How the iTunes Japan store reflect Japan's oddities, my mother-in-law and our old sofa, and understanding Japan through Big Macs

Slate.com ran an article yesterday on Apple's Japanese iTunes Music Store and how frustrating it was that fans of J-POP music around the world couldn't use the service unless they had a credit card registered to an address in Japan. The article mentioned that certain "underground shops" were providing the prepaid cards to get around this restriction -- gee, I wonder who they were talking about? Besides causing the near-total "Slashdotting" of the J-List server while thousands of people followed links to buy the cards from us (which is why the server was sluggish if you were online yesterday, sorry about that), the article made me grin knowingly, really feeling the author's pain. Japan is an island nation in almost every sense of the word: geographically, of course, but also culturally and socially, and mainstream society here seems perfectly happy to live on a slightly different plane of existence from the rest of the human race. When Japanese record companies negotiated with Apple to make the Japan iTMS, making sure that Japanese bands like Gackt or X Japan or the dreamy voice of Okinawan vocalist Rimi Natsukawa were only available to domestic customers probably made a lot of sense to them. Part of the reason for this is the Japanese fear of the unknown, the terror that there might be a downside lurking in some new idea, requiring that any response should be delayed for as long as possible while the situation is thought through. But I'm convinced another big reason for Japan's unwillingness to interface with the rest of the world more is its "English Complex," the quiet embarrassment that many adult Japanese feel over not being able to communicate effectively in English despite six to ten years of study. The whole situation is so silly -- I mean, these sprawling corporations were the ones pushing for a truly global world economy, and now that it's arrived, they want to change their minds? Anyway, if you'd like to become a customer of Apple's Japan iTMS and browse and buy great Japanese music, we've got the prepaid music cards you need. The cards work with the iTunes that's already installed in your Mac or PC, operate in your native language (except for some Japanese bands and song titles which are in Japanese), and best of all, you can listen to your music on any iPod in the world.

One phrase you learn pretty quickly after coming to Japan is mottai nai (mo'-TIE-NIGH), which translates as "what a waste," which is short for, "what a waste to throw this perfectly good sofa away, I think I'll put it in my hallway instead." Back in my ESL days I did a lot of private teaching, visiting peoples' homes to tutor their kids in English, and so I got to see how a lot of Japanese families lived. One of the most common trends I noticed were homes that were filled with clutter, with books and mail-order catalogs and portable electronics and fish tanks covering every inch of the home, and nary a table or shelf left empty. The combination of high population, tiny land mass and economic prosperity seems to have lead to too much stuff floating around most homes. Exacerbating the problem is the tendency of older Japanese, who remember when they were lucky if they had plain white rice to eat once a day, to never throw anything away. This is the case with my mother-in-law, who can't get into her bedroom because our old sofa is in the hallway, blocking the door -- it would have been mottai nai to throw it away, so she kept it.

I talk a lot about how Japan is said to trail behind the West socially, following about a decade or so behind while the U.S. and Europe blaze trails in new directions. Many areas of Japan's society, from laws governing child safety seats in cars to sekuhara (sexual harassment) at work to rules about who can smoke and where, regularly take their cues from the West. In some ways it's a good strategy -- I mean, it makes sense to wait a decade and see how the U.K.'s "big bang" banking reforms play out before implementing a similar program yourself, and there's a Japanese proverb that advises us to "strike a stone bridge three times with your walking stick before crossing" to ensure that it's safe. The newest area of Japan's society to look towards the Occident might just be eating habits, if the recent release of McDonald's "Mega Mac" (a Big Mac with four meat patties instead of two) is any indication. The limited-edition burger sold a whopping 3 million units in just a few days, and some stores had to stop selling them lest they run out of meat for their other hamburgers.

We've got a great announcement for fans of Japan's PC dating-sim games: the return of English-translated titles from G-Collections, with two new games available for preorder! First there's Bazooka Cafe, a great game in which you must take over your father's coffee shop and run it while he recovers, aided by unbelievably beautiful women who make sure every day at Cafe Ariel is an exciting one. Then enjoy a fresh new concept with the excellent "battle simulation adventure" game Pretty Soldier Wars A.D. 2048, in which beautiful robotic girls known as "Biosoldiers" fight the youma, an alien life form with a terrible hunger. Both games are available for preorder on CD-ROM now, for fans who want to show their support by preordering!

