Back in Japan and getting ready for New Year's, my respect for hard work, and a great way to get money in 2008!

Hello again from J-List. Once again we've made the hop from San Diego to Japan, traveling the 5443 miles (8759 km) from our American home to our Japanese one. The flight was fine, although bumpier than normal due to the extra turbulence in the skies in winter.

We've returned just in time for our favorite time of year, oshogatsu, or the New Year's Day holidays. Unlike the happy, boisterous fun that is New Year's in the U.S. and elsewhere, Jan. 1 is a very solemn day in Japan. Today is New Year's Eve, and everyone is rushing around doing everything they need to get done before the holidays, like finishing up their o-soji ("big cleaning") so they can face the new year with a clean house, and readying various decorations for the home. It's customary to eat Japanese soba (buckwheat) noodles on the last day of the year, which supposedly helps everyone enjoy long lives, and December 31st is the busiest day for restaurants that serve noodles. But the most important activity that takes place on New Year's Eve is watching Kohaku, the Red and White Song Battle, an annual live show put that's been put on by NHK every year since 1951 in which female singers (the red team) battle male singers (the white team) to see which side can put on the most extravagant performances. The Kohaku show is "the" music event of the year, comparable to the Academy Awards in the U.S., and virtually every top star will be there, from Leah Dizon to Gackt to the singers in Hello! Project and enka greats Saburo Kitajima and Sayuri Ishikawa. After the Kohaku show ends at 11:45 pm, NHK broadcasts Yuku Toshi, Kuru Toshi (Year Going, Year Coming) showing solemn images of people making their way to beautiful Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples, Christian churches and Muslim mosques to do hatsu-mode (ha-tsu MOH-day), the first prayer for good luck and happiness of the New Year, overlaid with the sound of a bell that chimes 108 times. Then, the TV display flashes "0:00," letting you know the New Year has silently arrived.

Japan is nothing if not the land of the "boom," and you never know what will become popular next. Right now, thousands of cell phone users are displaying an image of the enigmatic Yoshihiro Miwa as their screen wallpaper, which is rumored to increase a person's luck with regards to money, what with yellow being the feng shui color for wealth and all. A survivor of the Nagasaki atomic bombing who went to Tokyo to become a famous cabaret singer, Miwa was very close to writer Yukio Mishima, the guy who tried to bring about a pro-Emperor coup by the military then committed seppuku when the soldiers laughed at him. Author of 20 books and an accomplished stage performer and director, Miwa-san may be most famous internationally as the voices of the wolf goddess Moro and the Witch of the Waste in Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle. If you're curious to see if this Japanese superstition is correct, try setting your cell phone's wallpaper to this picture and see if you get more money in 2008!

One thing I really like about the Japanese is the tradition of kinben (KEEN-ben), or diligence and hard work, as an ideal for people to aspire to, essentially the local version of the Protestant Work Ethic. By and large, this diligence is usually measured in terms of time rather than raw effort, and doing an hour or two of overtime each day is probably the norm for most Japanese companies, allowing employees show their hard work to their colleagues in a unit that everyone can easily recognize, time. The highest expression of kinben is the tetsuya, the all-nighter, working so hard that you work all night long to finish your important project. If an employee in Japan works all night on a project, he will probably gain a lot of respect from his boss and coworkers (the term also applies to studying all night for a test). Recently I asked my wife what the "worst" job in Japan was considered to be, the one parents tell their kids they'll end up doing if they don't study hard (when I was a boy it was "ditch digger" but it may have changed since then). She told me that Japanese don't usually speak ill of a profession like that, since someone has to do it after all, and in fact, many of the jobs some might consider to be "bad" such as road construction or the guys that empty the BOT-ton toilets in older homes that don't have pluming yet, are actually good in a way, since they pay much higher due to the fact that few people are willing to do them.

J-List would like to wish everyone a safe, warm and wonderful New Year's holiday tomorrow. Within the month of December, you wish someone a Happy New Year by saying yoi o-toshi o (YO-ee oh-TOH-shi oh), which literally means "[have a] good year." After January 1st arrives, you switch to akemashite omedeto (ah-keh-MASH-tay oh-meh-deh-TOH), literally "congratulations on opening the New Year." It's polite to use this second greeting the first time you see a Japanese person after the new year arrives. Well, until next time, yoi o-toshi o, everyone!

Since we're giving the J-List crew some much-deserved time off, I'm presenting a few of my Most Favorite Things today, some items I think are especially cool to show you. You can view all J-List products updated in the last three days by clicking this link.

	3D Oppai Mouse Pad. Have you noticed that anime is getting more interactive? Now not only can you play anime games with multiple endings (as in our dating-sim games), but you can even, er, touch your anime in new and interesting ways.
	Cool Traditional Japanese Shoes. J-List carries a huge selection of traditional items, and some of our favorites are the setta (sandals) and geta (traditional wooden shoes) from Japan. See our selection now.
	See Our Most Popular Traditional Items. J-List now has constantly updated category listings which show you the most popular items in a category. Our best-selling traditional items include our awesome Lucky Cat Tea Cups, an incredibly popular series. Click to see the 50 best-selling traditional items!
	Black Goth Style Cat Bento Box Set. Japan's culture of visually-pleasing boxed lunches (bento) is popular all over the world, and J-List offers a huge selection of bento boxes for you to browse. I love our new Goth-Loli Cat style bento box series.
	Top-Selling Study Items. J-List genuinely wants to promote study of the Japanese language and interest in all aspects of Japan. See the top 50 study related items, including "bilingual books" with Japanese and English printed side-by-side.
	Hello Kitty Computer Speakers, USB Mouse, More. We love to bring you kawaii products from Japan, including hard-to-find items like Kitty-chan speakers for your iPod or computer, the Hello Kitty mouse, Hello Kitty vibrating shoulder massager, mayonnaise cups, and so on.
	Japanese T-shirt "Looking for a Japanese Girlfriend". It turns out that more than a few men in the world are interested in the idea of dating girls from Japan, and this wacky T-shirt might just be the conversation starter you need to make it happen. The exact translation is "Now accepting applications for a Japanese girlfriend."
	iTunes Japan Music Card, Elecom Items. J-List carries the popular pre-paid iTunes Japan Music Cards that let you buy Japanese music and play it on PC or Mac with iTunes or any iPod. It even works with the online iTunes store and iPhone / iPod Touch. We also carry dozens of great items from Japan's electronics maker Elecom, with lower prices on the Mogmo Kun flash drive cases.
	2008 Calendars. Of course, J-List still has a good selection of 2008 calendars printed for the domestic market here, a great way to add a little slice of Japan to 2008. Browse are anime, JPOP, sexy idol, men's and other calendars now!
	Preorder Anime Figures. J-List recently began offering anime figures and other toys via preorder, allowing you to make sure you get that ultra-cool Fraulein Revoltech or Bible Black figure before they all sell out. Orders are often shorted by our distributors, and in cases like these we give priority to customers who have preordered figures.
	Studio Ghibli Plush Toys. J-List has carried plush toys and other items for fans of Hayao Miyzaki since we started our humble little company back in 1996, and we love the joy we've brought to many fans by these great items. Manufactured by Sun Arrow, a toy maker with a hundred years of history.
	Top-Selling J-Snacks. Click here to see the most popular 50 snack items on J-List right now. My own favorites include the Melty Kit Kat (with melted center), Tomato Pretz, and Rose Flavored Gum.
	Top-Selling Dating-Sim Games. J-List has been involved with evangelizing Japan's PC dating-sims from the very beginning, and we've got the best selection of English-translated "H" games on the planet. See the top 50 games in order of sales over the past 7 days.
	Cast Off Figures. We just love the recent trend in Japan of "cast off" anime figures, with clothes you can remove either partially or completely. This is Fiitan, the super-cute mascot of an otaku blog in Japan, which can be displayed in several configurations. So sexy!
	Karami Photomagazine Series. We're big fans of beautiful photography from Japan, and you can't get any better than the Karami series, a great collection of photo-magazines with each issue dedicated to a single beautiful model, like Yua Aida, Mitsu Amai, Hitomi Hayasaka, and many more. No ads, either, making for a totally satisfying visual experience.
	Great "H" Manga from Japan. Of course J-List has always been a great place to get Japan's best "ero" manga, and we've got hundreds of volumes in stock right now. Click here to see the top 50 manga items that J-List customers have chosen over the past 7 days.
	Futanari Products. One of the most visually enticing trends in Japan is futanari, which means "the two becoming one," and is a nice way of saying "chicks with..." From amazing doujinshi and CG by Behind Moon to great manga releases to innovative AV DVD productions, J-List has many items for futa lovers.
	Artbooks. We also carry dozens of top artbooks from top illustrators, including artists like Tony Taka, Tetsuya Ishida, Happou Bijin, Katsuya Terada and many more. Also see the School Days artbooks!
	Japanese Condoms, More. From unique Japanese parody condoms to our Hello Kitty massager products to bizarre items like Treasure Taste World Magic Hole and all-natural lotion products, J-List offers amazing novelty products for couples.
	Huge Selection of DVDs from Japan. J-List has hundreds of Japan AV (hint: it doesn't mean audio visual) DVDs featuring Japan's top pro and indy studios, like Soft on Demand, Alice Japan, Moodyz and TMA. Click here to see the top 50 DVD products on the site right now.

Comparing my kids Japanese and American personalities, more on what makes Japanese people tick, and all about sitting on the floor in Japan

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas holiday, wherever you are in the world. We had a great day, complete with turkey, lots of champagne and authentic Yorkshire Pudding.

