Funny moments in Japan, Tokyo's famous Asakusa district, and limitations of Japanese "humility"

(It looks like we were experiencing some problems with the site due to heavy server load, although it's fixed now. If you should have a problem accessing the site, just try back in a few minutes and it should be okay.

Today was my ningen dokku or "human drydock," an annual health check-up that tests every part of your body with assembly-line precision, a modern tradition that's one reason why Japanese have such long life spans. While I was waiting for the next test I saw on the TV that Enola Gay pilot Paul Tibbets had passed away at the age of 92. He was the pilot who flew the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, something that made him rather infamous here in Japan. It was an interesting moment to be an American surrounded by Japanese people, and the room suddenly seemed to get a little quieter around me -- I probably had one of those big drops of sweat on my head like in anime. It can be hard to know how to feel about the bombing of Hiroshima, an event so terrible it's hard to comprehend, yet it helped end a war that might have gone on for two more years and claimed another million lives. When I took my kids to see the excellent museums in Hiroshima I tried to present the complexity of these problems to them so they can make their own decisions about the past, since they're both American and Japanese.

One of the most famous spots in Tokyo is Asakusa (ah-SAH-ku-SAH), home of the Senso-ji temple and a nice place to eat, drink or take part in a festival. Several famous corporations also happen to be located in the district, including the Bandai Company and Asahi Beer, which has a giant golden, er, shape on top of its headquarters which is supposed to remind you of the head on a cold beer...but everyone agrees it looks like a giant golden unko (poop), which the president of the company probably did for good luck purposes. Asakusa is a popular destination for foreign visitors to Japan, the last time I was there I was impressed to see a local shop owner barking prices at various customers in English, Chinese, German, French, Korean and occasionally Japanese. I'm sure more than a few foreign visitors have been surprised to see the beautiful lanterns that line Nakamise Dori with big, bright swastikas on them. They're nothing to do with the Nazis, of course -- the hooks go to the left, not to the right -- but seeing to this symbol in daily life takes some getting used to. Look on any map in Japan and you're sure to see many of these symbols indicating the presence of a Buddhist temple. Other symbols used on Japanese maps include a Japanese arch which marks Shinto shrines, and one of my favorites, the "onsen mark" or registered symbol indicating a volcanic hot springs. All of these characters are included in Japanese fonts and can be produced on any Mac or PC. (We've got a few cool T-shirts incorporating some of these designs on the site.)

From a certain point of view, the Japanese are all about "kenson," or modesty, and there are many customs related to avoiding appearing boastful to others. Right off the bat, this tendency towards humility is built into the language, and to speak very polite Japanese is to alter between using words that lower your own status while raising up the person you're talking to, actually changing the verb depending on whether you're talking about yourself or the person you're trying to be polite to. For example, the normal verb for to eat is taberu, but if you were speaking very polite Japanese, you'd use meshiagaru when referring to your teacher, boss, etc., and itadaku (as in "Itadakimasu!" which is said when you start a meal) when indicating your own lowly self. Modesty works like am umbrella, covering everyone in your respective in-group, and it's common for a mother to talk "badly" (as seen from my American point of view) about their own children to other mothers in the neighborhood -- they never study, the read manga all day, and so on -- as a way of appearing self-effacing to others. I've noticed that Japanese modesty stops short when it comes to money, however, and like most people in the world, they know how to flaunt it when they've got it. I once taught English to the wife of the former president of the Sapporo Ramen Company, who lived in a traditional Japanese house that was so fine, I thought I had been transported back to Nara Period Japan. There's a variety show on TV called Minna-san no Okage ("All Thanks To You") which features a chair that rises along a big slope. Famous idols, actors and athletes come onto the show, make some small talk with the host, then the chair moves up the slope to indicate how much money they make annually. Poor swimsuit idol Yoko Kumada was stuck near the bottom of the hill, while famous actor and former baseball star Eiji Bando was happy to be carried all the way to the top, indicating his considerable wealth.

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.

