A big scandal in the Japanese Pentagon, fine dining in Tokyo, and Japan and its Beverly Hills 90210 connection.

Maybe my post on Wednesday about the Japanese not seeming to care about government waste was read by someone important. Former Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya is in trouble for a sling of violations, including taking bribes ('scuze me, "birthday gifts") and other improper favors in exchange for aiding defense contractor Yamada Corporation win lucrative single-bid contracts. Moriya, an important enough bureaucrat that he accompanied former Prime Minister Koizumi to Washington and posed in pictures with U.S. administration members, reportedly received millions of yen in free golf trips and other entertainment, and even got contractors to help his daughter get into a university in the U.S. (The daughter made headlines herself when she got a hose and sprayed water on news media and Diet officials who had come to deliver a subpoena to her father.) He isn't the only one in trouble: his wife Sachiko, who reportedly demanded even more free wining and dining than her husband, was also arrested. Today Japanese prosecutors raided the Defense Ministry -- the equivalent of the Justice Department raiding the Pentagon, if you can wrap your mind around that image -- to search for additional evidence of official corruption. They should have figured the guy was crooked -- he's got the same name (phonetically at least) as the Dwarven kingdom overrun by Orcs and a Balrog in Lord of the Rings...

You never know what will become popular on Japanese television. One year it might be former Chicago Bears lineman Bob Sapp making muscle poses while the Morning Musume girls squeal with delight, then comedian Razor Ramon shaking his hips in his "Hard Gay" persona. Currently the two-person Japanese "character unit" known as Dillan & Catherine seems to be popping up on TV a lot. Comedian Takeshi Nadagi plays a caricature of Dillan McKay from that bastion of 1990s goofiness, Beverly Hill 90210, which was extremely popular in Japan and which laid the groundwork for the current "overseas drama boom" of shows like Lost and 24. He sports poofed-up hair and jutted-out chin, and he speaks using expansive, exaggerated Japanese like the voice overs of the show, since Americans are expected to be overly-emotional about everything. Beside him, Catherine is the stereotypical American girl with a blonde wig, setting up Dillan's silly "American jokes" or getting mad at him for accidentally calling her Brenda or Kelly. The highlight of each stand-up routine is when Dillan zooms onto the set on an old curved handlebar 10-speed bicycle seen in the show. As usual, it's fascinating to see pop culture continue to grow and mutate into new forms as it moves around the world, and isn't it great that the Internet lets us see it all so easily? Maybe someone will cosplay Dillan & Catherine at an anime convention in the U.S., and the circle will be complete.

The influential Michelin Guide to restaurants has come to Tokyo, with its first-ever volume published ranking 150 establishments. The result? The city's restaurants received 191 stars, even more than Paris, causing the company to proclaim the city to be the world's best place to eat. The Japanese are nothing if not fascinated with how they're viewed by Westerners -- whenever an international event like the Olympics approaches there's a spate of renovation so that everything is nice looking for visiting gaijin -- and the first printing of the Michelin Guide sold out in days. Tokyo certainly is a fun place to eat, although it can be expensive, such as the time I spent $80 for dinner and margueritas for one at Tokyo's sole El Torito's location. But the variety of good things you can find in Tokyo, from traditional Japanese to ethnic foods of every variety and everything in between, almost makes it worth the higher cost. My favorite part of Tokyo is without a doubt the Shibuya area, home of the famous statue of the faithful dog Hachiko and a huge playground for young people, with thousands of food choices compressed into a tiny space, including my favorite Italian restaurant, which advertises itself with the slogan, "A lot of people talk about Mediterranean food, but we're doing something about it!"

Fans of PC dating-sim games, we've got more good news for you: the newest title by the creator of Bible Black is in stock now. Discipline: The Record of the Crusade is a fantastic game with a huge cast of characters and tons of beautiful artwork. This classic game is on the J-List site right now, ready for your immediate order, on the J-List side.

Will you be attending the New York Anime Festival Dec 7-9? If so, please come by and say hello to us. We'll be at the Domo Nation booth (#408) with our fun Domo-kun T-shirts, hoodies and hats. We'll also have a satellite booth with our other products, including dating-sim games and other products, too. We hope to see you in New York!

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.

	More Hello Kitty Gift Snack Sets. First of all, we've got more Hello Kitty gift snack set items for you, which give you both a fun bag to hold your things in and lots of good things to eat. Great gifts for anyone who loves Sanrio products.
	Shana 1/8 Figure by Max Factory ~ Shakugan no Shana. This is a popular series, made even more so by the fact that it's designed by Noiji Ito, the character designer for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Now in stock!
	Dragon Ball Z Soundrop 3. For Dragonball fans, we've got the ultimate item: Soundrop keychains that play famous quotes and sounds from the series when you press the buttons.
	Comp Hs vol. 7 ~ Comp Heroine 7. Comp Heroines is one of the most popular magazines at J-List because each issue is filled with page after glossy page of gorgeous bishoujo ("pretty girl") art. Free stuff in this issue includes a free CD for Lucky Star fans, Christmas stickers and more.
	Hello Kitty Chirimen Lucky Cat Back in Stock. It makes sense, really, to combine Japan's two most iconic cats. And now you can have both in these cute Hello Kitty chirimen plush toys.
	New Traditional Goods from Japan. We have some cool new traditional items for you, including a Lucky Cat coin bank to help make 2008 a good year for saving your pennies, and a ceramic Year of the Rat figure for good luck.
	New Bilingual Study Items. For anyone studying Japan's language or culture, we've gotten in two new books: A Look Into Japan, filled with many cultural insights, and for bento fans, a complete guide to all the most famous ekiben, or train station bento around Japan.
	Study Kanji with Manga. We've also restocked Manga Sisters and Manga Moods, two great books that teach you Japanese kanji and vocabulary using expressive manga faces.
	Feena Fam Earthlight 1/8 Scale Figure Swimsuit ver. A new preorder figure for you, this is Feena Fam Earthlight, which is kind of fun to say - Feena Fam, Feena Fam! Anyway, this delightful 1/8 scale beautify will be shipping in March 2008.
	Brigitte 1/7 Figure ~ Guilty Gear XX *Preorder*. Fantastic figure of Bridgette from Guilty Gear, the incredibly effeminate bishounen male character from the game. Really, this is one of the most incredible figures I've seen in an age.
	Restocked Figure Maniacs Magazines. Figure Maniacs is the #1 magazine for fans of prepainted anime figures from Japan, and we've restocked several awesome issues for you today.
	Whole Bunch of Wacky New Items. Always ready to bring you cool things from Japan you didn't know you needed, we've got Egg Shapers that make your bento or breakfast even better, cute hiragana stickers, a notebook for practicing kanji and kana writing, and a wooden "wish board" for New Years.
	iTunes Japan Music Card. Just a reminder that J-List sells the popular Japan iTunes Music Cards, prepaid cards that let you register and purchase Japanese music from iTunes on your Mac or PC from anywhere in the world. Registering the account also gives you access to the "Free Single Tuesday" song downloads. Best of all, you can surf and buy with your iPhone or iPod Touch!
	Discipline: The Record of the Crusade. Now in stock and shipping, this is Discipline, a really outstanding game by the creator of Bible Black. A fabulous game that all fans should be sure and pick up -- get your copy now!
	Kinbaku ~ Giri Giri -- Mieko Arai. Then enjoy the really amazing DVD for fans of ropes and tying, with beautiful imagery on every page.
	New Manga Volumes. We have some absolutely fabulous "ero" manga in stock today, starting with Beastie Girls from new artist Sameda Koban (loaded with color pages!), and Baku Slave, for fans of the artistic theme known as bakunyu ("explosive oppai").
	Hakufu, Arisa Guitar Girl Now Shipping. Two of the most amazing "cast off" figures to be released this year are now in stock, the gorgeous Hakufu from Ikki Tousen with her leg high in the air, and Shunya Yamashita's unbelievable Arisa.
	Zenra Jukujo Body Builder -- Midori Takase. Another item for fans of "zenra" themes, enjoy the amazing muscular Midori Takase as she shows you her ripped body. Fantastic production from Soft on Demand.

The plight of the poor Japanese taxi driver, finding government waste very close to home, and how to sound like a dirty old man in Japanese

I wrote a couple weeks ago that taxi fares were going to be going up 7%, a rare instance of inflation in a country where prices generally stay the same for years. Unlike the U.S., Japan is a very centralized place where change always happens from the top down, and I found it interesting to note that the decision to allow the raise in rates for the whole country was handled by a single government ministry in Tokyo, not decided on a local level as you might expect. The higher rates are to give drivers a long-overdue raise, since most of them are earning what they made in the 1980s, and with no custom of tipping in Japan to help make up the difference. Not every taxi company is raising their rates, however -- some are keeping them the same, which effectively introduces price competition in an industry where none existed before. While most of the world takes it for granted that taxi drivers will usually be from some often unpronounceable country, that's not the case at all here, where virtually 100% of drivers are Japanese -- after all, would you get into a cab driven by someone who couldn't read kanji? Once, I did catch a TV show about an American who had decided to become a taxi driver and had passed all the required tests, but the fact that this was rare enough to make national TV shows how uncommon this is.

Near our house, the powers that be have decided we need a new road, which would run alongside a neighbor's vegetable garden providing us with three routes out to the main street where we currently have two. They purchased the land, brought in machines to flatten the ground and laid gravel in preparation for the construction of the road. Next they did...nothing, allowing the half-built road to sit there for months. They're waiting, I'm told, for the next budgetary cycle to roll around, at which time they'll get more money from the central government to finish the project, and we'll finally have three ways to get out to the street -- yippie. The fiscal equivelent to unnecessary surgery, construction projects are often extremely wasteful in Japan, like a 500 meter ditch dug beside a road where a 20 meter one would have sufficed because budgetary aid is only available for projects of a certain size or larger, or a bridge and tunnel across Tokyo harbor that costs $40 to use yet takes slightly longer than just driving around on the normal roads. What's amazing to me is how little anger there is on the part of taxpayers when waste like this occurs, which is related to the Japanese tradition of saying shikata ga nai (or more colloquially, sho ga nai), meaning "it can't be helped," at the drop of a hat. To paraphrase Bill Watterson, I know the government is inefficient, but why isn't it ever inefficient in our favor?

