Needing a sixth sense to communicate with people from other countries, this year's kanji, and all about "smorking"

Talking with people from other cultures often requires a sense for words that's quite unrelated to speaking a foreign language. Sometimes, someone says something to you that just makes no sense at all, and it's up to the deep part of your brain responsible for language processing to make the connection. Before I started studying the language, we had a Japanese foreign exchange student who stayed at my house. Once she praised me for something by telling me I was "good head." After more than a little confusion, I figured out that she was telling me I was smart, and this is indeed how you express this concept in Japanese (atama ga ii, lit. "good head"). Soon after arriving in Japan, I had a conversation with a student who was trying to tell me how good Mitsubishi vehicles were. "They are very good. They make...army's car. You know, boom!" My cranial density kept me scratching my head, until I realized he meant tanks. Whenever my wife comes to San Diego she has varying degrees of success communicating with my American family, who can't always figure out that when she says something about "the glass" being green all year round she's really talking about grass.

"I hate it when someone smorks in my face." For whatever reason, the English word "smoke" is often rendered as "smork" in Japan. The issue is how the Japanese perceive certain sounds, especially the "r" phoneme that's not familiar to them. Because Japanese is a syllable-based language in which you can express sounds like ka, ki, ku, ke or ko, but not the consonant "k" by itself, English words like "hello" "goodbye" or "beer, please" must be forced through this rather alien phonetic system, resulting in haroh (the final "h" representing an elongating of the previous vowel), guddobai and biiru puriizu. The very first fast food I ate in Japan was a McDonald's clone called First Kitchen (home of the world famous scrambled egg burger, yech), and I remember some confusion as to whether the company was First Kitchen or Fast Kitchen. Without the full repertoire of English sounds, the Japanese render the latter as fasuto and the former as fahsuto, with the longer middle vowel serving the role of the "r" in "first." This rule gets over-generalized in some words, which is why the long middle sound of the word sumo-ku (smoke) ends up as "smork."
Every year a single kanji character is designated by the Kanji Examination Association which represents the events of that year, and this year the character is...itsuwari, which translates as falsity, lies or deceit. It was a big year for being lied to in Japan, with many scandals in the headlines. First, the problems with missing Social Security payments, which meant that thousands of workers wouldn't get credit for money they paid into the system decades ago. Learning that the freshness date on the food they order may not be accurate also shook the trust of consumers in Japan -- McDonald's got caught changing the dates on salads so leftovers could be sold the following day, and they'd been doing it for years. The scandal at the Ministry of Defense, in which Deputy Defense Minister Yoko Yamada demanded various perks in exchange for the awarding of lucrative contracts, resulted in a raid on the Japanese version of the Pentagon by prosecutors. Today there was an official ceremony at beautiful Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in which a famous Buddhist priest wrote the character with a large calligraphy brush while hundreds looked on. The kanji for previous years have included inochi (life) in 2006, during which so many young people committed suicide; ai (love), after the birth of Princess Masako's daughter Ai in 2005; sai (disaster), in tragedy-laden 2004; and tora (tiger), celebrating the Hanshin Tigers victory in the Japan Series in 2003.
And still, the crack team of J-List employees is churning out packages left and right, making sure that orders both in Japan and San Diego go out in a timely manner. J-List's unique position, actually being based in Japan, really allows us to bring you a huge selection of mind-blowingly unique products from Japan, like our good luck Poop Hat, or those cool Santa Lucky Cat display items, or the cool Christmas ornaments we have on the site now. You can browse all new items using this link. Having trouble making up your mind what to give? We've got a few ideas for you.
Here are today's "really cool products" that I've picked out for you, out of the 30+ new items we've added to the J-List and JBOX.com sites today. Note that some products may be "not safe for work" but that all links will allow you to redirect yourself either to the J-List or JBOX.com websites. To see all the J-List products, check out J-List or the JBOX.com updated products link.

