Today's Cool Products - Wednesday, January 30, 2008

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.

	Comp H's vol. 8 ~ Comp Heroines 8. Comp H's, pronounced Comp Heroines, is Kadokawa's dynamite magazine that focuses on bishoujo (pretty girl) characters from popular anime and games. This issue is filled with fabulous imagery, from Valentine's Day with the Lucky Star girls to lots of Haruhi Suzumiya and Shakugan no Shana. You always get good free stuff inside, and the huge Clannad poster and Valentine's Day pull-outs are highly recommended.
	Fuko Ibuki 1/8 Figure ~ Clannad. I enjoyed Air and Kanon so much that I'm really eager to get into Clannad as well. The first figure from the anime has come in -- see it on the site now
	Moetan Pastel Ink TV Color ver. Moetan is the popular series of wacky English language phrasebooks targeted at Otaku, which blossomed into a full line of figures and an anime. This is the character Pastel Ink, rendered in beautiful pre-painted PVC. This is her in her "magical girl" persona.
	Moetan Nijihara Ink TV Color ver. ...And this is Ink Nijihara, the mild-mannered secret identity of Pastel Ink, her persona when transformed into a Magical Girl.
	New Japanese Snacks. There's a new flavor of Glico's popular Pretz baked pretzel sticks in town, the delicious Strong Tomato Pretz, with a deep tomato and spice taste that's outstanding. Also, a fun gummy treat that lets you play Rock, Paper Scissors!
	Lotte Blueberry & Ume Gum. Lotte is the company that makes the most popular types of Japanese chewing gum, including the legendary Black Black caffeine gum that's loved by truck drivers and college students. They're refreshed the Ume (Japanese Plum) and Blueberry gum for 2008. As usual, it's available by the shrinkwrapped box for a discount.
	Ciao! Colorful Animal Bento Cups. In our ongoing quest to help make bento culture even more fun for our customers, we've gotten in some cute Colorful Animal cups that let you organize your bento nicely, keeping foods from running together and providing a way to bring mayonnaise and other condiments with you easily. Plus, they're so darned cute.
	My Neighbor Totoro in Forest Trio Set. Totoro fans, we've posted fresh stock of the Totoro in Forest Trio Set, a handy case featuring all three Totoro forest spirits that contains a spoon, fork and set of chopsticks. The perfect accessory to your bento.
	Relax Bear Rice Bowl - Rilakkuma. Wow, here's an incredibly cute item, a large rice bowl featuring Rilakkuma, or Relax Bear, the most popular character by the San-X company (who we've come to think of as the anti-Sanrio). Comes in an attractive box.
	SF Movie Selection Star Trek vol.1 Set of 6 *Preorder*. Over the years, we've sold some pretty awesome products at J-List, and one of my all-time favorites have been the super-detailed Star Trek miniatures. Now Konami is bringing their incredible attention to detail to the Star Trek universe, releasing a set of ships based on the Star Trek films. Based on their past releases like the Space: 1999 detailed toys, we think this is going to be the baddest Star Trek item to come from Japan. Preorder now!
	Em Em 1/8 Figure ~ Kemeko Deluxe. Kemeko Deluxe is the popular manga (and soon to be anime) that's running in Dengeki Comic Gao! This is a cool figure that can be displayed alone or in her bizarre little suit. Order this preorder figure now.
	Chupa Chups Hello Kitty w/Case. Chupa Chups is the famous lollipop from Spain, whose package was designed by none other than Salvador Dali himself. We've restocked the popular Hello Kitty Chupa Chups which includes a delicious lollipop and enclosing case, with Japan's most famous cat perched on top. There are different random colors and each comes with a removable keychain strap as well.
	More Free Shipping T-Shirts. J-List is having our first-ever "free shipping sale" on our close-out T-shirts and hoodies, and we've added some additional shirts, including the largest size of our "It is Forbidden to Urinate Here" (based on signs you can see all over the place in Japan). If you're a person who can wear our larger sizes, you really need to check out our sale now, since we've got quite a few great items for you!
	Microman Evangelion Figures. J-List carries many cool toys from Japan. As an old-school Micronauts collector back in the 70s, I really love that fact that the line is alive and well here in Japan. These figures of Rei and Asuka are very detailed and can be posed any way you like.
	Totoro Fluffy Blankets. Every year, Studio Ghibli releases a line of Totoro blankets that are so soft and warm, you won't believe it. We really stocked up on Totoro blankets this season, but they sold out faster than they ever have. Happily, we've been able to get additional stock! A highly recommended item for your family.
	Sabra Magazine Feb 2008. The new issue of Sabra is in, and it's a nice one, featuring drop-dead gorgeous Shoko Nakagawa, who appears in several places in this issue, including in a "Goth-Loli" outfit and with her equally delicious younger sister.
	Sou Sou -- Sayumi Michishige. A nice hardcover photobook for fans of super-cute JPOP idol member Morning Musume, this is Sayumi Michishige (mi-chi-SHE-gei), one of the most popular current members. See this gorgeous creature like never before.
	New Manga Volumes. We've got some really amazing new manga volumes posted today. First, there's an anthology of "naughty nurse" stories, showing the way they really heal their patients, with a cover by Toshihide Sano. Then enjoy Dominance, a gorgeous new release from one of the Witchblade artists.
	Comic AG Super Manga Anthology vol. 73. Yes, we've got another issue of Comic AG for you, the popular anthology that brings you nothing but the best "ero" manga for an incredibly reasonable price. You can buy this either as an individual issue or as part of a discounted AGSET set of 5 issues.
	Queen's Blade Vol. 1 ~ Reina. Queen's Blade is great idea, taking an old book-based combat game from the U.S. and re-working it with super-gorgeous female anime characters into hardcover anime artbooks. This is vol. 1, Reina, a popular character created by the character designer for Mai-Hime.
	Hip Parade vol. 5 ~ Sphere of Grace. In the "could only have come from Japan" category, the newest Hip Parade toy line has come in, featuring incredibly sexy "trading torsos" of beautiful women. The new series is in stock and available either as full sets or inexpensive random boxes.

How many words for "rice" do the Japanese have?

There are many large and small challenges you encounter when learning Japanese. For example, it's difficult being at peace with the idea that your brain actually can learn to read hiragana and kanji just like it perceives written English, and breaking through this barrier is an important early milestone. Another small challenge is translating single-word concepts in English into Japanese, which is usually more complex. For example, just as the Eskimo supposedly have many names for snow (which turns out not to be all that true), there are multiple words for rice that are used on a daily basis, like uncooked rice (kome), unpolished rice (genmai), steamed rice that's ready to eat (gohan, which also refers to all food), newly cultivated rice (shinmai, also used to refer to a new employee at an organization), and so on. Being an island nation, the Japanese eat various types of plants grown in the sea, which we call by the unappetizing name of "seaweed." Major categories include nori, the dried, green seaweed eaten with sushi; wakame, green leaves eaten in soup; and konbu, a kind of seaweed that's almost black, used as flavoring in soup or eaten on rice. The Japanese similarly have about five different kinds of tea which would probably be called "green tea" by the average Westerner but which are all very different.

More thoughts on Senpai and Kohai, and the origin of the word Honcho

I wrote last time about how living in Japan puts you in tune with the system of senpai and kohai, or seniors and juniors in a school or organization, and how even foreigners living here unconsciously organize themselves according to how long they've lived in the country. This vertical social system may seem odd to Westerners, but it generally works well in this country that has to cram half the population of the U.S. into a land mass the size of Montana. My daughter walks to school with a group of kids from our neighborhood organized into a unit called a han. When she was small, the oldest child became the leader, or hancho (which is where we get the word Head Honcho in case you wondered), who was responsible for making sure the younger kids kept up with group and that no one was being bullied. Next year, my daughter will be in the sixth grade, and it'll be her turn to help protect the younger kids in the group each morning. Although this top-down system works well through university, it gets stressed when it encounters the real world. While the senpai/kohai system used to work in parallel with the ages of individuals, so that a person at a certain age was always of higher rank than employees younger than him, today it's quite likely for a 35 year old to change jobs and find himself working with a 25 year old, who is the senpai and must be shown respect, even though he's younger.

Japanese ASCII Art Can Make you Cry

I've always been amazed at how expressive the Japanese can be, whether they're inventing new English words to describe products in amazing ways or creating onomatopoeia that capture not only, say, the pakku pakku sound of rapidly eating (which is where Pac-Man gets his name), but the sound of silence or of softly falling snow. Japanese net users are also very creative when it comes to making art with ASCII that expresses emotions and adds character to computer-based communication. A few months ago someone made a BBS post called "Sorry About Baseball" that was a tribute to his mother, decorated with extensive ASCII art. The post was picked up by other users who added music and made animated versions using Flash that have many crying in front of their computer monitors. It's the story of an uneducated mother raising her son alone, despite being very poor. One day, she received tickets to a baseball game, and the boy was overjoyed at the prospect of seeing his first live game; but when they got to the stadium, they found that they weren't actual tickets, only coupons for a discount on regular tickets, which they couldn't afford. On the train back home, the mother showed a tear and said, "I'm sorry for being so stupid."The boy dedicated himself to his studies, eventually winning a scholarship to college so he could make his mother proud. Years later, as she lay dying, his mother woke up and said, as if suddenly remembering something, "I'm sorry about the baseball game." He tried to tell her "I had fun," but he couldn't make his voice work.

And here's the a YouTube movie of the original post, complete with English subtitles that someone kindly added.

Today's Cool Products - Monday, January 28, 2008

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.

	Hot Gimmick 3 Digital Surfing Novia Wink & Pink Hair ver. Here's a really outstanding pre-painted anime figure from a Mahjongg game called Hot Gimmick 3, the incredibly cute Novia-chan, who looks like she dropped out of a time warp from the future. Incredibly detailed and cute, ready to be displayed on your shelf.
	Miniature Tokyo Tower 555 cm. Tokyo Tower is a scale replica of the famous Eiffel Tower in Paris that has become a famous image of the city, as well as a magnet for Godzilla attacks and CLAMP anime characters. Now you can have your very own miniature Tokyo Tower that lights up, perfect for your home or office.
	Meiji Pucca -- Creamy Vanilla. Pucca is the delicious fish-shaped cookies from Meiji that are normally filled with chocolate or other good stuff. This is a "reverse" Pucca though -- chocolate on the outside, good vanilla cream on the inside, like a Japanese Oreo!
	Tattoo Girls vol. 06. Here's a really special magazine that captures the current state of the art in tattooing showing hundreds of popular designs from kanji to beautiful images and more. You also get to see the incredible tattoos that Leah Dizon sports. Wow!
	Animal ONIGIRI Bento Box ~ Panda. We love being able to introduce incredibly unique and cute bento boxes to thousands of people. Today we've got another "onigiri" bento box, designed to hold triangle-shaped rice balls along with the rest of your lunch and look cute while doing it!
	Jewel ~ You Higuri The Best of Artworks. Here's a really outstanding artbook for fans of yaoi / bishounen style art, a glossy artbook filled with the amazing illustrations of You Higuri.
	Sabra Magazine Reserve subscription. Fans of extremely beautiful Japanese women photographed by the country's top photographers know that Sabra is something special. Now available as a revolving monthly subscription from J-List!
	Bleach Mascot Key Strap w/Omikuji. For Bleach fans, we've posted a cool series of "Mascot Key Straps" that you can attack to just about anything, your cell phone, keys, camera or Nintendo DS. Collect all your favorite Bleach characters!
	New Hello Kitty Shoulder Massager. The amazing Hello Kitty Vibrating Massagers are back in stock, with every color available for ordering again, including the most popular, pink. Now anyone can vibrate their stress away with these unique toys from Japan.
	Life-Sized Anime Hug Pillows. Remember that J-List stocks the incredible dakimakura (Hug Pillows) from Japan, and the popular items include characters from Zero no Tsukaima, Dragon Destiny, you name it. The pillow covers fit nicely over standard sized body pillows you can find in most any shop. Show your dedication to your favorite anime characters in an entirely new way!
	Kiriha Kuze 1/8 Figure ~ Fortune Arterial *Preorder*. Wow, I really like the looks of this figure from Fortune Arterial, an extremely popular PC dating-sim game in Japan right now. This is Kiriha, the silent, solemn girl from your class in the game, which you can preorder now.
	Kemeko Nendoroid Plus Figure ~ Kemeko Deluxe! A cool preorder figure for Nendorid fans, this is Kemeko from Kemeko Deluxe! It's a popular manga serialized in Dengeki Comic Gao!, and we think it'll be popular because from the machine gun alone.
	J-List Free Shipping Sale Reminder. Remember that J-List is closing out a bunch of our most popular designs to make room for new ones, and giving free shipping (or half priced shipping for international), and half price on shipping for all hoodies, too. We've added several items to the sale, including our "Foreign Barbarians" hoodie and larger sizes of some of our other shirts. But the response has been good, and sizes are flying off the shelves, so don't wait too long to check our stock.
	Totoro Plush Toys. Today's restocked Studio Ghibli items include the really big Totoro Plush (Smiling Version), the popular Studio Ghibli Collection Keychain set of six, and the Giant DX Neko Bus with a Totoro that can ride inside.
	SLICCI ~ Pentel New Stylish Gel Ink Pen 0.3 mm. The SLICCI line of Japanese pens from Pentel are excellent because they provide a smooth "gel ink" glide with a tiny 0.3 mm tip for making precise lines when you write. We're adding the basic Black and Blue-Black pens today, as well as various restocked Japanese pens.
	Restocked Japanese Snacks. We're happy to report that the #1 selling J-Snack at J-List, Sakura Kit Kat, has been restocked now. Also, see Melty Kit Kat in Green Tea Flavor, Fuwarinka Rose Gum and Soft Candy, and Meiji Dice Caramel all back in stock.
	Koi Nanase and Ai Kazama Figures ~ Night Shift Nurse vol. 2. For fans of the Night Shift Nurse series by Tachibana Seven, we've got some unforgettable figures that explore just how detailed and compelling an anime figure can be. Both figures feature these characters being made into slaves for your viewing enjoyment. Both figures are now in stock!
	Toshihide Sano Illustrations. Toshihide Sano is one of our all-time favorite artists, and we're happy to have his fantastic art book back in stock. Features page after luscious page of his female characters together.
	Fate/Stay Night Premium FanBook. No fan of Fate/Stay Night can be complete until he's seen the gorgeous art inside this Premium Fan Book, which shows you all those amazing images from the original dating-sim game. You'll never look at Saber, Rin and Sakura the same way again.
	Double Massage Salon -- Rina Aina, Rio Hamasaki. You're really going to love the coupling of Rina and Rio as they come together to bring you a super release from Wanz Factory. From providing special massage services on the male customers to performing with each other while the camera watches, this DVD is pure silk.