The only constant is change, and Japan has had to deal with rather a lot of change over the past 150 years, essentially, going from a feudal country still in the Middle Ages to a modern, industrialized democracy in decades where other nations took centuries. This has brought about changes in the language, as Japan was forced to interface with the outside world more. Japanese is a linguistically impoverished language, with only 5 vowels usually paired into syllables with consonants (ka, ki, ku, ke, ko, etc.), and due to a quirk of phonetics, the sounds "ti" and "di" sound could not be accurately written using the normal kana system. Without a way to express these sounds, foreign words like "Disneyland" and "party" could not be correctly represented, and would be converted to "Desneyland" and "parteh," which sound strange to the ear. It seems a "patch" was introduced at some time in the last few decades, allowing the sounds to be expressed in katakana by combining two similar characters, but unfortunately there's a whole generation of older Japanese who learned a slew of foreign loan words with the older, strange-sounding pronunciations. Now a common caricature of an old Japanese man is one who is sukebe (dirty-minded) and tries to catch a glimpse of a girl's panteh while riding the train. Since the last thing in the world a Japanese person expects a foreigner to do is use these oddly-pronounced English words, I like to go out of my way to use them just for the shock value of it.

You should see the downstairs area of J-List: it's filled with about 500 packages of every size and shape, great anime toys and calendars and DVDs and other items that we're shipping out to customers around the world. J-List is primed and ready to serve you this Holiday season, so why not take this opportunity to browse the J-List site and see what cool new items we have 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.

	Potion w/Trading Arts Mini ~ Final Fantasy 10th Anniversary. The Final Fantasy Potion Goodness continues, we've gotten the just-released FF 10th anniversary potions in stock, which are sold out throughout the country and very hard to find. Each gorgeous can comes with a random figure.
	Fuka Ayase - Yotsuba Figure. Here's a really nice figure from Kaiyodo, the super cute Fuka from the Yotsuba& (Yotsuba-to in Japanese, Yotsuba-and in English) manga and anime. In stock now!
	Cute Hello Kitty Holiday Snack Sets. Wow, these are extremely cute, a Hello Kitty stocking filled with fun Sanrio items including snacks, playing cars and other stuff, and a Hello Kitty Knit Shoulder Bag that's also loaded with good things to eat.
	Calcifur Fire Demon - Men's standard. Here's a new T-shirt featuring Calcifur, the cute fire demon from Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle, who is perched on a piece of wood over the pan he lives in. We love the way this came out.
	niKyoro ~ Round 2 tier Bento Box Bowl & Chopsticks w/case --- Blue. The "Nikyoro" (from niko niko which means to smile, and kyoro kyoro which means to look around from left to right, don't ask) line of bento products is very poplar, and here's a cute new round bento box set with chopsticks.
	Hello Kitty Play Laptop Computer. How cool is this? A fun mini laptop for Hello Kitty fans, complete with mouse, keyboard, scroll wheel and a screen that scrolls to show different pictures. Vista capable! (Just kidding.)
	Hello Kitty Fluffy Hood. Keep warm this winter with the ultimate Sanrio item, a warm and fuzzy Hello Kitty Fluffy Hood that ties around your chin and protects your ears and head from non-cute coldness.
	Japanese Traditional Items. We have lots of restocked Japanese items too, including the Go Ninja Action Strap for your phone or keys, our popular Lucky Cat Lantern, a beautiful Owl Lovers Display and Japanese Fragrance Oil.
	Virtual Hiragana Class in One Week ~ Learn Japanese Characters on DVD. The most basic step in learning to read Japanese is mastering hiragana, and this is a great book w/ DVD that teaches it to you using shape associations to help make it easy. This is a great book for anyone starting out learning this rewarding language.
	Japanese Christmas Ornaments. Here's a rare and wonderful item from Japan: Christmas tree ornaments featuring daruma, the red round Japanese decorations that bring good luck to homes and businesses in Japan. What a great idea!
	AFRO Samurai Maniax!!! Visual Guide Book. Afro Samurai is one of the most fresh and innovative anime shows to come along in a while, and this is the awesome art book for the series.
	Anime Figures Now in Stock. Some popular items that were available as preorder have come in, including the cute Lilith and Sachiel Evangelion Angels, remastered as "Super Deformed" characters by the creator of Keroro Gunso. Also, the cool Lazy Saber Nendoroid is in stock now.
	COPIC Art Supplies. J-List is proud to announce that we're carrying drawing / writing supplies from COPIC, one of the most famous companies in Japan. Today we're posting a great collection of Multi Liner Pigment pen with a variety of tip sizes, as well as high-quality paper that won't allow ink to transfer to the page below.
	Rilakkuma Bobble Head Set. Rilakkuma (which means "Relax Bear") is the most popular character from San-X, the company that re-invented cute in Japan, and this is a set of great Relax Bear bobblehead toys that show the bears in many relaxing activities.
	Totoro Plush and Stamps Available Got some great Studio Ghibli restocked items too, including the classic gray smiling plush in two different sizes and more of those popular Totoro stamps made of real wood!
	Orogo -- Hatsune Matsushima. Feast your eyes on the beauty of 20-year-old Hatsune-chan, who shows you her beautiful bikini'ed body in many pleasing photos.
	Great New Manga Volumes. See some outstanding new "ero" manga from Japan, including Intense! Boin Sensei vol. 2, as well as I Want To Do It a Lot, a collection of 13 stories written from a girl's "H" point of view.
	Akiman Cover Girls. A really memorable artbook from illustrator Akira Yasuda, one of the designers of Street Fighter, Turn-A Gundam and Code Geass. Beautiful pictures throughout, with just a touch of "H."

All in all, "here are your gums" is not something you'd expect to hear outside a discussion of orthodontics, but a Japanese friend of mine said it to me once. She was handing me a big bag of gum I'd bought that day, and had assumed that since each piece of gum was individually wrapped, it was proper to pluralize the word. Without a doubt, telling which nouns can be counted (one apple, two cars) from ones that must be organized into groups first (one bag of gum, three pieces of furniture) is a big challenge for Japanese learners of English. There's nothing like count nouns in Japanese, a language where you don't even indicate plural vs. singular unless you need to be specific for some reason, and the often arbitrary nature of them -- why are jeans and underpants counted as "pairs" anyway? -- can be a challenge. My friend demonstrated this when she wrote on the outside of a folded-up note to me, "This is not a trash!" (to make sure I didn't throw it away accidentally).

Japan is a unique place, and the economic forces that cause this kind of business or that to spring up can be interesting to observe. During my 16 years in the country, I've seen quite a few businesses that don't exist in the U.S., or if they do, I've certainly never come across them. First and foremost, Japan has a lot less space than the U.S., and in especially crowded areas like train stations it's common to see people eating tachi-gui soba, or noodles that you eat in a tiny noodle shop while standing up, with nary a stool to sit on in the whole place -- which becomes part of the fun, after a while. Normally remodeling bathrooms presents a challenge because you can't bathe during the construction, but not in Japan, where there are at least three large public bath / sauna / hot spring baths within easy driving distance to my house. If you are out and find you've had a little too much to drink, you can call a daiko, essentially a taxi service with a spare driver who will follow you home in your car, so you have it the next morning. Similarly, I've recently seen izakaya, cozy Japanese bar-restaurants, advertise a pick up and drop-off service: an employee from the company will pick you up and then drop you off at home when you're done with your party. Finally, for those times when couples feel the need to be alone, there are always Japan's famous Love Hotels, where you can enjoy a clean, private environment, with or without the Arabian Nights theme or Alcatraz theme.

You don't often think of Japan as a miltary power, but the three branches of the Self Defense Forces represents one of the largest militaries the world, ranking behind the U.S., Great Britain, France and Germany in size. Due to its warlike past, the existence of Japan's armed forces is a potentially touchy one, and the government takes certain steps to avoid having its military appear threatening to its neighbors. For example, it shortens the range of all Japanese fighters by giving them smaller fuel tanks, and never uses the word "military" (in Japanese, gun, pronounced "goon") in any official capacity to refer to itself. The Japanese are an extremely peace-loving people, so much so that there were huge demonstrations when the government decided to send unarmed peace-keepers to Cambodia in the 1990s. Japan also sent 600 SDF personnel to Iraq to assist with rebuilding efforts despite heavy political opposition, but since the soldiers are forbidden from combat, they're being defended by units from other countries. Just about everything in Japan, it seems, has to have a cute mascot associated with it, and the JSDF is no exception: Prince Pickles and his girlfriend Parsley-chan are on the job, defending peace and acting as the official face of Japan's military. Or if you prefer, check out the popular line of Female JSDF members rendered in little anime-style PVC figures, a very popular toy line in Japan now.

Christmas Shopping Season 2007 is here, and J-List is coming out swinging, ready to serve you in any way we can this holiday season. Whether you're looking for a unique gift that will be remembered forever or a fun and wacky joke item for someone, J-List is uniquely positioned (being in Japan and all) to help you find amazing items for family and friends. With thousands of items in every price range and wackiness level, you're sure to find what you're looking for at J-List, even though you might not know what it is yet.

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.

	Easy Microwave Rice Cooker and Steamer. Eating rice is delicious, but electric rice cookers are expensive and difficult to store. This great alternative lets you prepare rice in a microwave oven -- ingenious!
	Restocked Figure Maniacs We've gotten in more issues of Figure Maniacs, filled with an incredible number of beautiful figures photographed for you, from Haruhi Suzumiya to Ikkitousen / Dragon Destiny and many more.
	Lots of Ghibli items. We always have lots of Totoro and related items, but with Christmas coming, we're loading up at a faster rate than every. See restocked Totoro stamps, two different plush coin cases and more.
	Bikyaku RQ and Cam Gal DVD ~ Race Queen and Campaign Girl DVD. Race Queens and Campaign Girls are the red-hot women who promote F-1 racing teams in Japan, and they've carved out a huge niche for themselves with their beauty. Enjoy this extremely "ero" photobook + DVD.
	Water Color -- Wakana Matsumoto. Wow, Wakana-chan really shines in her new photobook, loaded with pictures of this "genki" actress and idol from Japan, who won the hearts of young boys (and their fathers) on the latest Kamen Rider series.
	Brand New Manga Volumes. Today's new posted manga are both outstanding. First, enjoy the amazing Unlucky Goddess from artist Suiren, centered around a goddess who always gets into the most bizarre situations. Then explore a huge mix of gorgeous "ero" themes with Flesh Sentimental.
	Comic AG Super Manga Anthology vol. 69. Fans of "H" manga from Japan know that the best source for English-translate comics is Comic AG. This landmark issue (#69) brings 80 pages of superb material for you, including my own favorite artist, Tuna Empire!
	The Perfect BL Game Guide. In addition to the more traditional PC dating-sim games, there are games for the other side of the fence, too, some of which are even translated into English. Here's a great "perfect guide" for BL game guide for you.
	Himena Tokiwa Hug Pillow ~ Gun-Katana. From the popular game Gun Katana, we've gotten in some great dakimakura (aka Hug Pillows) of Himena-chan. This was mistakenly not posted last week, so we're throwing it up on the site today.
	Infinity Queen Super! ***2 Discs & 8 Hours***. From TMA, we've got an incredible release featuring two 4-hour discs compiling the best works of the company, with plenty of cosplay, nakadashi, buk and other themes as well as top-name JAV idols, too.
	Rock Paper Scissors Game. The Soft on Demand company are masters are making wacky new ideas for the videos, and on this one, Tokyo girls take on female assistant directors in a "Jan-ken-pon" game you won't want to miss.