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.

	Self Portrait #7 -- Kaede Matsushima. I can't get enough of this woman -- slender, beautiful, petite, with a sweet self-effacing personality consider what she's, er, doing for a day job.
	Bazooka Cafe. Great new game, coming soon from G-Collections (and us).
	Pretty Soldier Wars A.D. 2048. This is a great game too, with actual battle that you control, and naughty tentacles too.
	Lewd Road to Hell - Gedo Inpocho Nice erotic work from Izumi Doin and Toen Comics, with a focus on female ninjas and, er, tentacles.
	Beauty Glasses 2 ~ Bijyo Megane 2. A photobook featuring nothing but beautiful girls with glasses! Score!
	Gekkan -- Risa Goto by Meisa Fujishiro. The Gekkan ("Monthly Edition") is a great photomagazine dedicated to a single persona, in this case the gorgeous Risa-chan.
	Rich Strawberry Kit Kat. Yum! The new Strawberry Kit Kat is here! Last year we sold out way before the end of chocolate season, so get your boxes before it's too late!
	Kogepan Plush Doll -- Aroma of Coffee. Super cute little bred guy who is not popular (because who would buy burned bread from a bakery)? A very cute and well made plush.
	Nihongo Journal Jan 2007. Nihongo Journal helped me learn Japanese -- I would read it in the bath, in the sauna (got really funny looks too). Now you can do the same!
	How to Draw Costumes ~ Costume no Kakikata Zukan. Great book teaching you how to draw various costumes.
	Revoltech No.019 -- Convoy (Transformer) ~ Kaiyodo. Man, this figure of "Convoy" is cool.
	Mikakuto Shigekix Super Ramune. Delicious and TART candy to eat. I love ramune flavor especially.
	Chirimen Hello Kitty Omamori -- Pink. Wow, real Japanese 'omamori' charms that feature Hello Kitty!
	Feng Shui Sunshine Buddies -- Green ~ Lucky Fortune *Kichiun Shofuku*. New Sunshine Buddies with a deluxe new design. They loll their heads from side to side and relax you.
	Revoltech No.018 -- Giant Robo ~ Kaiyodo. I loved the old Johnny Socko and his Flying Robot show, which was admitedly gay as hell. This is somewhat cooler.
	Street Fighter II Soundrop -- Full Set *Set of 8* ~ Bandai Gashapon. Fabulous new Soundrop series -- features the STII attack sounds when you press the buttons.
	"Ashlet"-- Japanese Toilet Ashtray . This is cool -- a real Japanese style toilet for your cigarettes!

All about Japan's most enigmatic food natto, how reading your Hemingway can help you under modern otaku culture, and a happy day for a town in Japan

The fermented soybeans known as natto (NAT-toh) are one of the most famous foods in Japan, enjoyed throughout the country, although people from Osaka supposedly dislike it. Eaten by a wide swath of Japanese from children to the elderly and everyone in between, the sticky beans are usually mixed with yellow mustard and eaten over white rice. There are many legends about how natto was first discovered, but the most famous seems to be that in the year 1083 the general Yoshiie Minamoto was on campaign with 100,000 troops near a town called Mito, and stopped at an inn to rest. Some soybeans had been steamed and wrapped in straw for the horses to eat, and these fermented naturally while sitting on the floor of the stable. Some of the soldiers tried the beans and liked the taste, so they offered some to their lord, who loved it, which is where the name natto ("offered beans") comes from. Last week a TV show created an instant rush on natto when it broadcast a report that said that, based on hard data from the U.S., eating natto twice a day would lead to losing 2-3 kg per week. Although natto does have various health benefits such as reducing blood clots and lowering cholesterol, the show's fabrication of actual data was another example of the Japanese media's love of yarase (yah-rah-say), or faking on the air to get good ratings. If you're "natto curious" but don't think you can get past the unique smell, we recommend miso soup instead, which possess most of the health benefits and is generally more palatable to gaijin (and we've got it in stock).

"Aficion means passion. An aficionado is one who is passionate about the bull-fights. All the good bull-fighters stayed at Montoya’s hotel; that is, those with aficion stayed there. The commercial bull-fighters stayed once, perhaps, and then did not come back..."