It's interesting, being in the U.S. with my Japanese family and observing how my kids are taken over by their "American personalities" the longer they stay here. The Japanese have a saying to the effect that boys will take after their mother and girls will be like their father, an idea which I'd poo-poo'ed as a superstition until our kids were born. Our son is very Japanese, and although he has a lot of knowledge of English to draw on, he's often so shy about making mistakes that he'll refuse to open his mouth at all, a lot like his Japanese mother. My daughter takes after me, though: she seems very American in all that she does, and she's never shy about opening her mouth to speak English. While my son gets along quite well in Japan, my daughter's "American-ness" sometimes causes minor problems for her in her school, with the many meaningless rules she has to follow getting her down at times. All of these problems go out the window here in America, where (as seen from our Japanese life, at least), anything goes -- a person can do anything and be anything they want, and our daughter is positively glowing here in the States. One of the biggest rules in Japan is "act your age" (ii toshi shite), and generally speaking, people do what's expected of them according to their age group, which usually doesn't involve collecting Star Wars toys into their thirties. When my mother bought me a cool remote controlled R2-D2 toy for Christmas, my wife commented that it'd be very rare to find a Japanese man my age receiving a gift like that.

One aspect of living in Japan every foreigner must come to terms with is sitting on the floor. The Japanese do a lot of floor sitting, and even the most modern Western-style house will probably have at least one traditional Japanese-style room with tatami mats. One of my favorite things in Japan is the kotatsu, a low table with a heater inside and a blanket between the frame and the tabletop, which lets you get warm by sticking your legs inside. Since Japanese homes lack central heating, and it'd be far too expensive to heat the whole house anyway, kotatsu are very economical, as you're only heating a small space used by several people at once. They're also great for improving family life, since everyone will jam their legs inside and have a conversation rather than scattering around the house to do their own thing. The only negative to kotatsu? When Jiichan (grandfather) has flatulence inside the blanket part, causing a huge problem for everyone.

Each country in the world has what the Japanese call kokumin-sei, a kind of "national personality" or a list of traits that most people from that country tend to share. For example, Americans are seen by the Japanese as being optimistic almost to fault, believing that virtually any problem can be solved. We're also extremely friendly, even with people we don't know well, which can be hard for them to understand. The Japanese kokumin-sei is quite unique, too. In general, Japanese tend to be very peaceful, and go out of their way to avoid conflict with others. They're concerned with the image Japan presents to the world, and some major construction projects such as Japan's first bullet trains were done partially to make foreigners oo and ah when they came for the 1968 Tokyo Olympics. Also, most Japanese tend to be extremely modest, and it can be surprising when Westerners compliment a Japanese on their English ability, only to have them vehemently deny the remark. In my single days, I traveled all around Japan, hitchhiking or riding trains (there's a cool ticket called "Youth 18" which lets you ride as far as you want for $24, a bargain as long as you don't mind riding the slow local trains for 16 hours a day). Once, I encountered a boy and his mother while traveling near Hiroshima, and as we talked, the boy was going on and on about how baka (stupid) he was, so stupid that he'd never amount to anything at all. It surprised me to hear anyone talk like this about himself, much less an educated youth from one of the world's richest countries, but I realized later it was a kind of polite self-effacing that didn't mean much.

J-List is loaded to the gills with amazing anime, JPOP, sexy bikini idol, traditional photograph, and other fun calendars like sushi and bento. These calendars are printed for the Japanse domestic market and are hard to find outside of Japan, but we've got an incredible selection for you still. And starting right now, all calendars come with free mailing tubes, making it an even better reason to buy. Check out our 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 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.

	HEAVEN -- Leah Dizon. Leah Dizon is a huge star in Japan, famous for her beautiful face and body. This is a great photobook with included DVD, a rare item for her fans issued only in Japan.
	Delicious New Snacks. We've got great new Japanese snacks for you too, including Princess Soft Chocolate from Lotte, delicious Mont Blanc cakes, and a fabulous item, Meiji Green Tea Macadamia Chocolate, a super item for matcha fans.
	The Tokyo Look Book: Stylish to Spectacular, Goth to Gyaru, Sidewalk to Catwalk. Here's an interesting book that introduces you to the world of Japanese popular culture and fashion as seen through many eyes. Loaded with great images of Japan's cool under-culture.
	Ultimate Action Evangelion DX Trading Figures. Eva fans, here's a set of really cool figures from the coolest and most influential anime of the past decade. A great set of five different detailed figures, EVA units and Angels for them to fight.
	Fraulein Revoltech #003 Soryu Asuka Langley ~ Neon Genesis Evangelion *Preorder*. The excellent Fraulein Revoltech series continues, featuring Asuka from Evangelion, rendered in a beautiful and extremely flexible form that can be bent into any shape.
	Edge II ~ Samurai in the Future. Here's a memorable artbook loaded with color images of samurai culture at its best, with vibrant and beautiful images of Japan's famous warriors from 30 different artists, including Katsuya Terada, Satoi Yuiga, and Mobius (!).
	Gunnm Another Stories Limited Edition ~ Gally Original Action Figure. Here's a really special item, a thick manga volume of Battle Angel Alita (aka "Gunnm") with side stories for you to enjoy. It comes with the beautiful figure of Alita rendered in a fully posable body.
	Gundam Soundrop Aoi Kyosei ver. -- Full Set of 8. Gundam is to the Japanese as Star Wars is to the rest of the world, and no one male child born between 1968 and 2007 grows up without loving the original series. Here's a new Soundrop voice keychain that plays the most popular lines from the series when you press the buttons.
	Poop Bath Light ~ Dr. Slump Unchi-kun. The Japanese are big fans of "unchi" (poop) as a bringer of good luck. Here's a light-up poop that you can put in the bath, or just about anywhere else you like. This is the strangest item we've carried in a long time -- enjoy!
	Kitty Aroma Ball -- Pink with Polka Dot Bow ~ Premium Scent. We just love the Kitty Aroma Ball series of scented Hello Kitty objets d'art, and this is a great new item, with a new bow color and a premium new scent. Put it in your car, bathroom or cubicle.
	Natsukashii Winter Figure Display ~ Lucky Cat & KOTATSU - Nostalgic Shop. A "kotatsu" is a small Japanese table with a blanket in between the frame and the tabletop, and you put your legs inside to keep toasty warm. As you can imagine, cats really love these things. Here's a great display item featuring a cute Lucky Cat with a Kotatsu table.
	Haikyo Hyoryu - Images of Destruction in Japan. There are many fans of "modern ruins" in Japan, enjoying he special eeriness of recently abandoned buildings which are riddled with their own unique ghosts. This book is an awesome new addition to this category.
	New Year's Decoration ~ SHIMENAWA & SHISHIMAI. New Year's is coming soon, and you can decorate your home with these great traditional New Year's decorations. Hang them on your door for good luck in the new year!
	Preorder Figures Ready For Shipping. Some great anime figures we'd had posted for preorder have come in, including the awesome Aya Red Bikini and Aya Black Bikini (that cowboy hat and samurai sword!) and Louise from Zero no Tsukaima.
	Study Items. Got some good study items back in stock for you, including the comprehensive bilingual guide to Eating in Japan, and another multi-language book, Japanese Nuance in Plain English.
	"Nikyoro" Bento Boxes, Chopsticks, Bento fans know that J-List has the best selection anywhere. Today we're restocking the fun Nikyoro (from "niko niko" meaning smiling, and "kyoro kyoro" meaning looking around from left to right) bento boxes as well as the Modern Chopsticks and Aluminum Sliding Case.
	DVD MAX special 2005. An outstanding photo magazine from Japan that's jammed full of the best JAV stars for you to drool over. Also comes with a super DVD for you, with 130 minutes of fantastic performances by these superstars.
	Ura SAYAKA -- Sayaka Uchida / Sayaka Numajiri. See the "other side" or two lovely girls named Sayaka, Sayaka Uchida and Sayaka Numajiri, two great tastes that taste great together in this dynamite photobook release.
	New Manga Volumes. Today's new "H" include some really nice ones, with A Flower Blooms in the Darkness, a story with sci-fi / Fantasy "ero" themes you will love, and the lip-licking Pearl Rose from Megastore Comics and artist Tokie.
	Big Oppai Zoom Up -- Ai Sayama. Ai-chan wants you to look at her, and with her fantastic "H" cup (heh) that's what you will be doing plenty of in her new release from Alice Japan.

Thoughts on Christmas in Japan vs. America, my surprising first Christmas in Japan, and Japanese food for poor single men

Well, the stockings are hung by the chimney with care, and we're all getting ready for a wonderful Christmas around here. My family got in from Japan a few days ago, and the kids are fully into "American Christmas mode," shaking all the presents to try to guess what's inside. The holiday is a relatively recent cultural import to Japan, and Christmas there can be a little different from what you may be used to. To the Japanese, Christmas is usually more of an excuse to have a fun party than a solemn time for family, or more recently, an extra reason for parents and grandparents to spoil the kids by getting them something from Toys "R" Us. Christmas Eve is also a day for lovers to go on that special date, generally considered more important than Valentine's Day, and if you want to take your sweetheart out to a nice restaurant you might have to plan ahead a few months.