	My Neighbor Totoro 45cm x 45cm Cushion. If there were one thing J-List was put on this planet to sell (well, other than that, it would be these giant, soft Totoro cushions. I want to build a fort out of these things!
	Zero no Tsukaima Hug Pillows. Fans of our new dakimakura (Hug Pillows) will be happy to see the two cool Zero no Tsukaima items back in stock.
	3D Oppai Mouse Pad -- Doki Doki Witch Judgement. When Nintendo made a game for the DS in which the goal was to discover which girl is really a witch by, er, touching them. This is is a silly "3-D" mousepad from the game.
	Tachikoma Trading Figure Special ver. with/2008 Calendar. Wow, this is a really special item: a Tachikoma 2008 calendar that comes with three cool Tachikoma trading figures. The calendar pages are filled with Japanese themes, too -- awesome.
	Delicious Japanese snacks. Got some good new snack items for you today, starting with fantastically delicious Gaba chocolate balls, Sasha layered chocolates, and amazing Strawberry Rich Fruit Chocolate.
	Manga Sisters. Here's a great book that helps you appreciate sisters and learn Japanese at the same time.
	Rakugo! ~ Comic Stories from Old Japan. Rakugo is the original stand-up comedy of Japan (although comedians always sit Japanese-style on a cushion), and here's a book with famous stories translated into English.
	Range Murata PSE Products #06 Ribbon Style. We're big fans of Range Murata around here, and here is one of his most beautiful prepainted figures ever released.
	The Beautiful World. Positively wonderful artbook featuring the incredible creations of Kouhaku Kuroboshi, one of Japan's most talented artists now. Printed in fabulous color.
	KIMONO HIME Modern Traditional Japan Fashion Magazine. Two volumes of the ultimate kimono magazine are back in stock, loaded with pictures and information.
	Ryomou Shimei 1/7 Figure Pearl Black version *Preorder*. Ryoumou is one of the most amazing characters from Ikki Tousen / Dragon Destiny, a fan service show that tells ancient Chinese Story of Three Kingdoms with Japanese high schools and fighting. New preorder figure.
	Leifang 1/6　Figure ~ Dead or Alive Xtreme2 *Preorder*. This is the lovely Leifang from the DOAX2 game for the Xbox 360, which you can preorder now.
	R2-D2 Shampoo Bottle *Preorder*. Star Wars fans, here's a fun item you can preorder -- a cool shampoo bottle in the shape of everyone's favorite astro droid!
	Dengeki Layers vol. 15. Super magazine of cosplay, with lots of photos of finished costumes as well as how-to pictures and other info. Also includes a separate book on wig-making,
	Hello Kitty Cookie Cutter & Stamp Set. This will allow you to make the most kawaii cookies ever, complete with the (c) 1976 logo that's so important to Hello Kitty fans.
	Hello Kitty Kimono "Warabe" Doll with Fan -- Pink. I just love these stylish Hello Kitty traditionally dolls, made with ceramic interiors and stylized very nicely. This is back in stock now.
	Animal Farm ~ Seasoning Cylinder w/ Character Caps. Here's a cool item: a pair of containers for holding your favorite flavors of furikake, which is food you sprinkle over white rice.
	HAPPY CHRISTMAS Display ~ Lucky Cat Santa & Snowman . Christmas isn't all that far off, and we've got the cutest darned Lucky Cat santa ever!
	Newly restocked Japanese pens. We've restocked the Pentel Tradio Pula Man Pen with a fountain pen style tip, and the stylish SLICCI Ink Pens with 0.3 mm heads.
	Finally, various restocked Traditional items. Look for a bunch of restocked items, including our traditional toothpicks, Japanese sword keychain ("Kill Bill" style), Lucky Charm strap for your phone, and a cool "Safe Drive" lucky charm to keep in your car!
	Bachi Ero!! For fans of Tokyo's hip club culture, here's a magazine featuring gorgeous "gals" (aka kogals) who look so fine. 12 different girls for you to enjoy, and comes with a DVD!
	Kanjuku -- MOKA. You will be amazed at the photobook featuring the 19 year old model with the 92 cm G cup.
	New "H" manga. We have newly posted manga for you today, including the amazing vol. 1 of Take On Me by Takemura Sessyu, and Diablo by Kentaro.
	Lots of restocked manga titles. See a bunch of back-in-stock, including Hana's Holiday vol. 1 & 2, Love Comedy Style, Rabbit Bride, Cheers! 4 and Possessed by All.
	Kinniku Otoko vol. 6 ~ Muscle Men. We carry many yaoi manga from Japan's best artists, with a specialty in anthologies containing the works of a dozen or more artists. This is the restocked issue of Muscle Men.
	Tony Works ~ Sora no Iro, Mizu no Iro. Wow, is all I can say, when looking at this great new artbook featuring the collected works of Tony Taka, popular "H" artist and creator of the game "Color of the Sky, Color of the Water."
	Choco Hug Pillow Cover ~ Chocotto Sister And for fans of our more "H" hug pillows, we've restocked the Chocotto Sister dakimakura cover.
	Service Nuki Nuki Angel The lovely Kotono serves up a barrage of cute costumes in this new release from SOD, including maid, angel. nurse, sports manager and your own virtual girlfriend.
	Ultimate Gold -- Yumi Kazama. A lovely jukujo, or older, more experienced, JAV idol, she has many fans. Enjoy her new release on the Big Morkal label.
	Olympic Softball Girl -- Kana Kawai. Wow -- a real final candidate on Japan's national softball team has gone "AV," in a great new release for fans of "Zenra" sports.