It's always interesting to study how language and the brain interact to create our perceptions. It seems that every once in a while an idea comes along that's so new and unique that it can't be described with an existing word, and the only solution is to import a more fitting one from another language. No word could illustrate Hemingway's views on bullfighting as well as the term aficionado, one who has aficion for the sport, and his use of the term gives an unforgettable flavor to his fiction. In a similar way, the rise of Japanese pop culture in the 1990s brought with it a slew of new words, like otaku (an aficionado of Japanese pop culture), anime (animation from Japan, as separate from animation from other countries) and doujinshi (fan-created comics that pay tribute to popular TV shows), which capture the spirit of new Japan-focused culture better than any English term could. There are many examples of the reverse occurring, too, situations when Japanese are forced to reach into English to find a word that will describe just the idea they want to express, and it's common to hear nihongo peppered with words like innobeeshon, kurietibiti, taagetto, and appiiaru pointo (that's "innovation" "creativity" "target" and "appeal point" in case it wasn't clear). These concepts could be expressed using Japanese words, but the nuance would be totally different.

The city of Tomioka, Gunma Prefecture, just down the road from J-List, is overjoyed right now: the sprawling Tomioka Silk Mill has been officially designated a World Heritage Site by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. One of the first modern factories of its kind in Japan, the silk-reeling mill was a built using French know-how in 1871 during Japan's march towards modernization, and is a symbol of the country's early industrial days. If you know anything about the Japanese, it's that they like to be recognized internationally, and getting the official nod from UNESCO brought great happiness to the people of the city. The television news was filled with images of people dancing in the streets and shooting off fireworks in the middle of the day over their new official status.

Remember that J-List carries a very warm, fuzzy thing from Japan: Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service blankets that are great for curling up with on the sofa. Japan's acrylic blankets are incredibly soft to the touch and will provide your family with years of great service (we use them at my house too). However, our stock of these blankets is very limited and when they're gone they'll be gone for good. Check our J-List's lineup of anime blankets from Japan 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 001 Jan 2007. New issue of Sabra, loaded with beautiful women, and a DVD too.
	Ouchi de Wagashiyasan ~ Love Love Sweets. Learn about traditional Japanese sweets with this book.
	Love-Sex Toy - Sei Ai Gangu -- Akane Sasaoka of Joytoy. The newest model in the Joytoy series, which twists communist Russian and Chinese images with super sexy women.
	Very Best of Yu Saotome. Once again I am compelled to ask, what is this girl doing...this for? She's so beautiful she could have any career she chose. Wouldn't it be interesting if there were this much style and grace in Western videos?
	Dream Maid Mansion (region 2). Ten, count 'em, ten lovely maids are all lined up to satisfy your littest wish.
	Gush Jan 2007. Gush is a popular yaoi manga with hundreds of pages, available through our subscription system (but we've got a few issues for you now).
	Asakusa Bag ~ Hokusai. Wow, these are the most beautiful carrying bags I've ever seen! Fantastic imagery, and they're made of thick cloth so they'll provide years of use.
	Too Sensitive ~ Binkansugite. Very nice erotic manga from Yukihiro Asamori, a story about love as well as sex.
	Glico Tsubu Tsubu Strawberry Pocky. The new Strawberry Pocky is in, and the new side-opening package is great!
	Sunshine Buddies -- Strawberry Pink *Valentine Ver.* ~ Nohohon Zoku. Fantastic toys that use solar power to relax you, and never need batteries!
	Nuri-e de Art ~ Hibari Misora. Color pictures of Hibari Misora, one of the most celebrated singers of Japan in the 20th century, with this new book.
	Totoro Wall Pockets -- My Neighbor Totoro. Organize your room with Totoro! These are great for Ghibli fans.
	Jiji Wall Pockets -- Kiki's Delivery Service. We've got one for Jiji the Cat from Kiki's Delivery Service, too.
	Natural Bamboo Tooth Pick Stand w/Tooth Picks. Wow, a cool toothpick holder made of bamboo!
	Nyanko Protect Alarm Keychain -- 120dB Mamotte Buzzer! It protects you from harm and looks cute at the same time.
	Kitty Warming Pad Holder -- Original Type Kitty. Wow, a Hello Kitty Warming Pad that you can use to keep really warm with this winter. These warming pads (which we also sell separately) work great by the way, and keep you toasty for hours.
	Bub Bath Cube Set - 4pcs. Every day when I take a bath, I plop a Bub in and watch it dissolve like a giant Alka Seltzer, massaging me and making my bath feel great.
	I'm Gonna Serve You 4 - Tsukushite Agechau 4. Remember, J-List sells all the popular PC dating-sim games, story-based games in which you must find the keys that unlock the hearts of the beautiful characters in the game. Download versions available too, from just $24.95!
	Sake Ame - Sake candy. Oo, yummy sake candy from Japan!