I'll never forget my first Christmas in Japan. I'd not expected the Japanese to be very religious, so after arriving in my city I was surprised to find myself surrounded by a kind community of Japanese Baptists who ran a friendly church complete with a kindergarten for the local children. I enjoyed observing my new friends and seeing how similar they were to folks in the U.S. -- there seemed to be no differences at all, other than the language. In the grand tradition of Americans living in Japan, I was asked to play "Santa-san" for the kids, and I had great fun ho-ho-ho'ing as I handed out presents, as always being careful to speak only English, since that's what language Santa Claus presumably speaks. (I've since donned Santa suits dozens of times -- there must be something especially Christmassy about my personality as seen from the Japanese point of view.) I was of course surprised to find that Dec. 25th wasn't even a holiday in Japan, and driving in a traffic jam on that particular day takes some getting used to, I can tell you. One unfortunate aspect of Christmas for foreigners who haven't been "in country" too long is homesickness, since Dec. 25th is always a hard day to be away from family, no matter where you are in the world. Bottom line, Japan is a nice place, but the best place to enjoy Christmas is home with the people you love. All of us at J-List sincerely wish you and your loved ones a wonderful and warm Christmas holiday this year!

Merry Christmas from J-List and illustrator Shikei (creator of Snow Drop)

I'll never forget my single days back in college, surviving on foods like frozen waffles, Campbell's soup, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and that great friend to the pool college student, Top Ramen, which could be had for 3 for $1 back in the day. Japan has its own varieties of "bachelor food" too, so easy to make that even a single guy could handle it. First and foremost is the category known as "cup ramen," which seems to be as close to the hearts of Japanese consumers as cold cereal is to Americans. There are hundreds of varieties, from cheap noodles in a styrofoam bowl to the high-end "nama type" noodles which are fresh, not dehydrated, for a more authentic ramen experience. Next comes Bon Curry, boil-in-bag curry that allows you single men who can't prepare Japan's staple dish from scratch to enjoy it nonetheless. Poor men living alone love to eat "sea chicken" (tuna fish) mixed with mayonnaise spread over rice with a dollop of soy sauce, too. Japan is a country that puts great store in doing things the "proper" way, and when it comes to a single man (or woman) living alone, this is defined by cooking rice using a rice cooker on a daily basis. When I was living alone, everyone I knew would ask me "Are you cooking rice for yourself everyday, as you should?" almost as a greeting, not unlike "How are you?" They were invariably amazed that a foreigner could wash and prepare rice for himself without help.

Looking for a special last-minute gift for someone on your list? Then look no further than a J-List Gift Certificate, which lets you send a great personalized gift in any amount to the person of your choice. The PDF-based gift card is fully customizable with a message from you, and it can be sent by email either to you or directly to your recipient. We also think the Japan iTunes Prepaid Music Cards are an awfully great gift to get someone who digs Japanese music, and since they can be sent via email too, there's no time delay. The J-List staff are working extra hours to process these orders as they come in, for extra fast processing, so order 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 and JBOX.com sites today. Note that some products may be "not safe for work" but that all links will allow you to redirect yourself either to the J-List or JBOX.com websites. To see all the J-List products, check out J-List or the JBOX.com updated products link.

	New Japanese Snacks. We've got some really great J-Snacks for you, including Mushroom Mountain in Caramel and Macadamia flavor, Meiji Chelsea candies (Hokkaido Milk), and a delicious item, Morinaga Koeda in Kiman Tea Flavor.
	Re-ment "Let's Go! Panda Class". Re-Ment is the company that makes really cute miniature toys, and the new series features something really cute: panda bears who are going to school. And baby pandas are definitely the cute thing for Christmas 2007.
	Cinnamoroll Shaped Lunch Box. We've got a cool new item for bento fans: a Japanese lunch box shaped like Cinnamoroll, the cute new character from Sanrio who makes you think of delicious cinnamon rolls. Comes with dual compartments for separating your food nicely.
	My Melody Curry & Stew Plate. Then, we've gotten in these super-cute Curry & Stew Plates featuring My Melody. These are deep plates especially made for enjoying foods like curry and stew, two treats the Japanese love to eat.
	Some Cool Traditional Items. Another nice item: phone straps featuring Ninja Swords on the ends, which you can attach to your cell phone, keys, Nintendo DS, PSP, or just about anything.
	Restocked Chocobo Plush -- White Mage ver. Chocobo is the super-cute character from the Final Fantasy games, and we've restocked our cute White Mage versions. A very huggable item from Japan!
	Progressive Knife Replica *Preorder*. Here's a rare item for the Evangelion fan: a replica of the weapons the EVAs used for close combat, rendered in safe PVC and plastic materials. Available for preorder now.
	Totoro *Jumbo* Playing Cards. My kids and I like playing card games (called "trump" in Japanese, using the British term), and these extra large Totoro playing cards are really great for large or small hands. I recommend them.
	Various Stationery Items. See some stationery items back in stock, including authentic origami paper (150 sheets included!) as well as tape that helps you learn hiragana -- fun!
	Finally, Restocked Snacks. Lots of snacks back in stock today, including the hugely popular "Melty" Kit Kat in Apple flavor as well as Vanilla Beans Kit Kat, Almond Crush Pocky, and Pretz in Tomato and Green Tea flavor!
	Sola Aoi in Doll House. How cool would it be to have the gorgeous Sola Aoi (aka Sora Aoi) trapped in a miniature doll house, going about her daily routine of bathing, getting dressed while you watched in through the windows? That's a question we'll leave up to the philosophers.
	New Manga Volumes. Today's new works include Ero Wife Communication, featuring plenty of experienced married women being naughty, and Love Affair, featuring eleven individual stories of extremely satisfying "H."
	Idol Forever -- Kyoko Ayana, Monbu Ran, Mai Sakashita. Next, enjoy three of the hottest JAV idols of the past, re-mastered to bring you the most detail possible. Big "oppai" queen Kyoka Ayana, delicious Ran Monbu (whose name sounds like the French dessert Mont Blanc) and the fabulous Mai Sakashita, are all waiting for you.

Some thoughts on the series "Lost," how to brighten a Japanese salaryman's day, and how learning Japanese can get you fewer dates

I've caught the "Lost" bug, and am enjoying watching the series on DVD here in San Diego. One interesting aspect of the show are the sub-plots involving Jin and Sun, a Korean couple who are marooned on the island. Since the husband doesn't speak English, there are large swaths of dialogue in Koran, which makes me think I'm back in Japan with my wife watching Hanryu Dorama or the South Korean soap operas that are so popular these days. Although Japanese and Korean have a similar grammatical structure, with "particles" that mark the subject and object of a sentence, and similar word order, the two languages are quite different. The only words I can pick out of Korean are Chinese-derived words, like "promise" "goal" "air current" and so on -- not nearly the level of ability to read Chinese that I get for "free" by leaning Japanese (about 20%).

When I came to Japan in 1991, I was extremely motivated to learn Japanese, which was a good thing since the idea that you can learn a language through osmosis just by living in that country is flat wrong. I took advantage of every opportunity to advance my studies, listening to JPOP music and watching anime and Japanese dramas, which helped me get lots of vocabulary input. When I encountered a Japanese person, I'd engage in a brief "language battle" with them to determine which of us had the higher language skills, and thus which language I'd speak with that person -- and I hated to lose. Then one day I was in Tokyo, looking for a coin locker to put my bags in, and a middle-aged salaryman who was clearing his out said "Please use this one" to me in English. I thanked him in fluent Japanese, but after that I realized that I'd done him a real disservice. This man would probably have only have a few chances to use his English each year, and yet I had stubbornly refused to oblige him. Since that day, I've resolved to speak English to Japanese people more, which usually causes their face to brighten just a little. And if you really want to make a Japanese person's day? Compliment them on their English and ask if they've studied in the U.S. or England. It's usually pure B.S., but they'll be happy all day long.

One thing gaijin who attain fluency in Japanese can attest to, though, is that the more you learn Japanese, the more some doors close. Japanese often think of foreigners as fun to be around, and part of that fun flows from both sides not being able to understand each other perfectly, which somehow makes us more "exotic." If you go out to karaoke with Japanese, they'll enjoy themselves more if you sing a ridiculous version of "September" by Earth, Wind and Fire than if you're able to belt out the latest enka hit by Daisuke Kitagawa. At bars and clubs, too, foreigners who don't speak much Japanese can find themselves more popular with Japanese girls than gaijin who can read all 1945 characters of the joyo kanji (the characters designated for "general use" by Japan's Ministry of Education, which defines what it is to be literate in the language). Foreigners who learn too much Japanese might find the dating scene to be somewhat different, too, as some girls who might be interested in the exotic feel of a "real" gaijin might be turned off by our extensive knowledge of the late Edo and Meiji Restoration Periods (stuff that the average Japanese never cares about). Of course, I wouldn't want to go out with a girl who was turned off by me having too much interest in her country and language, and all people are different -- my wife was interested in me specifically because of my fondness for memorizing odd Japanese proverbs.

Christmas is fast approaching, but J-List is still humming to get orders out the door in a timely fashion in both our Japan and San Diego orders. We've got thousands of great items in stock right now, from plush toys to 2008 anime calendars to our delicious wacky T-shirts and hoodies, let us know what we can do for you. If you're in a hurry, we highly recommend our ultra-convenient J-List Gift Certificates, which can be sent via email to you or to your recipient as a high-quality PDF for instant printing. Or, if they like music from Japan, consider giving them an iTunes Japan Prepaid Card, which let you buy all the best music from Japan for 150 or 200 yen per song, and they work great with your iPod and even the iTunes stores in your iPhone / iPod Touch!

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.