My Japan Reconsideration: the Concept of "Senpai"

Before I started J-List, I worked as an ESL teacher, sharing my native language with Japanese students. One Friday, an American co-worker and I took a new teacher who had just arrived in Japan out drinking, so we could get to know him and start showing him around our city. As we imbibed beer at the izakaya bar that was the popular haunt with the English teacher crowd back in the day, something was nagging at me, reminding me of something I was forgetting to do. Finally, I realized what it was, and I turned to my co-worker. "Dave," I said to him, fighting back the weirdness that comes from speaking Japanese with another foreigner, "you realize that you and I are senpai now? And you know what that means." He groaned, but nodded. To the new teacher, Dave and I were senpai, or senior, because we'd been in Japan longer than him, and he was our kohai, or junior. The Japanese social order absolutely required that we go out of our way to guide and help him get used to Japan, and that meant that we had to dig into our wallets and pick up the tab for the night. The social rules were quite clear on the subject, and we had to obey or be in opposition to those rules, which is not a good thing to be in Japan. It's interesting to note that the new teacher was older than both of us, yet still the time-in-a-place-or-organization took precedence over age.

Anime and Japanese Pop Culture Are Everywhere

One thing I really like about being so involved with Japanese popular culture is the global nature of it, how it appeals to so many people around the world. Whether it's singing the theme song to Heidi, Girl of the Alps with a roomful of German fans at a convention near the banks or the Rhine, hanging out with bloody Battle Royale cosplayers in Rome, or finding manga series that I struggled with in college for sale in English at my local bookstore in San Diego, I'm always amazed at how anime and related culture have been accepted by all of us. Back in 2006 a crowd protesting in the Gaza Strip helped their message reach a wider audience by printing a picture of Haruhi Suzumiya -- star of a mind-bending anime series about a girl who yearns to meet ESPers, time travelers and aliens, and gets her wish -- on their sign. The image was picked up by the Japanese press, who were amazed to see the popular anime character in so remote a place. I think part of the reason we can all embrace Japan's pop culture so freely is actually because of its distance from most of us, its lack of connection to our own historical or cultural backgrounds (or hang-ups), which removes barriers that might otherwise make it harder to accept something so different. In short, while we may argue over issues like religion, politics and economics, we can all agree that Godzilla knocking over Tokyo Tower looks pretty awesome, or that "Haruhi-ism" is pretty cool. So, world peace through shared popular culture, everyone!

Understanding Cultural Differences Through CSI: Miami

When you live in a place like Japan, you never know what cultural wrinkles you'll discover next. Maybe you'll stick your chopsticks upright in your rice (which is only done during funerals), pour your own beer (bad manners to do it yourself), or accidentally order some gyumotsu because you didn't know it was pan-fried beef intestines (yuck). My wife and I are both hooked on CSI: Miami, but because of the language difference, she usually watches the Japanese-dubbed broadcast on satellite channel Wowow while I stick the good old English version. During an episode we watched in English last night, the character Delko called his sunglass-wearing boss Horatio Cane by the nickname "H." "What did he just call Horatio?" my wife asked, not sure she'd heard correctly. "Oh, you know, Horatio's nickname is his first initial," I said, and her eyes went wide with surprise. For reasons unknown, the letter "H" has become the universal euphemism for anything related to sex in Japan. For example, if a person is "H" (always pronounced with a Japanese accent, ecchi) he or she thinks about it too much, and the most common way to refer to the act in general is H suru or "to do H." Thus, the idea of leaving Horatio's nickname intact in the Japanese version of the show was just not going to work, and the lines were rewritten.

Really Good Products Friday, January 25, 2008

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.

	Shana Figure Cat Girl ver. ~ Shakugan no Shana. For fans of Shakugan no Shana, or Shana of the Blazing Eyes, we've gotten in another awesome pre-painted figure: Shana as a "cat girl," lying on a luxurious cloth with her hair flowing all around her. Designed by the Haruhi Suzumiya designer.
	Ai Enma Figure from Hell Girl. This is from Hell Girl (Jigoku Shojo), kind of a Reverse Fantasy Island where you can send anyone you hate to hell by accessing a website at exactly 12:00. "We will take revenge on your behalf." This preorder figure has come in and is now in stock.
	Kino 1/8 Figure ~ Kino's Journey the Beautiful World. A fabulous figure based on a series of Light Novels from Japan, this is a really awesome figure that had been posted for preorder but has come in now. Check out the way the plastic "smoke" from her gun winds around her.
	Kamikaze Combat Machine Miniature Series. Hmm, speaking of "WTF" (see above) we've got a fascinating line of toys detailing the various "Special Attack" (kamikaze) weapons they used during World War II, which in many cases were built for the final defense of the Japanese islands against an attack that never happened. A fascinating set of toys and it's really amazing to be a company founded by an American in Japan selling a made-in-Japan toy line of kamikaze toys.
	Tamaki Mukousaka 1/7 Cast-Off0?Figure. The gorgeous Tamaki Mukousaka ToHeart 2 figure has come in, too, and it's great one, with super detailing, especially that flowing, long hair. Her uniform can be cast off, too.
	New Strawberry Shortcake Pocky, Other Snacks. Today we're posting the "uber-Pocky," Strawberry Shortcake flavor, which is essentially a cake decorated on a Pocky stick -- yum! Also, see a cool set of five candy treats from Meiji that have been loved by the Japanese for years.
	Mag-nup Board ~ Stylish Magnet Board. We've gotten in two new colors of the Mag-nup Board, a really cool concept in messaging since it features all the benefits of a cork message board, but it works with magnets, too. Never forget anything with this cool item from Japan. Great for fans of "Safety & Simple Design."
	Domokun Mimobot USB 2.0 Flash Drive. J-List carries more Domo-kun products than you can shake a stick at, from T-shirts to hoodies to cool plush toys. We've restocked our USB 2.0 USB Flash Drives, which give you 1, 2 or 4 GB of storage in a cute, Domo shaped package. A dynamite item!
	J-List T-Shirt Free Shipping Sale. Just a reminder that we're having the first-ever Free Shipping Sale on our close-out T-shirts. Not only is it the last chance you have to get some of our popular shirt designs, from the cute Mona Neko from the Japanese BBS 2ch to our cool Yokozuna T-shirt and more, but you get free shipping (or half price shipping for international customers). We've updated all sizes and have added some more shirts to the sale. But hurry, as sizes are limited.
	Animal ONIGIRI Bento Box ~ Frog. Japan's famous culture of bento, or attractive looking boxed lunches, is really catching on all over the world. Here's a fantastic new bento box that's designed to hold onigiri (triangle shaped rice balls) in the top section and the rest of your lunch in the bottom. Part of the Nikyoro series.
	Hello Kitty Band-aid & Case -- 7pcs. Life is too short to carry boring generic band-aids. If you have a cut, it's much better to treat it with cute Hello Kitty bandages from Sanrio! Here's a refillable plastic carrying case and seven band-aids for fans of "Kitty-chan" (as she's called in Japan).
	Kimono Hime 7 ~ Sunny Days. Then enjoy a special new issue of Kimono Hime (Kimono Princess), with gorgeous pictures of traditional kimono culture from Japan. Features a special focus on kimonos for Coming of Age Day, weddings and the Shichigosan ("7, 5, 3") ceremonies for kids.
	Various Traditional Items from Japan. Today's restocked traditional products include the White Feng Shui Lucky Cat Coin Bank, a cool Compact Mirror with chirimen (kimono fabric) on the back, and for those who can't decide between a Lucky Cat or a Daruma, a combination that includes both. Cool!
	Respecting the Ancestors Buddhist Incense Set. Here's a special item for anyone curious about Japan's special form of Buddhism. It's a set that includes everything you need to do haka-mairi (ha-kah MAH-ee-ri), or visiting the grave of a loved one, including Buddhist candles and two sets of incense.
	Buddha vol.1 -- Buddhism Statue Collection. We've restocked the really cool Buddhism Statue Collection trading figure series, which are detailed replicas of famous statues you can visit in Japan. Available as full sets or random individuals.
	Jitte & Katana Display Set Up your ninja cred with this cool miniature katana (Japanese sword) and matching jitte (pronounced JIT-teh), a defensive weapon used by ninjas.
	Bleach Soul Reapers Costume ~ L Size *Preorder*. Attention Bleach fans: now you can own a mighty cool item, a full official Soul Reaper costume from the show. This is an officially licensed costume made to resemble the popular anime in every way. Scheduled to be release in April.
	COPIC Comic Maker ~ Double Marker with 12 Basic Colors for MANGA Drawing . Here's a serious set of pens for creating manga art, double-tipped Comic Marker pens by the famous Copic. With vibrant colors specially chosen for making beautiful art, this is a set serious artists will want to own.
	Super OL Premium vol. 01 -- Office Lady Super Premium. Japan has a fascination with something known as OLs, which means Office Ladies, extremely gorgeous women in professional dress. Enjoy this great magazine + 150 minute DVD that explores this genre from Japan.
	Problem Free Me -- Mei Kurokawa. The lovely Mei-chan looks fabulous in this photobook, which is loaded with pictures of the model relaxing in a really old Japanese house -- awesome imagery.
	New Manga Volumes. Today's new "ero" manga are both excellent. First enjoy Uekano Days, or Older Girlfriend Days, with stories of red-hot girls including futanari, then see the collection of gorgeous stories by Ryuji Ohtori called Increment RO.
	Restocked Manga. Today's restocked manga works include Lay Your Worries On Me, Married Woman's Disgrace, Take on Me, Condensed Milky, and the gorgeous comic by Oh Great!, the creator of Tenjo Tenge.
	Yulia Nova DVDs. We've restocked nearly a dozen fantastic DVD releases by Yulia Nova, the Russian zenra idol who has become such a popular icon in Japan and on the Internet. Enjoy Yulia's beautiful body in the restocked DVD titles today.

All about the Japanese word "Gambaru" (do your best)

One word that comes up in anime a lot is gambaru (gahn-BAH-roo, alternately written ganbaru, in Japanese 頑張る), a happy, cheerful term which means to do one's best, to work hard, to give one's all and so on. It's usually heard in its formal form gambarimasu (gahn-bah-ri-mass, "[I will] do my best!"), or else as a request, e.g. gambatte or gambatte kudasai (gahn-BAH-tay koo-da-sai, "please try hard!"), or alternatively in its "command" form, gambare! (gahn-BAH-ray, "Do your best!"). If you want to learn some phrases to surprise Japanese people with, these are good places to start, since everyone will react positively to them. In a country that embraces hard work and diligence as much as Japan, it's not surprising that this term is used on an almost daily basis in many different situations. Japanese salarymen are expected to gambaru at work, while their kids gambaru in their studies at school, and the sick must do the same while they work to get over their illness. As long as a person is giving his all, he's got the seal of approval from Japanese society in general.

This is a minor hit by that gorgeous singing star Noriko Sakai from the 80s. Writing about the word gambaru has put the song (which is called Guanbare!, a cute translate of gambare!) thoroughly into my head, so I'll put it into yours now. This has always been one of my favorite JPOP songs. 

I've always thought this song would make a great music video for Aim for the Top: Gunbuster. Do you agree?

What Happens to Foreigners who Live in Japan Too Long

Strange things can happen to foreigners who live in Japan for too long. They might watch TV while drinking beer and eating shredded, dried squid as a snack without thinking about how odd it would look to their friends back home, or start bowing to people while talking on the phone. They'll probably think nothing of a grown man riding a bicycle with a basket on the front and a little bell on the handlebars that makes a lovely ding! sound. If from the U.S., they'll probably only know their shoe size and weight in the Japanese (Metric) system. (When I was in California last month I actually kept my iPhone's weather widget set to degrees Celsius, which is unheard of for an American.) Carried to the extreme, being in Japan for too long can even change your personality. There's a legendary gaijin living in our prefecture who came here from the States during the Vietnam War and forgot to leave. When some English teachers formed a basketball team, he volunteered to coach, but it didn't work out very well. It turns out that the guy had been mellowed out by Japan's extremely non-confrontational, cooperative society so much that he was unable to motivate the players as a coach should, threatening to kick their sorry asses off the team if they didn't shape up and play better, and so on.

More thoughts on the LOLification of English and strange Japanese Internet slang

As the Internet Age marches on, the ongoing LOLification of my native language often has me saying WTF? even though the picture of that kitten that made the cookie but eated it did have me ROTFL. Japanese Internet users love to invent slang words, too, and venturing onto the legendary BBS 2ch (pronounced ni-channel) to check out all the l33t-speak can really get confusing fast. 2-channelers love to use strange words like nin-shin (妊娠）, which usually means "pregnant" but has come to refer to Nintendo fanboys for some reason; gugure (ググれ), a morphing of Google as a Japanese verb meaning "look it up on Google, fool!"; or wwwww, which is laughing, just as zzzzz represents sleeping. Just as Japanese uses many words imported from English, some foreign-derived slang terms include kopi-pe (koh-pi-peh, meaning "copy & paste") or su-re (soo-REH, スレ、from the Japanese pronunciation of the word "thread"). Many words embraced by internet users here are abbreviations of Japanese phrases with the vowels removed, which allows them to be input quickly even when using Japanese input software. Two examples are KTKR (short for kita-kore キタコレ, meaning "Yes, this is it, baby!") or WKTK (wakuwaku-tekateka ワクワクテカテカ, meaning "I really can't wait for that to happen, I'm on pins and needles"). Just as popular U.S.-based BBS 4chan has its /b/tards, 2ch has a sub-group known as the VIPPERS, who evolve even more bizarre net lingo to wrap themselves in.

Today's Cool Products Wednesday, January 23, 2008

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.

