one noticed by us gaijin. One of my favorites company slogans belongs to Hitachi, creator of many products from electronics to the bullet trains. Their slogan is "Inspire the Next," and they use it both in and outside of Japan, despite its slightly wonky sound -- good for them. It's not hard to find odd-sounding company slogans. For example, my wife shops at a drug store that declares itself the "Wellness Business for National Confidence." Pretty good for a small chain of drug stores located in one city in Japan! New 2008 calendars are coming in stock all the time, and we've added stock of an amazing 25+ calendars to the site yesterday, ready for your immediate order. The calendars we have in stock right now include such fun and rare offerings as Remember Classic Japanese Cars, The Joy of Bento and Sushi, Ukiyoe Masterpieces, cool kanji calendars that let you appreciate the beauty of kanji all year long, and lots of glossy photo calendars capturing Japanese temples and castles in all seasons, . We've also gotten in the 2008 calendar of Haruyo Morita, the incredible contemporary artist who captures the soul of Japan in her beautiful works. Browse our selection now! Remember that Halloween is just around the corner, and J-List has tons of great items for you to make this year extra special, from bizarre and fun costume items to delicious treats you can give out to Trick-or-Treaters. We've got cool masks featuring Hello Kitty, Lucky Cat, a traditional Daruma, a huge selection of cosplay magazines including monthly subscriptions, Japanese headbands, and much more. Why not use J-List to make October 31st more special this year? 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

	Sabra Magazine 015 Sep 2007. New issue of Sabra, filled with beautiful pictures.
	NaNairo Beach ~ Nana Colored Beach -- Nana Konishi. Gorgeous photobook featuring Nana's first ever photographs.
	Hikaru Koto Remastering 8 Hours & 2 Discs. Here's an amazing thing -- a staggering 8 hours of Hikaru Koto's newly remastered works, with much more detail than ever before.
	Street Smart Trivia ~ Machi Ju no Gimon. Here's a spiffy bilingual book with both English and Japanese in it.
	Swimsuit Girl ~ Mizugi Kanojo. For all those who love girls in swimsuits.
	Evangelion Head Interface ~ Asuka Langley ver.. Transform yourself into Asuka or Rei from Evangelion. Totally cool!
	Behind Moon CG Collection vol. 1 & 2 SET (Download Edition). Thanks to our special relationship with the doujinshi circle Behind Moon, J-List is able to bring you a special *uncensored* collection of their best CG ever. Great for futanari fans. If you don't know what futanari is, you might not want to know, depending on your personal preferences.
	My Neighbor Totoro -- Totoro No Sanpo ~ White Sho Totoro . Cute Totoro plush toy with a string you pull which makes it vibrate. Pretty cool.
	Kiki's Delivery Service -- Jiji No Sanpo ~ White Sho Totoro. This is the Jiji the Cat plush version.
	AGARI ~ High Grade Green Tea Powder (Restaurant Style). Yummy matcha (green tea) powder -- make your own tea ceremony!
	Zebra Sarasa Ball Point Pen 0.5 Set of 5 Pastel Colors . Stylish colored pens for your writing lifestyle.
	GACHAPIN x MUKKU Hand Mirror --- GACHAPIN . A super cute mirror featuring Gachapin, Japan's cutest character. He's a 5 year old dinosaur, and his red friend is a Yette.
	GACHAPIN x MUKKU Gel Bubble Pencil Case . This is the bubble-filled Gachapin pencil case. Really cool.
	GACHAPIN Hanging Tissue Cover with Tissue Box. Talk about cool -- this little guy will hang around your door knob (or wherever) holding tissue for you.
	Choco Black Kitty version ~ Chokotto Sister. A cute figure for fans of Chokotto Sister.
	Angela 1/7 Figure Princess Waltz Figure Wafudo Enterbrain New. Princess Waltz is the soon-to-be-released bishoujo game from Peach Princess, and it's so popular in Japan that there are figures released for it -- this is the 2nd figure, and it sure it amazing!
	Noren ~ AKEHOSHI / Morning Star . This is a stylish "noren" (Japanese door curtain) for your home.