	New Year's Kagami Mochi. You can't think of Japanese New Year's without kagami mochi, the beautiful decorative "mirror rice cake" displayed in homes after New Years. Mochi (which is just white rice pressed into a firm shape) is one of my favorite foods. We've got several sizes and styles of this great seasonal treat.
	Delicious New Snacks. We've gotten in some great new J-Snacks today, including Meiji Coffee Beat (they look like coffee beans, but they're mocha chocolate), chewy Puccho candies, and more.
	Ryuk Book Stand ~ Deathnote. A fabulous item for Death Note fans, a set of bookends that feature Ryuk on both halves, top portion on one end and bottom portion on the other. An eerie and cool way to display your books.
	DX TOKONAME Ware of 12 Animals ~ Rat. Every year, there's a really special yunomi (traditional green tea cup) created in the image of the Chinese zodiac anime for that year. This is the cup for 2008's animal, the Rat, a real treasure. Collect one each year!
	Tetsuya Ishida Illustrations. This is a great collection of paintings by an amazing Japanese painter and illustrator. Absolutely fascinating the way he combines human beings with technology.
	Transformer Encore 01 Convoy. Check the coolness of Optimus Prime, whose name in Japanese is the slightly less cool "Convoy." Fully transformable and very detailed, based on the old school designs from the 1980s.
	Hello Kitty Mini Folding Speaker. Also for Hello Kitty fans, a cute portable speaker system that you can hook up to your iPod or other music player for cool sound anywhere. Also great for use as computer speakers.
	Illuminated Ear Cleaner. The Japanese are nothing if not clean, and we've gotten in a great ear cleaner that lets you really see what's going on in there.
	Studio Ghibli Items. Various restocked items, including the Totoro and Cat Bus 2008 Schedule Books, the fun Totoro Wall Pocket for organizing your room, and more stock of those soft, soft Totoro blankets.
	Study Items, Bilingual Books. Check out our back-in-stock study items, including bilingual books like Once Upon a Time in Jolly Japan, Family Style Recipes, and The Guide to Japanese Systems.
	DMM July 2007 with DVD (Region ALL). DMM is the new leading magazine of JAV culture, and each issue is loaded with delicious models promoting their newest DVDs. You get a killer DVD, too.
	Chocolat -- Shoko Hamada. Nothing is more exotic to the Japanese than English, unless it's French, which is why they love naming things Chocolat, the French spelling of Chocolate. And exotic is exactly the word we'd use to describe the gorgeous Shoko Hamada, with her cute but naughty smile.
	New Manga Volumes. Fabulous "H" manga for you today, including Love Juices Abound (with "nakadashi" themes), a new Insult Fighting Musume with lots of video game girl parody, and more.
	Kurumi Imari 1/8 Cast-Off Figure School Uniform ver. ~ Bible Black *Preorder*. Bible Black fans won't want to miss this outstanding "cast off" figure of Kurumi Imai, rendered in 1/8 scale with a uniform that can, ahem, be cast off. Preorder now.
	Petra 1/7 Cast-Off Figure Illustrated by Shunya Yamashita *Preorder*. We're big fans of Shunya Yamashita around here, whose gorgeous 2D illustrations looks amazing in three dimensions. This is a "cast off" figure based on one of his fantasy creations, which you can preorder now.
	Alice Pink File -- Bunko Kanazawa. A super *all remastered* Alice Pink File release from Kuki, with 240 minutes of her best performances remade with super detail, including visible "oshiri" just like in the indies titles.
	Kyonyu x Kyonyu - Super Oppai Special. A really special offering from Glay'z, featuring a huge number of pairs of kyonyu (large oppai), with top rated AV stars with cup G or greater working their magic on you.

Remember that J-List has a huge selection of delicious snacks from Japan, such as Pocky (all the unique flavors from Japan, not just the two flavors they sell at your local supermarket), all varieties of Japan Kit Kat including Green Tea, rare and fun chocolate treats like Meltykiss, and much more. Most snacks are available by the case, allowing you to buy a shrinkwrapped box for a special 15% discount. Why not browse our Japanese snack section now?