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.