	Figure Maniacs vol. 25. Figure Maniacs is a great magazine because it presents page after glorious page of Japan's best pre-painted PVC anime figures. This issue focuses on all the latest figures from ToHeart 2, Ikki Tousen/Dragon Destiny, Zero no Tsukaima, Eva and more. Watch as the history of anime figures in Japan is recorded in these pages.
	Shana Figure Secret ver. A gorgeous new figure for fans of Shakugan no Shana, or Shana of the Blazing Eyes, designed by Noizi Ito who also did the popular Haruhi Suzumiya characters. Gorgeous imagery in three dimensions!
	Mario Action Plush. If-a you like-a that-a famous-a game company from Japan, we think-a this-a plush Mario toy, which is-a very large, standing a full 12" tall. The perfect-a rebel icon to keep on display at work, to keep-a in touch with-a the rebel inside-a you!
	Japanese Snacks: Meiji Petit Assortment. For fans of J-List's Japanese snacks, here's a cool new suggestion: a pack of five boxes of the most famous classic chocolate snacks from Meiji, including Choco Baby, chocolate-and-strawberry Apollo, Coffeebeat chocolate coffee beans and more.
	Hi-Chew -- Strawberry Yogurt. Also, enjoy other delicious Japanese snacks, including Meiji Rich Mikan chocolate, made with Mandarin oranges (also known as satsuma in some countries), and Strawberry Yogurt Hi-Chew soft candies. Delicious!
	J-List T-Shirt Free Shipping Sale. Remember, this month we're giving free shipping (half price shipping for international) on some of the cool and wacky J-List T-shirts we're retiring to make room for new designs. Browse our selection now before you size is gone.
	Dengeki Maoh Feb 2008. We have the new issue of Dengeki Maoh for you, a gorgeous manga that gives you nearly 600 pages of the best comic works in Japan right now, including 20+ pages of gorgeous color and lots of fun free stuff inside.
	Sanrio Character Encyclopedia ~ Giftbook 28. This is a really special item for anyone who's ever collected Sanrio's cute character items: a small book that lists *every* Sanrio character ever released, from minor characters like the Waffle Kids to the most famous, like Bad Batz-Maru and all the Hello Kitty variations over the years. Really cool!
	Mamegoma Toilet Paper Roll Holder. This is a cute plus cover for a standard roll of toilet paper, a way to add a touch of kawaii to your bathroom. These are back in stock. Only slightly scary!
	Mononofu Shinsen-Gumi Swords Collection. J-List carries the outstanding Mononofu Samurai Swords replicas, which are perfectly detailed and which feature blades made of real metal (!). In addition to the full sets of this series, we're posting random individual sword sets for anyone wanting to check out these extremely detailed toys.
	SHODO ~ Natural Stone Mini Calligraphy Set. Shodo, or Japanese brush calligraphy, is a famous traditional art form that you can try with this set that includes everything you need -- telescoping brush, sumi ink and a stone to hold the ink that you will write with. Back in stock!
	Japanese For Busy People 1 ~ Kana ver. One of the most popular Japanese textbooks over the past decade has been republished in a new "Kana version" that eschews all Romanized Japanese and requires the reader to learn the language using Hiragana, katakana and kanji, the method I recommend since it helps you read better and faster and also greatly improves your accent when speaking. Both volumes I & II are now in stock.
	Lelouch Lamperouge Action Figure Figma BP ~ Code Geass *Preorder*. Code Geass is a really popular anime that's kicking butt in the marketplace in Japan right now. Here's a really cool figure of Lelouch Lamperouge that you can preorder now.
	iTunes Japan Music Card, Elecom Items. Just a reminder that 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. Restocked today!
	Sun-Star Paper StitchLock Zn. For people who dislike refilling staples or just want a unique way of keeping documents together, we've restocked our deluxe StitchLock Zn, which is extremely solid and heavy, and beautiful to look at. Never use staples again, thanks to this really elegant device. The Zn stands for Zinc.
	EX DVD Jan 2008 ~ Exciting DVD Jan 2008. A great magazine featuring a selection of extremely beautiful JAV idols, from Rei Amami to Amai Mitsu and many more. Comes with a *6 hour* DVD of material for you to enjoy in addition to the magazine.
	Chinkame 1997-2007 BEST! The "Chinkame" (chin-KAH-meh) photobook series is fabulous because it captures the female form in pictures so stylish and so elegant, it's marketed largely to female readers here in Japan. We just love the photographs in this deluxe issue, which brings you the best of ten years of the photographic style we've come to call "Japanese Girls in Underoos."
	Fate/Stay Night Visual Story. Fate/Stay Night is, of course, one of the most famous anime series that was originally based on an "H" game, and here's the awesome Visual Story, that shows all the scenes from the game that you might have missed. Back in stock!
	Frog *Sex Style* Yunomi Set for Couple -- Green Tea Cup. Here's a unique item: a set of two traditional Japanese yunomi (green tea cups) that illustrate the 48 traditional, er, positions known to the Japanese and their names, illustrated by cute little frogs.
	Nuki Max 20 Times!! -- Mihiro. We've loved Mihiro ever since her early days appearing in photobooks and magazine, thrilling as she took the plunge into the JAV world. Enjoy this 4 hour collection featuring 20 of her best-ever "H" performances of this super-star.

Learning Japanese can be easy. No, really!

With a sentence structure and grammar unlike anything used in the West along with three different writing systems, learning the Japanese language can certainly be challenging. Then again, there are times when Japanese learners get off easy. First, there are whole swaths of words that are simple to learn, thanks to the way kanji words can be appended to the ends of other words. If you need to specify a language, just add the kanji for language (go) the end of a country name, resulting in France-go, Russia-go and so on. Similarly, nationality can be specified by sticking the character for "person" (jin, pronounced "jean") on the end of a country name, for example America-jin, Nihon-jin. When the Japanese adopted the Western calendar during the Meiji Era, they wisely named January ichi-gatsu (1-month), February ni-gatsu (2-month) and so on -- much easier than using the old esoteric names from the Edo Period. One of the most difficult areas of English for Japanese to learn are verb tenses like past perfect and present progressive, but I'm happy to report that none of these structures exist in Japanese, something bilingual foreigners are thankful for every day. Similarly, Japanese is not a tonal language like Chinese or Vietnamese, making it much easier for English speakers to pronounce. There are some difficult patches in the language, of course, including concepts like "sister" which get split into two, oneesan (older sister) and imouto (younger sister). When I'm talking about something my friend's sister did, my brain isn't used to filing away the age of the girl relative to her male sibling, and it can be difficult to pull that information out on the fly while speaking quickly.

The truth behind "Omiai" (Arranged Marriages)

When I was growing up, I remember thinking that they had arranged marriages in Japan, probably something I got from watching the episode of Happy Days where Arnold gets married in a traditional Shinto ceremony. In reality, the Japanese custom of omiai (easily remembered as "oh, me eye!") is more like an "arranged meeting," a kind of formal get-together between prospective partners, usually organized by busybody aunts who can't stand the thought of their being any single people around them. Omiai can take place with all family members in attendance, or just the prospective couple. Interestingly, you're supposed to bring a Japanese resume form on which you can record your school and work background as well as interests (horseback riding and tea ceremony are recommended hobbies for prospective brides), just like applying for a job, which strikes me as a little odd. If the young people hit it off, they'll go out on more conventional dates to see where things lead. Before my wife met me, she had had omiai with a few men, including the son of a sake distributor that her parents have a business relationship with, hence she couldn't refuse. Fortunately for me, all of the men were quite bowled over by her extensive travels and ability to speak English, and she was still available when I came along.

Learning about the subtleties of Japan through children's programming

Living in Japan can bring you into contact with concepts that may be difficult to wrap your mind around. While Sesame Street has been shown here for years, it really never got that much traction; a much more popular childrens show is the NHK program Okaasan to Issho ("With Mother"), which has been broadcast non-stop since 1959. The show is divided into sections that feature different songs for kids to sing, presumably with their mother, although I would join in despite the title of the show. One song teaches kids "AIUEO" and the beginnings of the hiragana sound system, while another is the Pajama Song, which celebrates toddlers being able to put their pajamas on all by themselves, quite an achievement when you're that small. I've found it interesting to observe the little cultural differences between the show, which is watched by practically every child age 0-5 in Japan, and what I remember watching from my own youth. The show is always hosted by a Singing Older Sister and Singing Older Brother, who lead the kids through the various songs in each section. One day I noticed that the Older Brother host always spoke informal Japanese (早くなるぞ！） while the Older Sister spoke politely　（早くなりますよ！）, a bit of subtle role model-building for the kids to watch and imitate. When I asked my wife about it, I got a blank stare -- apparently no Japanese person could have noticed such a tiny cultural difference.

This video is the Dango Sankyodai, or the Three Dango Brothers, the story of three little dumplings who live on a stick that was shown on the With Mother show and became a national obsession a few years ago. At the top is the Oldest Son, on the bottom is the Third Son, in the middle is the Second Son, Dango Sankyodai. Dango, dango, dango, dango, danso sankyodai. Warning: this song WILL invade your brain and never leave!

Today's Cool Products - Monday, January 21, 2008

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.

	Comptiq Aug. 2007. Comptiq is the popular manga and anime magazine that focuses on super cute anime characters, from bishoujo games and anime to the most popular series on TV. Plus you get tons of free stuff, like the Lucky Star notebook and stickers in this issue. Since stock is always limited on these items, we recommend it as a subscription item.
	Rilakkuma Mug Cup w/Tea Strainer. Here's a great item for fans of Relax Bear, the popular character from San-X that wants us all to relax more. This is a tea cup that has a built-in strainer for enjoying loose tea of any kind. Really cute.
	Kit Kat -- Premium Japanese Strawberry Flavor. We're posting a delicious new flavor of Japan Kit Kat today, the new Strawberry for 2008. Also available by the case with a special discount, in case you're considering stocking up for Valentine's Day or just because it's a seasonal limited snack.
	Suntory Final Fantasy Premium PotionSet ~ Shinra Company version. The popular Final Fantasy potion set is back in stock! It comes in a large box, containing a gorgeous glass & metal potion that you can really drink, and a cool book. The potion bottle is refillable, too.
	Leifang 1/60?Figure ~ Dead or Alive Xtreme2. This is the lovely Leifang from the DOAX2 game for the Xbox 360. This is a "cast off" figure since you can remove her outer clothes to reveal her bathing suit underneath. A really cool item!
	Mag-nup Board ~ Stylish Wooden Magnet Board. Here's an innovative idea from Japan: a bulletin board that lets you secure notes to it via magnets! Despite its metal magnetic surface, it's covered by a warm and pleasant fabric like a traditional memo board. Can be used as a stand or hung on the wall, and works with any magnets! You'll never use normal cork boards again.
	Gunnm Another Stories Limited Edition ~ Gally Original Action Figure. When we got in the Gunnm Another Stories Limited Edition manga + figures, we thought we'd gotten enough for our customers, but we sold out in just a few days. We're happy to report that we've been able to get another few copies of this popular item, but don't delay since these are the last we can get.
	Toshio Asakuma Best Selection -- Full Set. Toshio Asakuma is a Japanese sculptor and toy creator famous for making dogs that act like humans, so realistic that you believe them to be perfect human. Yujin has released a great "best selection" of his most popular creations over the past ten years.
	KIE 2007 Autumn Issue vol. 17 ~ Kateigaho International. We've got a new issue of KIE, aka Kateigaho International Edition, the drop-dead gorgeous "Arts & Culture" magazine from Japan, which is loaded with photographs and images from Japan's cultural world. All in English!
	Egg Dec 2007. We've got another issue of Egg for you, the magazine of really cool Tokyo street culture and "kogals," the spoiled and ultrafashionable young girls from parts of the city like Shibuya and Harajuku. For fans of Black Urban Fashion, Japan style.
	Love-Earth DX Portable Own Chopsticks. Here's a great idea for all bento fans: a really nice high-end pair of chopsticks that screw together, allowing for the case to be half the length of a traditional chopstick case. Includes four chopstick segments that you screw together before using.
	VIE AU JAPON 12 ~ Nihon e toki Jiten 12. Parlez vous francais? Here's a really cool "bilingual book" from JTB that presents just about everything you need to know about Japan in a nice format, in French and Japanese.
	80's Hello Kitty Pencil Case. For old school Sanrio fans who miss the Hello Kitty designs of past years, we've gotten in a special item, a soft pencil case that will hold all your writing instruments that's decorated with the classic Hello Kitty imagery of the 1980s.
	3D Health Mask ~ 5pcs. The newest trend in Japanese health masks are "vertical" or 3D masks that have a spine to them, which helps create a space between the mask and your mouth for extra comfort. Used in Japan by sufferers of allergies and pollen as well as anyone with a cold, who wants to avoid giving their germs to others.
	SLICCI ~ Pentel New Stylish Gel Ink Pen 0.3mm -- Pink. The Japanese are extremely good at making meticulously small things, like this 0.3 mm gel pen in Pentel's SLICCI line. A great pen that glides over your paper in a pleasant way.
	DMM Aug 2007 with DVD (Region ALL). We're posting a new issue of DMM for you today, the #1 Japanese magazine covering the AV industry. This issue is very thick, with stars like Yua Aida, Noa, Akane Oozora and of course the lovely Mihiro. Includes a DVD, too.
	Rica -- Rica Imai photobook. Rica Imai is a popular Japanese model, who appears in her first-ever photobook for her fans. Features this Japanese angel posing in bikini and many other lovely shots.
	New "H "Manga For You. Today's new manga titles include the next awesome volume of The Diary of Purimu (Blue) by Nico-Pun Nise and Angel Comics that's loaded with gorgeous vampiric art, and Idol Magazine Chinami Chan, about a girl who will do anything for her school's soccer team (great story).
	Sweet Body ~ Happou Bijin Illustration. This collection of Happou Bijin's illustrations is not to be believed. So beautiful I can't take my eyes off the pages. Back in stock.
	Galulululu Limited 4 in 1 Box ~ Kogal Parody Box. The Japanese do like their parodies. Here's a boxed set featuring look-alikes of three "kogal" stars who formed a pop group called Gyaruru, including Gal Sone who I've talked about recently, Ami Tokito (for fans of girls with glasses) and Asami Abe (traditional tanned kogal). An outstanding item for fans of Tokyo urban girls!
	Zenra Athlete Battle. For fans of the "zenra" sports releases from Soft on Demand, here's a treat: a mind-blowing 6 hour release in which beautiful girls do battle in a very natural state. Will badminton beat volleyball? How about tennis vs. swimming? Will "zenra" martial arts beat them all? Don't miss this!

The latest cool thing in Japan -- Hot Beer?

Japan is a country that likes to embrace new things, and whatever new and bizarre trend comes along, J-List will be there to report it to you. The latest cool thing in Japan might just be hot, as Kirin introduces its new "Hot Beer" that's consumed in a steaming cup like coffee. Based on the company's Ichiban Shibori Stout dark beer, the drink is served with a stick of cinnamon and sugar cubes on the side. The heat of the beer is supposed to bring out flavors not present when served cold, including a deep aroma not unlike that of coffee. The beer is being test-marketed at the Kirin factory in Yokohama, but the company suggests that curious beer aficionados can try it by microwaving beer to about 120 degrees Farenheit (50 degrees Celsius) and stirring it rapidly to give the beer a Cuppochino-like foamy head on top. It's supposedly good poured over vanilla ice cream, too.