On speaking a language without using sentence subjects, the joy of funny English all around me, and a golden "Santa-san"?

One thing you don't hear very often when speaking English is someone saying, "Wait, what's the subject of your sentence? Oh, okay." But in Japanese, a language that often omits the subject since it's understood by both parties anyway, it's possible to be in the middle of a conversation and suddenly need to verify what the other person is actually talking about. While cutting down a sentence like "Shall we go to lunch now?" to just "Go?" may sound odd to English speakers, it's usually not a problem in Japanese -- if you were talking about someone specific going somewhere, you'd put that in the sentence, but if the meaning is obvious from the context, it makes sense to shorten things. I've noticed that when Japanese speak English they sometimes use the wrong third person singular pronoun, saying "she" when talking about a man and so on, and this seems to be related to the fact that in their native language they never have to consciously specify a gender-based pronoun for a person when referring to them. There's nothing more embarrassing than when the invisible Japanese subject causes you to lose the thread of what's being said around you, and one skill smart learners master early on is how to B.S. others, making them think you're following along when you have no idea what's being said. Phrases like so desu ne, which should mean "Yes, that's so," but often means nothing at all, are a good place to start.

Without a doubt, one of the most enjoyable things about living in Japan is taking in all the funny English that comes my way. Although mistakenly-used English is often the result of translators with more self-confidence than actual linguistic ability, a lot of amusing English comes in the form of products sold by companies that can presumably afford to hire native speakers to check things. Some of these wacky product names are known to people outside Japan, for example, the most popular brand of powered milk for your coffee is Creap, short for "creamy powder," and Pocari Sweat, which brings to mind the image of floating on a cloud (pokkari) after a hard day's exercise. (Note: the product contains no sweat ^_^) Some other products that have caused snickering by gaijin living here have included Beaver and Woody, two separate air conditioning systems sold by Mitsubishi, which apparently has some wise guys working in their new products department. Japanese snacks are often named strangely, with Crunky, Asse or Meltykiss being good examples. Some other funny-sounding products that I've seen include Birdy, a canned coffee apparently aimed at golfers; Toyota's Carina ED, which was taken out of the market when ED came to stand for something else entirely; and the popular homogenized fish sausage from the Maruzen Corporation with the unbelievable name of Homo Sausage. Ah, Japan, don't you ever stop being so wacky.

The world is officially in "Holiday mode" now, and Japan is no exception. Here you can celebrate the season in a unique way, with your very own solid gold statue of St. Nicholas. A famous shop in Tokyo's Ginza area is selling the 24-carat gold image of "Santa-san" (as the Japanese usually call him), complete with a gold-mesh bag full of gold coins, to well-heeled collectors. The idea is that owning something made of gold will bring good luck, although it seems to me if you can afford the $1.8 million for the golden Santa you've already had more than your fair share. The Japanese have historically been big fans of gold -- Hideyoshi Toyotomi, who rose from a peasant farmer to the de facto ruler of Japan, built a tea room made of gold -- and you can see that many of the omamori and other traditional good luck charms that J-List sells have gold imagery incorporated into them in some way, for example the gold coin (called a koban) around the neck of the famous Lucky Cat.

J-List has more than 4000 excellent reasons to check the site this weekend, as we're just loaded to the gills with great products and gift ideas for your loved ones, from Totoro blankets to plush toys to delicious Japanese snacks to our Japanese T-shirts and warm hoodies and more. J-List has the fun and exciting items that the people on your list will really love and remember all year long. We've beefed up our stock of virtually every product we carry and have also added extra staff, allowing us to ship items out to you as quickly and efficiently as possible. Let J-List help make this a really great Christmas for everyone important to you this year!

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 sites. 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.

	Ryuk Statue ~ Death Note -- Craft Label. Wow, this is a really amazing figure from Japan's famous JUN Planning, the evil-looking demon Ryuk perched on a rock, with his black feathers poised behind him. A huge figure that will really look great wherever you display it -- it even has real fur around he collar!
	Green Tea Snack Set. Japanese snacks made with matcha (aka green tea powder) are a huge hit with J-List customers, so we decided to make a new set of delicious snacks that you can sample. This set includes just about every really outstanding green tea J-Snack you could want.
	THOMAS the Tank Engine Bento Set. Thomas the Tank Engine is famous all over the world -- my son and I read through all the original books when he was younger and we just loved them. Now Thomas fans can get their bento mojo on, with this outstanding 2-tier bento set that's self locking, and also features chopsticks w/ case.
	Lots of 2008 Calendars. We've restocked a dozen or more anime, JPOP, cute Japanese idol, traditional and other calendars for you. This is the final restocking of a lot of these calendar items, so browse now before the special calendar you want is gone forever.
	Hello Kitty Totable Lap Blanket. This is really something special -- two different Hello Kitty soft blankets that come rolled-up with a handle, so you can carry them like a handbag, then unroll it when it gets chilly. Great item that's very limited in stock, so if you like it, we recommend you get it sooner rather than later.
	Reversible Hanten (Winter Kimono). If you were to ask me what my top ten favorite things were from Japan, one would be the hanten (HAHN-ten), essentially a puffy and warm short kimono used to keep warm in the winter. I live in mine, and am really glad to have these excellent hanten coats in stock for you.
	Nihongo Journal Nov. 2007. I personally learned a huge amount of Japanese from the pages of Nihongo Journal (I would -- I am not kidding -- take it to the public bath and study while soaking, to the amusement of the Japanese people around me). This is the excellent new issue, loaded with study materials for all levels.
	Kanu Uncho 1/7 Figure Kerberos Project Black & White version ~ Dragon Destiny *Preorder*. Another really outstanding cast off figure has been posted for preorder -- see this elegant figure on the site now.
	Giant Totoro Plush Toy. We've gotten in some great Ghibli items, including the "really big" Totoro plush toy, the ultimate item for an anime fan.
	My Neighbor Totoro Umbrellas. Also, we've restocked the *awesome* Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service umbrellas, extremely well made with real wood handles and shafts, a treasure for any Hayao Miyazaki fan. Trust me, if you love Totoro you need to check these out.
	Christmas Sunshine Buddies, More. An excellent item for the Holidays, we've gotten in the solar-powered Christmas Type Sunshine Buddies which never needs batteries as he spread cheer o'er the land.
	Mihiro Style. Mihiro is one of the most elegant AV stars in Japan, getting her start at the age of 18 as a soft core model and shocking everyone by going fully pro when she turned 20. Here is a great photomag dedicated to her loveliness.
	New Manga Volumes. Got some great new "H" manga for you today, including Aigan Masochist by the famous Umekichi, with lots of tentacles and more, as well as a great book about a school tutor with really big "oppai."
	Velvet Skin ~ INO Art Works. Outstanding art book in stock today by veteran bishoujo game designer INO, who shows you his incredible characters as you've never seen them before. Gorgeous full-size images for you to gaze at and love.
	ZENRA NIPPON JIN - Yellows Style Japanese. One of the most famous photobook series in history is Yellows, which documented the natural bodies of 100 Japanese photographically. Now SOD has an "ero" tribute to this great work, of course taking it to a whole new level, like they always do.

All about "joshiki" (Common Sense) and the Japanese, negative aspects of this, and some thoughts on turkey

Unlike the U.S. or most of Europe, Japan is a very homogenous country, where people tend to consider themselves part of the same genetic stock despite the sometimes obvious differences in facial features and hair and skin tint due to the presence of Korean, Mongolian, Ainu, Russian and other blood in the veins of "pure" Japanese. Somehow this tradition of "one-ness" has amalgamated into the unifying body of knowledge known as joshiki, things that any reasonable Japanese person is expected to know. Just as all Japanese take it for granted that chrysanthemums are a flower reserved for laying on gravestones rather than giving to one's wife, as I accidentally did to her great amuseent, we foreigners often have our own joshiki that can seem alien to the Japanese. We have a friend who owns a company and once complained that he had rather a lot of debt, including several different bank loans at different interest rates. I made the obvious (to me) suggestion that he get one new loan at as low a rate as possible and use it to retire all the other loans, and this was the most brilliant idea he'd ever heard -- apparently no one thinks of things like that here. When it comes to saving for a rainy day, the common sense of many people is to put their money in the bank, even if it pays a paltry 0.2%, or a whopping .75% if you opt for a 10 year CD. I once tried explaining one American joshiki of investing -- that the younger a person is, the better it is to hold stocks, since you have more time to recover from any problems you run into -- to my conservative mother-in-law, who has never owned stock in her life because some people have lost money in stocks in the past. Suffice it to say that she didn't see the point I was trying to make.