	Evangelion Police Costume Figures. Okay, these are just too cool -- a re-mix of the Evangelion girls Rei and Asuka dressed as police girls, or specifically, "Mini-Skirt Police" (it's kind of a Japanese fixation, don't ask us).
	Brand New Snack Items. Today's new snack items include delicious Aero Cocoa in Green Tea flavor, yummy Meiji Chopan Chocolate Millefeuille, and something delicious-looking called Zackl in Caramel Flavor.
	COSMODE 019 - Super Cosplay Magazine. This is the #1 magazine for fans of cosplay is COSmode, and this is another great issue filled with pictures of top Japanese cosplayers. You also get a pattern included in the book, too, as well as stickers.
	SHODO Calligraphy Brush. Shodo ("the way of writing") is the art calligraphy brush writing, and J-List has many products for people interested in this art. Here's a nice deluxe brush for calligraphy writing that goes well with other products we stock.
	CHO-CHIN Old Style Lantern ~ DARUMA. Here's a cool item: a traditional Japanese lantern shaped like a Daruma (aka Dharma, if you're a "Lost" fan). Decorate any room with this cool item.
	Totoro Scenery Music Box --Totoro Bus Stop. Studio Ghibli is the studio founded by Hayao Miyazaki to make his fabulous movies, and we've gotten in a great new ceramic music box of Totoro, Satsuki and Mei waiting at the bus stop in the famous scene from the movie.
	Restocked 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. Back in stock!
	Restocked Tattoo Girls Design Book vol. 2. Tattoos are cool, and very popular in Japan. Here's a book that shows you great pictures of what kinds of tattoos are being done in Japan, with large color photos in case you want to copy some of the work. Best of all, you get tattoos designed by the likes of Junko Mizuno. Back in stock!
	Detective CONAN Nurie Coloring Book. This is a very popular anime from Japan about a boy who solves mysteries. Now available in a fun "nurie" (nuri-e) coloring book for all ages.
	3D Oppai Mouse Pad -- Alice Parade ~ Lingerie version. We just love these 3D mouse pads, which really bring anime girls alive in, er, three dimensions. A fabulous item from Japan that's slightly "ecchi."
	Restocked Seven Days in Japan. Now you can visit Japan for under $10, with this great documentary made by student film director and anime fan Joe Doughrity, who fulfilled his lifelong dream of coming to Japan and made a DVD of it. Back in stock!
	More Interesting Pens from Japan. J-List has a great selection of unique pens from Japan, from easy-to-hold pens to meticulously crafted pens with tiny tips to pens for sushi fans. Today we're posting the Pentel New Stylish Gel Ink SLICCI pen set, a gorgeous set of multi-colored pens from Japan.
	Restocked Stationery Items, Too. See the StitchLock paper stitcher (which never needs staples), great restocked pens from Pentel and Signo, and more, too.
	Fresh Stock of Bento Boxes. Today we're restocking several bento items, including the Uneri Bento Box sets (both colors), elegant chopsticks, and other items.
	Ero-Kame ~ erokame. Super "H" magazine from the publishers of Urecco featuring some of the hottest JAV stars in Japan. Really great photography as only Japan could produce.
	Overflowing Love -- Ai Arakawa. Ah, here's a lovely photobook item for fans of beautiful Japanese women. You'll surely love Ai-chan's gorgeous "ecchi" pictures here.
	New Manga Volumes. Our new manga include New Equal Bloomers (aka Inner Bloomer), a great "ero" work from Toshiaki Kaneko and Megastore, and Girls Garden, featuring a collection of "H" game stories from the most popular games of today.
	Osana Najimi to Amaku H ni Sugosu Houhou Official Fanbook. Then here's a cool artbook for fans of the "H" game Osana Najimi, featuring art and character info from the game, with lots of glossy pages to drool over.
	Yulia 100-Shiki Cast-Off Figure. Here's a really amazing cast off figure, with clothes that you can remove (HEEHEEHEE). This is figure of Yulia 100 from the manga series by the same name. Top quality figure, available for preorder now.
	Outdoor Whale Shower -- Rio. Tina Yuzuki, the lovely half-Japanese, half-Portuguese AV star, has changed her name to "Rio" now, supposedly because she wants to make a change -- she wants to be less of an "AV idol" and more of an "AV actress" is what we're told by her management company. Either way, here's a bold new release from our favorite honey!
	Sports Acky! -- Akiho Yoshizawa (region 2). Get ready for more fun with Acky, aka Akiho Yoshizawa, in a wacky sports release from Moodyz. She does it all -- extreme volleyball, swimming, track and field, even traditional Japanese archery. Great for fans of Zenra Sports!

The interesting status of voice actors in Japan, shortening foreign words in English and Japanese, and ways that the Japanese aren't so polite

Anime has really gotten big in the U.S. in recent years, changing the face of popular culture as people are more in sync with the anime world. This isn't a new phenomenon in Japan, of course, where animation has been a part of everyone's lives since the old days of Mighty Atom, Giants no Hoshi and the original Gegege no Kitaro. One thing I've often noticed is that the voice actors -- seiyu in Japanese -- in anime are often extremely famous in Japan, with many of the top stars essentially becoming household names. When legendary voice actor Yasuo Yamada, who provided the voice of Lupin III, died in 1995, it was a national tragedy, and everyone grieved to lose the original voice of Lupin. (He was replaced by a comedian who did Lupin III impersonations on variety shows.) Some other voice actors who are well-known to the average Japanese person include Akira Kamiya, voice of Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star, the muscular Kinniku Man, and Ryo from City Hunter, and of course Tohru Furuya, who's played Amuro Rei from the iconic Mobile Suit Gundam along with a host of other roles. Perhaps the most famous voice actor of all is Nobuyo Oyama, the voice of the lovable robot cat from the future, Doraemon. When she retired in 2005, my kids stopped watching the show entirely, since they couldn't accept Doraemon with any voice other than the original. My wife watches lots of American TV dubbed into Japanese, and it's quite fun to play "pick the anime voice actor" while watching an episode of CSI: Miami with her. Oh, that's Inspector Zenigata!

One thing I've noticed is that people from all countries will reduce complex words into smaller chunks to make them easier to work with. In Japanese, it's common for various words to be abbreviated and reduced, to make them easier to say, especially English words which can be cumbersome when rendered into the Japanese phonetic system. For example, the Nintendo Entertainment System was sold here as the Famicom, short for Family Computer; similarly, if you want to go out to eat at a restaurant like Denny's or Coco's, just ask for the nearest famires (family restaurant). Words that are hip with young people tend to get abbreviated the most -- such as diji-kame (digital camera), ge-sen (game center) and sutaba (Starbuck's). Often companies will go out of their way to get people to think of their products in these abbreviated versions, advertising names as Pure-ste (Playstation) or Dora-Kue (Dragon Quest) to make them more familiar to customers.

The Japanese are famous for being polite, even when visiting Presidents throw up in the lap of the country's Prime Minister, as Bush I did on a visit here. It's quite silly, but when I first game to Japan, one small bit of culture shock for me was feeling that stop signs were "rude," because they used the informal command verb tomare ("Stop!") rather than some longer, more polite form. Although the Japanese generally are considerate, there are times when foreigners like me might consider what they do to be rude. First of all, the Japanese love to read over a person's shoulder, and if you're typing something in Japanese on a laptop, well, don't be surprise if a crowd gathers behind you. My mother taught me not to reach over people's plates when eating dinner together, but to ask for someone to pass the item to me; apparently the Japanese didn't get that memo, as it's common here to reach across the table to get what you need while eating. Similarly, Americans don't usually drink soup out of bowls, however it's almost a requirement that you do so here, since there are no spoons. Oh, and while eating any noodle dish like ramen or soba (not spaghetti!), you're expected to slurp your noodles as loudly as possible, and not doing so will likely elicit comments about how quietly you eat.

We've got some good news for fans of PC dating-sim games: the newest title from G-Collections, Snow Sakura, is in stock and shipping now. A super game that will appeal to a wide range of gamers, Snow Sakura puts you into the role of Yuuji, an average Japanese youth surrounded by a circle of beautiful girls (lucky guy). Although you grew up with your energetic cousin Saki, why Kozue, enigmatic senpai Rei, ditzy Misaki and your clumsy teacher Misato, 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, which somehow blooms year-round, even in the dead of winter. A great game in the tradition of the best interactive visual novels from Japan (*cough* Kanon *cough*), that we recommend for its great story and characters. Best of all, we've decided to give everyone a little present, and have lopped $5 off the price of the game for all new orders as well as existing preorders. This super game is now it's in stock -- make your order 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 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.