Gaijin to get Language Requirement to Live in Japan?

There was a minor dust-up on the Internets in Japan this week after the government suggested that it might add a Japanese language requirement for long-term foreigners living here. Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura suggested that requiring foreigners renewing multi-year visas or applying for permanent residency status (which generally means foreigners who have been in Japan for 5+ years at least) to meet minimal linguistic requirements would help encourage the foreign population better fit in and be good for Japan's society overall. Some bloggers and others are crying foul at the suggestion, though, saying that it shows a xenophobic side to Japan's government, but I support the idea 100%. It goes without saying that someone trying to live in Japan will get a lot more out of their time here if they can communicate with people, and if the government can find a way to encourage foreigners to study the language, it can only lead to more understanding between gaijin and nihonjin. (Note that normal visas for jobs such as English teachers, which are issued on a year-to-year basis normally, would not be affected by this plan.) A lot of the comments I saw online had to do with whether or not getting foreigners to learn Japanese would lead to them actually being "assimilated" into Japan's society. That's a difficult question, since I know that even after seventeen years of living here, I could commit seppuku in front of the Imperial Palace and still not be considered Japanese, and I'm okay with that -- I'm just an American who happens to like living in Japan. For myself, I know that you can't learn a language without internalizing the values held by that linguistic group, and and the more foreigners take an interest in learning Japanese, the happier everyone will be together.

Karaoke Update: The Age of the Singing Otaku

The J-List staff had fun at our New Year's Party on Friday, and afterwards we engaged in that famous Japanese past time, karaoke. While most people outside of Japan might imagine getting up and singing in front of a lot of strangers on "Karaoke Night" at a bar, in Japan people usually go to a karaoke box with individual rooms so groups can sing together privately, which mitigates a lot of the embarrassment of belting out songs in front of others. Karaoke uses extremely advanced technology in Japan, with a networked system that streams the songs and video to the machine you're singing with from a central location, which allows the most popular songs to be accessible to everyone immediately after a song's release. Looking at the selection of songs available, I was amazed at how much Japan had changed since my arrival back during the first Bush Presidency. Back then, there was a tiny section of "Anime & Hero" theme songs towards the back of the song book, but with the mainstreaming of anime and video game culture over the past decade, the number of anime-related songs available to sing has exploded. In addition to the main book of Japanese songs and a second book that listed offerings in English, Korean, Chinese and Tagalog (pretty international for Japan), the karaoke box we were at had a third book filled with songs from anime and video games. No matter what minor or esoteric song we searched for, from all the Final Fantasy themes to Dance Dance Revolution tracks and even some songs from the dating-sim games we publish in English, we found them all in the song book. Clearly, the age of the singing otaku is here.

Pictures from the J-List New Year's Party, If You Want Them

Okay, since I managed to get back earlier than I thought, here are some pictures. The izakaya was a place called Hokkatei, combining the first two characters of Hokkaido with Tei, meaning stop or in this case restaurant. Good seafood, considering we're as far from the sea as you can get.

Since Forget-the-year and New Year's Parties are quite common in Japan, restaurants like this have pre-set menus ready for us. We got the sashimi and nabe set, which was lots of fish (which you really appreciate when you come to live in Japan), and three big pots of kim-chee soup. Yum.

A rare glimpse of the J-List crew. Hilariously, the girls all sit on one side, and the guys on another side, no matter what we do. It's like we're all in Elementary School. This is us about to do the clap I wrote about in today's update. 

This is atsukan, hot sake. It warmed us nicely.

The nabe was delicious, too. This is kind of like sukiyaki, but deeper, and with different ingredients, including kim-chee, tofu, vegetables and meat. When we'd eaten it all, they put rice and crab meat in and stewed it some more and it was heavenly.

Later it was off to the karaoke box. They actually have disco balls in them, isn't that cool? Do they have disco balls in the U.S. at all? I've been gone way too long to know the answer to that.

There sure was a lot of anime and even video game music to choose from, testimony to the rise of otaku culture in Japan. Here you can see the full selection of songs from Air, one of the PC dating-sim games that was so popular they made a mainstream anime out of it.

I've posted before about how good karaoke is for learning Japanese. The only problem I had with it was, it's so effective at teaching you how to read and pronounce kanji properly, you outgrow it quickly.

Just what we all need, a medley of songs from Macross 7. Well, that was our fun little party. Hope you are going to have some fun this weekend, too. And of course, kotoshi mo yoroshiku onegai shimas, which essentially means thanks for your past support, and we hope you'll continue to help us out in the future.

J-List Really Cool Products Friday, January 18, 2008

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.

	Wacky T-Shirt -- Echo Base. First of all, our latest original T-shirt is a cool one, that blends the famous Ecko Unlimited logo with everone's favorite vehicle from The Empire Strikes Back. A shirt that's sure to get you a lot of good geekish attention.
	Ino 1/7 Figure ~ Guilty Gear XX. From the sculpting talents of Mitsumasa Yoshizawa, who brought us the remixed Rei Ayanami, here is a fabulous prepainted anime figure. Now in stock!
	New Japanese Snacks. Just in time for college entrance exam season, we've gotten in the wonderful new Sakura Kit Kat for 2008. Also, a chocolate heart for Valentine's Day and delicious liquid-filled gum with the amusing name of Spash!
	DECO Cell Phone Jewel ~ Big & Simple Stone. Turn everyday obects into beautiful works of jewelry art with the DECO Cell Phone Jewel Stickers, which securely attach to your cell phone or any other surface, such as your Nintendo DS or PSP. Kawaii!
	EMA ~ Japanese Wishing Board. "Wishing boards" (are wooden boards that you hang by a Shinto shrine after writing your wish on the back. Here's a great traditional wishing board featuring a rat on the front, since 2008 is the Year of the Rat.
	Real Origami with English Instructions ~ Lucky Cat. Just when you think you've seen some awesome origami in your time, they come out with Daruma and Lucky Cat origami you can fold easily. Best of all, these come with full instructions in English!
	Aluminum Business Card Holder. Imagine how smart you'll look pulling out this gunmetal aluminum business card case and pulling out a card to give to someone. A great item from Japan. Holds 35 business cards, and can of course be used to carry other kinds of cards too.
	Fresh Stock of 2008 Calendars. Surprise! We've gotten a bunch of back-in-stock 2008 calendars for you, including some popular items that were sold out previously but are available again due some orders being canceled. Don't miss them this time around, though!
	Nendoroid L from Death Note ~ Clay Color *Preorder*. The Nendoroid figures for Death Note were so popular, they're being reissued by Good Smile. Preorder your cute version of L now.
	Erika Sendou 1/8 Figure ~ Fortune Arterial *Preorder*. Here's a really nice new figure that's been posted for preorder, the character Erika Sendou from a popular bishoujo game called Fortune Arterial. This drops in April 2008.
	Yoko 1/7 Figure ~ Gurren Lagann *Preorder*. Gurren Lagann is the popular new giant robot anime from Gainax, and this is a great new preorder figure of Yoko from the show. Fabulous detailing.
	Bejean vol. 166. The flagship JAV magazine in Japan is Bejean, published by the Eichi Publishing Company, and this issue is a nice one, loaded with top names like Mihiro and Aki Hoshino and the delicious Mai Nadasaka.
	Everyday Poses in the Lives of 3 Girls. Ostensibly a book that teaches artists how to draw girls in realistic poses, this outstanding book is also a photobook featuring the private lives of three beautiful Tokyo models. See them in many poses as they go about their daily lives, getting into the bath, getting dressed -- it's great!
	Louise no Tsukaima. Next we've got a cool offering for fans of the legendary futanari circles Behind Moon, a new offering that parodies the characters from Zero no Tsukaima (The Familiar of Zero). We like, we like!
	Queen's Blade ~ Mellona & Claudette. Queen's Blade is the popular bishoujo battle game based on the old Lost Worlds combat RPG made by Flying Buffalo, which has been re-invented as a series of gorgeous art books for "moe" (cute anime girl) fans to enjoy. Enjoy two books today, Claudette with her Lightning Sword, and the gorgeous Mellona, a shape-shifter who is capable of stealing other characters' appearances and powers. She has weird appendages she can control to keep her body properly covered.
	Restocked DVD Titles. Finally, see lots of restocked DVDs, including Intense! Big Oppai Teacher, Buk 100 Collection 8 Hours, Stripe Knee Socks Collection 4 Hours, Nuru Nuru Love, several CFNM titles, and Best Hit TMA 100, featuring 8 hours of fresh and innovative "H" from Japan.

Off to the J-List New Year's Party now

I'm rushing to finish this update a little early since tonight we're having the J-List Shin-nen Kai, or New Year's Party. Similar to the Bo-nen Kai or "Forget the Year Party" held at the end of the year, a Japanese-style New Year's Party is an opportunity for companies or other groups to officially mark the start of a new year, and be brought closer in the process. We've reserved a room at a local izakaya, a traditional bar-restaurant that serves delicious food in addition to frosty mugs of beer and bottles of hot sake (got to have the hot sake!). J-List isn't a very formal company, and we're all pretty relaxed while we go about our business of bringing Japanese pop culture to the world, but I'm always surprised how ceremonial these company get-togethers automatically become. Once everyone is present, the organizer of the party (Yasu does it every year) will stand up and formally announce that the party has begun. After short speeches from Tomo or myself, we'll have the kanpai (cheers) and start eating and drinking. When the beer is gone we'll gather again and Yasu will announce that the party has come to an end, upon which everyone will clap their hands together loudly once, which symbolically ends the event until next year.

Observations on Japanese education, and "No Media Day"

The other day I came home from work to spend some time with the kids, and I suggested popping a DVD in and watching it. "I can't," my daughter told me. "Today is 'No Media Day.'" This is an interesting idea that Japanese public schools have started to combat the glut of TV and video games in our modern society, and we had a fine time playing a few rounds of Uno instead. I've noticed some other interesting mechanisms that Japanese educators use to help bring students and their parents together. Recently my 12-year-old son made dinner for us, which was part of his Home Economics homework (he made a meat-and-potatoes dish called niku-jaga, an odd name because it sounds like Mick Jagger), designed to help the kids understand how hard it is for Mom to cook for everyone all the time. Then there was the time my daughter was assigned homework to help her mother around the house, which for some reason included making sure the shoes in the genkan (the foyer where people leave their shoes before entering the house) were all lined up neatly, not scattered like they usually are at our house. Compared with my own experiences in the U.S., I've noticed a lot more involvement by parents in the education of their children here, from frequent Parent Days in which mothers and fathers can sit in on classes to a system that places pressure on parents to spend at least one year in the leadership of their school's local PTA.

Juken season in Japan -- time to eat your Kit Kat!

Right now it's juken (test) season in Japan, when hundreds of thousands of high school students take the university entrance exams they've prepared for over the past three years. The tests that each student must take differ depending on what school they're shooting for. Students trying to get into a national university like Tokyo or Kyoto University -- which are the most affordable, which makes them the most popular, which creates academic competition to get in, which increases the academic stature of the schools -- must take two, a standardized test called the Center Test, then the individual test for their school of choice. Because the Center Test is so important to the futures of so many young people, the subjects that appear on it help determine the educational direction of the country. One reason the Japanese aren't generally proficient at using English despite six years of study is that the Center Test requires only knowledge of grammar, vocabulary and the ability to puzzle out listening comprehension questions; since using English to communicate in any way isn't on the test, it's completely ignored by students. Due to a happy linguistic accident, the name Kit Kat sounds similar to kitto katsu ("you will surely win"), which has made it the official snack mothers give to their kids to munch on while taking their tests. To commemorate the season, Nestle has just released the new Sakura Kit Kat for 2008, which we've got on the site now.

Today's Cool Products - Wednesday, January 16, 2008

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.

	Replicant vol. 30. I could stare at this perfect-bound garage kit and character figure photobook for hours, that's how cool the figures and images inside are. From "cast off" figures you can really buy to incredibly rare creations made by Japan's most famous sculptors, this special 10th anniversary issue is something we recommend to all anime figure collectors.
	Beat Angel Escalayer -- Alter. This awesome figure from Beat Angel Escalayer, a popular PC dating-sim game and anime, is now in stock. Enjoy the detail of this totally prepainted figure as you display it in your room. It's also "cast off."
	Super Mario Light Mascot Swing Strap Full Set of 5. These light-up mascot straps, which can be attached to your phone, camera, keys etc., are finally in stock. Get your full set now.
	Lupin the Third Soundrop Full Set of 8. The Soundrop sound keychains are cool because you can capture famous anime quotes or sound effects inside each one and play them through the loud, clear speaker at any time. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Lupin III, here's a cool line of sound keychains in gashapon cases.
	Delicious New Japanese Snacks. Today's new snack items include Winter Premium Fran, a fabulous cookie stick coated with two kinds of white chocolate; a chocolate and caramel cookie called Calfe; and a new flavor of delicious Dr. Bean, chocolate covered soy beans made with soy milk, so they're extra healthy.
	Biohazard The Catalysis ~ DVD Book. Here's a great photobook that shows you the most memorable 3D creations from the Biohazard game franchise. Comes with a DVD documentary covering the story of all the video games in the series.
	Berserk / Art of War Limited Figures. Fans of the popular anime and manga Berserk, we've got some special items for you: extremely rare figure sets of Puck and Evarella and of Puck fishing. They can be used as bookends, since they're designed with two halves per set.
	Egg Nov 2007. Keep your finger on the pulse of Tokyo's street fashion culture with Egg, which shows you all the cutest and most fashionable Tokyo girls. A great J-fashion magazine.
	DX Real Lacquered Bento Box with Chopsticks. Here's a treat for bento box enthusiasts: a great lunchbox made of real lacquered wood, and comes with beautiful lacquered chopsticks too. A really rare a treat for bento fans!
	YU-ZEN Kimono Pattern Chirimen Pouch & Hand Mirror. Here's an interesting traditional item from Japan, a beautiful hand mirror and matching pouch that can hold basically anything you want to store and protect. Both are made with "chirimen," traditional kimono fabric.
	KOKESHI-CHAN ~ Japanese Kokeshi Doll Strap. Kokeshi are traditional wooden dolls from Japan that are made by expert craftsmen and very beautiful. Here is a nice phone strap, which you can also put on your keys, camera etc., featuring a traditional Japanese kokeshi doll.
	The Tales of Miyazawa Kenji. Here's a great "bilingual book" featuring the original Japanese and side-by-side English translations of the short stories of Kenji Miyazawa. Includes such famous stories as The Restaurant of Many Orders.
	Totoro Items, More. Studio Ghibli fans, we've gotten in some cool new items for you, including a ceramic Totoro Music Box ("Rainy Day") and a cool Soot Sprite plush with a string you pull to make him shake.
	Elecom Products. See restocked items from Japanese computer peripheral maker Elecom, including the Japanese USB Keyboard with katakana right on the keys and their red Retro USB Game Pad that brings old school Nintendo style gaming to your Mac or PC.
	Urecco Gal Sep 2007 vol. 60. Urecco Gal is a great magazine that brings you many pictures of beautiful Tokyo gals (short for kogal, the spoiled but irresistibly cute girls found in places like Shibuya). You also get a 4 hour DVD, wow.
	Cam On -- Natsumi Abe in Vietnam (with DVD region 2). Natsumi Abe (AH-beh) is the super-cute former Morning Musume member whose popular is incredibly high in Japan. See her in this glossy new photobook which features the popular star in many great photographs. Shot in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
	PC Dating-Sim Games by Internet Download. Remember that you can now purchase our popular PC dating-sim games Bazooka Cafe and Pretty Soldier Wars A.D. 2048 either in shrinkwrapped CD-ROM, or now, convenient Internet Download Edition!
	New Yaoi Manga. For our yaoi customers, check out some new releases from Aqua Comics, including The Fellow Who Falls in Love by Shotaroh Kojima (lots of muscular types in this) and Double King by Atsuki Kamata.
	Koi Nanase and Ai Kazama Figures ~ Night Shift Nurse vol.2. For fans of the Night Shift Nurse series by Tachibana Seven, we've got some unforgettable figures that explore just how detailed and compelling an anime figure can be. Both figures feature these characters being made into slaves for your viewing enjoyment. Ahem, very nice!
	Oriental H-cup -- Betty Rin. Meet Betty Rin, the newest face in Japan's AV world. She's special because she's half Japanese, half Hong Kong Chinese. Enjoy this delicious hybrid star as she performs for you with her 96 cm H cup "oppai."
	Yulia Nova Preorder Poster Present. Remember that J-List carries the DVDs and photobooks of the amazing Russian model Yulia Nova. We're announcing a special present, too -- customers who preorder both of her new upcoming releases will get a laminated original poster (large A2 size) sent to them, free!