While this Japanese tradition of most people being on the same wavelength is usually a positive thing, there are downsides, one of which I call the "tyranny of the majority." My wife made breakfast for me the other day, which included two eggs fried "eyeball" style (what fried eggs are called in Japanese) and several strips of bacon. "This is turkey bacon, right?" I asked her, and she gave me a sidelong glance at my sarcasm. While Japan is a great place, with warm and friendly people and many beautiful sights to see, it lacks some of the choices you'd expect to find in a wealthy, modern country, including any kind of healthier products made with turkey meat. Whenever I go back home to San Diego I bask in the many choices around me, from the variety of imported beers available in stores to authentic Rold Gold pretzels to delicious whole-grain breads, and bagels, oh those bagels. I drink skim milk most of the time when I'm back home, not because I like it, but because it's all but impossible to find here in Japan, a country where the majority has decided that milk should be thick and creamy, with 4.7 per cent milk fat. This can make it a challenge for people with special needs to live in Japan, for example vegetarians often have trouble finding food that is completely free of animal products. Before I started J-List, I worked for a few months at the local city office as a "Facilitator of Internationalization," basically helping other foreigners who needed help getting city services. The person who had been in the job before me had left early due to various frustrations that reportedly included not being able to drink anything, since everything from cola to green tea has caffeine in it, which was against his religion.

All of us at J-List wish everyone in the U.S. a warm and happy Thanksgiving on Thursday. This is one of those holidays that can be hard to follow when you're far from home, and it's quite common for our entire Thanksgiving to consist of a bucket of "Kentucky," as KFC is called here. It's possible to find frozen turkeys imported from Brazil (which contain guidance about how the turkeys were prepared in accordance with the laws of Islam, since they are also exported to the Middle East), although the bird we got last year was so small we had to modify the cooking instructions downwards. This year we've got a box of good American stuff like mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce and of course pumpkin pie, but we've decided to substitute turkey with pollo a la brasa, spit-roasted chicken from our favorite Peruvian restaurant. While you're recovering from dinner, remember that J-List stands poised and ready to help you with any and all shopping needs this long weekend, and we've got thousands of rare and amazing products for the Japan-focused person on your list this year.

We've got an announcement for fans of our PC dating-sim games today: the upcoming Snow Sakura has been declared "Golden Master" and is now being duplicated, just in time for the start of winter (don't you love our timing?). This is a really special game of love and "H" in Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido, in which you play Yuuji, an average Japanese youth surrounded by a circle of beautiful girls, Saki, Kozue, Rei, Misaki and Misato. Although you knew the girls when you were small, for some reason you can't remember much about those days, only that you made a promise to one of the girls under the magical Snow Sakura tree. The mystery is, which girl was it, and why did you forget? This game has it all -- great characters, a long story with lots of depth, hilarious comedy scenes and a huge number of beautiful "ero" game CG. You can still preorder it and get free shipping when it ships!

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 sites. 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.

	Death Note Super DX Action Figures. Wow, these are some of the most amazing anime figures I've ever seen: perfect replicas of "L" and Light Yagami from Death Note. Fully posable, they wear clothes and can be bent into almost any position.
	Bandai Gashapon Dispenser. "Gashapon" are the fun Japanese capsule toys, and now you can own your very own capsule dispenser! Includes starter capsules for you to fill, and refill capsules are available from us if you need them.
	New Japanese Snacks For fans of delicious J-Snacks, we've got some really nice items today. First enjoy the new "Melty Kit Kat," with a creamy interior that melts in your mouth, in Apple or (my personal favorite) Green Tea! Also, two new flavors of Choco Ball, and the often-requested Ema candies with Xylitol.
	Cute New Bento Boxes. Here are two incredibly cute bento boxes in the "Nikyoro" line (formed from niko niko meaning smiling and kyoro kyoro meaning looking around from left to right). We have a cute Bear Paws bento box as well as one shaped like a giant bean.
	S Cawaii Nov. 2007. Super Kawaii (aka S Cawaii) is a great magazine for fans of Japan's fashion world, loaded with pictures of all the top models. This is a double thick issue with 265+ color pages.
	Ghibli Items Back in Stock See restocked Ghibli items too, including two fantastic *real wood* Totoro Alarm Clocks, and that fun Totoro Tree House Plush (large), back on the site for you.
	Lapis 1/80?Figure w/Crystal Sword ~ Stigma of Wind *Preorder*. Another figure you can preorder now. This is the really outstanding Lapis 1/8 scale from Kaze no Stigma, an anime series popular in Japan.
	Reduced Prices on Region Free DVD Players. We're dropping the prices of both models of DVD players that play discs from any region, and also offer PAL and NTSC compatibility. The RJ-1000 is the coolest one, with its ability to upscale to HD and connect to a TV via an HDMI cable. Great for the high-definition TV you have now, or might have under the Christmas tree.
	Magic Ink Marker with Retro Design -- Super Thick / RED. J-List loves to bring you really unique pens from Japan, and today we're posting a really thick permanent marker from the Magic Ink company. Damn, this is a bold pen!
	Other Restocked Japanese Pens & More. Then enjoy some restocked Japanese writing instruments, including the Signo Erasable Ball Pointed Pen series that's been popular with J-List customers for years, as well as the most excellent eraser in the world, Kado-Keshi!
	Chozenkai -- Kyoko Fujikawa. Gorgeous hardcover photobook featuring the lovely Kyoko Fujikawa showing her natural beauty to you. A great item for fans of "giri giri" style photography.
	New Manga Volumes. J-List always carries great "ero" manga from Japan, and today we've gotten in an anthology of stories about onna kyoshi or female teachers, and a great "H" book by Joji Manabe, creator of the classic manga Outlanders.
	Himena Tokiwa Hug Pillow ~ Gun-Katana. From the popular game Gun Katana, we've gotten in some great dakimakura (aka Hug Pillows) of Himena-chan. Features two sides, wearing a dress with her sword and gun ready, and the reverse side, featuring her wearing, er, much less.
	Uncho Kanu 1/7 Figure LTD ver. ~ Dragon Destiny *Preorder* Positively fantastic Ikki Tousen / Dragon Destiny / Battle Vixens figure coming soon, fully Cast Off-able and really detailed in every way.
	Kira Star -- Lucky Star Ero Parody - Nana Sakura. Lucky Star is an anime about the life and times of four high school girls, and it's one of the most popular shows in Japan right now. Here's a real treat for Lucky Star fans -- the first-ever ero parody! See Konata, Kagami, Tsukasa and Miyuki as you've never seen them before!

My family treating me like an "American," thoughts on learning a foreign language, and the pain of sitting in "seiza" style

Being an American in rural Japan can be a challenge, and while I do my best to fit in with the larger society around me, sometimes I just gotta be me, which incidentally is known as "going my way" in Japanese. It's common for my wife to get on my case about my being "too American," which (to her) is usually about my tendency to be loose with my schedule, to forget important dates because I know she'll remind me anyway, and to say "yes, I'll be there in fifteen minutes" then show up three hours later. But my wife isn't the only one who takes me to task for being such a Yankee -- my kids do it too, which never ceases to amuse me, since they're, y'know, American as well. A few weeks ago I was driving in the mountains with my daughter, and we stopped at a restaurant that serves the most delicious thin-crust pizza, although we had to hunt around for the place since they have no sign indicating which road to turn at. When I mentioned my intention to tell the owners that they might consider investing in a lighted sign, my daughter said, "Why do you have to say anything to them at all? You always say whatever comes into your head without thinking -- you're such an American." One of my most embarrassing moments as a parent was when my son was three or so, at the playground. It was time to go, but of course he wanted to stay, so I had to gently insist that he go now. He got mad, and in front of dozens of amused parents shouted, "Don't you know there are rules grown-ups have to follow when they want a kid to leave the playground? You're an American, and Americans don't understand rules!" It's always interesting to see one's self through the eyes of a child.

Naturally, mastering a foreign language requires hard work and many hours learning things like grammar and vocabulary, but you also have to develop a "sense" for the language itself, internalizing the "real meanings" behind what you hear. Two handy words students of Japanese encounter soon into their studies are sukoshi (su-KOH-shi) and chotto (CHO-toh), both of which essentially mean "a little bit." If it's a little cold, you could say either chotto samui desu or sukoshi samui desu and your meaning would be communicated properly. One slight difference between the two words, however, is that chotto sometimes has a negative context, especially when used by itself without an adjective after it. If a girl makes a not-too-delicious bento lunch for you then wants to know how it tastes, you might reply "chotto..." which essentially means, "it doesn't really taste that good, but I'm too polite to come out and say it directly." Or, if there was someone you disliked, you could imply something bad about them without actually saying anything, by using "ano hito wa chotto..." ("That person is kind of..."), with the details of what you were going to say left up to the imagination. Although the Japanese have perfectly good words for "yes" and "no" -- hai and iie, pronounced HA-ee and EE-eh -- they're not really used that often. Instead, agreement or disagreement is more commonly expressed with softer, more nuanced and less direct words and phrases.

One of the banes of foreign visitors to Japan is seiza (SAY-za), the traditional way of sitting on your knees. Written with the characters for "proper sitting," it is an important part of many traditional Japanese cultural activities, from tea ceremony to flower arrangement to martial arts, and somehow sitting that way seems to encourage reflection and calm the mind. To sit seiza style, kneel with your knees together, then sit back so that your rear end is planted on the bottoms of your feet. Unfortunately, sitting this way for more than a few minutes can be quite a challenge for those not born here, and Japanese always chuckle amusedly at the sight of a gaijin trying to keep his legs from going to sleep while he kneels. One of the wackiest items we've ever carried at J-List is the Girlfriend Knee Pillow, a soft set of knees siting seiza style that's great for single guys to lay their head on after a hard day's work.

J-List has always been heavily involved in evangelizing the PC dating-sim games, generally known as eroge in Japanese, a fascinating kind of entertainment from Japan that lets you virtually interact with a variety of anime girls (or guys) as you explore unique game stories with multiple endings. Today we're posting great demo movies from some of our upcoming titles to help you choose which of our new game you want to preorder. The updated games are the gorgeous Kanonesque game Snow Sakura, the epic ADV-and-card-battle game Princess Waltz, the super cute Cosplay Fetish Academy, and the game voted "best bishoujo game ever," Family Project.

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 sites. 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.