About police and "police boxes" in Japan, learning to mispronounce your own language, and various meanings of "genki"

The subject of Japan's police is an interesting one. Japan's boys in blue are organized under the umbrella of the National Police Force, one of the first areas of society to be modernized in the European model when the country began its transformation from a feudal backwater into an industrialized nation in the 1870s. As with the Ministry of Education, Japan's police are a very top-down organization, and there's very little in the way of variance between police in different parts of the country, from Hokkaido to Okinawa. One big difference between the police in Japan and in the U.S. is the network of koban, the so-called "Police Boxes" or small police stations situated around Japanese cities. If you have a problem or need to ask for directions, there's usually a Koban nearby where you can get help. Police in Japan are komuin (KOH-mu-een), part of the sprawling caste of life-long public employees originally modelled on Britain's Civil Service system, who must pass a challenging regimen of tests in order to achieve that enviable status, just like firemen, teachers and employees at government offices here. Because komuin by definition cannot be fired except in extremely rare situations, it creates somewhat of a gap between society's protectors and Taro Q. Yamada (i.e., the average Japanese person on the street, Joe Sake Bottle if you will).

When you learn Japanese, or any foreign language for that matter, you need to get used to new and often strange pronunciations of familiar words. In the film "Madagascar," which my kids still try to watch at least twice a day if they can get away with it, Marty the Zebra is trying to find "the wild" which he believes is located in Connecticut. Once, my wife asked the kids, "Why does he want to go to Connecticut?" For phonetic reasons, Connecticut renders quite bizarrely in Japanese, a five-syllable word that sounds like "coh-neh-chi-KAH- tto" (in katakana, it's コネチカット). This pronounciation was so different from the English name that my kids were used to that they burst up laughing, then spent an hour trying to get my wife to pronounce "Connecticut" the proper way (which she couldn't do -- kids can be so cruel). In addition to place names, the Japanese use many English words in daily life, with altered pronunciations to fit their language, and it's always hard for English speakers to learn to "mispronounce" words, like "weekend" (ウィークエンド, which sounds like "oo-EE-koo-EN-doh"), "stew" (スチュー, which comes out like "su-CHOO" according to the rules of Japanese phonology), or good old "McDonald's" (マクドナルド, which is "ma-ku-do-NA-roo-doh").

Ogenki desu ka? This is one of the first phrases a student of Japanese encounters, and it corresponds to the greeting "how are you?" although "are you well?" is a slightly more accurate translation. In the context of this greeting, genki means "fine or "well" and you can reply by saying "Hai, genki desu (Yes, I am fine). But words don't always map cleanly to other languages, and genki can have other meanings, such as describing children running around (energetic), or someone beaming with happiness about something, or someone getting healthy after an illness. An elderly person is called genki if he's still hale for his age, you try to cheer up a depressed person by saying Genki wo dashite (lit. show me some genki), and the word can also describe the state that many men find themselves in when they first get up in the morning. The o on ogenki desu ka is an honorific prefix that shows respect, and it's often found on family titles (okaasan = mother, obaasan = grandmother), Buddhist words (otera = Buddhist temple), and "cute" words often used around kids or babies (oshiri = a cute-sounding word for a person's rear end).

You never know where the next "boom" is going to come from in Japan. It could be sneakers with ridiculously thick soles one year, fashionable clothes sporting the Union Jack the next year, and ridiculous librarian-esque horn-rimmed glasses the next. Right now Japan is in the middle of an "Ichigo Boom" or surge in strawberry-flavored food products, with dozens of delicious strawberry related products showing up in stores. Today we've posted some great new ichigo products for you to sample, from chocolate covered Koeda stick snacks to Strawberry Choco Flake to a bold new Strawberry Crunky, the chocolate with the oddest name in Japan. Check out our line up of strawberry products now!