	Transformer Encore 03 Soundwave. First, we've gotten in some more fun Transformers toys in stock for you, with cool retro styling and (of course) full Transformability. This is Soundwave, the 80s style ghetto blaster that was so cool back in the day, and still is.
	Sunshine Buddies Handy Eco Bag. The Sunshine Buddies series is all about being kind to the Earth, since they run forever via the magic a solar power. Here's a cool related item: a cloth "Eco Bag" that you can carry easily.
	New Japanese Snacks. Got some delicious Japanese snacks for you today, including Toppo in Coffee Mousse & Milk Cake flavor, delicious chewing gum called Purumi, and new Hi-Chew soft candies in (wait for it, wait for it...) Aloe Yogurt flavor!
	Dengeki Maoh Dec 2007. This is a great magazine published each month featuring a fabulous phone book 'o manga, with 500+ pages of top stories like, Tales of Symphonia, Basara and more, as well as lots of free stuff for you.
	Restocked 2008 Calendars We've gotten in a bunch of great new 2008 calendars for anime fans, including the fabulous Studio Ghibli calendar (loaded with *all new* Studio Ghibli illustrations, which often provide insights for fans), Bleach, Death Note and many more. But this will likely be the last stock of many of these items, so don't delay.
	Various Anime Figures Ready to Ship. We've gotten several of the preorder figures on the site now, including the amazing "Girl with No Name" with awesome cowboy hat and old west gun, the coolest Tachikoma you'll see in a long time, and more.
	Hello Kitty KAIUN Chirimen Magnet with Lucky Charm. A cute item for Sanrio fans, this is a kimono fabric Hello Kitty plush toy with a magnet inside, that you can put it on your fridge, the white board at work, etc. Also brings good luck!
	Restocked Hello Kitty Merchandise. We've gotten in lots of fun Sanrio items today, including the Hello Kitty eye mask, the Hello Kitty Tight 2-Tier Bento Box, and a favorite item of mine, the Hello Kitty Onigiri Maker, which makes Kitty-shaped rice balls!
	Kanji de Manga Vol. 5. A useful book for learning to read kanji in the best way possible, through the visual medium of manga. A popular series that we recommend a lot.
	Otoko Moe Soundrop -- Full Set of 6. "Moe" (mo-EH) is the primary concept in otaku culture today, describable as the warm, fuzzy feeling you get when contemplating your favorite anime character. This is a great Soundrop series featuring the most excellent yaoi / BL / bishounen archetypes.
	Miku Hatsune Nendoroid Figure *Preorder*. Miku Hatsune is the amazing computer generated idol, a popular CG character who sings in a voice that's completely artificial, thanks to an incredible software program from Hitachi. Now you can have this amazing character on your desk. Yes, she has the stupid onion in her hand.
	Restocked Kitchen and Bento Goods. Various back-in-stock bento and kitchen items today, including the cute Panda-shaped bento boxes, our popular Cup Noodle Mug Cup, and authentic chopsticks from Japan.
	Even More Delicious Snacks from Japan. Finally, see some great restocked Japanese snacks, including Meiji Wata-Pachi cotton candy w/ pop rocks inside, Hi-Chew Peach Soft Candy, Black Black Caffeine Candy, and Toppo in French Style Caramel Mousse. Yum.
	Snow Sakura is Shipping. As mentioned above, Snow Sakura is in stock and shipping now! Best of all, we've decided to give everyone a cool Christmas gift by lowering the price by $5, to say thank to our fans for their support.
	The Top DVD Magazine No. 109 Sep 2007. The Top DVD Magazine tracks the top JAV actresses and DVD releases, and is a great way to stay on top of the always-changing video world in Japan. Comes with a great 200 minute DVD, too.
	New "H" Manga from Japan. Two great "H" comics from Japan for you, with great themes for fans of ropes and tying. First there's Lustful Glance with eight chapters of nonstop action, then Inbaku Byoto with stories centering around obsession, futanari and more.
	Restocked Manga, Too. Today's restocked manga volumes include the amazing Voluptuous Woman by Grifon, You must be a Incredible "M," Doubles, futanari super work Hatsu-Inu, It's Okay to Look, and the oddly named visual treat Alignment You! You! Click to view these items now.
	Shizuka 1/8 Cast-Off Figure ~ Queens Blade *Preorder*. A super "cast off" figure from Queens Blade, with clothes that can be, er, cast off. Fabulous detail, great for displaying in your home or office.
	Ultimate & Extreme Bobbers Selection 4 Hours. We just love titles like this -- so wacky, it could only come from Japan. If you love girls with very large oppai, you should bag this super 4 hour DVD release from Million. Kyoko Ayana, Mai Haruna, Megu Ayase, and many more!

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

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

"I hate it when someone smorks in my face." For whatever reason, the English word "smoke" is often rendered as "smork" in Japan. The issue is how the Japanese perceive certain sounds, especially the "r" phoneme that's not familiar to them. Because Japanese is a syllable-based language in which you can express sounds like ka, ki, ku, ke or ko, but not the consonant "k" by itself, English words like "hello" "goodbye" or "beer, please" must be forced through this rather alien phonetic system, resulting in haroh (the final "h" representing an elongating of the previous vowel), guddobai and biiru puriizu. The very first fast food I ate in Japan was a McDonald's clone called First Kitchen (home of the world famous scrambled egg burger, yech), and I remember some confusion as to whether the company was First Kitchen or Fast Kitchen. Without the full repertoire of English sounds, the Japanese render the latter as fasuto and the former as fahsuto, with the longer middle vowel serving the role of the "r" in "first." This rule gets over-generalized in some words, which is why the long middle sound of the word sumo-ku (smoke) ends up as "smork."

Every year a single kanji character is designated by the Kanji Examination Association which represents the events of that year, and this year the character is...itsuwari, which translates as falsity, lies or deceit. It was a big year for being lied to in Japan, with many scandals in the headlines. First, the problems with missing Social Security payments, which meant that thousands of workers wouldn't get credit for money they paid into the system decades ago. Learning that the freshness date on the food they order may not be accurate also shook the trust of consumers in Japan -- McDonald's got caught changing the dates on salads so leftovers could be sold the following day, and they'd been doing it for years. The scandal at the Ministry of Defense, in which Deputy Defense Minister Yoko Yamada demanded various perks in exchange for the awarding of lucrative contracts, resulted in a raid on the Japanese version of the Pentagon by prosecutors. Today there was an official ceremony at beautiful Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in which a famous Buddhist priest wrote the character with a large calligraphy brush while hundreds looked on. The kanji for previous years have included inochi (life) in 2006, during which so many young people committed suicide; ai (love), after the birth of Princess Masako's daughter Ai in 2005; sai (disaster), in tragedy-laden 2004; and tora (tiger), celebrating the Hanshin Tigers victory in the Japan Series in 2003.

And still, the crack team of J-List employees is churning out packages left and right, making sure that orders both in Japan and San Diego go out in a timely manner. J-List's unique position, actually being based in Japan, really allows us to bring you a huge selection of mind-blowingly unique products from Japan, like our good luck Poop Hat, or those cool Santa Lucky Cat display items, or the cool Christmas ornaments we have on the site now. You can browse all new items using this link. Having trouble making up your mind what to give? We've got a few ideas for you.

Here are today's "really cool products" that I've picked out for you, out of the 30+ new items we've added to the J-List and JBOX.com sites today. Note that some products may be "not safe for work" but that all links will allow you to redirect yourself either to the J-List or JBOX.com websites. To see all the J-List products, check out J-List or the JBOX.com updated products link.

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

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

Goodbye to New York, examining Japan's Buddhism and Shinto religions, Buddhist Altars, and fun linguistic coincidences

Well, our fun time in New York is at an end, and now it's time to head back to San Diego, which is a far less Christmassy place to be, all things considered. I have many memories of this convention, although my favorite was no doubt being surrounded by Domo-kun booth babes. It was a lot of fun, spending so much time in this amazing city, and I'll never look at New York quite the same way after this trip...

Japan is a mix of traditions taken in from different periods of time, and you can see this when studying the religions of the country. The original religion of Japan is Shinto, written with the characters kami (gods or spirits) and way or road, making it similar to other "the way of" words like shodo (writing + way = calligraphy), sado (tea + way = tea ceremony) or the martial art judo (flexibility + way). Shinto essentially finds kami, or spirits, in things like mountains, trees and rocks, making it seem very much to me like a Native American belief with its strong basis in nature. In the sixth century Buddhism was introduced into the country, and amazingly the two religions generally learned to treat each as an aspect of the other, allowing for much less conflict than you'd expect. Now, the various sects of Buddhism (which are as confusing to me as understanding the nuances of the Protestant churches are for my wife) are by far the most important religious tradition in Japan, and most families will surround themselves with Buddhist traditions even as they visit Shinto shrines on January 1st to pray for good luck in the New Year, or get married in Western weddings in beautiful churches.

One of the most famous everyday symbols of Buddhism in Japan is the butsudan, or household Buddhist Altar, which nearly every head-of-family household will maintain, unless they specifically identify with another religion. As far as I've been able to tell, Japanese Buddhism is primarily about respecting and remembering your ancestors, since (as my wife has told me), without your ancestors, you certainly wouldn't be here. Every morning my mother-in-law wakes up and makes an offering to her mother and father, by ringing a bell and burning a stick of incense for them. I've always thought that the absolute knowledge that you'll be remembered and loved by those you leave behind is one of the most comforting aspects of Japanese-style Buddhism. A butsudan is only maintained by the head of a household, the father or oldest son in a family, and if, say, a family has five children who move into homes of their own, they won't keep one but will return to their parents home on special events like the O-Bon holidays in the summer. A Buddhist altar is quite complex, filled with tablets on which are inscribed the names of your ancestors and an image of Buddha meditating, along with various other symbolic images. If you asked me what the most bizarre thing I've seen since coming to Japan is, I'd have to answer opening the newspaper and seeing an ad from a Buddhist altar store advertising a big sale on all the latest butsudan and grave stones. Wacky!

It's always fun to see what natural coincidences occur between languages. A Swedish friend of mine who's married to an Indian woman mentioned that the word for "no" in both Swedish and Hindi happened to be the exact same. This happens between Japanese and English, for example in the word "so" which has the exact same meaning in both languages (so desu ka? = is that so?). You probably known that "thank you" in Japanese is arigato, which sounds suspiciously like the same word in Portuguese, obrigado, although the Japanese word was in use before the Portuguese came to the country, making them unrelated. Most adjectives in Japanese end in an -i ("ee") sound, such as takai (high, expensive), yasui (cheap) or tsuyoi (strong), which is odd since many adjectives in English end in the same sound, like friendly, early or heavy. For the linguistically minded out there, these are known as false cognates, an accidental matching up of languages which seems related but which are totally separate in background.

Remember that the J-List machine is humming, getting orders out the door with incredibly speedy speed both from Japan and our U.S. office. The unique Japan-themed products we've got for you would be perfect for the Japanophiles on your list, so browse our site now and let us know what we can do 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.

