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 bis