	Mikuru Asahina Action Dress Up Figure Maid ver.. Wow, they keep getting more and more innovative with these anime figures. Here's a really excellent Mikuru from the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya wearing her famous maid outfit, with many included accessories that let you pose her, have her serve you tea, you name it. Figure is "cast off" and has separate, removeable undergarments. Wow.
	Rilakkuma 4-in-One Bento Storage Boxes. Rilakkuma, whose names means "Relax Bear," is one of the most popular characters in the San-X pantheon, probably because people in this modern world know they should relax more. In addition to this storage box set we're posting the popular Rilakkuma Bento Box.
	Delicious New J-Snacks. Winter is nearly here, and that means seasonal Japanese snacks, like the Winter Pocky we've got for you, dusted with cocoa powder, yummy. Also, two delicious flavors of Morinaga's classic Choco Ball and fabulous Polte in "Roasted Caramel" flavor. Oh my.
	SHODO ~ Natural Stone Mini Calligraphy Set. Shodo, or Japanese brush calligraphy, is a famous traditional art form that you can try with this set that includes everything you need -- telescoping brush, sumi ink and a stone to hold the ink that you will write with.
	Moe Kei ~ Painting Guide to "Moe" Style Cute Girls. Here's a nice book that teaches you techniques for painting "moe" (mo-EH) images, really cute bishoujo characters, using common tools like Photoshop. Lots of color examples in this book.
	Omiyage Bon 2 - Home Stay & Culture Guide. Here's a really good bilingual book from Japan that serves as a bird's eye overview of nearly all aspects of Japanese culture, from scenic areas in Tokyo and Kyoto to culturally important areas of art and history. With text in both languages, it's great for students too.
	KUSHI ~ Traditional Wooden Comb. This is our popular "Geisha Comb," a beautiful item cut from a single piece of wood. Great for both using to groom your hair as for wearing as a decoration.
	My Neighbor Totoro 22 x 40cm Pillow. We are huge fans of Studio Ghibli around here, and today we're happy to bring you an outstanding new Totoro pillow, which is extremely soft and firm and great for sleeping with, tossing on the sofa, or just lazing around the house with.
	Karami 14 -- Jun Nada. Here's a treat for fans of beautiful photography, a new issue of Karami -- the magazine that's always dedicated entirely to one model, with no ads or anything -- featuring the sweet and pure Jun Nada. See her in many ero settings, eating cup ramen, you name it.
	Vitamin M -- Mizuki Sugasawa. Wow, here's a really amazing glossy hardcover photobook featuring "Vitamin M" herself, Mizuki Sugasawa, a long-haired beautiful bikini model from Japan. Features many exciting pictures of Mizuki at the beach, enjoying private time, and more.
	New Manga In Stock. We've gotten in some cool new manga for you, including an amazing futanari fantasy work from Ippon Nagare, and a fascinating collection of true "H: stories by Kaoru Hazuki.
	New Yaoi Manga, Too. See some new yaoi manga too, including Punishment School (the Japanese title is great: Oshioki Gakuen) and First Rate Love, both yomikiri or single-volume complete books.
	Hiyoko Brand ~ Hiyoko Kobayashi illustration. A fabulous art book from Hiyoko Kobayashi, creator of many a beautiful "H" illustration, creator of such wacky animes as "My Wife is a High School Student." 104 pages of glossy, gorgeous art.
	Kuki Pink File -- Shiori Mizuno. Fantastic new Pink File release featuring the remastered goodness of Shiori Mizuno, with super detail for fans of this lovely thing.

The joy of "onigiri" rice balls, observations on cooperative elements of Japanese language, and man, that's a really Nice Boat!

If you were to plan a picnic, you might pack a basket containing things like sandwiches, potato salad or maybe some pickles, but a Japanese person would almost certainly bring along onigiri, the delicious rice balls from Japan. Formed using the honorific o prefix that can be seen on many Japanese words and nigiri, meaning "to squeeze," onigiri are a popular way to grab a quick snack in Japan. Although they can be as simple as a hunk of salted rice pressed into a shape, there's usually a bit of fish, konbu seaweed or ume plum inside, and nori covering the outside. Onigiri are a major product category for convenience stores in Japan, and even before a new gaijin learns to start reading the language around him, he often memorizes the all-important onigiri color code at Seven Eleven -- red for salmon, blue for "sea chicken" aka tuna mayonnaise, and so on. Onigiri are a staple of bento culture, and Japanese housewives get up extra early to press rice balls to include in lunches for their kids or husbands. Onigiri can be heated but are usually eaten cold, but there's a subset called yaki-onigiri that's basically a triangle of white rice that's roasted over a flame while being painted with soy sauce -- delicious. Along with popular bento items, we sell a lot of onigiri related products on the site -- I thought today's Hello Kitty Onigiri Maker is especially cool.

A language reflects the character of the people who use it, and vice-versa, and I'm sure that if I were to study German, I would see that the precision and attention to detail that Germans are famous for would be evident in their speech. One interesting area of Japanese grammar students learn early on is the verb ending masho, which corresponds to "let's..." as in "let's eat" (tabemasho), "let's go" (ikimasho) or "let's not smoke" (tobacco wo yamemasho). In situations where verbal or written warnings would be worded in a command form in English (do not smoke, do not ride on the escalator backwards), it's common for Japanese to express the same message with this softer "let's..." verb form, making statements like "let's put our telephones into vibration mode" (maanaa modo ni shimasho) or "when a pregnant woman or elderly person gets on the train, let's give our seat to them" (seki wo yuzurimasho). These statements subtly create a warm and fuzzy "let's all cooperate" atmosphere that make people want to do their part for the good of everyone, an important pillar of Japanese society. Every year, the Japanese tax office sponsors commercials featuring famous TV personalities walking to their post office to mail their income tax forms -- "Let's fill out our tax forms accurately and honestly," is the message. Language like this presents a challenge for translators -- if translated literally, the message might not convey the same meaning to everyone.

The various forms of popular otaku culture in Japan and around the world continue to grow, making barriers like geographic location mean less and less, and the recent events surrounding the broadcast of the last episode of the popular anime School Days were a further example of this. School Days is an anime series based on a dating-sim game about a love triangle between Makoto, his girlfriend Kotonoha and their friend Sekai, which combines beautiful characters and a complex (and fairly violent) story. The day before the last episode was to air, a girl killed her father with an axe, and fearing that the act might have been inspired by the show somehow, the TV studios decided to replace the much-awaited last episode with soothing classical music and images of a boat somewhere in Europe, which fans immediately dubbed "Nice Boat!" spreading images all over YouTube. The boat is now a part of pop culture history, and because we love to make esoteric things for otaku, we've made a limited-edition T-shirt to commemorate this really excellent boat.

Just a reminder that's it's a great time for you to make your 2008 calendar order now, as each day, we're seeing calendars disappearing off the site as they sell out, and since the order cutoff for most of the calendars has already passed, many are gone for good. We currently have a wonderful selection of 190+ anime, JPOP, bikini idol, traditional and modern art, and men's calendars on the site. Why not browse our great selection of Japanese calendars now?

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 sites. 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.

	School Days Parody T-Shirt - "Nice Boat!". For fans of School Days, or for anyone looking for the most esoteric T-shirt ever: this is our cool new "Nice Boat" T-shirt. Great joke for all anime fans!
	Delicious New Japanese Snacks. See some great new Japanese snacks today, including a "bitter & orange" flavor of Nestle Aero chocolate, delicious Meiji Porte in "Hokkaido Milk" flavor, and mouth-cleaning Fragre mints.
	Cool Sanrio Bento Boxes -- My Melody. The popular Sanrio character My Melody is undergoing a big boom in Japan right now, and we've gotten in two different bento boxes that are great for collectors, featuring beautiful printing and design.
	Fresh Stock of Various 2008 Calendars. We've restocked some great 2008 anime, JPOP, sexy idol and other calendars for you, including getting in more stock of the incredibly popular 2008 Tachikoma Trading Figure Calendar, an extremely cool item.
	Hello Kitty ONIGIRI / Rice Ball Maker Set. We've got something really outstanding: plastic molds that can be used for making Hello Kitty-shaped "onigiri" or rice balls for bento. You could also make other interesting foods with this, like cookies, cakes and more.
	Casio Electronic Dictionary XD-GW6900. Wow, here's an electronic dictionary for serious students of Japanese, the newly updated Casio XD-GW6900, which is loaded with the best features to help you succeed in your mastery of the language. It's got over 100 dictionaries inside, and uses the excellent pen-style kanji input method that helps you memorize characters by the stroke order. Outstanding!
	Comp Hs vol. 6 ~ Comp Heroine 6. Follow the best anime series in Japan with Comp Hs, aka Comp Heroines, the outstanding "BIshoujo Only Visual Magazine." From Clannad (!) to Lucky Star (!) and everything in between, this mag is also cool because you get free stuff in each issue.
	Final Fantasy Trading Arts Mini vol.1. Wow, here's a really cool set of Final Fantasy miniature figures that are incredibly cute. We've got full sets in stock as well as a set of the heroines only. Really nice.
	Kiki's Delivery Service Blankets. If you don't know about the extra-soft acrylic blankets they sell in Japan, well, now you do. We've gotten in two different Kiki's Delivery Service blankets that are so soft and warm you won't believe it -- highly recommended.
	Delicious of Restocked Snacks. See restocked snack items too, including Cola Wata Gum cotton candy that turns to gum in your mouth, UHA High Conc. Milk Candy, Ju-C candies in Apple flavor, delicious Hi-Chew, and more!
	Sabra Nov 2007. Connoisseurs of such things know that the most beautiful women from Japan can usually be found in the pages of Sabra, the elegant magazine of gorgeous models. You also get a DVD too.
	Melty -- Tina Yuzuki. This is definitely an accurate description for the lovely half-Japanese, half-Portuguese Tina-chan in her first-ever hardcover photobook release.
	New "H" Manga. Of course we've got some great new ero manga on the site for you, starting with the fabulous Scold me! Twins Sisters (love that title) and a nice one called Midnight Nursing.
	Tony Works ~ Sora no Iro, Mizu no Iro. Wow, that sold out really fast. We've gotten the awesome artbook of "H" illustrator Tony Taka (his pen name, he's really Japanese). Beautiful art throughout.
	Momo Leopard, Young Hip Cover Gal. Then for fans of "furry" themes, we've got a cute Peach Leopard Girl that's also a cast off. Or go for the incredible ChiChinoe figure, which finally game in, although most of our order sold out in preorder.
	Melancholy of Suzumiya Hiharu Cosplay Special. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is one of the most influential anime series in years, and now fans can get their cosplay fantasies fulfilled with this great release from SOD featuring "Hahiru" [sic] as she performs while wearing virtually every costume she wore in the series. Awesome.
	Finally, Lots of Restocked DVD Titles. We've got plenty of great DVD titles back in stock today, including Dream Idol First Buk 4 Hours, Shiko Shiko Japan, Akiho Yoshizawa's dynamite Max Pink File, Over 180cm Woman (the Japanese love tall, domineering AV idols), and the always-fun Zenra Bowling!

