Japan's shock over Virginia Tech, how Japanese names work, and on the psychology of foreigners in Japan

Japan is numbly watching the aftermath of the sad events at Virginia Tech as they unfold. Much like Europe, it's illegal for most people in Japan to possess guns, and as a rule real firearms are a distant part of life for Japanese. The subject of guns has come up in my English conversation classes many times over the years ("How many guns did you own when you lived in America?"), and I always did my best to present the complex issue in a way that my students could understand, which was not always easy since they don't have a feel for our history. While incidents of gun-related violence are less common in Japan, they're not totally unheard of, a fact that we were all reminded of when Mayor Ito of Nagasaki, an outspoken opponent of nuclear weapons, was shot in the back by an irate yakuza boss on the same day as the tragedy in Virginia. The gangster in question had managed to run his Mercedes Benz into an open ditch at a construction site several years ago and had tried to make the city take responsibility for the repairs, and his frustration finally came to a head. This isn't the first time a Nagasaki mayor has been targeted: the city's previous mayor was shot by a right-winger in 1990 after he made remarks blaming former Emperor Hirohito for the events the war. You may know that Japanese, like other nations in Asia, reverse the order of the family and given names, so that the name Hayao Miyazaki in English would be Mizayaki Hayao here. Essentially, the ideas of "first name" and "last name" are useless in Japanese, replaced by the family name and namae (nah-mah-EH), or the given name, which is so close to the English word "name" that it's spooky. Like learning to say your phone number in Japanese, it can be quite a challenge to make your brain un-learn a name memorized using one language when you need to use it in another. When you learn the name of Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa, the name takes up one gestalt part of your memory, and having to say the name in the reverse order causes your brain to do some fast calculation. Although the family name comes first with Japanese names, this rule doesn't apply to foreigners, whose names are always used as they are in English.

Living as a gaijin in a place that's as homogeneous as Japan brings out some interesting responses in people, and one could write a book studying the psyche of foreigners in Japan. For example, there are the "three states of eye aversion" they seem to go through when it comes to looking at other foreigners around them, not wanting to directly meet the gaze of a an unknown foreigner on the street. There are many gaijin from various countries who appear regularly on TV speaking fluent Japanese and giving an "outsiders view" on things, but foreigners living in Japan often hate these TV personalities, if for no other reason than because their Japanese is better than ours. Among the foreign-born "talents" you can see on TV here are Bobby Orogon, the bumbling Nigerian comedian who makes Japanese language mistakes on purpose to get laughs; dashing bilingual Italian Gioramo, always there to provide his views on travel shows or documentaries about the Roman Empire; and the eternal Dave Spector, the most famous American in Japan, who has his own gossip section on the morning TV news where he reports on what all the American stars are doing this week. Remember that J-List carries all the greatest PC dating-sim games from Japan, but translated into English. With a huge catalog of games for all tastes, there's something for everyone, whether you want games with incredibly cute characters, story-centric dramatic games, hilarious comedy dating-sims, all-ages titles or whatever. The upcoming YUME MIRU KUSURI :: A Drug That Makes You Dream has been declared Golden Master and will be shipping in a very short time. Why not preorder it for free shipping when it's printed? Here are today's "really cool products" that I thought were especially noteworthy. Note: the J-List links below may be for adult products and should probably be considered "not safe for work" (a yes/no verification screen will be displayed to filter products from our mature site). To see all the J-List products, check out J-List or the JBOX.com updated products link.

