Raising Bilingual Kids in Japan

One of the great things about having kids is, you get to watch them at various stages as they grow up, and I've enjoyed seeing my son and daughter (currently 15 and 14) moving through each phase of their lives as they grow and change. Unlike most children, my kids have had to deal with learning two languages, English and Japanese, and when kids are small it's a challenge for them to tell the two languages apart. I'll never forget the image of my daughter in a toy store in the U.S., trying to talk to another child in Japanese and wondering why they didn't understand her, or when my son commented that the cold-water bath at the hot springs we had just visited was "cold-katta," mixing the English word "cold" with the past tense ending for adjectives in Japanese. Of course once kids reach a certain age, learning languages becomes child's play ('scuze the pun), and it wasn't long before my wife and I found ourselves being surpassed linguistically by our offspring. Now my son won't let his mother help him with his English homework, since some of the answers she gave him before turned out to be wrong.

Raising kids is especially interesting when they're bilingual.

Japan and Root Beer

You never appreciate something as much as when it's gone, and as an American living in Japan I've learned to treasure the things I can't find locally. Last night after my family was done eating dinner, I brought out a surprise for them: a can of A&W root beer that I'd spied at an import shop. Because the Japanese have a special disliking for the taste of root beer, thinking it smells like those Salonpas pain patches, it's nearly impossible to find the stuff here. (Oddly enough, root beer is the most popular drink in Okinawa, which has more A&W restaurants than McDonald's.) My family loves root beer, and the four of us split the can between us, mixing it with vanilla ice cream to make delicious (if small) root beer floats and drinking them as slowly as we could. We were in heaven.

Living in Japan makes you appreciate...root beer?

Japan is a "Clean Country"

I happened to catch an article about some corruption scandals cropping up in India recently, which are causing some big problems for the country. I've heard stories along these lines from friends who have lived in India before, for example the speed that the phone company installs your phone line is proportional to the size of the bribe you pay the clerk. That's one good thing about Japan: compared to most countries, it's very "clean," and the idea that you'd get someone to do something by applying palm grease is all but unheard of -- heck, you can't even tip someone who has given you outstanding service, as the custom of tipping never caught on here. So important is personal honesty that a ridiculously small campaign contribution of just $500 has brought down Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara, who quit his post over the weekend when the news leaked out. (He received the campaign contribution from a "foreigner," which is not allowed under Japanese campaign law, though the individual who made the donation is a zainichi Korean, born and raised in Japan but maintaining South Korean citizenship for cultural reasons.) Of course, I'm not saying Japan is perfect. Influential Japanese politician Ichiro Ozawa (unfortunately no relation to Maria Ozawa) is under indictment over a controversial land purchase, and Japan still has a big problem with hakomono, lit. "box-thing," the name for pork barrel construction projects with little social value. Still. as a rule Japan does pretty well at keeping corruption at bay. When Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya was found to have been receiving financial and other perks from defense contractors, he was promptly arrested, and prosecutors descended on the Ministry of Self Defence to collect evidence. Can you imagine the U.S. Justice Department executing search warrants and scouring the Pentagon for evidence of wrongdoing under any circumstances?

By and large, Japan is mostly free of corruption on a daily basis.

J-List T-Shirt Update & Facebook Page

No matter what your interest in Japan is, J-List has a fun line of T-shirts, hoodies and hats that will help you express yourself. From our hit new "Bitches in Black" Panty & Stocking parody shirt to our "Moe Warning" shirt and awesome "I love Yaoi" offering for fujoshi girls, we've got something for everyone. Click here to see the most popular anime and kanji T-shirts on J-List.

In addition to our popular Twitter feed run by yours truly, J-List has started to use Facebook more and more, updating our official company page regularly with new products when they come in and having discussions about the fun products we sell and Japan in general. If you're on Facebook, please 'like' us, and if you prefer getting short slice-of-life updates from me in Japan, then follow me there!

Cool Products Monday, March 7, 2011

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.