	Cute Japanese Snacks w/ Character Bags. Snack sets that come in high quality handbags are rally big this season, and we've gotten in a cute new Sugar Bunnies fluffy bag w/ snack set.
	Various New Japanese Snacks. Enjoy delicious new Japanese snacks, too, including Crunky White Chocolate (love that eerie name), and a new Lotte Xylitol gum in delicious lemon flavor, with that cool sweetener from Norway -- yum.
	Goth-Loli & Punk Brand Book 2008 Autumn/Winter. Follow the latest in cool Goth-Loli fashions in the new Punk Brand Book 2008, which helps those interested in goth cosplay culture find the cool accessory items needed to make the perfect gothic outfit.
	Domokun Mimobot USB 2.0 Flash Drives. J-List and Domo-kun go together like peanut butter and jelly, milk and cookies, or sushi and wasabi. We're posting the cool Domo-kun USB flash drives in all three varieties now -- in 1, 2 or 4 GB sizes. Domo!
	Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya CDs. The most influential anime since Evangelion has a great theme song, one that will get you out of your chair and dancing in the streets. We're posting this CD single along with the character CDs for Yuki and Mikuru. Kawaii!
	Haruhi Suzumiya 1/8 Red Bunny ver. ~ Metamo Figure *Preorder*. We're posting this really excellent figure of Haruhi in her bunny suit (seen in several episodes) now, a great upcoming PVC figure release that you can preorder now.
	Yuki Nagato 1/8 Cat Girl ver. ~ Metamo Figure *Preorder*. Also, enjoy Yuki Nagato (who is really an advanced android working with the Galactic Civilization) dressed in a cat girl suit, which looks rather cute on her.
	Evangelion Head Interface. Transform yourself into Asuka or Rei from Evangelion. Back in stock due to their popularity, but don't let these cool items slip past you this time.
	Link Plush ~ Phantom Hourglass. Here's a cute Link plush from Zelda, a great item from Japan that's both huggable and fun to display at your desk, in your car, wherever. Comes with cute little hat.
	Cute Sanrio Stationery & Pens. It's always fun to see what cute new items are coming out of Japan these days. Enjoy these Sanrio My Melody & Kuromi notebooks and pens with cute designs.
	Alice in Wonderland ~ Fushigino Kuni no Alice. Here's a cool stylized retelling of Alice in Wonderland from a manga perspective, a great new manga that's all in color, created by illustrator Sakura Kinoshita. Really beautiful art throughout.
	Souseiseki (Lapis Lazuli Star) ~ Rozen Maiden Traumend Puni-Cole. Rozen Maiden fans, rejoice, here's a really excellent figure for you, Souseiseki in one of the best forms ever made, with full doll-like movement and even a costume for solving crimes. Really cool.
	Space Battleship Yamato Mechanical Collection ~ Full Set of 10. Fans of Space Battleship Yamato, aka Star Blazers, this is a series you won't want to miss. Features the Yamato along with just about every other cool ship from the series, including the Andromeda (!), the baddest Yamato ship ever made.
	Bento Boxes, Related Items. The Hello Kitty Mono-Chrome Tight Bento Box is back in stock, as well as various chopstick items that are fun and easy for gaijin to use.
	Gekkan -- Yu Abiru. Next, we have a super issue of Gekkan, which means Monthly, a special magazine dedicated entirely to a single model, in this case Yu Abiru. This girl is one of the finest we've seen in a long time, and we know you will enjoy her fabulous pictures.
	New Manga Volumes. Enjoy gorgeous new "ero" manga from Japan, including the fabulous Unrein by the talented illustrator Inono, and a very ecchi manga featuring lots of maids, tentacles, and more.
	Admired Swimming Instructor -- Sarasa Hara. We love the gorgeous Sarasa Hara who plays a very sexy swimming instructor, ready to teach her students whatever they might need. Enjoy this superb offering from one of Japan's best studios.
	Volleyball Player Nagisa Okamoto. A real former professional volleyball player makes the jump to AV just for you in a new release from Soft on Demand. Features great "H" for fans of sports-themed DVD releases and Zenra Sports.

My hop to New York, narrowly dodging staying in the city's worst hotel, and comparing it to the Star Wars Cantina

I've made the long hop from Japan to New York, and I'm now enjoying the 19 degree (with wind chill) temperatures. We're here to attend the New York Anime Festival, Dec 7-9, and can be found either at booth #408 or #340, with our great Domo-kun T-shirts, hoodies and hats as well as manga, PC dating-sim games and more. This show is going to be a really excellent one, with thousands of fans of many great companies all coming together, and we hope to see you there! Update: if for no other reason, come for the Domo-kun booth babes!!!!!

Its fun to "surf the culture shock" wave when in a new city, and New York has been a great place for this so far. I've stood on freezing subway platforms that look like they came out of a level of the game Max Payne (no relation, by the way), done power-shopping at the multi-story Toys "R" Us in Times Square, and narrowly avoided staying in New York's worst hotel. It's been extremely exciting, and we haven't even gotten started with the convention yet. Everyone knows that New York is an extremely international city, but the Star Wars Cantina-esque variety of cultures and languages around me has really been a surprise. I've gotten into a political discussion over delicious pasta with a family from India, debated similar issues with a taxi driver from Pakistan, and gotten into interesting conversations with people from the top of the world (Sweden) and the bottom (Australia). I'm staying in a very Jewish neighborhood, so I'm getting to see what a real Hanukkah celebration is like, too. It struck me that New York must be the perfect opposite of clean, homogenized Japan, where even speaking your a regional dialect of the language is frowned upon, at least in Tokyo.

Transliteration is the act of transcribing from one writing system into another, for example from Japanese to the Roman alphabet, and it's not an exact science, which is why we have alternate spellings for words and names in other languages, like good old Muamar Gaddaffi/Khadafi/Quadhafi, Mao Tse-Tung/Zedong, or Hanukkah/Chanuka for that matter. There are several aspects of Japanese that make writing Japanese words in English an inherently vague and challenging process. For example, there are long vowels in Japanese that are meaningless when written out in English since they don't change how foreigners pronounce the words. The correct way to write "pretty girl" in Japanese is "bishoujo" with the extra 'u' in the middle, and yet it's often shortened to "bishojo" for brevity's sake. Is it better to leave the long vowels in the word, although it complicates pronunciation and makes the words harder to remember, or should they be omitted? There's no simple answer -- although writing long vowel words with the shorter spelling is "wrong," it's no worse than the way meanings and pronunciations changed when French melded with English after 1066. Famous place names like Tokyo and Osaka also have long vowels that are cut to avoid making the name needlessly long -- since no one wants to write Toukyou and Oosaka. Another area where there is vagueness about how to write Japanese words or names in English is L and R. Actress and Tokyo University graduate Rei Kikukawa's first name could be transliterated as Lei without it being wrong, so is it okay to do this? There's often little agreement and so both names might be used sometimes -- there's no "right" way to write it. It can be very confusing, especially to search engines that can't tell that two similar words are the same.

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.

	Rilakkuma Fluffy Plush (Huge Size). This is the perfect item to put under the tree of a San-X fan. Talk about huggable! This is one of the coolest plush toy we've ever gotten in -- measures 30 inches.
	New Japanese Snacks. We carry tons of delicious Japanese snacks, and today we're posting Meiji Matcha Chocolate for green tea fans, Lotte Fruit Chocolate, and new Mushroom Mountain featuring vanilla chocolate cookie mushrooms.
	Ryomou Shimei 1/6 Cast-Off Figure Maid and Bunny Suit ver. ~ Dragon Destiny *Preorder*. Ikki Tousen (Dragon Destiny) figures are always popular, and today we've gotten in a cool new preorder figure featuring Ryomou dressed as a maid, or a cute bunny girl. Awesome low angle, too.
	Matsu 1/7 Figure ~ Sekirei. A cool figure we've got in stock for you now is Matsu from the manga Sekirei, a series with many sexy fighting cyborg mecha.
	Aria the Natural Solid Works Collection. For fans of Aria the Natural, a set of really well made characters, rendered in cute SD ("super deformed") style. This is a full set with all characters included.
	Metal Gear Solid Kubrick Collectors Edition Full Set of 5. Fans of figures from Japan know that the Kubrick line from MediaComToy is one of the best, popular for their great quality and minute attention to detail. Here are figures from Metal Gear Solid, with full sets, partial sets and individuals in stock.
	Great Sanrio Items. We've got some really great Hello Kitty items today too, including a large "Donburi" bowl with a cute lid, and a charming chirimen bag for you to carry your stuff in.
	Endless Bubble Wrap, Sake Skin Lotion. Not only have we restocked our Sake Skin Lotion which cleans your skin with the magical power of sake, you can now get freaky with Endless Puchi Puchi, the "bubble wrap simulator" that pops every time you hit the buttons.
	Back-in-Stock Bento Items. Bento fans, we've gotten in some great new items for you, including the Happy Time Animal (Frog) bento, more cute soy sauce bottles, and a cool way to steam many traditional asian foods.
	Dengeki Comic Gao Jan 2008. The new issue of Dengeki Comic Gao ("roar!") features more than 500 pages of dynamite manga for you, including Those Who Hunt Elves KNIGHTS and many more. Highly recommended item.
	SHODO ~ Traditional Calligraphy Explore the traditional Japanese art of Shodo, or brush art calligraphy, with the deluxe calligraphy set we've posted today, which comes with brush, ink stick, inkwell and paper.
	Vegetable Theme Sunshine Buddies Relieve stress with the new Vegetable Sunshine Buddies, aka Nohohon Zoku or "super relaxing people," which uses solar power to rock his head from side to side for all eternity (well, until the sun goes out anyway).
	Sabra Magazine Dec 2007. Everyone who has opened an issue of Sabra knows that it features the most beautiful women in Japan, hands down. This new issue has many hot stars inside, including the lovely Marrie Kai, and you can order it now.
	Chinkame Pocket Photobooks. The "Chinkame" book series lets you see Japan's most beautiful girls captured in small pocket-sized photobooks. See the dynamite Ai Nagase, Madoka Ozawa and Bunko Kanazawa in this, three fabulous queens of JAV.
	Super New Manga Volumes. Today's hot new manga include Red Corolla featuring stories about serious wish fulfillment, and an exploration of naughty, naughty wives.
	Active Cartoonist AV Debut!? Japan is famous for taking famous newscasters or mainstream actresses and getting them to "go JAV." Now this popular manga artist (and all around cute girl) has agreed to let herself be ravaged for the glory of SOD and her fans.