	Urecco DVD Jan 2007. The new issue of Urecco is in too, for fans of the new format with included DVD.
	Gekkan -- Remi Kawashima. Gorgeous model in this new photomagaznie.
	Lesbian Kiss 4 Hours. 4 hours of beautiful Japanese lesbians doing nothing more than kissing. Less is more.
	Show Biz Celebrity KOTONO Debut. The trend of former pop idols and actresses become JAV stars continues with Kotono-chan, just lovely.
	Shiba Wanko Japanese Spirit ~ Nagomi Box (region 2). This is an amazing item -- an anime series that teaches you Japanese manners and respect for culture through cute Shiba doggies.
	Very Lemon -- Ayuko Iwane. Wow is all i can say. Ayako Iwase is a beautiful angel from Japan.
	Egg Jan 2007 vol.123. And we have another issue of Egg for fans of Tokyo's gorgeous young fashion culture.
	Dengeki Comic Gao! May 2007. Great new issue of this comic, with 500+ pages, nearly all of which are interesting. Gao! means "Roar" in Japanese.
	Daruma The Lucky Dolls ~ Kaiun Daruma Daihyakka. Daruma are an amazing symbol of Japan, and here's an excellent book for you to see pictures in.
	Elina (Konoe Taicho) ~ Queens Blade *Preorder*. Gorgeous prepainted figure you can preorder.
	Maximum Penalty ~ Ryojoku Kei. Amazing ero manga action in her new book from Femio Tenma.
	Comic AG Super Erotic Manga Anthology vol. 54. The new issue of Comic AG is in stock too. Remember that you can order this via our monthly subscription and save hassle ^_^
	Suzumiya Haruhi Official Fanbook. Great official Fanbook, filled with tons of art, information and more.
	King of Mr Samurai T-shirt ~ LL Size. A cool new shirt in our made-in-Japan T-shirt line.
	Meiji Wata Pachi Grape. Wata Pachi cotton candy with Pop Rocks inside. Yum.
	Revoltech Eva-00 Proto Type (Blue Color) *Neon Genesis Evangelion*. This is a great series of affordable and high quality robot toys from Japan. Today we've got the Eva series going up
	Wedding Celebration Hello Kitty Plush Set. Super cute plush Hello Kittty and Dear Daniel! Great for anyone you know who's getting married.
	Lacquer-style Square Sake Cup / Kotobuki. Enjoy some sake in this traditional "masu" cup.
	Tatami Mini Pillow *Blue* . Then stretch out with a pillow made of authentic tatami material (igusa grass).
	Lunch Monkey Mayo Cup with Banana Spoon . Your bento life will be cuter with this fun Mayo cup.
	Morinaga DX Koeda Pistachio. We've got more snacks as usual, including a delicious Pistachio treat.
	Snoopy Ice Cube Tray. Hello Kitty ice cube trays? Got 'em. Now we've got Snoopy too!

A meal I ate the other day. I am a major Sukiyaki buff, and a restaurant that we go to often has it has a lunch item.

They say that Japanese food is very healthy, but if you pay close attention you see a lot of refined grains, lots o sugar even in foods you figure wouldn't contain any, and so on. Teriyaki sauce, which isn't eaten in Japan much at all (go figure), is soy sauce mixed with sugar, I think.

Near the cash register of the restaurant. Good Kobe beef!

Ah, curry, the basic food of Japan!

Funny English is everywhere!

Even more funny English!

Funny things you may see in Japan, strategies for taking tests, and an important difference between Japanese and American schools

Hello again from Japan where getting your hair colored is known as a "hair manicure." For some reason, one of the weirdest sights you can see in Japan is two foreigners using Japanese to carry on a conversation. Although it's theoretically no different from people from France and Germany using a third language to communicate, the sight of two gaijin chatting in nihongo looks very strange here, and will often get amused giggles from passers-by. I used to have an Iranian friend who spoke no English, so we had to use Japanese to communicate. He'd ask me if America was really the way it looked in Hollywood movies, and I'd ask questions about life back in Iran, and we both learned a lot. Once I flew to the States on Varig, the national carrier of Brazil, and learned that Brazilians aren't generally fluent in my native tongue. Any small talk I wanted to make with the people around me had to be done in Japanese. I remember those standardized tests we had to take back in school, the ones where you had to use a No. 2 pencil (although I have yet to encounter a No. 1 or No. 3 pencil in my life). The teachers would try their best to give us some strategies for the tests, like, make sure you blacken in the circles completely and, if you have time at the end, go back and check your answers. The Japanese are a bit more focused on tests than I was during my education, and the idea of studying for a university entrance exam isn't really about simply learning the subjects that will be tested, but rather how to approach the test itself. Teachers who prepare their students to take the test for a school like the prestigious Aoyama Gakuin University have to research the past year's exams so they can help predict what the students need to cram for this year, and there are prep schools that do nothing but prepare students to get into a single university. Students want results, and these prep schools will advertise the percentage of students who got into their school of choice each year. When it came time for my kids to take the "Eiken" test, the standard test of English that's usually taken by much older students, my wife plotted a complex strategy for them, allowing them to score points on their strengths (listening comprehension) while avoiding the difficult patches (long-paragraph reading and "find the grammatical errors" exercises). Both passed with flying colors.