	SHOXX Glipo ~ Poster Magazine vol. 1 The magazine that brings you everything fresh, bold and vivid from the world of J-Rock and visual-kei fashion strikes again, this time with a limited special edition packed with amazing fold-out posters of all your favorite bands. View products »
	Cutie Mar 2011 Next is the magazine that's full of all the news you need to stay up on the latest accessories and trends in the Tokyo 'cute' fashion culture!
	Gothic Lolita Ribbon Skirt ~ Black A super-cute gosurori fashion item, whether you're making a gothic Ryomou cosplay from Ikkitousen or just dressing to look good!
	'Sensai' Print Guard iPhone 4 Evangelion Also: we restocked the fun Print Guard Sensai iPhone screen covers, which protect your screen and keep SEELE from reading your screen.
	Mari Illustrious Fleece Blanket w/Carrying Bag Winter's mostly over, but the cool days of spring and cool summer nights will make this fleece a welcome addition to your Eva collection!
	Reminiscence of Haruhi Suzumiya **Preorder** The "what if" story that begins in the Disappearance of Haruhi movie continues in this game, with gorgeous 3D animation bringing Kyon & co. to life!
	Hello Kitty to Issho! Block Crash 123!! Also: we've restocked that awesome Hello Kitty to Issho (Always With Hello Kitty) PSP game, and we have some other awesome items you should see.
	Final Fantasy XIV Stuffed Moogle Kuplu Kopo Get your Final Fantasy plush groove on with this adorable Moogle companion from the game's latest installment, FF14. Restocked today.
	Totoro Plush Toys, More Restocked The really large Sleepy Totoro Giant Plush is restocked, one of our most popular "really big Totoro toys" ever. Plus the fun Totoro spinning top!
	Mousse-chan Fuwa Fuwa Paper Clay Set See a fun restocking of the Fuwa Fuwa Mousse-chan Paper Clay toys, air-drying clay and molds you can use to make great toys, or anything!
	Other Fun Chopsticks, Too A real treat for Hello Kitty fans: a pair of training chopsticks so anyone can learn, with little erasers to practice picking up.
	Hello Kitty Microwave Rice Cooker, More Why go out and buy an expensive rice cooker when you can get this Hello Kitty Microwave rice cooker for much less? Also see the Die-Cut Mug and more.
	Re-ment Sushi Mascot Full Set of 12 I am totally in love with these miniature sushi keychains -- they are so detailed you could eat them, but don't since they're highly detailed PVC.
	Dog's Sushi Restaurant ~ TAMAGO w/ Rope & Whistle A fun doggy chew toy that gives your dog a genuine 'treat' from Japan, this sturdy tamago egg sushi roll is great fun for your pet.
	Takoyaki Set in the BOX All you need to make takoyaki, Japan's famous snack food, is right here at J-List! This maker puts epic home cuisine at your fingertips.
	Red Wave Patterned Genuine Earthen Ware Cup A wonderful gift item of authentic earthenware from Japan, great for serving hot drinks or noodles, or simply for beautiful display.
	Today's New J-Snacks Mmm, delicious Nori and Wasabi Curl corn snacks , Strawberry Pakitz chocolate, plus a brand new double chocolate Fran Pocky-like sticks. Imagine all the delicious things you can on the J-List website now... View products »
	Fun Snacks Restocked, Too Traditional Bontan Ame candy, FritoLay Japan Takoyaki snacks (??), Lotte Pie no Mi, Winter Pocky and Meltykiss Run Raisin. Yum!
	Restocked 'Food Drops' Candy We've restocked the totally kawaii food drops candies featuring Mameshiba, plus other fun flavors like "Going to Hell Spicy Candy" flavor.
	Totoro & Kiki's Delivery Service Bento One of my favorite bento boxes is back in stock, the Kiki's Delivery Service Thermal Bento, for Jiji the Cat fans. Enjoy!
	Other Cute Bento Boxes, Too You can't be too thin or too rich...or have too many awesome Hello Kitty bento boxes from Japan. Or One Piece bento boxes.
	Restocked Japanese Study Products See the Genki Answer Key restocked, a book for reading for the JLPT, plus awesome Doraemon bilingual manga.
	Silver Sword Key Chain ~ Blue Stone A metal keychain that is sure to attract the eye and help keep your keys or accessories distinct, in the shape of a scabbarded sword.
	Restocked Traditional Items We love kokeshi wooden dolls form Japan, and have restocked all four "season" dolls -- winter, spring, summer, fall!
	Rubber Ninja SHURIKEN Also, fresh stock of our realistic ninja throwing stars, which look real, but they're made out of safe rubber. I love selling wacky products like this.
	Hello Kitty to Issho! Mini Dakimakura ~ WOW *Preorder* A super awesome item for collectors of extremely cool Hello Kitty products, we've got four mini dakimakura hug pillows featuring "pop and cute" redesigns of Hello Kitty art by Japan's top artists. We're talking OKAMA, Pop and KEI (the creator of Miku Hatsune). Preorder now or get the whole set. View products »
	Shizuku Minase 1/8 Figure Pop's Kittyler Also for fans of the newly redesigned moe Hello Kitty initiative, a 3D version of the famous "Kittyler" figure by POP. Preorder her now.
	Angel Beats Itasha Sunshades You can show your love for the masterpiece from Key writer Jun Maeda, the anime and serial novel Angel Beats with these great shades for your car!
	Brandish 4 Limited Edition w/Dakimakura The fourth volume of epic "H" manga Brandish is here, and this limited edition comes with a truly epic extra - a hug pillow that features the main heroine as drawn in an original illustration by artist RustySoul. Check it out! View products »
	F.S ISM Princess Bitch 1/7 Cast off Figure *Preorder* Figure maker Orchid Seed presents one of the most deviant and imaginative "H" figures we've seen in awhile, the beautiful "Princess Bitch" (who's name in Japanese sounds a lot like a certain famous heroine from a popular Nintendo game series...). Check out the product to see bitch hime in all her glory! View products »
	The Most Advanced Stress Relief Toys Restocked Also for our stressed-out female customers (or their boyfriends), the popular R-1 advanced toy series, including Predator Wand and Mont Blanc.
	School Days ~ UMD PSP Game School Days is coming in English, but if you want to experience it early - and on your PSP - this four-disc set of the game is a great way to play School Days on the go! An awesome collection of four UMDs that will make your PSP time better than ever. View products »
	Amazing Hentai Games from Japan The awesome Fate/stay night and Fate/hollow ataraxia, super awesome BALDR FORCE EXE, Flyable Heart (designed by the Haruhi artist!) + Clannad.
	Dating-sim Games with Shrine Maidens We have awesome English-translated eroge available now, including the Come See Me Tonight harem series, if you love shrine maidens!
	Finally, Restocked DVDs Enjoy a big restocking of ero DVDs and Blu-ray for you, including AKB Lesbian, Shame! Roshutsu (outdoor) Missions with Azusa Nagasawa, Dani Jensen doing the best Macross Frontier cosplay of her career, Nana Nanami's "Graduation" best works, Gossip Gals International "H," plus Makoto Yuuki's debut. View products »