Thoughts on Japan and group culture in anime, hard and difficult areas of Japanese, English etc., and various mysteries of life in Japan

Japan is famous for its cooperative group culture, and you can see this in many places, from clubs in schools to doujinshi circles to more formal organizations. In the past few years I've noticed that many anime series have been made by groups rather than individual creators or companies, for example the Ikki Tousen Committee, the Claymore Production Committee, and the School Days Production Committee. These groups are generally made up of a variety of members working on the project, including producers, artists, representatives from companies like Bandai, and quite often, major anime retailers like Toranoana or Animate, who can give input that will help make the project successful with fans. One reason these committees come into being is financial -- having a group of experienced individuals be responsible for a project and makes it easier to raise funds -- but it also spreads responsibility around to more members. When Steamboy, the most expensive anime film ever made, failed to make back even half of its $26 million price tag, I'm sure Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo was glad to have had the Steamboy Promotion Committee to take some of the blame off him.

Each language is unique, and presents special challenges to learners coming in from other language groups. For example, Chinese or Thai are tonal languages, Romance languages have noun gender to keep track of, and so on. According to the J-List staff, the most difficult areas of learning English are the "helping verbs" that fly around English sentences ("she shouldn't have been able to drive, should she have?"), or knowing whether to answer a statement with a tag question on the end in the positive or negative ("You're Japanese, aren't you?"). The Japanese language also has some rough patches, beyond the obvious challenge of mastering kanji, which include getting used to grammatical particles that "mark" the parts of sentences, including the often-confusing "topic marker" (wa) and "subject marker" (ga) of a sentence; getting used to verbs coming in formal and informal forms; and (as a male) learning not to imitate female speakers too much, since you can easily find yourself speaking effeminately. Happily, Japanese is not an especially difficult language to pronounce, once you train the muscles in your mouth to say the five vowels, which are "a" (ah), "i" (ee), "u" (oo), "e" (eh) and "o" (oh). These sounds are so tightly formed compared to the "lazy" sounds of American English, though, that I've actually experienced muscle pain in my mouth from speaking too much Japanese.

There are certain mysteries associated with living in Japan, as any gaijin will tell you. Why does your boss say so desu ne ("Yes, that's so") right before shooting your idea down? Why are some trains called nobori (climbing) trains and others kudari (descending) trains? (Trains headed in the direction of Tokyo are the former, and away from the capital, the latter.) Why do stores suddenly start playing Auld Lang Syne from speakers fifteen minutes before closing? (To politely let you know you should complete your purchase and leave.) Then there's the great mystery of the kanji characters for "small" and "big" (sho and dai) which you see on most toilet flush handles. Although Japan is generally wasteful when it comes to its natural resources, often covering the sides of mountains with concrete just in case there might be a rock slide someday, it has a green side too, taxing less efficient car engines at a higher rate, selling refill versions of products to cut down on trash volume and promoting low-energy lighting. Japanese toilets are set up to conserve resources, too: you can turn the handle to the right to perform a normal flush ("big"), or hold it to the left for a few seconds to just let out a little bit of water ("small"). It took me a few years to make the connection, but of course the "small" character stands for shoben (meaning number 1, literally translated as "small convenience"), while the other turn of the handle stands for daiben (number 2, or "big convenience"). One more mystery solved.

As you probably know, J-List sells a wide range of delicious Japanese snacks, with the newest releases from companies like Glico, Meiji, Morinaga and more always on the site. Although our Japanese snacks are fun to much on any time, they can also make great gifts for the upcoming holidays, and what's why we've added a new Best Snacks Stocking Stuffer set, featuring a selection of the best snacks we carry, from Meltykiss to Kit Kat to Pocky to Meltykiss and that delicious Charcoal Roasted Coffee Candy.

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 sites. 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.

	J-list Best Snacks Stocking Stuffer Set A. Give the gift of great Japanese snacks this year with our new gift set. Includes all the most popular items, with something for everyone.
	Fox Squirrel T-Shirt - Men's standard. Really nice new T-shirt we're posting, the Fox Squirrel from Nausicaa and Laputa, one of the most beloved creations from Hayao Miyazaki.
	Pinky Street Figures. We've gotten in three great new Pinky Street figures too, gorgeous modern Tokyo girls who change outfits by popping their heads off and onto another included body. Super cute.
	Afro Samurai Figure. Awesome figure from Afro Samurai, the popular anime. Voiced in English by who other than Samuel Jackson. 1/8 scale, super detail.
	DX Hand-made Japanese OYAKATA Bamboo Setta. Here's a really cool pair of traditional Japanese "setta" sandals made from bamboo for a luxurious feel. They are especially long in the back, recommended for larger feet. These shoes were worn by firemen in the Edo Period.
	My Neighbor Totoro Wrist Watch -- Oval Gold Face. Wow, talk about something you'll treasure for years, here's a high quality Totoro watch from Seiko. Leather band, beautiful styling, chrome gold everywhere.
	Hello Kitty Tight 2-tier Bento Box ~ Glittery Ribbon. Enjoy a delicious bento lunch with Sanrio's famous Hello Kitty character. Nice tight-fitting bento box with two tiers, one for rice and one for the rest of your lunch.
	FURO-TAN --- Bath Water Proof Study Flashcard Set. The Japanese are nothing if not innovative when it comes to studying. Here's a new idea for you -- studying while soaking in the bath tub with these specially designed plastic cards!
	Kougyoku Yamaneko (Linx) Figure ~ Animal Girl *Preorder*. For fans of the genre known as 'kemono" (hair-thing, i.e. characters with animal characteristics), here's a great preorder figure with cat ears and a cool sword.
	Traditional Origami Paper. Origami (lit. "folding paper") is a great traditional Japanese art, and we've gotten in two new sets, a gorgeous traditional kimono series and a wacky origami bento box you can fold yourself! Incidentally origami has been shown to be good for older people, as it helps the brain maintain many skills.
	Cool Restocked Traditional Items. Some fun traditional items we're restocking include our Onegai Jizu Japanese statue that helps you diet, our some really cool cups for drinking sake, a cool cloth bag, and a netsuke featuring the flag of Shinsengumi.
	Bento & Related Items. Bento is popular all over the world, and J-List has dozens of cool items in stock. Today we're restocking the Nikyoro Ju-Bako style lunch box, our Bento Mini Cups for arranging your lunch, cool chopsticks for Autumn, and more.
	DMM May 2007. DMM is a leading AV industry magazine that follows all the top names in the business, from Yua Aida to Akiho Yoshizawa to Honaka and more. See lots of great pics as well as video caps, and each issue comes with a DVD of fun stuff too.
	Love -- Zhao Shan Shan. Positively captivating photobook featuring a gorgeous model from China, a beautiful, lithe woman whose photographs you'll treasure.
	Newly Posted manga Volumes. Got some great new manga for you today, with the gorgeous Baknyu ("Explosive Oppai") Fantasy my the famous Brave Soul artist Mogudan, and Squall, a collection of stories of sudden, savage love.
	A Girl 2 Figure Illustrated by o-ji. We've gotten this dynamite "cast off" (w/ removable clothes) figure back in stock since it was so popular. Incredibly detailed with a real cloth sweater you can take off.
	Mo-Retsu! Boin Sensei ~ Intense! Big Oppai Teacher. Rio Yamasaki stars as a teacher with some very big, um, guns, in this cool release from Soft on Demand's Ifrit label. Great for fans of meganekko, too.

All about Japanese swords, thoughts on the "horse with a heart mark" and government, and, can you ski?

Japanese swords are famous around the world, up there with ninjas and Hello Kitty as a symbol of the country. Like the kanji writing system and Buddhism, sword-making was imported from China, and was immediately embraced by Japanese craftsmen who sought to perfect the art. Most famously worn by the samurai warrior class between the 14th and 19th centuries, it was common to carry both a long katana sword and a shorter blade, called a wakizashi. The law that governs carrying of weapons in Japan is known as the Firearms and Swords Control Law, something I've always been amused by, since one doesn't usually worry about something like the need for "sword control." While samurai swords are quite common in Japan -- my wife's parents have a pair of swords on display in their bedroom -- it's rare for one to be used in a crime. But that's just what happened in Tokushima Prefecture, where the president of a construction company who was known for his collection of ancient Japanese swords seems to have gotten into a heated argument with his son about something. Things got out of hand, a sword was drawn, one managed to kill the other before taking his own life. (Police are still investigating the details.)

There's a new "horse idol" in Japan's racing world that's claiming the hearts of fans. Her name is Treasure Smile and she's popular because she's got a natural heart shape on her head, which has caused thousands of fans to flock to Iwate Prefecture in Northern Honshu to take pictures of the "horse with the heart mark." The local track is milking Treasure Smile's popularity for all its worth, advertising that anyone wearing a heart on their clothes can get into the races for free. Along with boat and bicycle racing, horse racing is popular in Japan, and there are thirty tracks in various places around the country. It's also one of the many areas of society that the Japanese government is heavily involved in, much to the confusion of gaijin like me who wonder why the government needs to be operating race tracks at all. Unlike the U.S. with its tradition of individual sovereign states, Japan's history since the Meiji Restoration has been one of modernization from the core outward, with the government taking an active role in a range of industries from the publically-run Japan Tobacco which once controlled the distribution of all cigarettes and salt in the country, to the sprawling Japan Post Office, which operated as the world's largest savings bank and also sold life insurance on the side. One by one, these industries have been slowly privatized, with the old Japan National Railways becoming JR and the inefficient government-run phone company becoming the modern NTT. Presumably these moves have improved efficiency and competition, although the invisible bonds between these former public entities and government are still significant.