If you've ever tried complimenting a Japanese person on something, their language ability for example, you might be surprised to hear them deny your compliment. A big part of being Japanese is having humility, which is called kenson (KEN-son) in Japanese, and as a rule people here take great pains to avoid appearing boastful and proud. When a Japanese person gives you a gift, they'll usually say, "This isn't very interesting, but please accept it," or if it's food, "I'm not sure if this tastes good or not." One major difference between schools in the U.S. and Japan that I've noticed is that here, the children themselves are responsible for every lick of cleaning that goes on in their school, from sweeping to wiping off desks to cleaning the bathrooms, including the "big cleaning" that's done at the end of the year. There are no janitors at Japanese schools, just a handyman for doing jobs like changing out lights -- all the cleaning is the responsibility of the students. This certainly has some budgetary benefits for schools, but it also helps build character and yes, a little humility, in the kids. This tradition of self-cleaning is carried over into many companies, and every Monday morning the J-List employees wipe, sweep, clean and vacuum the office to make sure we have a clean place to work in all week. Remember that J-List sells incredibly warm hooded sweatshirts that are perfect for cooler months, or for throwing on the evenings when it cools down. Our hoodies feature cool kanji designs, from our classic "Looking for a Japanese Girlfriend" design to our fun "Respect the Emperor and Expel the Foreign Barbarians." We've also got our great Domo-kun hoodies for you, a great way to show your individuality and love of Japanese pop culture. While most of the hoodies we see being sold online are the inferior 50/50 blends that feel rough against the skin after a short time, we sell the best hoodies money can buy, with high quality 80/20 blends that are really soft and cozy. Here are today's "really cool products" that I thought were especially noteworthy. Note: the J-List links below may be for adult products and should probably be considered "not safe for work." To see all the J-List products, check out J-List or the JBOX.com updated products link.

	Bomb Nov 2006. New issue of Bomb, whch has been in print for like 34 years -- wow.
	Erotic Woman -- Mitsu Amai. Mitsu Amai has been one of my favorite idols over the past couple of years, and it's great to see her doing indies work now.
	Bijuku -- Hitomi Kobayashi. Gorgeous photobook featuring the "ripened woman," Hitomi Kobayashi.
	Lily White -- Yuriko Shiratori. On the other extreme, here's the lovely photobook of Yuriko-chan, Lily White.
	Catgirl Delivery ~ Hakonde Nyanko. Need cat girls delivered?
	Thunder Warrior Raidy ~ Kaminari no Senshi Raidy Anthology Comic. Ahem, a really amazing manga based on a game from Zyx. We're big fans of this title. This manga includes futanari.
	Yoshi Plush Doll (S)-- Mario Party. Yoshi has never been more huggable.
	Otona no Origami ~ Aruchu Masa. Origami for grown-ups rocks! See how to make funky origami out of Japanese money, like sea urchins and trilobites and more. My favorite was Super Man, a little flying man that's a great gag, since you make it out of a 10,000 yen note (ichi man en).
	FRUiTS No. 115 Feb 2007. New issue of Fruits for fans.
	Hobby Japan Mar 2007. Also, the new Hobby Japan, with its focus on Yamato and all the recent toy releases.
	Japan Atlas ~ A Bilingual Guide. Need a really good map of Japan, with both English and Japanese? This is for you.
	Comic AG Super Erotic Manga Anthology vol. 53. The new issue of AG is in, and it's great as usual because it's got friggin' Maguro Teikoku in it. Wow!
	Tamaki Kousaki Figure *ToHeart 2*. Dynamite figure from ToHeart2 that you can, ah, disrope if you so choose.
	Genuine Arita Ware Latte Mug with Pink Hiragana Script. This is great, a really high quality cup (useful for many types of drinks) from Japan!
	Rinzu Clamshell Jewery Box. We've gotten in some cool small jewelry boxes that can of course be used for other purposes. I love the chirimen fabric on the outside.
	Yellow Lucky Cat Tea Cup . It's a cup that turns into Lucky Cat when you turn it upside down -- wow!
	Basic Kanji Drill New -- 1st Grade. Learn kanji the way the Japanese do with this series of kanji drill books.

A magic Japanese phrase for you, home ownership Japan-style, and Japan as "producer heaven"

Last time I mentioned the magic words that may be responsible for much of the wa or harmony that Japan is famous for. The phrase is shikata ga nai (sh-kah-tah ga NAH-ee), or in its more common form sho ga nai, which both translate as "it can't be helped" or "I can't do anything about that," and its used in a wide variety of situations. Whether it's the government quietly hinting that a European-style VAT may be in Japan's future or Section Chief Tanaka's flat rejection of your latest suggestion at work, the phrase allows Japanese to accept what they cannot change and shrug off stress that would otherwise build up inside them. The phrase can also be seen on our wacky T-shirt and hat for girls, "I like what I like, so get off my back!" which sums up a lot of my own life. From my idealistic American point of view, it seems that the phrase is trotted out a little too quickly when there's some social injustice or other wrong that needs righting, be it racism or sexism or many other ism's out there, but of course there are things that we can't change in the world and it's very practical of the Japanese to be open about this fact. The phrase is also used to cheer someone up after sickness, heartbreak or other sadness. We had a sho ga nai event this morning when our family cat, Mi-chan (short for "mix" since her fur is black and white), was hit by a car and killed. My daughter's going to be devastated when she gets back from Malaysia, and I'm sure my (very Buddhist) wife will bring up the idea of migawari, or an animal dying to take bad luck away from the family.