How Kanji Works in Japan

It's interesting, the things you learn to do in Japan. Like writing "air kanji" for someone, or explaining how to write something in kanji over the phone. In written Japanese, kanji characters are used to write the major nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs in a sentence, with hiragana characters added for grammatical elements like the markers for subject and object, past tense, and so on. Names are also generally written using kanji, and just as there are alternate spellings for many names in English, there are many choices for writing a name like "Takeshi" (武、健､武史武司 etc). When you learn someone's name, it's important to learn how to write it properly, and it's the height of rudeness to write someone's name with the wrong characters, especially in a business setting. (J-List's Yasu once changed toy suppliers because they wrote his name wrong on an invoice.) Part of becoming functionally literate with kanji characters involves learning to describe them over the phone, referring to other words that are written with that character, describing the radical (the part of a kanji used to organize it in a dictionary), and so on. The part of our city J-List is located it in is called Hashie-cho (Hashie Town, 波志江町), a rather rare place name, and I've had to describe how to write this address so often I've got it down pat. "The 'ha' is 'nami' (wave), 'shi' is 'kokorozasu' (meaning to aim for a goal or take on a challenge), and the 'e' (eh) is the first character from 'Edo' (the old name of Tokyo)."

I'm pretty sure this is a Photoshop: 萌 was never the kanji of the year.

How Japanese Perceive Gaijin

The most common word for "foreigner" in Japanese is gaijin, a term that's used to describe Westerners who are obviously different from the background of nihonjin. (Non-Japanese from nearby Asian countries are generally referred to by their nationality, e.g. chuugoku-jin for Chinese, kankoku-jin for South Koreans, etc.) Japanese assume certain things about gaijin, such as, any given Caucasian you see will be from America, every Western man is tall, and every Western female is busty and "blonde," even when her hair is jet black. Sunday is anime watching night in our family, and one show I like to watch with my kids is Chibi Maruko, the story of of a lazy-but-cute elementary school student named Maruko set during the 1970s. In one episode, Maruko meets a "blue-eyed person" who was staying at a friend's house, which turns out to be a girl named Pearle, visiting from overseas. Immediately there was mass chaos as Maruko tried to come up with some English to say to the girl, but she didn't know any. Maruko went home and asked her family to teach her some English, but all she got was useless phrases like "this is a pen" and "hello! thank you! goodbye!" When Maruko finally was able to figure out how to say "nice to meet you" to the foreign visitor, she was met with puzzlement -- it turned out that Pearle was from France and didn't speak any English. In addition to assuming that every gaijin has English as their native language, it's assumed that we're all ridiculously cheerful, outgoing people, and increasingly, that we're all otaku.