The rivalry of Universities: Keio vs. Waseda

Have you ever noticed that when two groups occupy a similar space, rivalries emerge? Whether you're talking about Mac vs PC, Coke vs Pepsi, or the national rugby teams of Australia and New Zealand, each party will try as hard as they can to win against their hated rivals. The top two private universities in Japan are Waseda and Keio, and like Harvard and Yale, the schools have a rivalry that goes back to their founding a century ago. Keio University was founded in 1858 by Yukichi Fukuzawa, a visionary who travelled to the U.S. to study education at Brown University; he also promoted public education of all children and launched an influential early newspaper. Waseda was launched in 1882 by a former samurai named Shigenobu Okuma who had been taught English by a missionary in Nagasaki using the Bible and the Declaration of Independence as his study guides. Today the rivalry between the two schools is fierce, with Keio students mocking the name of Waseda for containing the characters for "rice field" and laughing at the many used book stores that can be found around the campus, implying that the students are too poor to buy new books, while Waseda-ites dislike the snobbery of Keio's wealthier students. Everything comes to a head twice a year with the So-Kei (Waseda and Keio) baseball match, which is watched by so many students that classes at both schools have to be cancelled. The rivalry between Waseda and Keio extends far beyond the current generation of students, since many members of the government are alums of the two schools. When Japan moved to update the faces appearing on its currency a few years ago, Prime Minister Koizumi (a Keio alum) made darn sure that no one removed Mr. Fukuzawa from the 10,000 note, which was the only bill that didn't get refreshed.

Japan's Wonderful TV "Talents"

Spend a little time in front of a TV in Japan and you'll see more than a few interesting "talents" (tarento), which is a generic word for any comedian, actor or other famous person who appears on TV regularly. These TV stars come in all shapes and sizes, from super cute models like Aki Hoshino and Yuko Ogura, to Speedo-wearing comedian Yoshi Kojima whose signature joke (shouting sonna no kankei ne! or "But that doesn't matter right now!" as often as possible) became a national past-time, to exotic gaijin talents like Bobby Ologon from Nigeria. One star who's been seen on J-TV quite a bit lately is Natsuko "Gal" Sone (SOH-neh), a 5'4" Japanese girl who could probably eat more than you or I could in a dozen meals. A professional "gluttonous eater" who has competed in several competitive eating contests in Japan as well as Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, she has a seemingly endless ability to wolf down sushi, ramen, or mayonnaise pizza (her favorite food). You can usually find her appearing on one of Japan's many variety shows, chatting with the hosts while casually shoveling more food down her gullet. Usually when I watch Japanese TV, I'm on the lookout for yarase, or faked content designed to make for interesting viewing at the expense of honesty, but Gal Sone seems to be the real deal since she eats everything in full view of the cameras. Despite her huge appetite, she weighs only 95 lbs (43 kg).

The uncanny ability of the Japanese to deal with crowded spaces

It's natural for the Japanese to be more skilled at some things than folks in the U.S. or Europe. For example, the Japanese are certainly better at performing detailed, meticulous tasks such as designing small machines or perfectly painting Gundam models, and are also very creative when it comes to making new English words (Meltykiss, yum). Similarly, the Japanese seem to have an aesthetic sense that I think most Westerners lack, an ability to arrange something as mundane as food in a way that brings out its bi (beauty, pronoucned like "bee"), as you can see with bento and other types of Japanese cuisine. Another area the Japanese definitely excel at is dealing with the cramped and crowded spaces that are all too common here. At the Comic Market, the doujin convention held twice a year at Tokyo Big Sight, around a half million people need to make their way into the halls and find the artist circles whose books they want to pick up. Buying comics from popular circles means standing in line, which is extremely difficult to do when there are thousands of people milling all around you. Somehow, though, a line manages to form despite all the chaos, with the last person in line politely holding a sign that indicates that this is the place for new people to line up. One of the most important virtues for a Japanese person to have is gaman, the ability to endure an unpleasant situation, and you can really appreciate a society in which everyone understands the importance of being polite to others when there are that many people around you.

Really Good Products Monday, January 14, 2008

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 (Relax Bear) Plush Pen. In the "gosh, that's cute!" category, we present a Rilakkuma plush pen, which will certainly have you be more relaxed every time you take it into your hand and write with it. Really high quality, an item you'll come to treasure.
	DX Genuine Lacquered JU-BAKO with SAKURA & Rhinestone ~ 3-tier Square Bento . A ju-bako is a stacking style bento box that lets you eat your delicious lunch in levels, with rice in one box, meat and vegetables in another and other goodies in still another. We're posting this outstanding 3-tiered bento box to the site now, with gorgeous lacquer styling and sakura petal designs.
	Uno! -- Makoto Uno Artworks. A gorgeous illustration book featuring the collected (sexy) works of Makoto Uno, character design for many hit animes like Love Hina, Stellvia, Witch Blade and Dragonaut. Enjoy this awesome art book, in stock now.
	Delicious Japanese Snacks. Today's new snack items include Cho-Pan Millefeuille, a fabulous cream and cookie surrounded by strawberry treat, Lotte's Hime-no-Chocolat that's dreamy to taste, and traditional yuzu flavored soft candy.
	Crystal Nail ~ You can make a shiny nail in 10 sec. Currently an incredibly popular item among ladies in Japan, this is a soft sponge-like cube with fine polishing material on every surface. As the (hilarious) tag line indicates, you can polish your fingernails and make them look shiny and great in 10 seconds or less. Currently one of the top selling products on Japanese sites like Rakuten!
	Revoltech Yotsuba ~ Yotsubato. One of the coolest toys to be released in the Revoltech line is Yotsuba, the star of the manga and anime Yotsubato (aka Yotsuba&, or Yotsuba with an ampersand after it). The official mascot of 4chan. Back in stock!
	Hariko Daruma -- 17cm ~ Medium. Speaking of Daruma, we've gotten in fresh stock of this popular item, which brings good luck to Japanese every year. Here's what you do: make a wish that's your goal for the year, then color the left eye black with a pen. If the wish comes true, color the right eye black. (Don't forget our Daruma shirt, either.)
	Nihongo Journal June 2007. We've posted three more back-issues of Nihongo Journal, the popular magazine that's loaded with Japanese study lessons of different levels for you to use. Each issue comes with its study CD included, too.
	Restocked Items for your Kitchen. From fresh stock of our popular "Nikyoro" Bean Shaped Bento Box with a smiling face on it to popular onigiri wrappers and our classic miso soup bowls, J-List has something cool for your kitchen right now.
	Hello Kitty Ear Pick - Mimikaki. A mimikaki is a traditional Japanese ear cleaner made of bamboo or other materials. Here's our super cute Hello Kitty ear cleaner that will keep your ears hearing great, and also very cute.
	Reduced Prices on Hirameki Games. Hirameki International is the company that's brought some of the best visual novels and PC anime games to the English speaking world, for everyone to enjoy. Browse our selection and new prices now!
	Kairo ~ DX Large Warming Pad (Individual). While I like Japan, the San Diego boy in me just can't get behind the cold winters here. To keep warm I use kairo, the amazing heat pads that stay warm for hours. If you hate being cold, or if you engage in any outdoor activity, you must try these. Available individually or in quantity.
	YUTANPO ~ Microwave Hot Pack & Cover. Another traditional way to keep warm in the cold winter of Japan or wherever you happen to live, this is a great item that you warm in the microwave then slide into your bed. Provides up to 7 hours of warmth for your feet, for your bed, or anywhere!
	Haruhi Suzumiya 1/7 Figure Goth Loli ver. *Preorder*. Here's a real treat: a "goth-loli" version of Haruhi Suzumiya that's sure to be a popular figure with fans and collectors. Features a super detailed version of Haruhi in the ultimate cosplay, a frilly dress that looks great. Preorder your figure now.
	My Neighbor Totoro Deluxe Cuckoo Clock. Also, one of the coolest items in J-List history: the official Studio Ghibli Totoro Cuckoo Clock. which accurately tells the time and plays the Totoro song (with moving Totoro figures) on the hour. A truly fantastic item!
	Labyrinth -- Kaori Takagi. This amazing 19 year old Japanese model looks great in this glossy hardcover photobook offering from Bunka-sha. Gorgeous photographs throughout.
	Delicate Fantasy 4. Tohru Nishimaki is the famous Japanese artist who created the Blue Eyes series. Now his popular doujinshi line Delicate Fantasy continues with a brand new release featuring his, er, unforgettable female characters.
	JAST USA 10th Anniversary Limited Card Collection FULL Set. JAST USA has been bringing our customers PC dating-sim games in English for a decade, and we created this awesome line of commemorative trading cards. Although the first set we'd prepared for customers sold out in record time, we've gotten another 100 sets of cards. Don't wait to get yours!
	Nix Cast-off Figure Excellent Model Core ~ Queen's Blade. For fans of Queen's Blade, the American RPG system that was re-invented by Hobby Japan as a beautiful visual combat system with gorgeous characters that's really taking off in Japan. Here's a new "cast off" figure that combined the most amazing detail with clothes that can be removed -- wow!
	Working Uniforms Best 4 Hours Special. From flight attendant uniforms to Race Queens who promote F-1 racing in Japan to the super-cute bus guides to the unique uniforms of "elevator girls" (which you can still find in Japan), this is a great release from Big Morkal featuring no less than 20 gorgeous girls and 20 fun uniform cosplay scenes.

How to make a fool of yourself in front of a famous Japanese artist

One of the defining features of the Japanese as a people is that they are generally kenson (KEN-son), that is, humble and not boastful. If you've ever tried to compliment a Japanese person on something such as their English ability or how smart their kids are, you may have experienced a strong denial that can be confusing to Westerners. I was reminded of this during the San Diego Comicon a couple of years ago. While setting up our booth I happened to see a Japanese-looking girl with a badge that read Junko Mizuno. Being a complete idiot, I didn't realize it was the artist herself, and I actually said, "Oh, you have the same name as that famous artist, how interesting." The girl, who is so small-bodied she could have passed for a sixth grader, blushed red that anyone would think her famous, despite her many published works all around the world. One word the Japanese use when receiving some kind of compliment is okage-sama de (oh-KAG-geh sah-mah deh), a phrase which literally means "thanks to you," which is a little weird since the person doing the complimenting probably had nothing to do with the acquisition of the skill in question. Often when you say something nice to a Japanese person, they'll turn the kindness back onto you with this phrase.

Barrier to white people learning Japanese: Kanji

Without a doubt, one of the big barriers to learning Japanese are the kanji, the Chinese characters that communicate meaning in written Japanese. Elementary school students start learning kanji in the first grade, starting with the simplest character there is (ichi, the number one, written 一) and going all the way up to the last character of the sixth grade (hai, meaning ash, written 灰). Although many might blanch at the idea of mastering the entire list of 1945 joyo or "general use" kanji, what you need to be considered literate in the language, it's really not that bad if you take it a step at a time. In recent years, the rise of waapro (word processing) and computers has brought a real change in how people work with their writing system. Since characters are written by hand less often, instead increasingly typed using a computer keyboard or cell phone's keypad with the correct character picked from a list, many Japanese (and gaijin, like yours truly) lose much of their ability to write the characters, although the ability to read them is usually not affected. The problem is pretty widespread, with Japanese people from all walks of life generally less able to write kanji than the previous generation. The other day I caught a TV show called Neptune League in which teams of famous people -- say, female TV announcers, who are all supposed to be very well educated -- ride in a train traveling through a computer-generated mine shaft. Words fly out at them, and they must correctly write the kanji characters on the screen or the CG car will be sent crashing to the bottom of the shaft. It's quite an interesting show -- everyone in our family gets quite excited as they try to write the correct answers before the timer runs out.

Eating "ekiben" (train station bento) on the Shinkansen

On Sunday I took my son into Tokyo to check out an exhibition on robots at the National Science Museum, where we got to see the famous robot Asimo that can climb stairs and play soccer. We took the opportunity to ride the shinkansen, Japan's famous bullet trains that zip along special elevated rails, which is my all-time favorite way to travel. My son told me he wanted to eat ekiben, the traditional bento boxed lunches that are only sold at train stations. Each Japanese city makes its own unique train station bento lunches, like Masu no Sushi (a round disc of rice with salmon on top that you eat like a pizza) from Toyama on the Sea of Japan, or the famous Kanimeshi (crab meat bento) from Hakodate, Hokkaido. The symbol of the city of Takasaki (where we catch the train) is the Daruma, those round red figures that are displayed in homes and businesses to bring good luck, which are representations of Bodhidharma, a historical figure from India in the 6th century who founded the predecessors to Zen Buddhism and Kung Fu, and who attained his unique round shape by fasting and meditating for so long that his arms and legs disappeared. When it came time to choose which lunch we wanted to eat, we naturally picked Daruma Bento, and ate it in the train as the countryside sped by.