Thoughts on biculturalism and Halloween, types of ramen you should try, and my fascination with Japanese females

Happy Halloween from J-List. Halloween is one of those "American" holidays (although originally Irish and Scottish) that has a way of working its way around the world, and although Japan doesn't exactly need an excuse to engage in cosplay, what with their strong tradition of dressing in anime costumes and all, awareness of October 31st grows here year by year. Raising kids who are part of two countries has always been a challenge for my wife and I since we want them to really be a part of both, which means (on the American side, at least) having a cultural awareness of things like trick-or-treating and Scooby Doo and being able to sing the School House Rock songs (they can). So we've gone out of our way to make trips to the U.S. for Halloween and Thanksgiving, not on our regular travel schedule, although it was a lot easier to do when the kids were small and didn't have the pressure of school to deal with. This year we decided to be traditional, and carved a (fairly ugly-looking) Jack-o'-lantern. We had a bit of culture shock when I asked my mother-in-law for a candle to put inside the pumpkin: the only ones she had in the house were the long candles for lighting at the family's Buddhist altar in remembrance of the dead...which is actually closer to Halloween's original meaning, if you think about it.

Ramen is one of the most famous "Japanese" foods around, although its history in Japan isn't very long, having been imported from China in the Meiji Era. While instant ramen has proven to be a revolutionary product, allowing the cost of a meal to brought way down in price, readers who have never enjoyed "real" ramen in a good restaurant are missing out. The basic type of ramen familiar to most people is shoyu, made with a soy sauce-based soup, although there are other varieties, including "salt" (a clear soup sold under the tastier-sounding "chicken" moniker in the West) , "tonkotsu" (white "pork bone" broth), and sura-tanmen (think "sweet n' sour ramen"). Another popular type of ramen is miso, the delicious soy bean curd that my mother thought was peanut butter when she saw it, which is one of the "meibutsu (famous things) of Sapporo in Hokkaido. Right now, the Sapporo Ramen Company is running a commercial featuring a beauty pageant in which different brands of ramen compete in for the title of "Miso Universe," a great tribute to the current Japanese Miss Universe.

One constant source of fascination and confusion for me since coming to Japan has been trying to understand Japanese women. Like the country itself, they're incredibly complex, and can just as easily delight you as leave you scratching his head in confusion. First, Japanese females generally tend to be calm, cool and good at planning ahead. Sometimes (from the standpoint of my over-exuberant American self) they can seem rather emotionless, and the thought has occurred to me that I know what it's like to be married to a Vulcan from Star Trek. "Lack of spontaneity" is another label you could apply to most Japanese females I've known: when I went to Europe I brought a backpack, a Lonely Planet book and a credit card and played everything else by ear, which shocked my wife, who so loves to plan every minute detail of a vacation ahead of time. I've mentioned before that Japanese females often seem to have problems with constipation, which no doubt arises from eating rice three meals a day. Japanese females also seem to be subject to chills, and the Totoro Lap Blankets made by Sun Arrow are no doubt used by more than a few OLs ("office ladies," i.e. female company employees) trying to stay warm with the air conditioning on around them. Japanese females often seem to have some rather strange and inexplicable fetishes. For example, several women I've known have loved pulling my chin hairs out by the roots, and have begged me to not shave for a few days so that they could rip my hairs out with tweezers -- totally bizarre. Although they can be confusing to men, learning a little about the care and feeding of Japanese females can certainly have its rewards.

