Thoughts on how English loan words are used in Japanese, public affection in the English classroom, and the "V" sign

Sometimes it can seem that the Japanese use of creative English is totally random. I mean, how can you quantify the giant sign near J-List that says "SPLUSH IS NOT ONLY THE PROBLEM OF AGE"? But there do seem to be subtle rules for what words get brought in, if you pay attention. Obviously, words for modern technology tend to get imported a lot, and you'd be hard pressed to talk about routers, servers or internet packets without using loan words. Another use of English is to capture a particular emotion, which you see with words like like skinship (スキンシップ, the feeling of a mother or father holding their baby in the bath), love-love (らぶらぶ, a mushy word for being in love) or my-home (マイホーム, a person fulfilling the dream of building their own home). One thing I've noticed is that "positive" words tend to get borrowed more often than negative ones, which goes hand-in-hand with the idea that English is the language for optimistic people, an opinion I've heard expressed here several times over the years. This positive thinking can be seen in product and company names like Cook-Do, a line of easy-to-prepare Chinese food for housewives; "I'll," a travel company who's name makes you think of all the wonderful things you'll do when you reach your destination; Power Up Coming Life, the slogan of a computer store chain; and Try, a school that sends tutors to your home to teach your children. Let's all level up our happiness with English!

My wife continues her volunteer work at our daughter's elementary school, despite her misgivings about having the regular Japanese homeroom teachers being involved in teaching English when they often have no skills in that area. (The other day a boy got barked at for saying "How are you?" to my wife before she said it to him, as if there were a set rule that you could only greet others when greeted first.) Yesterday my wife was invited to eat lunch with the 5th graders, so she got to sit and have her first kyushoku (Japanese school lunch) in twenty years -- they served gratin, curry and minestrone soup. When it was time for her to go, my daughter gave her a big hug, which caused everyone in the room to stare in silence. The Japanese are not really into public displays of affection, and it was quite shocking for them to see. I'm sure it will give the kids the impression that Americans are all wildly emotional people who hug each other all the time.

Have you ever noticed the "peace sign" (aka the victory or V-sign) that Japanese people make with their fingers whenever they're having their photographs taken? It's almost the Japanese National Gesture, and quite puzzling to foreigners who wonder why every single Japanese seems to make this sign in every photograph, especially cute girls. While the origins of this strange pose are not known, I would guess that U.S. soldiers probably made the sign (originally popularized by Winston Churchill) while posing for photographs during Japan's occupation, and it entered the Japanese mind set at that time. When you say "peace" your face naturally smiles, the same as saying "cheese." Another way the Japanese get you to smile for a photograph is asking, "What's one plus one?" (in Japanese, Ichi tasu ichi wa?). The answer of course is ni (two), another word that naturally makes your face smile for the camera.

Japan's otaku culture continues to spread around the world, and the latest boom is called dakimakura (dah-kee MAH-koo-rah), also known as "hug pillows" or "body pillows." Essentially life-sized long pillows around which a beautiful printed pillow case is wrapped, these large pillows are the ultimate otaku decoration for your room, great to lay around with while watching TV. J-List now carries the popular hug pillow covers from Machi Chara and others, and we've posted the first great dakimakura for you, with your very own life-sized version of Choco from Chocotto Sister and Louise and Siesta from the anime Zero no Tsukaima. See them on the site now!

Remember that there's still time to get that special wacky item delivered by Halloween, thanks to speedy yet affordable EMS shipping method. Whether you want to decorate your door with the Hello Kitty Jack-o-Lantern items we have or you're trying to score one of those killer Anbu masks we just got back in stock, we'll rush your order out to you. Since we've got the best selection of Japanese snacks outside of the Land of the Rising Sun, you can also give something really special to the kids 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

	New Nude. Stylish nude photography, what Japan is best at.
	Tokyo Tower 1/500 Scale Replica Model. For everyone who's wanted to own your own giant replica of a copy of the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately we only have one of these :(
	ERIKA -- Erika Sawajiri. Erika Sawajiri, whose name sounds designed to make you think of touching her butt, looks great in this photobook.
	IE Banker -- Ai Nagase, Sayaka Tsutsumi. Three lovely actresses appear in this reissue of a classic from SOD's IEnergy label. All are retired so it's a great chance to see them again.
	Pop Bonsai by Lisa Tajima. Cool book on growing our own bonsai.
	Factory Moe ~ Kojo Moe. Okay, so, "moe" (mo-EH) is usually reserved for anime characters, but there's apparently people who love the way factories look, too.
	Polyphonica Fan Book. Fan bok frmo a popular PC and PS2 game.
	Hip Parade vol.5 ~ Sphere of Grace. A new series of "trading torsos" is coming soon. You can order your set now.
	Kotona Elegance ~ Zoid Genesis -- Nendoroid Figure *Preorder*. Cool Nendoroid figure for Zoids fans.
	Nao ~ Mabinogi -- Nendoroid Figure *Preorder*. This is a popular game from Korea that's making waves in Japan. I love the look of the Nendoroid figures.
	Choco Hug Pillow Cover　~ Chocotto Sister. This is the sister character from Chocotto Sister.
	Lucky Frog Netsuke . Lucky Frog is not that well known, but he's very cute, all the same.
	Parody Market Scented Double-sided Marker ~ HI-CHEW Grape. A pen that smells like Hi-Chew candies.
	Adieu Galaxy Express 999 Character Figure -- Basic Set of 8. This is a great set of figures for Matsumoto Leiji fans. Unfortunately we only got three of them in, so if you dig it, order fast.
	Louise Love Pillow Cover　~ Zero no Tsukaima. Hug Pillows come to J-List! This is the cute Louise from the popular anime Zero no Tsukaima.
	Tsubu Tsubu Hi-chew -- Chocolate Banana Parfait. Delicous new flavors of Hi-Chew.
	Microman Asuka Langley School Uniform ver.. Rei and Asuka are rendered as Microman figures, or if you prefer, as Micronauts.
	Hello Kitty Slide Trio Set -- Chopsticks, Fork & Spoon. Hello Kitty item for your bento.
	Hello Kitty Strawberry Pretzel -- Kitty Strawberry Head. Hello Kitty Pocky, yeah!