Suki desu ka? One of the first useful words a student of Japanese learns is how to say "like" (suki), which is pronounced quickly so that it sounds rather like the English word "ski," leading all students to immediately make the joke Sukii ga suki desu ka? (Do you like to ski?), since the words sound similar. The word suki is often a student's introduction to the concept that a word or idea in one language might have many possible meanings in another language, depending on the situation. Right off the bat, suki can mean "like" (in the context of your favorite food or hobby) or "love" (when said in reference to another person). Like all Japanese words there's some ambiguity involved, which is the subject of more than a few melodramatic misunderstandings in anime or television dramas. For example, if a woman was looking at a cake and said suki desu, she could theoretically be expressing her love of cake, or else she could be confessing her feelings for a boy who was also in the room. A couple of years ago I saw a variety show in which former JAV actress slash novelist slash TV talent Ai Iijima walked around New York, asking Americans Kyonyu suki? which sounds like "Can you ski?" in English, but is really asking if they prefer women with, er, large oppai. It was funny to see the Americans on the show nodding their heads for the camera at her question. Try it on your friends!

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 sites. 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.

	Hello Kitty Dancing Plush in Christmas Stocking. A super item for Christmas, here's a plush Hello Kitty in stocking that actually dances for you when you press her paw. A really outstanding item from Sanrio for the holidays, and very huggable!
	Delicious New Japanese Snacks. Enjoy some fantastic new Japanese snacks today, including a new Baked Cheese "Meets Wine" Pretz made to go great with wine, Almond Premium Chocolates from Glico, and amazing "Glamatic" gum from Lotte that answers the question, "Where is all the Goth-Loli themed gum from Japan?"
	Revoltech Yotsuba ~ Yotsubato. One of the coolest toys to be released in the Revoltech line is Yotsuba, the star of the the manga and anime Yotsubato (aka Yotsuba&, or Yotsuba with an ampersand after it). This popular figure is back in stock now.
	The Bible II ~ Star Trek Deep Space Nine/Voyager. Here's a cool item for Star Trek collectors: the official Bible art/photobook for Star Trek Deep Space Nine and Voyager. Sold as a two volume set in an attractive outer box, the printing is beautiful. The Bible portion (showing all that is official from the show, according to the original writers) is in English, the other book is in Japanese.
	Rilakkuma Bento Set. Rilakkuma, aka Relax Bear, is fast becoming one of the most beloved characters in Japan. Enjoy this new bento set, including bento box (2-section), chopsticks w/ case, and a "Kinchaku" cloth bag to hold it all.
	NHK COOL JAPAN. Here's an extremely educational book published in both English and Japanese by Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK), Japan's version of the BBC, presenting a wealth of information on Japan for anyone interested in the country, culture and language.
	Restocked Cute Things from Japan. Finally, see a bunch of restocked cute Sanrio items for you, including our fun-to-hold Hello Kitty "Otedama" Bean Bag Plush, a chrome emblem that turns your car into a Hello Kitty Limited Edition, and a spiffy "chirimen" eyeglasses case.
	Mamegoma and Rilakkuma Toilet Paper Roll Holder. San-X is making some of the cutest things in Japan these days, and today we've got cute toilet paper holders for your bathroom featuring their most popular characters, Mamegoma the seal and Rilakkuma, aka "Relax Bear." Great for making your bathroom something guests will remember.
	New Pinky Street figures. The Pinky Street figures from Vance Project are just too cool, with stylish design and clothes you can "change" by popping the head off one body and putting it on the other included body. Very modern and cool.
	My Neighbor Totoro Wrist Watches. Wow, here's something for the Ghibli fan who has everything: dynamite Totoro watches with beautiful styling approved by Hayao Miyazaki himself. Featuring internal movements by Seiko.
	Calcifur Tote Bag -- Howl's Moving Castle. The most popular Howl item we've ever carried, this is the Calcifur Tote Bag, a cute cloth bag you can take anywhere and hold just about anything, .Back in stock today.
	Yours ~ Hiderou Horibe Art Works. Fabulous artbook by Hiderou Horibe, featuring his gorgeous characters and works. Features both full size glossy pages as well as his sketchwork, showing how how art was created.
	Fraulein Revoltech #001 Rei Ayanami *Preorder*. A new series of figures from the popular Revoltech line, featuring posable anime females. This is a really amazing Rei Ayanami figure that you can move into almost any shape you want. Preorder it now.
	Restocked Bento Items. We also have restocked bento items for you, including our cool Brilliant Style "Goth-Loli" bento box, Mini Sauce Dispensers, and
	Japan-Related Books. We have some cool restocked Japan-related books too, including an issue of Kimono Hime with tons of pictures featuring modern kimono culture, and Love Love Sweets, all about Japanese traditional candy making.
	The Top DVD No. 108 Aug 2007. Gorgeous new magazine dedicated to the top JAV stars, with really outstanding photographs throughout. Truth be told, I've been waiting for a magazine that featured famous, really beautiful models in great settings since Urecco took a turn towards the love hotel scene.
	Asian Dress Costume 4 Hour Special. The Japanse love exotic things, and the traditional "China Dress" and variants found in Vietnam and elsewhere are very lovely indeed. Here's a fabulous 4 hour DVD of gorgeous girls in Asian dresses.

Foreigners' relationship with Japanese slippers, International Pocky Day, and reading my wife's English homework from 20 years ago

I'm often asked how I can come with so many observations about Japan, to which I usually respond that it's hard to filter them out, since Japan is literally all around me. Like most people who love onsen (hot springs) and sento (traditional Japanese public baths) here, I keep a basket in my car that contains all the bath related things I need: razor, toothbrush, small towel, a tape-covered paperback novel that I don't mind trashing. I also have a small notebook and pen for scribbling down ideas that come to me while sitting in the tub. For example, the other day I realized how complex something as basic as slippers can be. In Japan, shoes are removed at the front door in all homes and many businesses (including J-List), and slippers are worn while indoors. When you visit a Japanese family at home, they'll usually put out a pair of slippers for you to use, which can be problematic when since only Ewoks could wear the tiny things comfortably. Thus, every foreigner living in Japan must choose what kind of relationship he will have with Japanese slippers -- will he politely accept them, or refuse and wear his socks, knowing that he's breaking a minor social rule? Incidentally, did you know that the modern concept of slippers is actually a Japanese invention? Back in the early Meiji Period, when Westerners would visit a Japanese home they'd walk right in without taking their shoes off. So in 1907 (or 1876, according to another theory), a shoemaker named Risaburo Tokuno came up with an "outer shoe" that covered the dirty boots of foreigners, keeping the house clean. These supposedly evolved into the modern concept of slippers as an indoor shoe.

The other day we found an old English textbook my wife had used in Junior High School. My kids and I delighted in reading her English homework from 20+ years ago, especially rejoicing in finding any errors she made at the time (we're kind of mean that way, I'm not sure why). One thing we noticed were little numbers written above words in her textbook. For example, in the sentence "Jane's arrival livened up the party," there was a 1 above "Jane's," a 3 above "arrival" and so on. My wife had been doing what a lot of Japanese do when learning English, being consciously aware of the number of syllables in correctly pronounced words. The Japanese language is based on syllables rather than individual sounds represented by letters, and as a result they unconsciously extend the limited repertoire of sounds from their own language into English, which is where the often thick Japanese accents come from. You and I know that the word "weekend" has two syllables, but to a Japanese who hasn't internalized the rules of English pronunciation, it sounds like "oo-EE-koo-EN-doh," a five-syllable word. If you're a native speaker of English, thank your parents next time you see them -- you don't know how fortunate you are to not have to go through the difficulties of learning English.

Pocky has gone from being a wonky snack that a few anime fans knew about to being a major representative of Japanese snack culture all around the world. The chocolate-covered pretzel stick, which gets its name from the pokki! sound you hear when you snap one in half, was first introduced in 1965 by the Glico Confectionery Company under the not-so-cool name of Chocoteck, where it was an instant hit. Glico was founded by Riichi Ezaki, who after the death of his infant son swore to improve the health of Japan's children by introducing sweets containing glycogen harvested from oysters, which is where the name Glico comes from. There are many different flavors of Pocky released each year, from traditional chocolate to half-bitter "Men's Pocky" to delicious variations like Pocky Crush (almond, cookies n' cream) to Green Tea Marble Pocky to the new Pocky Dessert, essentially a cake wrapped around a biscuit stick. The Glico corporation has declared that November 11 (11/11, which looks like four Pocky sticks lined up) to be International Pocky Day, and to help everyone celebrate, J-List is having a special sale this weekend, with an extra 5% taken off any purchase of ten or more boxes of Pocky (cases included). It's a great time to score some delicious Pocky!

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.

	Chocobo Plush -- Santa, White Mage, Black Mage. From the Final Fantasy game Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon, we've gotten in some great plush toys that feature the popular character Chocobo (whose name essentially means "chocolate ball"). These plush toys are great.
	Gaiking ~ Mecha Action Series. Here's a fantastic item, a super detailed toy of Gaiking, which can be posed in many ways. This was one of the original Shogun Warriors for all you old school folks out in J-List land.
	Delicious New Japanese Snacks. Today's newly posted snack items include the refined and delicious "Meets Wine" series of Pretz pretzel snacks designed to go well with a late-night Merlot, Golden Apple Gummy, and Glico's popular Breo Mild Mints.
	My Neighbor Totoro ~ Forest ~ Airtight Bento Box. I've seen a lot of bento boxes, as you can imagine, but this is one of the coolest: simple 2-section design with a great image of Totoro on the front. Matching fork/spoon/chopstick case also available.
	SADO ~ Traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony Set. "Sado" is the Japanese art of Tea Ceremony, often called "chado" in front of foreigners because they think we can't learn proper Japanese. Here's a cool set to get you started on the Way of Tea.
	Machine Robo Perfect Guide. Wow, this artbook is filled -- filled, I say -- with picture after glorious picture of the best old robot toys of the 1980s, from Macross to Voltron to Transformers to everything in between, including minor stuff that toy fans will love to see. Includes a DVD, too.
	Japan Atlas ~ A Bilingual Guide. We've restocked the very useful Bilingual Atlas of Japan, which features maps of the country with names in both kanji and Romanized, since it's all too common to find maps only in Japanese here.
	NARUTO ~ Storms into another battle ~ B5 Note book. Naruto fans, here's a really cool Japanese notebook for all your note-taking needs.
	Revoltech Danboo ~ Yostsuba *Preorder*. Yotsuba fans, here's a special item: the cool Danboo cardboard robot figure, which you can display in many ways.
	Disgaea Figure Collection Basic Set of 6 *Preorder*. Awesome set of figures from the popular game series Disgaea you can preorder now. I dig the shrine maiden with the spear, if that's what she's supposed to be.
	Monokuro Boo Plush Pen. Japanese pens are famous around the world for their precision and quality, and now they can be famous for being cute as well. This is a soft pen featuring plush Monokuro Boo ("monochrome oink") pigs at the top.
	KIYA Katana Sword Steel Nail Clippers. Ever since we got these KIYA fingernail cutters made with the same steel the company makes samurai swords out of, I refuse to cut my fingernails with anything else. Back in stock!
	MiMiDAS -- 21st Century Ear Cleaner. Mimikaki are traditional Japanese ear cleaners, which make it easy to remove ear wax, plus they feel great. This is a space-age version that is incredibly good at getting that wax out. Back in stock now!
	Real Blue -- Nao Nagasawa. Now this is one truly beautiful woman, and this glossy hardcover photobook is filled with fantastic pictures of her.
	Newly Posted Manga. We've gotten in some great new manga for "H" comic fans, including I'll Do It For You by Asano Ai and a super futanari with the innovative title of Read Me!
	Moe Cos Nakadashi Special -- Kotone Aizaki. The lovely Kotone Aizaki fulfills our anime cosplay dreams, performing as Sailor Venus, Asuka, Chun Li, Belldandy, and more. Man, this is the coolest anime cosplay crossover I've ever seen.