Making some changes to the blog

Just a heads up, I'm going to be making some changes to the way I do the blog posts. Instead of one "super" post with several subjects and today's newly posted items, I'm going to start doing smaller, more conventional posts in a more conventional format. I'm doing this for several reasons, but one of them is so that someone who wants to link to a point I make from another website doesn't necessarily have to be pointing to a post with Zenra Ice Skating, or whatever the latest wacky product is. Feedback on this is greatly appreciated. 

Thinking about elections in Japan vs. the USA, a mechanism for sexual equality, and information you can get from the Japanese news

There are two things that are really strange to watch in Japanese: sportscasters giving the play-by-play of an American football game and news reporting on American politics. With the U.S. presidential race officially underway, everyone is watching the caucuses to see which candidates will look the most "presidential" by the time they're done. The Japanese masukomi -- what the news media is called here, from "mass communications" -- is no exception, following candidates around with cameras and explaining to viewers in extra detail just what is going on, since the American political process is about as confusing to the Japanese as, well, the rules of American football. Japan's political structure is quite different, a British-style parliamentary democracy in which two major and three minor parties compete for seats in the country's two legislative houses, with the party or coalition of parties in power electing the Prime Minister. Because the people don't choose their leader directly as with Presidential elections, there's a lot less dialogue between the Prime Minister and the people when it comes to the issues. The Japanese are often fascinated with the gap between flamboyant American presidents with their positive speeches that start with "My fellow Americans" and the more subdued politicians found in Japan, a country in which building consensus with other lawmakers is valued more highly than individual leadership skills.

I talked last time about how many Japanese women don't seem to set the same goals for themselves as women from the West, in many cases actively wanting to get married and become full-time housewives. Not everyone is this way of course: the more urban the area you're in, the more likely you are to find educated women with good careers they wouldn't give up for anything. But by and large, the majority of females live by the motto that "marriage equals quitting your job." Since Japanese law requires that companies provide equal opportunity to both men and women, companies have evolved a two-track system that lets employees choose whether they want to be on a "career" path or the less-demanding "office work" path. At the bank we use in Japan, there are two kinds of employees: tellers who wear bank uniforms while they help customers, and the managers wearing normal business suits, who are responsible for making decisions and bringing new business into the bank. "Career" employees of either gender have to take qualification tests, move around the company more frequently to expose themselves to all its operations and have their performance measured, but they receive higher pay and promotions; "office" path employees, on the other hand, earn less but have fewer responsibilities. While it's probably not perfect, this system seems to work pretty well. Employees who want to pursue a career in banking can opt for the more challenging path, while those who don't want the added work (or who want the option of being able to quit at any time, say to get married) aren't asked to be more career-minded than they want to be.

Tragedy struck the other day when a man got caught in the doors of a gondola at a ski resort in our prefecture, falling to his death, and I happened to note that the news report stated that he was a "part time employee" of the ski resort. A person's status as defined by how they're employed seems to be somehow more important in Japan than it is in the U.S., and news reports regularly inform viewers of whether the person being talked about is a kaisha-in (full-time company employee), arubaito (part-time employee, from the German word for "work"), komu-in (public employee) and so on. It can be odd to hear this information provided so meticulously, especially when the employment status of the person being reported on has nothing to do with the event in question. One of the most common "people categorizing words" you hear is mushoku, or unemployed, so often tied to reports of crimes in the news. It's not stated overtly, but it seems like the inclusion of a persons employment status in news reports helps viewers know how they're supposed to feel, with the assumption that something that happenes to a homeless man or a "member of a violent gang organization" (the polite way to say a Yakuza gangster) is fundamentally different from a white-collar salaryman.

Fans of PC dating-sim games, we've got some good news for you in the form of Cat Girl Alliance, a very special new release coming soon from G-Collections, which we've posted for preorder now. You are Eiji, a new transfer student whose life is turned upside down when you learn that your school's class president has a secret. What adventures lie in store for you as you explore the strange world you've found yourself in, with the cat girl-cosplaying Rumi; the pouting and beautiful Natsuki; the temperamental Shizuko, who detests all men; and Masayoshi, Natsuki's strange step-brother. Now in production -- you can preorder this game for free shipping when it's ready.

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.

	Lucky Star Figure Collection Basic Set of 5. Lucky Star is *the* anime in Japan right now, a popular series based on a 4-koma (4-panel) comic that has seized he hearts of otaku all over the world. These figures have now come in and are ready for your order, but note that our stock is limited because it was so popular as a preorder item (more than half our stock is sold already).
	Mikuru Asahina, Haruhi Suzumiya Sega Extra Figure. Haruhi fans, enjoy these great figures of Haruhi in her school PE uniform and Mikuru in her nurse uniform. Features great detail in the eyes, the hair, and other important parts. A rare treat because these are prizes from crane games, not usually available through distributors in Japan.
	3D Oppai Mouse Pad -- Nanaka Shirakawa ~ D.C.II. There is no finer otaku item than the 3D mouse pads featuring beautiful anime characters recreated in three dimensions. We've gotten stock of this gorgeous mouse pad of Nanaka from Da Capo II, wow!
	Delicious New Japanese Snacks. Today's yummy new Japanese snacks include a limited edition Village of the Bamboo Sprouts (they're shaped like that, don't ask) in Cookie and Macadamia flavor, an amazing Green Tea Moose Pie from Fujiya, and healthy snacks made with tofu milk and soy beans.
	YUTANPO ~ Hot Water Container & Cover 2.8L. Speaking of keeping warm, here's a great Japanese tradition that's been practiced for centuries: a large bottle that holds hot water which you put in your bed to make everything nice and toasty warm.
	Crayon Shin-Chan Soundrop Full Set of 8. The Soundrop line of keychains is great because each one plays a classic Japanese line or sound effect when you press the button. This is the Crayon Shin-Chan series that plays his best and most off-color lines. Think of the fun you can have with these!
	Dental Sigma 360. Here's an incredibly innovative toothbrush from Japanese manufacturer Vivatech with bristles going all around the brush, 360 degrees, which gets your teeth incredibly clean. Currently a huge hit product in Japan, carried by customer request.
	Japan's Backalleys 100. A fascinating new way to look at Japan, through its narrow backalleys. See 100 narrow Japanese streets in beautiful cities like Kyoto and Nara, with pictures shot in all seasons.
	HI-UCHI-ISHI ~ DX Natural Flint Stone Set in Wooden Box. Here's a fantastic item: a magatama amulet made of iron and a stone of flint, which are used in Shinto ceremonies and considered to be of great spiritual importance here in Japan. Comes in a beautiful wooden box.
	Cotton HANTEN ~ Winter Kimono ~ Quilting Inner / Blue Stripe. A hanten is a warm winter kimono, and a great way to keep warm in the winter. I wouldn't go anywhere without my hanten and am extremely happy to be able to sell them on J-List now.
	Various Back Issues of Nihongo Journal. One tool I used to help myself study Japanese effectively was Nihongo Journal, a monthly magazine with various lessons at different levels, allowing you to back to previous issues and do new lessons that might have been too hard the first time through. We're posting several back issues to the site today, with the study CD included.
	Microwave Potato Chip Maker. Make your very own potato chips in a microwave oven with this wacky and fun product from Japan. Back in stock.
	Kotomi Ichinose 1/8 Figure ~ Clannad by Kotobukiya *Preorder*. Check out the upcoming Kotomi figure from the hit anime Clannad for preorder, and it looks like it'll be a great figure when it comes out. Features optional rabbit ears for the girl to wear. Set to be released in May 2008.
	Cat Girl Alliance *Preorder*. We're posting a great new PC dating-sim game for fans on the site today, which will be released in the coming months. When you discover the secret world of futanari Rumi and her friends, your life will never be the same! One of the boldest "H" games to be ported into English ever.
	Gal and Do! vol. 02 ~ Galando! Jan 2008. A bold new magazine for fans of "gals," which is short for "kogals" and denotes the super-fashionable bad girls of Tokyo's Shibuya region. Gorgeous models and photography and a 150 minute DVD for you to enjoy.
	ERIKA -- Erika Sawajiri. Erika Sawajiri, whose name sounds designed to make you think of touching her butt, looks great in this restocked photobook.
	TGWOA 22 ~ Manya-Ita! 2007 Winter. From the futanari-only circle TGWOA, which of course means The Great Works of Alchemy, this is their newest doujin book made for the recent Comic Market at Tokyo Big Sight. Great item for futa fans!
	Comic AG Super Manga Anthology vol. 71. Then enjoy the new issue of Comic AG, the popular anthology "H" manga that brings you 80 pages of the best works from Japan carefully translated into English from the artist's original pages. Best of all, you get manga from Tuna Empire!
	Restocked Manga Titles. Got some outstanding restocked manga titles today, including Take On Me and Take On Me 2, the great futanari works First Dog part 1 & 2, and Swimsuit Girl, for fans of the way girls look in bathing suits.
	Black Tights Complete 8 Hours Special. Japanese AV studios are great at focusing on unique genres, and beautiful girls wearing black tights fits the bill. This is a great release, an incredible *8 hours* of women in silky stockings.

Some random pictures that I had in my queue to show you. My friend, who is a bigger otaku than he out to be, has this on his motorcycle. He's got a new one he's making that has Kagami from Lucky Star shouting "Hey you, drive properly!"

Happiness is traveling with a laptop that has MacMame on it (an arcade game emulator) and episodes of CSI on it.

Pic of a couple of cosplayers from the show in New York. I dunno, I think Koreans make better gothic vampire types than Japanese, what do you think?

Thoughts on men and women and marriage, things that surprise foreigners in Japan, and how we sound to the Japanese

Yesterday my wife and I went to our favorite restaurant and noticed that the girl who had been working there was gone, replaced by a young man who was waiting the tables instead. I guessed why the girl wasn't around -- "I'll bet she quit to get married" -- and when we asked the owner, that was indeed the reason. When it comes to men and women there's definitely a different mind set at work over here, with a high number of women actively yearning for kekkon taishoku (leaving employment due to marriage) so they can become housewives, at least until the kids are old enough for them to return to work. While I personally believe women can do anything they set their minds to, the goals that many women in Japan set for themselves can be quite different from what's considered the norm back home. During my career as a teacher I had one student who had really dedicated herself to learning English, studying in the UK and working hard to achieve her goal of becoming a "ground hostess" for JAL, one of the most sought-after careers here. Naturally she threw all this away when a coworker proposed marriage to her, quitting her job and becoming the only perfectly bilingual homemaker in the neighborhood. The challenge for me as an outsider is to keep from judging things like this from my own local world-view, since Japan isn't the U.S. and the U.S. isn't Japan, but sometimes it can be a challenge.

I talk a lot about how difficult it is for Japanese people to learn English, with its complex grammar and pronunciation rules. But what about the reverse -- how badly to foreigners mangle Japanese when we speak it? First of all, Japanese is just a language, and it's not harder or easier than any other -- actually, the lack of equivelents for some of the complex grammar in English ("she would have been able to go...") is downright wonderful. Of course, foreigners speak Japanese with accents, and these depend on the speaker's native language -- an American speaking Japanese will sound very different from a person from China or Korea. Languages like English use intonation to stress meaning, and it's common for foreigners to accidentally apply these rules to their new language, resulting in speech that goes up and down like a roller coaster compared to Japanese, which is rather flat in intonation. (Remember my theory that Japanese people come from the planet Vulcan.) There are a lot of English words in daily use in Japan, like "weekend" or "elevator," and English speakers tend to say these words with their native pronunciations, not the (correct, in this case) more challenging oo-ee-koo-EN-doh or eh-reh-BEH-tah. Some foreigners supposedly speak Japanese too quickly: when the news program World Business Satellite comes on, I know my wife will make fun of the gaijin commentator from Morgan Stanley as he gives his rambling assessment of the latest economic numbers, somehow moving his head up and down like a chicken.

When foreigners first come to Japan, there are many things that stand out as odd to them. Using coins for the equivalent of $1 and $5 bills, which Americans aren't used to. Having 50 or more vending machines all without immediate walking distance of wherever you are, and sliding a $100 bill into one to buy a drink. Manhole covers decorated with culturally significant images from each region of the country. Getting a hot meal at a convenience store. Horizontally oriented stoplights, except in Northern Japan, where they hang them vertically due to the heavy snowfall. Stores which let you know they're about to close by playing Auld Lang Syne through store speakers. Drinks with names like Pocari Sweat, Calpis or Volume Up Water. It's all very odd, but that's the fun of going to another country, seeing what it has to offer and comparing it with what you know back home.

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.