Gaijin are assumed by Japanese to be outgoing otaku.

Raising Kids in Japan: Sentai, Magical Girls and Trains Edition

Raising children in Japan has certainly been an interesting experience for me, and I've passed through many different phases along with my kids. As soon as my son was born I realized that I didn't understand Japanese "baby talk," the body of words that adults use with babies and children, and I remember consciously learning how to speak it, which was kind of strange. Japan being Japan, it's common for kids to snap into certain social grooves, and virtually every boy here will watch the current sentai fighting team or Kamen Rider shows, while every girl fawns over whatever the current Sunday-morning magical girl series is. The ubiquity of these shows defines each generation, and my wife grew up in the Candy Candy era, while my son was part of the Rescue Sentai Go Go Five generation. Boys in Japan will also become obsessed with trains around the age of five, and I have fond memories of memorizing the names of every Shinkansen bullet train in the entire country with my son, and riding more than a few.

I enjoyed my son's "train obsession" phase more than his "collect beetles" one.

Japanese Products for Cat Lovers

Do you love cats? If so, then we've got some kawaii things to show you from Japan. From our popular Lucky Cat traditional display items to the Itazura Neko coin box, with a cat that rises up and steals your money, to cute plush toys and Chi's Sweet Home T-shirts, J-List has some great items for you. Click to see all cat-related products in order of popularity!

Cool Products Friday, March 4, 2011

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.