A few odd things you can see in Japan, Japan's most famous dog, and habits of Japanese drivers

As you know from reading J-List's updates, there are some pretty odd things in Japan. Beer for kids to drink, just like Daddy (non-alcoholic, of course). Regular news reports on the cherry blossoms or autumn leaves for each region of the country. Corn, squid and mayonnaise on pizza. Or "Knee Pillows" that let you pretend you're laying your head on your girlfriend's lap. Another bizarre thing I've encountered here and there in Japan are fake policemen, essentially mannikins made to look like uniformed police officers, who stand by the side of the road looking official as people drive by. The idea is that if you're speeding, the sight of a police uniform is likely to get you to slow down, even if it's obvious it's not real. There are several variations on this theme, such as signs with reflective material on them to make them look like a patrol car waiting to catch you for speeding when headlights hit them. Japan's high population and national love of road construction mean that you often have to deal with road work while driving, especially near the end of the fiscal year in March, and by law construction crews must hire uniformed guards to stand by the side of the road and direct the flow of traffic around the construction area as needed. Sure enough, they've also invented automatic robots who mechanically wave a signal to let drivers they should proceed forward with caution.

Do you know the story of Tokyo's most famous dog? His name was Hachiko, an Akita inu who was owned by a university professor in the 1920's. Every day, Hachiko accompanied the professor to Shibuya Station, and in the evenings, the man would come back to find the dog waiting faithfully at the station, a happy expression on his face. This continued for years, until one day, the man died suddenly. Loyal Hachiko waited for his master to return for ten years, wagging his tail in front of the station every day until he, too, eventually died. Tokyo residents have erected a bronze statue in Hachiko's memory, which you can see at the Hachiko exit of the station if you're ever in Tokyo (there's also a Hachiko train line, but that's getting a little silly, if you ask me). The statue is so famous that it's useful as a meeting point for friends -- just say "meet me at Hachiko" and everyone will know where to find you. It looks like Hachiko will be a lot more famous it the future -- Richard Gere is set to star in a U.S. film about the famous dog, to be released in 2008.

The Japanese have some interesting customs when it comes to their cars, which looked odd to me when I first arrived here. First of all, auto theft is quite uncommon here, so it's not at all rare to see someone leave his beautiful Nissan Fairlady Z parked in front of the conbini (convenience store) with the engine running. The idea that his car might be stolen just doesn't enter into the thinking here, so it's perfectly safe. Japanese cars have the steering wheel on the right side of the car, as in England or Australia, and drivers here have perfected the art of starting the car without getting in it, since the ignition is easily accessible on that side of the car. When stopped at a light at night, it's considered good manners to turn your headlights down to "park" so you don't blind the person in front of you, and when someone lets you go ahead of them in traffic, flashing your emergency lights at them once or twice conveys your thanks -- although this is done by polite Tokyo drivers, not Gunma locals, who are rather famous for having bad driving manners.

By the time you read this, I'll be en route to New York for the New York Anime Festival, Dec. 7-9 at the Jacob Javits Center. If you're planning on attending this great anime convention, 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, and we'll be handing out lots of those fun Japanese pocket tissues that you get with each J-List order ^_^ 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.

	HAPPY CHRISTMAS Display ~ Lucky Cat Santa & Snowman. I definitely think that one of the best items we've got for Christmas this year are the Santa Lucky Cat display sets, with ceramic cats and beautiful holiday motifs.
	World Famous "Poop" Hat. Around here we like to bring you bizarre and fun items you may not need, but which are cool for one reason or another. A plush hat that looks like you've got poop on your head certainly falls into this category -- newly restocked!
	Microwave Potato Chip Maker. I find it's fun to give gifts that are bizarre yet useful, and this certainly fills the bill -- make your very own potato chips in a microwave oven. Now that's wacky.
	Tachikoma Toys, Calendars. I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the excellent lineup of Tachikoma toys we carry on the site, with a dozen or more different toys of every size and detail level. Also, the 2008 Tachikoma calendar is something Shirow Masamune / Ghost in the Shell fans won't want to miss. I mean, little heart-covered Tachikomas for Valentine's Day?
	First Kanji Dictionary: Look & Remember. This is a really popular book, a kanji dictionary that shows you characters with large visual images that help you match the characters with what they mean, i.e. morning, night, and so on. Stroke order is also taught, and helpfully, it's all in kana/kanji as opposed to romaji, which helps you avoid learning bad pronunciation.
	Fun Traditional Items. Today's back-in-stock products include Onegai JIZO, a lucky Buddhist statue based on statues you see by the sides of the road in Japan; a Pink Mini Omamori to give you luck in love; a beautiful noren door curtain; and that awesome Autumn Moon Rabbit display, showing rabbits making mochi rice cakes.
	Castles of the Samurai Power and Beauty. How cool is this? A great book showing you everything you've ever wanted to see from Japan's ancient castles. They're all here, from the Black Crane castle of Matsumoto to the gorgeous Himeji Castle.
	Snack Sets. A lot of customers order Japanese snacks and assemble them into gift baskets as gifts, which sounds like a great idea to us. J-List has several gift sets too, so you can create just the item you want for that special someone. Remember that many snack items can be ordered by the shrinkwrapped case with a discount.
	2008 Anime Calendars. Remember that J-List currently has 170+ amazing 2008 calendars in stock, ready for your order. I've got my sights set on several this year, including the Claymore calendar, as well as the Evangelion, Clannad, and Domo-kun. Which calendars are you picking up this year?
	Bento & Related Items. In addition to fresh stock of the Thomas the Tank Engine Bento Box set, we've added stock of various chopstick + chopstick rest sets and those PITATTO Animal Lunch Pics, which are incredibly popular now. These or similar bento items (sausage cutters / soy sauce bottles) would make great gifts.
	Think Domo-Kun. Nothing says "Japan" like Domo-kun, the weird-but-cute monster character who is the official mascot of NHK, Japan's public broadcasting network. J-List has the world's best supply of Domo products, from plush cubes you can put your stuff in to our world-famous hats, T-shirts and soft, soft hoodies.
	Japanese Calligraphy T-shirt - "Sake-bito" (I Love Alcohol). Of course our wacky Japanese T-shirts are always nice to consider as a gift (whether for someone else or yourself). This is one of my favorite designs, SAKE-BITO, a remix of the Okinawan shirts that changes "island-person" to "alcohol-person" (for those who really love to throw some back).
	New Anime T-Shirts. We thought our new Fox Squirrel and Calcifur Fire Demon T-shirts would be popular, and they didn't disappoint us -- we've had to reprint them already. These are just two of the cool anime themed shirts we have for you.
	Soft Totoro Blankets, Cushions. Another item very high on the "Peter Definitely Recommends" list are the soft Totoro blankets and pillows we've got in stock right now. This year's crop is especially soft and warm, with dual linings in the blankets and soft fur-like fabric in both the square sitting cushion and the sleeping pillow.
	Restocked Universal Design Products. Universal Design is an initiative by Kokuyo to bring some good design into our desks, and we've restocked the Keshi-Piyo correction tape dispenser that looks like a bird, and stapler that looks like an egg. Damn this series is cool.
	Gift Certificate from J-List. One of the most convenient gift ideas at J-List is our classic Gift Certificate, which lets you give any amount to your recipient allowing them to buy whatever they want. The gift certificate can be used on either site, and you can opt for either physical delivery or convenient PDF delivery, so your gift can be emailed and printed either by you or your recipient.
	New Hello Kitty Vibrating Shoulder Massager ~ All Color Set. You wouldn't think of vibrating shoulder massagers as a Christmas gift item, but then you'd be wrong. We've seen a huge run on these this season as people look for something fun to gift to friends.
	A Bunch of Restocked Manga. We've gotten in a bunch of quality "H" manga back on the site for you by the way, including some fun SOS Brigade parody works for Haruhi fans, the awesome Confession of Mrs. by Azuki Kurenai, Ero Toy Office, and the hilariously-named You Are Suffocated By Unknown Big Oppai.
	Shock Gifts from Japan? I don't know about you, but I like to give gifts that are shocking and/or wacky to my friends, like the year I presented everyone I knew with nose-hair clippers. Here's an inexpensive gift item -- trading torsos of beautiful rear ends -- that would be loads of fun to give out.
	JAST USA Memorial Collection ~ Three Classic Bishoujo Games. Oo, writing about Season of the Sakura made me all natsukashii (nostalgic) for it, so I'll throw it up here. It was one of the first three dating-sim games we brought out (back in the DOS era), and I still find fans of the game telling me how great it is. These three titles are available on one disc with an updated engine that's compatible with modern Windows.
	2008 Calendars for Men. J-List's calendar lineup isn't just anime and Sanrio and JPOP. We've also got some really amazing calendars featuring the natural beauty of top stars like Mihiro, Sasa Handa and Hotaru Akane. Browse our selection now!