	F-Cup Cookie for Larger Oppai. Ladies, now you can snack your way to a bigger cup size with the hit health product F-Cup cookie, which contain 50 mg of the Asian herb Pueraria Mirifica. We've got the deluxe box of 14 cookies and a smaller sampler box.
	Link Plush (M) ~ Phantom Hourglass. Fans of our Nintendo plush toys, we've gotten in a deluxe new Zelda Link plush for you, in a larger size that's a full 12 inches. Way more huggable! Great for displaying in your room or office.
	Super Mario Star Light with Sound. Also, how would you like to have your own light-up star from Super Mario World? This great replica toy from Banpresto lights up and plays music. Warning: does not provide you with actual invincibility in real life.
	Prier 1/60?Figure ~ La Pucelle. Here's a positively gorgeous pre-painted figure for you, the lovely demon hunter Prier rendered in large 1/6 size. Perfect detail, right down to her face, hair and exquisitely painted body.
	Dengeki Maoh Jan 2008. This is the awe-inspiring monthly manga published by Dengeki, featuring 700+ pages of great manga, from Tales of The Abyss to Persona 3 to the popular Utawarerumono, you've got so much to read in here, it'll be a while before you get to the free stuff included with the issue.
	Delicious New Japanese Snacks. Also, got some delicious Japanese snacks for you, including Zackl, the milk chocolate cookie that's crunchy and fun to eat, and Glico's Calfe, a dreamy almond cookie covered in chocolate meringue.
	DX Hand Made Ware Bamboo Design Rice Bowl. Here's a really special item, a large rice bowl with matching lid for eating all kinds of Japanese "donburi" (rice bowl) dishes. Beautiful hand-crafted ceramics, made with the thousand year old Mino Ware method.
	Various Study Items. Also for students of Japanese, we're restocking the Genki Picture Cards on CD-ROM vol. 1 & 2, as well as the useful Practical Business Japanese text.
	Japanese ASCII T-Shirts. The Japanese are extremely expressive, and are good at creating capturing emotions even in something as mundane as the ASCII character set. This month we're offering special prices on our three wacky Japanese ASCII shirt designs, called emoji or picture characters.
	Tattoo Shirt -- Irezumi Shirt. This is one of our longest-selling products ever, the Yakuza Tattoo shirt that makes you look like a Japanese gangster with a full-body tattoo. It's "free size" meaning U.S. size L or smaller.
	Jordh 1/8 Figure ~ Megachu by Alter *Preorder*. Here's a really nice new figure we're posting for preorder, the character Jordh from a popular game and anime Megachu, short for Beware of Goddesses. Great detail!
	Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service Plush Toys. Neko Bus (Cat Bus) is one of the most popular magical creatures from the Totoroverse, and we've restocked the cool Cat Bus with a string you can pull to make him vibrate. Also, Jiji the Cat!
	Monokuro Boo Plush Pen, Ergonomic Pen. We've also got the incredibly cute Monokuro Boo (Monochrome Oink) plush pens from San-X, as well as the more conventional Zebra New Spiral Ergonomic Pen that's super easy to write with.
	Mini Skirt Illustrated DVD vol. 91. If you like Japanese women in short mini-skirts photographed from low angles, then you've found the right magazine for you. Features beautiful "ero" photography and sizzling women, and a DVD for you to enjoy, too.
	Voice -- Alice Ogura. Alice Ogura is one of our favorite JAV stars over the year, because of her beautiful body and pouting demeanor. This is her third photobook, featuring her sizzling photographs that you will love. It's common for many girls in Japan to release a music CD as a JPOP idol, and this photobook includes her first-ever CD, too. Wow!
	Mirim Ixus 1/8 Figure Maid Costume ver. with Soft Breast Feature ~ Crimson Grave *Preorder*. This is the Cast Off figure to end all Cast Off figures. How clumsy do you have to be to get a broom caught inside your underwear? With squeezable "soft oppai" action, too. Now in stock!
	Casual Romance Club, H-Game of the Month. This month's Dating Sim Game of the Month is a unique game, the only Japan release title that was issued in English. Comes with the most beautiful printed game manual you'll ever see, and characters who speak cute accented English (or Japanese, optionally). Available at a great low price this month -- don't miss it!
	Saori Kamiya Remastering 4 Hours. I've been a fan of now-retired JAV starlet Saori Kamiya for years, and now her works are available with total re-mastering, allowing for more detail than ever before. See things you could never see before in this great 4 hour compilation of her best ero hits!
	Pretty Girl Rental Shop. I'm sure we've all rented videos from a store, found an especially cute girl behind the cash register, and wished we could rent the girl instead. Now you can, in the newest fantasy release by Soft on Demand, which tells of a very special shop in which you can rent the services if the pretty female employees by the hour or day.

As promised, here are a few pictures. Been so busy... :(

This is the pen he got from Prime Minister Hashimoto, if anyone remembers him.

Game with a letter, and is stamped with "Prime Minister of Japan" on it, which made our uncle very proud.

This was the watch he got last year. A gold plated pocketwatch, really nice.

This was the thing though, a beautiful silver cup (like the cups the fliers drank sake out of right before they went off on their kamikaze missions). Stamped with the symbol of the Prime Minister.

And here's the letter from the PM, in extra large letters. Essentially thanking him for fighting for his country so long ago. 

This was the Ise (ee-SAY), built in 1915 and retrofitted with a flight deck on the back. The flight deck didn't help much though -- while the ship did fight in Leyte, it had almost no effect on the war.

A useful word of Japanese, Japan's seasonal nature, and how to teach an 80 year old Japanese war veteran about the Internet

I've got a bit of a problem. On January 1st we did what we always do, visiting my wife's family, including making our annual trip to her 80-year-old uncle's house. He fought during World War II on the Ise, essentially a battleship on the front and a flight deck on the back which could launch a squadron of fighters. We like to listen to his war stories -- he talks about how he got the scar on his face from shrapnel from an American bomb, and how the only reason he survived the war is because they took the fuel from his ship and gave it to the Yamato for its final sortie. I like my kids to talk with him as much as possible, since it's hard to get the kind of insight he can offer us about the past. Anyway, he's decided he wants to learn how to use the Internet, and is hoping we can help him get online. Now, it can be a challenge for any older person to learn something that complex, but it's doubly hard for him. When he was growing up, it was considered "unpatriotic" to use foreign loan words from English, which resulted in words like "curry" being translated into kanji meaning "yellow sauce with meat on rice" (黄色肉入り汁かけご飯）for the duration of the war, and as a result, people from his generation understandably know almost zero English. Yet here I am trying to explain alien terms like "mouse" "browser" and "window," words that can't be translated into Japanese since they're exclusively used in English. It sure is a challenge.

One of the more useful words of Japanese you might want to learn is nani, which essentially means "what," and is one of the first words that old-school anime fans from the 1980s like me learned -- we didn't have any of these newfangled "subtitles" or "English dubbed tracks" you kids have nowadays. While you can occasionally hear nani?! (what?!) when watching anime or dramas in Japanese, the word usually takes a more polite form in everyday use. The most common usage would be nan desu ka? (nahn dess kah), which is just "What [is it]?" with an implied subject that's usually clear from the context. If you want to ask what a specific object is, point to it and say kore wa nan desu ka? (ko-REH wa nan dess ka), which is "What is this?" In Japanese, there are "counters," words you use to count different types of items, like mai (for counting flat objects, like sheets of paper or coins) or hon (for counting cylindrical objects like umbrellas). You can combine these counters with nani to ask thing like "how many playing cards?" or "how many pencils?" which would be nanmai? or nanbon? respectively. Put this kanji together with the character for "hour" and you get nanji, what hour, e.g what time is it now. Since this word has the same pronunciation as that dreamy bread served in Indian restaurants (naan), all foreigners are required to make the same corny joke, holding up the bread and asking kore wa nan desu ka? (which would mean either "what is this?" or "is this naan bread?").

One thing I've noticed about Japan: it's a very seasonal place. Spring is beautiful with its short-lived cherry blossoms, summer is hot and humid with many festivals, fall is filled with crisp brown leaves, and winter is cold and frosty. I've met Japanese who tell me with great pride that, unlike America, Japan has four distinct seasons, and they enjoy every one of them -- apparently these people haven't ventured outside of Southern California. Japanese people try to avoid being kisetsu-hazure (ki-SET-tsu HA-zoo-ray), which means doing the wrong things for the wrong season, and foreigners regular receive comments like "What's wrong? Aren't you cold?" for wearing short sleeved shirts on warm days in October -- we're too dumb to know that long sleeves should be worn after October 1 regardless of the actual temperature. Once, I was teaching a lesson using an ESL textbook with my students which featured a picture of a boy flying a kite in summer. My students were amazed that anyone would do this -- it turns out in Japan, flying kites (called tako) is something you do on New Year's Day, and almost no one would think of flying kites during any other season. Our lesson turned into quite an interesting cultural discussion.

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.

	Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex ~ Visual Book. For fans of Shirow Masamune's hard-hitting cyberpunk showcase Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, here's a great artbook loaded with information from the two series. Awesome visuals, Tachikoma pictures inside.
	Anime Figures in Stock Some popular anime figures that were on preorder are in stock. See the Louise 1/8 figure from Zero no Tsukaima (it's cast off!) and the cute Nao from a game called Mabinogi, rendered as a Nendoroid figure.
	Naan Snacks, Azuki Chocolates, Exotic Chocolate. Got some great new Japanese snacks today. First there's Choco-Dutsumi, chocolates wrapped in white snowy goodness. Then enjoy Meiji's Village of the Bamboo Sprout in traditional Japanese "azuki" flavor. Finally, for fans of naan, that heavenly Indian bread, we present Tohato's new "Nandesuka?" ("what is it?"). Everyone understands this now, right?
	Haruhi Suzumiya Official Fanbook. Fans of Haruhi, this is one of the coolest art books to be released for this series, the official fanbook that's filled with all the great art from the series. Back in stock.
	Lucky Cat New Year's Display with KADOMATSU & KAGAMI MOCHI. Bring good luck to your household all year long with this cool Lucky Cat New Year's display, featuring a ceramic cat and pillow with traditional New Year's decoration items. Fabulous.
	BJT Score Up Test ~ Business Nihongo Nouryoku Test ~ Score up Mogi Test. Here's a great way to study Japanese for business settings: prepare for the BJT, the Business Japanese Test created by ALC. Innovative approach to an important area of study.
	Fun Origami Paper Cakes, Airplanes. I remember as a third-grader, checking out a book called Flying Origami and being floored by the difficulty of pronouncing the word (which means "folding paper"). Here are two sets, little cakes you can fold, and fun high performance flying airplanes you can build.
	More 2008 Anime, JPOP & Other Calendars. J-List still has an excellent lineup of anime, Japanese music, sexy Japanese bikini babe, traditional photo and men's calendar's for you. We've gotten in some additional stock of surprise backorder items -- but the calendar you want will be disappearing soon, so check the site soon!
	Figure Maniacs vol. 4. We've restocked this awesome volume of Figure Maniacs, the magazine that documents all the beautiful prepainted anime figures released in Japan. Imagine how excellent it will be to read this book several years down the road and see what great figures were being made? Really worth collecting.
	Ai Enma 1/8 Figure ~ Hell Girl by Alter *Preorder*. One of the coolest anime to come along in recent years is Jigoku Shoujo, or Hell Girl, the story of Ai Enma, who will take anyone to hell for you if you sign a contract with her. Got someone who has really tormented you? This is your chance for revenge. Great upcoming figure that you can preorder now.
	Restocked Japanese pens. See fresh stock of the Zebra Sarasa 0.5 mm pens (3 colors), the #1 choice of J-List staff members (we keep stealing them from each other). The 0.5 mm size is perfect for writing smoothly every time.
	Magic Calligraphy Practice Sheet. Want to try your hand at Japanese brush writing, but don't want to waste a lot of money on ink? Here's a handy Calligraphy Practice Sheet that lets you write with water!
	Sabra Jan 2008. Fans of really beautiful Japanese women know that Sabra is just about the top magazine for photography of super sexy bikini idols. Enjoy some top names in this new issue, including Shoko Hamada x Koh Hamada, Ami Tokito, and the wonderful Maomi Yuuki, posing against a backdrop of Miller Lite and Gatorade (how exotic).
	Maria DIZON photobook. Enjoy this excellent glossy hardcover photobook of Maria Dizon, the fabulous Japanese model (and Leah Dizon look-alike) who shows you her beautiful body with nothing to hide. Gorgeous photographs taken by Masafumi Nakayama.
	New "H" Manga. Today's newly released "ero" manga include a super book from Shin-ichi Izawa exploring many kinds of hard and soft love, and KANRO, meaning Sweet Nectar, a fabulous new release from talented manga-ka Kazuki Kotobuki.
	Airi Cast-off Figure Excellent Model Core ~ Queen's Blade. Wow, is all we can say -- this cast-off figure from the Queen's Blade figure-verse is one of the coolest we've seen in a while. Airi-chan goes from battle-ready sexy maid into a much more natural state very easily.
	"Ero" Ice Cube Maker. Here's a way to liven up your next party: serve ice cubes of, er, beautiful women in their birthday suits. A unique ice cube tray that makes five "zenra" ice cubes, perfect for drinks.
	Sport Chu! -- Rina Koizumi. Enjoy the lovely Rina-chan as she fulfills your fantasy of "H" sports, wearing leotards, high performance swimsuits, a PE uniform and a matching band outfit. Love it!
	Gorgeous Goddess Yulia. Fans of the drop-dead gorgeous Yulia Nova, the Russian sexy idol who has won the hearts of thousands of fans in Japan and around the world, we're happy to announce the next two releases which will be coming out soon, Yulia in the Fall and a new Cosplay release. Made with all new footage!

Learning about trust in a drinking establishment in Japan, why Japanese kids love New Year's Day, and what is a "tish"?

When a person goes to live in a foreign country, it's natural that he encounter some words and concepts that are strange to him, and I was certainly no exception. One of my first huh? moments upon arriving in Japan being taken to a snack, which is a small drinking establishment where you can get drinks poured for you by a pretty woman, belt out a few tunes at the karaoke machine, and get something to eat, which is where the snack part comes in, I guess. I learned something about Japan during my first visit to one of these places: there's a lot more trust here than there is back home. Behind the bar at any snack you can see dozens of bottles of whisky with people's names written on them. This is called "bottle keep," where a customer will buy a bottle for his own personal use and drop by any time to drink from it, and it struck me as amazing that he need not fear that anyone would steal from his $100 bottle. There are other examples of trust in Japan's society. For example, there are umbrellas at our local post office with a sign that says, "If anyone needs an umbrella, please use one of these and bring it back later." Anyone can borrow $20 from a police box for train fare home if they lose their wallet, which should be repaid at the police box nearest your house. They'll take down your information, but since you probably have no ID (having lost your wallet) in such a situation, it's essentially done via the honor system. Finally, if you're making a large purchase of lumber from Cainz Home, the local home center, they'll be happy to loan you one of their small trucks to get it home, free of charge -- even to a gaijin like me. I don't know about you, but I find that being in a society where the trustworthiness of people is assumed naturally is just wonderful, and I'm always careful to make sure I don't betray trust that anyone puts in me.

New Year's Day is known as oshogatsu, written with the characters for "correct" and "moon," no doubt a holdover from the days when Japan followed the Chinese lunar calendar. It's the favorite day of kids throughout the country because of otoshidama, cash gifts that they receive from their relatives. The amount each child gets depends on the age of the child and of the relationship involved -- kids get more from grandparents than from an uncle they rarely see, for example. My kids both made out like bandits this year, getting around $200 each, although my son got slightly more since he's older, and the oldest son in our household, which carries special status. There are two benefits from this New Year's money gift tradition that I can see. First, knowing that relatives will be handing out envelopes of cash makes kids complain a lot less than visiting family, and this brings everyone together just a little bit. Also, parents use this custom to teach the value of saving money, and the idea of a child blowing all his New Year's money the next day at the toy store is almost unheard of. My son is especially good at saving, and has managed to get more than $1000 in the bank from hoarding his New Year's money over the years. I don't think I ever had that much in a bank account before the age of 25.