J-List loves to bring Japan to our thousands of customers, and one of our most popular product categories are our "reserve subscription" magazines, which make it easy for you to get the best anime, manga, toy and hobby, goth-loli fashion and other magazines sent to you each month. You can pay for each issue as it comes in and quit or change magazines at any time, or choose to pay annually via our new annual subscription option. We've posted a great new magazine to the site today, the gorgeous Comptiq, a 350+ tome filled with beautiful color pictures of popular characters from bishoujo anime and games, with a special focus on the beauty and design of the characters. Each issue of Comptiq is filled with cool free stuff, too, like posters, pencil boards, cards, and more. If you love Megami Magazine, Newtype Japan or Dengeki G's, we hope you'll consider checking out this great new character-centric offering for you.

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.

	Jyoyuu@. -- Ayano Azusa. Explore the mystery of "woman" with this photomag dedicated to the nude works of Azusa Ayano. Comes with a DVD too.
	The Collaboration of Panty hose Cosplay ~ Cho Bikyaku Corabo de Panst Cosplay. All I can say is, theyt've taken this low-angle, panty and stocking and high heel photograph to such an amazing level, I'm just amazed. Fabulous photography throughout this issue.
	R-017 Reina. Gorgeous photobook model really shines for her fans.
	Rola no Oshigoto -- Rola Sato (Laura Sato). Rola Sato is gorgeous, although I pity her -- her manager wasn't smart enough to make her name, y'know, Laura like it should be? But I'm sure the damage is done. She is, by the way, a look-alike for Aya Ueto. Which is pretty damn cool.
	Comptiq Reserve subscription. Gorgeous new magazine available via reserve subscription. In addition to the top notch manga and pictures, you get free stuff like posters, pencil boards, and in the current issue that we've got here, a full color doujinshi. Best of all, this is not an adult magazine -- the characters are so beautiful and compelling, there's no need for any of that stuff.
	Dawn of the Silver Dragon 3 ~ Gin Ryu no Reimei vol. 3. I'm always excited about an erotic manga that's also handled well, with a real story and great art and characters.
	Afternoon Jan 2007. Jeez Louise, this is a huge tome of manga -- like, 800+ pages! That's about 1.2 cents per page.
	Stand Alone Complex Solid State Society Visual Book ~ Koukaku Kidoutai Visual Book. Great item for Ghost in the Shell fans, like me.
	Hello Kitty Slippers (Leopard Style). Keep your feel toasty with Hello Kitty this winter!
	Strawberry Crunky Chocolate. Yummy Strawberry Crunky, new for 2007.
	Hinomaru Strap - Japanese Flag Strap. I don't know why, but there's something compelling about this. It's small, it's a soft plush Japanese flag made out of kimono fabric, and it can be put on many things including your phone or camera.
	Yuukanalia 1/6 Scale Figure -- Enchanter. Thisis one of the more captivating figures we've posted in recent months, and that's saying something. Large 1/6 scale, really good detail, viewable from any, er, angle.
	Onegai My Melody Costume Party -- Set of 8 *Full Set + Rare Item* ~ Kuromi x Maid Cafe Ver.. Maid Cafes are big in Tokyo's Akihabara region these days, and this is a great product: figures of maid costumes from real Akiba made cafes that are cosplaying Kuromi, the cool Sanrio character. They look great!
	Morinaga Strawberry Choco Flake. I've been a fan of Choco Flake -- essentially chocolate covered corn flakes from Morinaga -- for years. Now there's a new flavor to try.
	Kitty *Buden* Shoulder Bag -- Beige *Gamaguchi Type* ~ Buden High School *Kitty Club*. I love this retro Hello Kitty look, and here's a great way to keep your money safe and stay stylish too.
	Matsuri (Festival) Happi -- Orange. Beautiful happi coat from Japan, for Japanese festivals. Let this happi make you happy.
	Japanese Incense (Green Tea) w/Incense Stand. Cool, green tea scented incense with a very Japanese holder for it. Back in stock.