One of the amusing things about living in Japan is seeing what can only be described as "American branding," selling a product by draping it in red, white and blue and associating it as closely as possible with the USA. Japanese generally have the impression that America is kakko ii -- literally "good style" or cool -- and are often open to owning items like Zippo lighters, a set of Coleman outdoor cooking gear and clothes from L.L. Bean. Branding your product as American can often bring a boost in sales, which is why the American restaurant chain Coco's adds "The California Restaurant" to their signs here, and why when companies like Jack Daniels or KFC communicate their advertising messages to their customers, they wrap themselves in images of old Tennessee or Kentucky. Levi Strauss stumbled trying to build a name for themselves in Japan during the 1970s, until they hit on the of using iconic Hollywood stars like James Dean, John Wayne and even Marilyn Monroe to advertise their jeans (they came cheap, since they were dead), which has to have been one of the most successful advertising decisions ever. The other day I happened on a store called Way Out! American Spirit that offered a variety of interesting and somewhat mundane things from the U.S., including thick Charmin paper towels, BIC pens, hard-to-find-in-Japan delicacies like chips and salsa and Swiss Miss Cocoa, and T-shirts with the Union 76 logo on them. It was quite interesting to stand there and watch what American products the Japanese shoppers were picking up.

The Japanese only started accepting Western culture only relatively recently, with the ending of the Edo Period and the Meiji Restoration of 1868, when the Emperor was theoretically "restored" to power after centuries of having things run by the Shoguns. One thing I've always found interesting is the number of words in daily use here that remind you of the differences between what is Western and what is Japanese, many of which employ the kanji yoh, meaning "Western." When you get up in the morning, you probably put on some clothes, but in Japan, you put on yoh-fuku, or "Western clothes," the word used to separate the shirts, trousers and other things you wear from wa-fuku, or Japanese style clothes like kimono or yukata. If you go to a restaurant that serves spaghetti and "hamburg steak," you're eating yoh-shoku, or Western-style food, which is treated as a separate category entirely from the various types of Japanese or Chinese dishes eaten here. Japanese film aficionados break into two groups, those who enjoy yoh-ga or films from American and Europe, and fans of hoh-ga, or Japanese film. And while I've become quite accustomed to living in Japan, I still prefer the good old yoh-shiki toilet with a seat I can sit on to the seatless wa-shiki toilets, which require just a little too much dexterity to use sometimes.

Before I started selling Hello Kitty ice cube trays and Totoro bento boxes, I was an teacher of ESL, or English as a Second Language. I taught English to students from the age of three all the way up to an elderly woman whose family business was running the local Buddhist temple, which was always an interesting conversation topic. During my years as a teacher I accumulated quite a collection of English textbooks, vocabulary cards, and various games I would play in class. One such game was "English baseball" in which teams of students would get "hits" if they answered questions using English, which I passed many a lesson with. Another is the popular Japanese game "fruits basket" in which you put, say, ten chairs in a circle and put one child in each chair, with one more standing in the center. This child must ask a question like "Do you like bananas?" and all kids who like bananas must change seats as quickly as they can. The one left in the center is "it" and must ask the next question to the group. Another fun game is the classic Simon Says, which is good because it allows kids to listen and react without actually having to produce any speech, which mimcs how children acquire language. I'd have to prepare my students for a shock, though, whenever I told them, "Simon says...touch your chin," since chin (or more accurate, chin chin) is a common word for a boy's private parts used by children. Which makes that line in the Three Little Pigs just a little too embarrassing...

For fans of PC dating-sim games, we've got an early Christmas present for you: we're going to knock $5 off the price of the upcoming game Snow Sakura. This is a great game made in the tradition of some of the best visual dating-sim games from Japan, that all fans of story-centric games will really enjoy, and you can preorder it now for just $34.95, with free shipping still available until the game is ready (another week or two). Of course everyone who preordered the title at the old price will automatically receive the discount.

Remember that now is a great time for you to browse the thousands of fun and unique items from Japan which would make great gifts for the Japan-focused otaku on your list. Japan is a huge part of our global shared popular culture, and J-List has the sometimes bizarre but always enjoyable items from Japan you're looking for. Our website is ready to take your order and our staff is primed and ready to shoot it out to you with all speed. Remember that you can always give one of our J-List Gift Certificates, which allow recipients to buy whatever they want form the JBOX.com or J-List websites. Gift certificates never expire and can be sent speedily through email via a high-quality PDF file that can be printed by you or your recipient. It's the gift they'll never forget!

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.

	Tetsudou Musume ~ Train Girls -- Full Set of 6. This is cool: a new line of figures featuring beautiful anime girls of...railroad lines? Yes, these cute bishoujo characters wear real uniforms from Japan's train culture world, from JR employees to the girls selling coffee inside the Shinkansen. Full sets and individuals are in stock.
	New Japanese Snacks. Enjoy delicious new Japanese snacks today, with such great new items on the site as Lotte Crunky Crunch Chocolate (love that weird name), Koyuki Gummi in traditional "yuzu" flavor, great Matcha (green tea) powder, and sugarless Xylitol gum.
	Panda Paws 2-tier Bento Box. The animal-themed bento boxes are extremely popular in Japan right now, and J-List has the newest one: Panda Paws, a 2-tier bento box that's so cute it will brighten your day every day.
	Motoko Kusanagi 1/10 Figure ~ Wave Corporation presents Treasure Figure Collection. Excellent new figure for Ghost in the Shell fans, featuring anime's hottest and most competent Major ever. Beautiful 1:10 scale figure that's ready to order right now.
	Yuki Nagato Action Figure School Uniform ver. This is a really nice figure of Yuki, the enigmatic character from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. She's really an android from space, and she can speak in SQL code.
	Dark Saber / Saber Alter 1/8 Figure ~ Fate/Stay Night *Preorder* Cool new upcoming figure from Solid Theater and Type-Moon from one of the endings in the eroge Fate/Stay Night, in which Saber turns evil. This cool Evil Saber figure will look gorgeous on any shelf in your home or office.
	Japan the Beautiful ~ Nihon no Meikei Best 50. See the 50 most amazing views of Japan, from beautiful mountains to amazing seasonal images of the country and more. Really beautiful traditional photobook.
	Gold Key Chain with Lucky Rat. 2008 is the Year of the Rat according to the ancient Chinese calendar, and this is a cool good luck charm featuring a golden Rat figure, to bring you good luck. Features a real 5 yen coin, which is lucky because "go-en" means good luck as well as "five yen."
	Ceramic Christmas Tree Ornaments ~ EBISU and SHISHIMAI Just in time for Christmas, we've gotten in even more cool ceramic ornaments from Japan, featuring the traditional Japanese statue Ebisu (also written Yebisu) and his lucky carp fish.
	Cool new Sanrio Products from Japan. We love to bring you fun Sanrio items you can't find outside of Japan. Today we're posting a really cute "donburi" bowl with lid featuring My Melody, and we've also gotten in a great Sanrio Tooth Brush & Cup Gift Set.
	Animedia Oct 2007. Animedia is a popular anime magazine published in Japan that's loaded with information and cool stuff on popular anime. This issue features Magic Girl Ririkal, StrikerS, Lucky Star, Zero no Tsukaima and more. Great freebees!
	More High-Quality COPIC Writing Instruments. Serious artists know that COPIC is the premier maker of high quality paper and pens for serious artists, and today we're posting several new pens for drawing comics. Carried by J-List customer request!
	Walkie Bits Electronic Turtle. We've restocked the cool electronic little turtles called Walkie Bits, which walk, run, dance and do more when you press their backs. This is probably the last additional stock we'll be getting in of this series, so pick some up before they're all gone for good.
	Bomb Nov 2007. Bomb is the magazine of beautiful women that's been in print for decades, and you won't find any more beautiful bikini and other models anywhere. Yuko Ogura, Rina Akiyama, Yuuri Morishita, they're all here.
	KARAMI 28 -- Yua Aida. Wow, this is a treat: an issue of Karami, the popular photomagazine of beautiful women from Japan, dedicated to one of our favorite actresses, Yua Aida. She is grace itself, and having an entire (ad-free) magazine filled with nothing but pictures of her is really special.
	Very Special New Manga Volumes. Dynamite new "H" manga are in stock now, including Train Chikan, a manga about a naughty man on a train, and a great new issue of Futanarikko Lovers, featuring the most popular genre of art on the ero world today, futanari (lit. "the two being one").
	Restocked School Days ~ Visual Guide book. One of the most popular eroge and now an anime series, this is School Days. Here are more copies of the Official Visual Guide Book, loaded with images of the game, and those beautiful characters.
	2D Dream Magazine Illustrations. Then we have a new artbook for fans of Japan's amazing "H" culture, with gorgeous pictures from 2d Dream Magazine. Lots of tentacles vs. female ninja fun to be seen here.
	Super High Class Soap Lady -- Risa Coda. Risa Coda is a red-hot JAV actress (who resembles JPOP star Kumi Koda) is wonderful in her new release from Soft on Demand, which features all kinds of fun for you as she fulfills your fantasy of an expensive "soap lady."
	Zenra Boot Camp. Billy Blanks really made waves when he brought his Boot Camp exercise workouts to Japan, and he has many fans throughout the country. Soft on Demand brings you their twist on the group workout with Zenra Boot Camp, featuring woman who will really get your heart rate up. Has two workout modes!