	Nyantype vol. 17 If you love epic posters from your favorite bishoujo anime, check out the latest issue of Nyantype, the Newtype sister spinoff magazine that's all moe all the time! Tons of great posters and extras here for you. View products »
	Dengeki G's Magazine April 2011 Also, the magazine that brings in depth coverage of great bishoujo anime along with hundreds of pages of exclusive moe manga. Free clock!
	Awesome Queen's Blade Books If you're a fan of Queen's Blade, we've got some great offerings for you, incl. Branwen and Shigi, both of whom are gorgeous.
	Restocked PSP Games for Otaku If you love anime and the PSP, check out the new items we restocked. Queen's Blade, Index, plus the ultimate Macross/Gundam/Everything mash-up game.
	Touhou Figures in Stock Check out our new stock of Komachi Onozuka and Sakuya Izayoi figures, plus other great Touhou goods!
	Mari Illustrious Makinami Figure In Stock For fans of the gorgeous "fan service" character Mari, enjoy the figure by Wave that has come in. It smells good...smells like LCL.
	Gorgeous Nendoroid Figures from Japan We love the awesome Nendoroid figures from Good Smile, like Toko Amano from Bungaku Shojo (Literature Girl). So many ways to display!
	Stripe Panties Restocked Level up your anime obsession with the official shimapan of Miku Hatsune, Mio Akiyama and more. Several styles restocked today.
	Fruits Mar 2011 NO. 164 The ultra cutting-edge trends of Japanese street fashion unfold in no-nonsense bold photography in the pages of Fruits. Great new issue.
	One piece and Cardigan set ~ Purple A great fashion item from Japan, check out this cute cardigan + one piece top from Y's Enterprise.
	Japanese T-Shirt - BIB ~ Bitches in Black A brand new T-shirt for fans of the awesome Panty & Stocking, the anime series from Gainax that's described as a parody of Power Puff Girls with Dirty Pair, drawn in the parody style of Men in Black. Don't mess with these girls. View products »
	Hello Kitty iPhone 4 Cases are Kawaii iPhone cases that will make you say "aww", exhibit 1: this adorable Hello Kitty case with a cute, simple design fully approved by Sanrio.
	Nintendo Classic Controller We love carrying cool items for iPhone users, and today we've restocked that retro Nintendo controller case.
	Character Ippai no OBENTO ~ Cute Character Bento Create the most adorable bento based on famous Japanese mascot characters with all the directions you need right here in one book!
	Totoro China Tea Cups, Fox Squirrel Pencil Case The whimsical Totoro makes his way to your home in this high quality set of teacups sure to delight anyone who sets eyes (or lips) on them.
	Campus Wide Japanese Learning Word Book  When learning a language, writing words in an organized way is a huge memory aid. These notebooks are designed to help with just that.
	PETATZ 60pcs ~ Double-faced adhesive tape  A super useful stationery item for putting up posters or papers, 60 convenient sheets of dual-sided adhesive tape for a multitude of uses.
	Surari Emulsion Ink Ball Point Pen 0.5 mm Japanese writing tools are some of the most advanced in the world, and you'll marvel at the smoothness of writing with this pen.
	Restocked Pens from Japan Super awesome pens restocked on the site, incl. "fude" pens for writing Japanese brush calligraphy. We love selling these.
	We Must Have More Japanese Snacks Today we've got delicious Blanchul chocolate cookies, cola flavored ramune candy, and delicious ume (pickled plum) gummy -- wow!
	Restocked Chocolate & More Meiji Green Tea Chocolate, Melty Kiss whips and Tsubu Tsubu Orange Flavor Hi-chews are only some of the reasons why we love Japan. See all the restocked items!
	CUSTOM MODE Green Volume 2 tier Bento Box with Chopsticks This is another great bento box for men, designed with a slick green and black color and plenty of storage for those with a hefty appetite.
	Lucky Rabbit Koban Bento Box Set We also have the Lucky Rabbit traditional bento restocked, one of my favorite recent designs.
	Random Restocked Items Then see random cute items we restocked today, including cute Boiled Egg Shapes, the Mini Microwave Steamer, Colorful Ribbon Clip and Jelly Mold.
	Gyoza Makers, Sushi Shapers Bento Stuff Wonderful bento/kitchen items restocked, including Gyoza Makers, Silicon Bento Cups, a Shamoji rice scoop and sushi rollers!
	The Good Schoolgirl Days ~ Shojo Jidai Enjoy this fascinating look into the days of being a schoolgirl with this excellent photobook.
	Cool Photobooks from Tokyo What if Tokyo had no people in it at all? Find out in the great photobook we've restocked today. Also, lonely but awesome train stations throughout Japan.
	Restocked Japanese Study Books Enjoy the outstanding 13 Secrets for Speaking Fluent Japanese, and a Dictionary of Basic Japanese Sentence Patterns, both outstanding.
	Fun Traditional Items from Japan Fun traditional items restocked today, including our hachimaki Japanese headbands so you can show your ki-ai plus mini samurai swords and more.
	Lucy Figure Shunya Yamashita ~ Ghost Busters Original character Lucy shows that she ain't afraid of no ghost with this awesome new PVC figure as imagined by Japan's top illustrator Shunya Yamashita.
	Taiga Aisaka 1/8 Figure Tiga Costume ver. *Preorder* The cute tsundere heroine of Toradora, Aisaka Taiga shows up in cute tiger cosplay in this great preorder figure from Ques Q.
	Lingerie The Best vol. 9 Here's the latest issue of Lingerie the best featuring popular AV idols dressed in cosplay and lingerie. Comes with panty omake too! View products »
	Toshihide Sano Illustrations Toshihide Sano is the most amazing artist on the planet, as far as we've concerned, and his drool-inspiring artbook is restocked.
	Sousou 1/8 Cast off Figure Wow, is all I can say to this new figure that captures the slender grace of Souso from the popular eroge Shin Koihime Musou .
	Illusion Vibrator P-ERO 5.0 (Pierrot) Here's another outstanding massager for the ladies from Nippori Gift called the P-ERO, which is loaded with features such as 3 vibration modes, an AC adaptor and battery power option, and a "swing feature". View products »
	Restocked TENGA 'Flip Hole' for Gaijin, More Saori Hara juices and US Tengas make a fantastic combination for fans of Japanese novelty products. Freshly stocked!
	Restocked Stress Toys We've gotten in some fun anime-themed stress toys for guys, including Love Piece, the only dolphin polisher One Piece fans need.
	Super Strip Fighter IV Strap on your gloves and prepare for some high kicking action with this "H" doujin game parody of the popular fighting game.
	Sister AV Debut ~ Riku Yamaguchi Enjoy the AV Debut of Riko Yamaguchi's little sister - Riku Yamaguchi, thanks to the hard working crew at SOD. A super awesome new release for AKB48 fans, and people who love beautiful and pure JAV stars. View products »