A useful Japanese slang word, changing in the Japanese savings rate, and one "key" to understanding Japan and America (?)...

Recently we took our daughter to a resort hotel in Kusatsu, a hot springs town in the mountains with more than 1000 years of history. When we checked in, the hotel employee handed us a standard old-fashioned metal key for our room, which made me realize another difference between my home country and Japan. Most hotels in the States employ a computer-control card-key system, which allows the hotel to assign a unique code for each card then change it the next day. While these convenient hi-tech devices give the hotel a more modern appeal with guests, the main driving force behind their adoption has been litigation, with hotels often liable for theft or other crimes that occurred inside their rooms. With the ability to prove exactly when an individual (including hotel staff) entered a given room, hotels in the U.S. can better control their liability for such things. Since Japan is for all intents and purposes a country in which no one sues anyone else -- remember, I've never met a single lawyer in my 16 years living in Japan, they're so rare -- it's not a problem for hotels to keep using the old metal key systems.

I'll teach you a word of Japanese that can be quite useful. The word is -kei, part of the word kankei, meaning "relationship." Basically, you take a word and put -kei on the end and you've essentially widened its scope, for example cha-kei would mean any kind of tea-like beverage, from Western iced tea to green tea and so on. The suffix is often used to create slang words related to fashion and popular culture, and new words are created almost daily to describe the ever-changing world we live in. One buzzword you hear a lot these days is Akiba-kei ("related to Akihabara"), describing anything that can be found in this popular area of Tokyo, from anime to manga to electronics and maid cafes. More specific otaku-related slang words might include moé-kei, i.e. related to moé (mo-EH) or "the warm, happy feeling you get when you look at your favorite anime character," or otome-kei (oh-toh-meh-kei), used to refer to anything related to yaoi or BL. The -kei suffix is used in music as well, for example the visual-kei rock bands pioneered by X Japan and now represented by the likes of Gackt or Malice Mizer, or the currently popular genre of club music known as Shibuya-kei. One slang word for the hip-hop culture that Japanese young people often like to imitate is B-kei, for black, while the type of man most Japanese females would like to date would probably be Johnny's-kei, men who are attractive in the way that Japanese male idols like SMAP or KAT-TUN are. Japanese magazine publisher Recruit publishes Gaten, a job magazine for workers in physically-demanding fields like road construction or moving, and a popular slang term for strong men who can work in these jobs is Gaten-kei, similar in meaning to the word "blue collar."

One aspect about living in Japan I like very much is the custom of a family's finances being handled by the woman of the household, a good thing since Japanese females generally tend to be very organized and level-headed, a lot more than me anyway. In past decades, Japanese households have been famous for their high savings rate, with the average family keeping around US$120,000 in standard cash savings accounts. Now that Japan finally seems to be permanently past the terrible period of recession that followed the bursting of the Tokyo land bubble in 1991, known officially as the Great Heisei Recession and unofficially as the "Lost Ten Years," some are seeing signs that this era of high savings may be coming to an end. In 1973 the average Japanese household managed to put away a whopping 23% of their annual salary, but this number has fallen to around 2.7% today. A lot of changes are afoot in Japan these days, with many households remodeling their homes to make them "barrier free" so that elderly parents can live at home safely, and of course those aging Japanese workers are retiring, reducing the income available to save. Lifestyles are changing too, with people getting married later and later, living at home into their thirties and forties. Some Japanese households are no doubt fed up with the miniscule interest paid on savings here in Japan -- the rate paid by a major bank in our area is just 0.2%, if you can believe that -- and are looking for other vehicles than straight savings. Unlike the old days when Japan had many barriers to entry for foreign firms, many investment companies are active in Japan, offering a range of more interesting alternatives for families wanting to save for the future.