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

	Kanu Uncho Hug Pillow ~ Dragon Destiny Body Pillow. Our life-size dakimakura have been extremely popular, and we're happy to have two amazing dual-sized hug pillow covers for fans of Ikki Tousen/Dragon Destiny.
	Simca Figure Creators Labo ~ Air Gear. Gorgeous figure of Simca from Air Gear, a popular manga and anime from the creator of Tenjo Tenge.
	Tsukiumi Figure ~ Sekirei. Here's a gorgeous figure of Tsukiumi from the popular Japanse manga. I love this figure!
	Delicious Japanese snacks. We always have something new for you in the J-Snack department, and today we've got Cocoa Milky Candy (a favorite of mine), Meltykiss in "Framboise" (raspberry) flavor, and chocolate covered potato chips from Hokkaido.
	Hiragana Times Nov 2007. A hugely popular magazine that's got lots of articles published in both English and Japanese. Great for students.
	Ninja Weapons. Killer new book that gives tons of information on the weapons the Ninja use.
	Hello Kitty Decorative Flag Picks for Bento 10pcs . Cute little flags for your bento.
	Various Sanrio items. This cat wants to hold your toothbrush. Also, more Chirimen Soft Pen Cases for Sanrio-minded students and our popular Hello Kitty ice cube tray maker!
	GACHAPIN x MUKKU Spring-action Ballpoint Pen. Combine "cuteness" with your writing with this cool Gachapin x Mukku ballpoint pen, with a cute Gachapin on the end, whose body pops out when you use the pen.
	Japanese Traditional Tattoo ~ Nihon Dento Shisei. Wow, this is a great book of traditional yakuza tattoos. Lame
	Ghibli Storage Box - Totoro and Jiji. Two cool items from Studio Ghibli: sturdy canvas storage boxes that let you keep all your stuff. Yet they take up no space when empty.
	Multi Mini TATAMI Mat. Tatami mats fascinate foreigners, and we've restocked our popular Multi Mini Tatami Mat for you.
	Lucky Cat & Gold Fish Display. Amazing item for displaying in your room or office, this is a ceramic Lucky Cat with gold fish he can watch.
	Make a Wish! ~ Temple Bell Strap with Fortune . When foreigners visit Japan they head for shrines where you shake a bell before praying for good luck. Now we've got this cool bell in the form of a cell phone strap!
	Authentic Japanese Loose Socks. We've restocked these popular super-thick socks, worn by Japanese high school girls.
	Preorder figures. We've got some great anime figures you can preorder now, including Tsuruya-san from Haruhi, Kotona Elegance from Zoid Elegance and a new Shakugan no Shana.
	A bunch of restocked snacks. Restocked snacks today include Shigekix Super Lemon and Grape (so tart, so fun!), Lotte Black Black Tablet, Every Burger cookie hamburgers, and the always-popular Felix and The Cat bubble gum.
	my -- Yoko Matsugane. One of the most beautiful Japanese models to appear since we founded J-List, we're happy to have Yoko-chan back on the site.
	Kaori Saeki 1/6 Figure ~ Bible Black . The fantastic Bible Black figure has come in, and it's a fantastic one. Unfortunately there are only fifteen in stock, so get your orders in.
	Ryofu Housen 1/7 Cast-off Figure ~ Ikki Tousen. This fabulous Ikki Tousen figure is also in stock at last. 1/7 scale, really big!
	Restocked photobooks. We have restocked photobook items too, including the popular Fuko!
	New "H" manga titles. I am a big fan of Kubukurin and his Kanna's Intimacy series, which we have vol. 1 of today, as well as a fantastic romp called Super Onesan Paradise.
	Gush Mania EX. New anthology featuring 220 pages of "yomi-kiri" (one shot) stories by Japan's top names in the industry
	MAX GIRLS Festival. The JAV idol group known as Max Girls are back again, bringing their loveliness to you in a new release from Max-A, 120 minutes.
	JAST USA 10th Anniversary Limited Card Collection FULL Set. By customer request, we're happy to announce that fans of bishoujo games can pick up the entire set!
	Restocked manga titles. See a bunch of restocked manga too, including Momo Chichi, Female Professor Domination, Insult Fighting Musume, First Dog part 1, The Disgrace Play, and from the great Tohru Nishimaki, Scarlet Desire vol. 1!
	Colorful ~ Akifumi Ozawa Visual Works Collection. Wonderful artbook by a popular "H" game and anime character designer.
	Mandorian Dot - King of the Vibration. This is our famous "Mandorian Dot," an extremely exotic toy for grown-ups from Japan.
	Jukujo Sports Instructor -- Midori Takase. The Japanese are always coming up with fresh, new approaches to things -- here's a DVD featuring an extremely buff "jukujo" fitness instructor!
	Popular restocked artbooks. See several restocked artbooks by Japan's top artists including Rin-Sin Illustrations, SCAJI Works and the Push! Art Library.
	Magic Mirror Box Car 2007 in Shonan . An innovative approach to filming "H", Soft on Demand's go-anywyere AV studioallows interesting things to happen in broad daylight, through the magic of one-way mirrors.