Finding the geographic center of American English, adventures in New Zealand with plenty of sheep, and getting complimented on chopstick use

One question I've been asked by my ESL students in Japan is, just where is "standard" American English located geographically? Most countries define a given region as the "official" dialect of their language, which is then used in textbooks nationally. In China the standard language is the Beijing dialect of Mandarin, in Italy its based on the regions of Florence and Tuscany, and in Britain it emanates from the twin pillars of "Queen's English" and the BBC. The "official" English used in the U.S. is a bit harder to pin down, and it's sometimes referred to as Standard Midwestern, since it tends to flow from that part of the country. In 1868, Japan's capital was officially moved from Kyoto to Edo, which was renamed Tokyo meaning "east capital," in imitation of China's cities of Beijing and Nanjing, the "north" and "south" capitals. This meant that the "standard" Japanese language changed from the colorful, intoned speech of the Kansai region to flatter, more robotic-sounding dialect of the Kanto Plain, something that Osaka hasn't quite forgiven Tokyo for yet. Like the U.S. and Great Britain, Japan does not have an "official' body to define its language is like the Acadmie franaise, and it's generally up to the publishers of the Kojien, Japan's answer to Oxford and Webster as the most prestigious dictionary, to bless new words by including them in its pages.

My son is back from New Zealand, and he had a great time there, doing homestay with a local family and getting to use his English a lot. New Zealand is a beautiful country, very similar to Japan if you take away 96% of the people, concrete and asphalt and add a lot of rolling hills and sheep, and the students loved it there. It's funny how social barriers can be laid low through the power of shared popular culture. For example, the kids Kazuki was staying with were into Yu-Gi-Oh battle cards, and since he had remembered to bring his collection with him, everyone immediately became fast friends, doing battle and comparing the English and Japanese cards. The students at my son's school generally learn North American English, and several of the kids in New Zealand commented on their "American" accents, something that no one from the U.S. would ever perceive. The kids at the school were interested to hear that Kazuki's father had gotten to meet Temura Morrison, the Kiwi actor who played Jango Fett and all the Clone Troopers in Star Wars episodes 2 and 3, at the Star Wars Celebration IV convention this year, and had in fact sung the New Zealand National Anthem to him. Sometimes I think that I might not be the most representative American my son could have had for a father...

Although Japanese kitchens are well stocked with spoons, forks and knives, most meals in Japan are eaten with chopsticks. Children usually learn to use chopsticks around the age of 4, when they start attending preschool, and this is quite possibly the first of many adjustments to the larger Japanese group that children have in their school lives. Every foreigner living in Japan knows the embarrassment of being told by a Japanese person hashi ga jozu ("you use chopsticks very well"). While one popular response is to compliment the speaker on their use of a knife and fork, I've found you can have more fun telling them okagesama de (oh-KA-ge sah-mah deh). This is a complex phrase which literally means "Yes, thanks to you," almost as if you had leaned how to use chopsticks from the person, even though you've never met them before. The phrase is a useful way of showing Japanese-style humility whenever someone compliments you on something, and since few would expect a gaijin to know it, it's fun to see their surprised expressions when you whip this phrase out. (If you're trying to learn to eat with chopsticks, we recommend the training chopsticks we have on the site.)

J-List is the best place to find Domo-kun related items, from plush toys to wacky T-shirts and warm hoodies to our great 2008 Domo-kun calendar that's in stock right now. Today we're happy to announce a line of cool Domo-kun hats, professionally embroidered with cool images of the official mascot of NHK, Japan's public broadcasting channel. We've got not one, not two but three new Domo-kun hats, the "Domo face," our popular "outlined Domo" design and a new one featuring Domo saluting you as he greets you. All hats are made of stone- washed cotton denim by American Apparel and are extremely well made, and are also fully size adjustable. Browse our new items 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" (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

	Yummy new Japanese Snacks. Got some great new snack items for you today, including Roast Almond Latte flavored March of the Koalas, fantastic chocolate-covered Almond and Macadamia dusted with cocoa powder, and deep Premium Green Tea Chocolate that you will love.
	Fresh stock of 2008 calendars. See fresh stock of some excellent calendars, including Inuyasha, Gundam, Doraemon, Death Note, Evangelion, Aya Ueto, Gackt, and more -- see updated calendar images, too.
	Getsumen Touheiki Mina ~ OKAMA Artworks. One of the most popular Japanese dramas of the past few years has been Densha Otoko, e.g. Train Man, the story of an otaku who wins the love of a beautiful (non-otaku) woman. Inside the show, they created an anime called Moon Surface Rabbit Weapon Miina, which got so popular that they went and made a real anime from it.
	Lucky Star Figure Collection Basic Set of 5 *Preorder*. Lucky Star is *the* anime in Japan right now, a popular series based on a 4-koma (4-panel) comic that has seized he hearts of otaku all over the world. This is a great line of detailed figures from the series that you can preorder now.
	Domo-kun hats. As mentioned above, J-List now sells Domo-kun hats! Click to view all three of our cool new Domo embroidered hats, in sock in San Diego right now!
	Hello Kitty BARAN / Decorative Partition for Bento -- 2 types. "Baran" is the Japanese word for the plastic sheet (which usually looks like "fake grass") that keeps the meat and vegetables in your bento from running together with your rice. Here's a great item, Hello Kitty baran bento barriers!
	Sunshine Buddies Hello Kitty version. Hidamari no Tami, aka Sunshine Buddies, are the popular line of solar-powered relaxation toys from Tomy, and now they've released a fabulous Hello Kitty toy that never needs batteries, modeled after the classic 1976 original Kitty-chan!
	Sunshine Buddies Pokemon Christmas version. Also, a super limited item for Christmas, we;ve gotten in a solar powered Pikachu Sunshine Buddies, featuring the iconic Pokemon who rocks his head from side to side, never needing batteries, ever!
	Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star. Fist of the North Star is one of the most enduring anime / manga series from the 1980s, and the Seikimatsu ("End of the Century") series is the best toy line ever made. Here's Kenshiro, looking great with his flowing red cape.
	Dengeki Comic Gao Dec. 2007. Seriously, if you read only one manga in Japanese each month, make it Dengeki Comic Gao, which is always loaded with the best manga from Japan's top artists. And the page count -- more than 500 pages! And the free stuff in each issue doesn't hurt, like the "ef" pencil board you get in this issue.
	NARUTO Shippu-den Coloring Book - Nurie. Naruto fans, here's a cool nurie (noo-ree-EH) coloring book that allows you to color in all your favorite characters. Or for more serious artists, use these pages as starting points for teaching yourself Photoshop coloring (which is how virtually all Japanese artists create art these days).
	HIRAGANA Stencil. Wow, this is a fantastic idea: a plastic stencil sheet for writing all the characters in the hiragana syllable system.
	Restocked Studio Ghibli items. As always, J-List stands ready to fill all your Studio Ghibli needs, and today we've restocked the "buru buru" (vibrating) Totoro in grey and blue as well as the excellent Sitting Jiji plush toy.
	Various restocked traditional items from Japan. See a bunch of restocked traditional items, including the Daruma Hammer Game, a keychain featuring famous samurai Musashi Miyomoto, a gorgeous wooden Kokeshi doll and good luck charm to protect your "six organs" (it's a long story).
	Tons of great bento and related items. Got a lot of good bento and bento related items for you, including the popular Putifresh (puti = pucchi = petite) Banana Bento, the Hello Kitty Slide Trio Set of chopsticks, fork and spoon, a cool onigiri maker and more!
	Cup Noodle Mug Cup. One of the most popular items in J-List history, this is a spectacular coffee cup with ceramic lid that looks just like Cup Noodle from Nissin. Great for Christmas gift giving.
	Restocked snack items. Finally, for our Japanese snack lovers, yummy Glico Marble Green Tea Pocky, Toppo Cassis Mousse & Orange Liqueur, Meiji Curl Stick in Smoked Cheese flavor, Xylish Hyper Cool Gum with real caffeine, and more!
	Lucky Cat for Display -- Family Health & Fortune. Lucky Cat is the famous Japanese creature who beckons good luck into your household. Here's one of our most popular Lucky Cat display items, which promises to bring your family health and wealth.
	You -- Yu Nakamura. Although naming you photobook "You" won't get you many Google hits, this is a really excellent glossy hardcover release from a beautiful and popular Japanese photo model.
	Lots of restocked manga titles. Then see a huge number of back-in-stock manga volumes, including Secretarial Section Drop 1 & 2, Wife Life - Married Woman, Nami SOS! Naoko Black Bird, Harem x Harem, Valkyrie Anthology Comic, and more!
	All About G.J? - Toshihide Sano Works Popular "H" artbook by the famous eroge company, loaded with super art by Toshihide Sano, one of Japan's top artists today.
	Future Hospital 2 - Maid Robot Edition. In the year 20XX, we will receive an entirely different type of healing from hospitals, in the form of gorgeous maid robots. Super release from V&R.

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.

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

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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.