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

	Darth Vader Real Action Collection. Here's something cool for Star Wars fans: an all metal Darth Vader figure from Tomy made for the Japanese market, an incredibly detailed and posable figure that will be an awesome centerpiece of any display. Kind of like the Chogokin metal robot toys.
	One Hundred Views of Maiko and Geiko. For anyone interested in one of the most famous cultural aspects of beautiful Kyoto.
	Delicious new Japanese snacks. See fun new snack items from Japan today, including new Sasha with layers of chocolate and strawberry, a "caramel almond latte" flavored Pie no Mie from Lotte, and delicious Xylish sugarless gum in a large container.
	Robot 1 ~ Super Color Comic. Vol. 1 of the gorgeous full color artbook/manga comic by Wani Books has been reprinted, but don't wait to grab your copy.
	R2-Q5 (Black) and R2-A6 (Green and White) Shampoo Bottles. Star Wars fans who love those awesome R2 units, we've also posted the other variations of the shampoo bottles for you.
	Fuko Ibuki 1/8 Figure ~ Clannad *Preorder*. I enjoyed Air and Kanon so much that I'm really eager to get into Clannad as well. This is the first preorder figure from the game/anime.
	Figure maniacs vol. 23. I am a big fan of Figure Maniacs, the outstanding perfect-bound magazine that presents all the best anime figures for fans perusal in each issue. This one is especially nice.
	Hello Kitty Bento Gift Set. In Japanese, "fancy" is the word that describes the cute world of Sanrio, San-X and so on. Here's a "Fancy Set" of three useful mini bento containers, chopsticks and a bag to hold it all in.
	Chibi Maruko chan Kanji Dictionary 1 & 2. Chibi Maruko is a long running anime show about the life and times of a girl living in the 1980s, beloved by nearly all Japanese. These are popular kanji dictionaries featuring the characters.
	My Neighbor Totoro -- Totoro No Sanpo ~ Cat Bus. Neko Bus (Cat Bus) is one of the most popular magical creatures from the Totoroverse, and we've gotten in a cool plush toy with a string you can pull
	MAJESTER ~ Multi Oil Paint Ink Marker Double 8 Colors Set. We love to carry unique Japanese pens, and here's a great set of colored permanent oil-based magic markers from Majestar. Incidentally the word "magic" basically means "magic marker" in Japanese.
	HAPPY CHRISTMAS Display ~ Lucky Santa Cat & Christmas Tree. Don't just send a Christmas card this year -- send a cool ceramic "Lucky Santa Cat" display that they'll treasure for years.
	Tenori Mamegoma -- Panda Goma. San-X has made some of the most incredible cute characters over the years, and one of our faves is the Mamegoma (lit. "bean sesame seed") line of cute baby seals. We've restocked Black Sesame and Panda for you.
	Nyan Nyan Nyanko books. We've restocked both of the Nyan Nyan Nyanko books by San-X, featuring their cute attempts at making cats out of everything in Japan, from sumo wrestlers to sushi to cherry blossoms. An awesome series of books.
	Restocked traditional items. Of course we've got restocked items for fans of Japanese traditional stuff. See our Surprise Daruma Netsuke phone strap (guess what the surprise is?), Fragrance Oil with the aroma of the sky (?), and the family crest of the Minamoto family.
	Maple -- Eri Kamei Photobook. Eri-chan is a super cute photobook model from the Hello Project family (managed by Morning Musume producer Tsunk) who is just beautiful to gaze upon.
	Panda *Sex Style* Green Tea Cup and Ashtray. There are 48 traditional positions in Japanese "H," illustrated by these cute panda bears (or frogs, or skeletons).
	New "ero" manga for you. See some great new manga titles from Japan's best comic art studios. First there's an anthology of stories from the popular game Blaster Holiness Prima Veil, and vol. 4 of The Roommate.
	Restocked "H" manga items. See some great restocked manga on the site now, including Angel's Pretty Hip (I love these cute names), The Act Within 2, Soft Skin and Swing-Style vol. 1.
	Comic AG Super Manga Anthology vol. 68. Manga is better when you can read it and get the full benefit of the interesting stories, which is why Comic AG from Icarus Comics is so popular. This new issue features 80 pages of great "H" manga for the low price of $4.99.
	Ilfa Cast-off Figure ~ ToHeart 2. The latest craze in anime figures is "cast off," figures with clothing that can be removed, which really works well in the case of this dynamite figure from ToHeart 2.
	Sanae Aizawa 1/4 ~ Shoku Nyu 2. Positively amazing "ero" figure rendered in huge 1/4 scale (which almost no one does anymore), recreating the character of Sanae in every detail, right down to her cowbell.
	Fate/Stay Night Visual Story. Fate/Stay Night is, of course, one of the most famous anime series that was originally based on an "H" game, and here's the awesome Visual Story, that shows all the scenes from the game that you might have missed. It really completes the series for me.
	Stripe Underwear plus Knee-Socks Collection 4 Hours. I like the generic "four hours of [whatever]" DVDs from TMA, which show excellent models in different genres (swimsuit, long boots, you name it). Here is an entire DVD dedicated to striped underwear and long knee socks, heh.
	JUKEBOX -- Sakura Hirota (region 2). Get an incredible *4* hours of great JAV action, four individual releases, in this super new release in the Jukebox series from Maxing. One reason to have a region free DVD player handy, since there are a lot of indies companies that only publish for region 2.