Back during my days as a teacher, one of my more advanced students turned to me and said, "Peter, do you have a tish?" I wasn't sure what a "tish" was, but he made a nose-blowing gesture and I realized he was asking me for a tissue. Because Japanese is a syllable-based language in which you can express, say, the sounds ra, ri, ru, re and ro but not an "r" by itself, pronouncing English words properly can be a challenge. In addition to words like "flat" having three syllables instead of one, due to being forced through the strange filter of the katakana pronunciation system, many words end up with vowel sounds on the end, such as job (JO-bu), big (BI-gu) or end (EN-doh). My student was aware of this fact -- kind of like-ah how Mario-ah speaks-ah -- and tried to truncate any vowels at the ends of English words to make them sound more natural, which is where "tish" came from.

J-List is coming out swinging in the new year, ready to bring you thousands of great new products from Japan. From exciting toys and anime figures to fun J-Snacks to unique traditional or just plain "wacky" things you never thought you'd come across, J-List promises to make 2008 a great year for everyone with a fascination for Japan. Let us know what we can do for you this year!

Here are today's "really cool products" that I've picked out for you, out of the 30+ new items we've added to the J-List 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.

	Lucky Star DX Box ~ Konata Izumi. Here's a wonderful limited edition box of good stuff for Lucky Star fans, containing a 32 page special artbook, CD-ROM with all kinds of fun items, a notebook, and a PVC figure of Konata, one of the most unique characters to come along in years. (She's probably more of an otaku than you or me.)
	Rei Ayanami x Shunya Yamashita Figure *Preorder*. Oo, our favorite Shunya Yamashita figure is in stock now -- yes! This is a "re-imagining" of one of anime's most enigmatic characters, and the quality is just amazing. Issued by Yamato.
	Potelong Non Fried Snack -- Wasabi Flavor. We've got some fun new Japanese snacks today, starting with Lotte Pie no Mi Strawberry pies, delicious Orange Cocoa Aero chocolates, and for fans of spicy food, Potelong non-fried potato snacks in wasabi flavor -- yum!
	Nendoroid Toys: Kotona Elegance, Haruhi Suzumiya. See restocked Nendoroid figures on the site, including Haruhi Suzumiya and Kotona from Zoids. Both figures can be posed in many unique positions.
	Kitahara World Toy Collection vol.1 Basic Set of 10. Teruhisa Kitahara is a famous collector of classic toys, and this is a line of recreations of his favorite tin toys from the 1940s and 50s which you can own. Great for displaying!
	Egg Oct 2007. Keep your finger on the pulse of young hipsters in Tokyo with Egg, the fashion magazine of "kogals" or the super fashionable girls of Shibuya and Harajuku. One of J-List's most popular fashion magazines.
	Figumate Complete Guide w/ Figure. For fans of the Figumate "super deformed" toy line, we've gotten in a cool book that shows you every toy ever released in the series, from Haruhi to Mecha Musume to Negima. Comes with a cool figure inside the box.
	Natural Hemp Tapestry & Flower Vase with Gift Box. Her are two cool item, beautiful tapestries featuring image of Japan that you can hang on any way. Made of natural hemp and cotton, there's a glower vase built into the fabric that you can put a single beautiful flower into. Comes in a great gift box.
	Learn Hiragana and Katakana. Make bathtime your study time with this great chart that lets you learn hiragana and katakana (the two elementary writing systems of Japanese) in the bath, thanks to its special coating. Can be used anywhere, too, in case you prefer showering to taking a bath. Also, see our cool Hiragana Learning Tape, also back in stock.
	Tanbo ~ Rice Field -- Beautiful Japanese Sights. Here's a special item: a photobook of something you don't get to see normally, beautiful Japanese rice fields, the basis of culture in Asia for five thousands years. This great photobook also features farm houses that are hundreds of years old.
	My Neighbor Totoro Pass Case. The Japanese ride a lot of trains, and so there are some pretty nice cases for the train passes that so many students carry with them. This is a gorgeous Totoro train pass case that can also be used to carry any credit-sized standard cards for quick access any time.
	Perfect Bishojo ~ DVD Kanzen Bishojo. Here's an amazing magazine filled with "S-class" (meaning "special," the highest possible ranking) Japanese AV queens, including Nana Natsume, Tsugumi Nagasawa, Noa, Ann Namba and of course the gorgeous Hotaru Akane. Comes with a 240 minute DVD, too.
	Karami 29 -- Shou Nishino. Shou looks positively edible in her long pleated skirt and newly pressed white shirt with long black socks. AN entirely photomagazine dedicated to this special model.
	More and More -- Rin Aoki. Also dig this awesome issue of More and More dedicated to Rin Aoki and her amazing "oppai." Comes with a DVD so you can enjoy her in two formats at once.
	New Manga Volumes for You. Today's first "ero" manga of 2008 include Under the Rose, a dynamite manga by Yoh Amamiya and XO Comics featuring amazing fantasy art and more, and a superb new release from Tomoe Tenbu that features the funny English phrase "all women teachers are crack!"
	Manaka Kamaki Cast Off Figure ~ ToHeart2. For fans of "cast off" figures, which let you remove clothes and change the way your figures are displayed, we've gotten in this awesome Manaka from the ToHeart2 OVA. Change from school version to bikini mode (or less). In stock now!
	Whole Body Oil Esthetic -- Yuma Asami. Yuma-chan has made quite a name for herself over the past year, winning many fans and rising in the ranks of the JAV world. Enjoy this slippery, wet and wonderful new release from Alice Japan. We love Yuma Asami!
	Zenra Gymnastics ~ All Nude Shintaisou. Then, an real former gymnast has decided to take the plunge and become an AV actress, allowing you to enjoy her amazing "zenra" rhythmic gymnastics.

Happy New Year from J-List, observations on culture and gaijin, a dearth of new adults in Japan, and Japan as "supplier heaven"

Akemashite omedetou to all J-List readers! We had a nice, quiet New Year's Day, relaxing in the morning and watching Ratatouille with the kids, since 2008 is the Year of the Rat according to the Chinese Zodiac. After that we did what we do just about every year, going to our local Shinto shrine to pray for good luck in the new year. When we were done we wandered around the grounds, buying new omamori good luck charms for all family members and browsing the stalls that sold everything from chocolate covered bananas to takoyaki (batter balls with bits of octopus meat inside, yum). As is often the case, I found myself the only foreigner standing in a long line of thousands of people, which takes a little getting used to: the knowledge that everyone around me is pretending not to bend their ear to listen to what this American who is speaking Japanese is saying while kids stare at me like I've just arrived in Admiral Perry's Black Ships, can be disconcerting. 3% of the population of our small city is made up of foreigners, mostly from countries like Brazil, Peru and Iran, yet as usual I couldn't find a single non-Japanese on the grounds of the Shrine, preparing to partake in this fun bit of Japanese culture. I don't believe the lack of other gaijin at the shrine has to do with differing ideas on religion, as the traditional first prayer of the New Year is cultural, not religious. Instead, I think it has to do with the foreign population not wanting to accept the Japanese culture that's all around them, and the xenophobic Japanese being perfectly happy to go along with this arrangement. This is something that local governments in Japan should try to change: there should be a lot more cultural mingling between foreigners who live in Japan and their Japanese hosts, with ideas traded both ways. Well, that's my own little wish for 2008.

In Japan, a person is legally considered to be an adult at the age of twenty, and in January towns across the country hold ceremonies celebrating the coming of age of their young people, who gather at the local Culture Hall to pose for pictures in their smart-looking new suits and colorful kimonos before enduring boring speeches from the mayor and city councilmen. This year brings a reminder of Japan's population problems, however, with official numbers published by the government setting the number of new seijin (legal adults, individuals born in 1987) this January at just 1.35 million, a 1.08% drop from last year. Notably, the number of new adults this year is even lower than the last Hinoeuma year, 1966, when millions of Japanese couples avoided having children due to a widely-held superstition that girls born in the fifth cycle of the Year of the Horse will be too strong-willed to find happiness or husbands, which yielded just 1.36 million new adults when they came of age in 1986. Many other countries have issues with declining birth rates, but in Japan, an island nation with only a small amount of immigration, the problems are magnified.

I've written before about Japan being a "supplier heaven," for companies that manufacture products and provide services. In general, sellers of products benefit from stricter pricing models and are able to capture a greater percent of the final purchase price than in any other country. Products like beer or cigarettes sold at the rural liquor store my wife's parents run yield less a mere 5% profit for them, and many other products, from books to CDs to makeup, are generally sold with a fixed pricing structures that would be unthinkable in the U.S. today. One of the first shocks a foreigner coming to live in Japan gets is "key money" that must be paid before moving into an apartment, totalling six times one month's rent, which covers things like a deposit, a fee to the agent who found the apartment for you, and "thanks money" paid to the owner for graciously allowing you to live there. Another unique practice in Japan is hotels that charge per-person, requiring you to pay, say, $150 for one person to stay or $300 for two. Surprisingly, it's been the arrival of large American companies like the major Hollywood studios or Western hotel chains to the Japanese market that's brought about the most change in recent years, as they import more customer-friendly business and pricing models and force less efficient Japanese companies to follow or get left behind.

The New Year's holidays continue in Japan, so I've gone through again and picked up a selection of really cool items I'd like to show you -- browse these cool items now. 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.

	Katakana Keyboards. There's something about a computer keyboard with the Japanese katakana font on the keys -- it just looks so cool. In addition to the popular katakana USB keyboards from Elecom, we have T-shirts for guys & girls with great Japanese keyboard designs.
	Japanese Bamboo Ear Pick - Mimikaki. You haven't lived until you've had your ears cleaned by a Japanese mimikaki, a traditional ear cleaner that looks like a bamboo scoop and is used to gently remove ear wax from your ear. Beautiful Japanese girl's lap to lay your head on sold separately.
	Metal Gear Solid, Nintendo Toys. We've got lots of cool items from Japan for gamers, from the Metal Gear Solid toy line from Kubrick (the ones who started the whole "super deformed" figure boom), our excellent Link plush, and more.
	Dengeki G's Magazine Subscription. "Moé" (mo-EH), which I sometimes write without the accent over the 'e' due to how the character displays in some formats, could be translated as the warm fuzzy feeling you get when contemplating your favorite super-cute anime or game character. Enjoy plenty of this excellent culture with a subscription to Dengeki G's, Dengeki Hime, Megami Magazine or our other awesome magazine offerings.
	Tetsudou Musume ~ Train Girls -- Full Set of 6. There are many types of otaku in Japan, including anime fans, karaoke lovers and aficionados of trains. This is a great series combining cute bishoujo characters with train uniforms.
	Totoro Fluffy Blankets. If you didn't get a soft and fluffy Totoro blanket for Christmas, we recommend you consider picking up one before this year's stock is depleted. These are so soft and warm they will be a treasure in your family as they are in ours.
	You Know You've Been In Japan Too Long.... I've long been the editor of the official "YBIJTLW" list, aka You've Been in Japan Too Long When..., and now someone's made a book of it.
	13 Secrets for Speaking Fluent Japanese. J-List loves to find useful tools to help our customers learn Japanese more effectively. Here's a popular book that gives a lot of useful advice.
	Japanese School Uniforms, Bookbag. At J-List, we like to think we're good at bringing you things that you don't expect to find. Two such items that might fit that bill are the popular high school uniforms for girls or guys, custom made to any size by the famous Matsukameya of Nagoya, and this great high school briefcase-style bookbag, used by high school students through the country.
	GETA ~ Okaku Black. This is just about our most popular traditional Japanese shoe item, traditional wooden geta sandals with a black velvet strap. The sound these make as you walk is enough to transport you back to Tokyo in the Meiji era...
	Japanese Lucky Charm. Bring yourself good luck in 2008 with our line of authentic Japanese omamori, Shinto luck charms that are carried by almost every Japanese person.
	Hello Kitty, Totoro Bento Boxes. You probably know that J-List carries many different types of bento boxes from Japan. Two of our most popular types are the Totoro line from Studio Ghibli and our cute Hello Kitty bento box sets.
	COPIC Art Supplies. J-List is proud to announce that we're carrying drawing / writing supplies from COPIC, one of the most famous companies in Japan, in addition to our popular line of other Japanese pens of every size, shape and color.
	Rei Ayanami x Shunya Yamashita Figure *Preorder*. We love Shunya Yamashita, and seeing his take on Rei from Evangelion is just too much for me. This figure can be preordered, and it could be argued, should be preordered, since our stock is likely to be shorted on this.
	Gekkan "Monthly" Series. The Gekkan or "Monthly" series is a great line of photomagazines, with each issue dedicated to a single beautiful model. The girls are so gorgeous, they can keep their clothes on and nothing is lost. A wonderful item for serious fans of Japanese photography.
	BOMB reserve subscription. One of our most popular magazine subscriptions is BOMB, a cute magazine dedicated to the most beautiful Japanese models, from red-hot stars like Yuko Ogura and Aya Ueto to the newest and cutest girls. This magazine has been published for more than three decades.
	Pretty Soldier Wars A.D. 2048. A lot of people ask about PC dating-sim games that have more traditional game play, and we recommend Pretty Soldier Wars, a great tactical RPG in which you control beautiful female soldiers who fight evil tentacle monsters, with more traditional dating-sim stories in between game levels. Only $24.95!
	Beastie Girls. Artist Sameda Koban brings to us a highly recommended "H" comic that's got a special bonus: 48 pages of drop-dead gorgeous color inside. Can't recommend this item enough.
	Comic AG Super Manga Anthology vol. 70. Comic AG is the amazing anthology magazine that brings you 80 pages of top quality "H" manga for just $4.99 per issue. See the outstanding new issue on the site now.
	Ikki Tousen, Other Cast Off Figures. Ikki Tousen (aka Dragon Destiny) is the hugely popular anime and manga that essentially is a retelling of a famous Chinese historical tale using high school girls in Tokyo, with lots of martial arts and the highest percentage of "fan service" in any anime show.
	Shirow Masamune's Jashin Hunter. If you're a fan of Ghost in the Shell creator Shirow Masamune, you really should consider picking up the Jashin Hunter novels (vol 1 & 2), illustrated by the master "H" artist.
	Zenra Bootcamp, Other Fun Concepts. From an "ero" version of Billy's Bootcamp (aerobics popularized by Billy Blanks) to the bizarre but incredibly popular Zenra Ballet series, there's no end to the innovation the Japanese are able to bring to the subject of AV.

J-List site is temporarily down

Sorry for any inconvenience. The J-List site is currently down and images on jbox.com are not working. It's a DNS issue and we're hard at work on it. Sorry to anyone trying to use the site right now. 

[Edit]  Oh, that was fast. Okay, site should be back up now!