A friend of mine is taking a big step in his life, buying a plot of land and hiring a builder to build a house on it for him. Unlike in the U.S., where you usually buy an existing house through a realtor, it's much more common in Japan to buy land and plan your own home from scratch. The Japanese are not fans of "used" homes that someone else has already lived in, though, so if the land you're buying happens to have an older home already on it, it's a given that it will be torn down and replaced. Home construction is a huge business here, and when my friend was looking for a company to build his home he had many options, from large firms like Sekisui that uses baseball star Ichiro for their TV commercials to Habel House, famous for steel-framed homes that are so strong you could keep a pet elephant on the second floor. Japanese companies tend to engage in businesses that might seem a little off-target to some, and my friend could have chosen homes built by Panasonic (PanaHome), Toyota Home (they build your house in parts on the same manufacturing lines as their cars then truck the pieces in), or TBS Home, the house-building arm of the Tokyo Broadcasting Station, I kid you not. He could also have done what many Japanese families are doing and get an "import home," basically a pre-designed kit that's assembled in Canada or Sweden and shipped over, then put together by a local contracting company. In the end he went with a company with the charming name of Wish Home that specializes in building homes of brick. Of course, buildings made of brick are not allowed in earthquake-prone Japan, so the house itself is built so that the structure is actually supported by the internal 2x4 frame, for safety. Although Japan is a capitalist country with a strong market economy cast in the mold of the U.S. and England, there are plenty of differences. One of the major themes of economics in Japan is that it tends to be a "supplier heaven" for companies that manufacture products and provide services, with so much power accumulated into the hands of large companies that it seems a wonder that things can function at all. In general, sellers of products benefit from stricter pricing structures and are able to capture a greater percent of the final purchase price than in any other country. At the rural liquor store my wife's parents run, our markup for beer and tobacco is a piddling 5%, barely enough to pay the electricity in the shop, but this doesn't matter since a shop without beer and cigarettes wouldn't get many customers, so my parents treat them as loss leaders. Price fixing is illegal here, but there's a whole slew of product categories such as books and CDs that are allowed to be sold at manufacturer-specified prices, which is a boon for producers wanting to create stable markets with none of that pesky competition. If you own an apartment building in Japan you've got it made thanks to the "key money" system that usually requires a tenant to pre-pay six months of rent when they move in, which includes "thank you money" and a deposit to the owner as well as to the agent that found the apartment for you, which by the way must be paid every two years. The funny thing about top-heavy supplier-centric economies is that they're always changing, and just as the open field of ideas called the Internet has brought a lot of good in the U.S. and Europe, the fact that change will come to Japan too is, well, sho ga nai. It gives us great pleasure to announce that our upcoming game, YUME MIRU KUSURI :: A Drug That Makes You Dream, has gone "golden master" and will soon be on its way to the duplicators. This is a really outstanding game set in a totally modern version of Japan in which you play a Japanese student struggling with many of the same problems that real students deal with every day. Your life is about to be turned upside down by three beautiful girls: the grown-up Mizuki who's terrified of her own weakness, the poor transfer student Aeka, and the bizarre cat girl Nekoko. As you interact with these characters and affect each others' lives you can find love, purpose and much more. A super game with dramatic themes, dreamy art and fascinating characters. We hope you're preorder your copy now! Remember that J-List carries a great for fans of JPOP, the iTunes Japan Music Cards, which are the only way to buy music from the iTMS unless you happen to have a credit card registered inside Japan. Looking for the Doraemon theme song? Want to browse the latest singles by Every Little Thing? Or browse the Japan Hip Hop scene for songs you like the sound of? It's all very easy to do from any Mac or PC running iTunes. The cards come in 1500 and 5000 yen denominations, and are super-easy to use: just log out of your current iTunes account, select the Japan store, click the link to enter an iTMS card number, and you can set up a new account for your Japanese music. You don't even have to muck with Japanese characters in the iTunes application, since it will work Here are today's "really cool products" that I thought were especially noteworthy. Note: the J-List links below may be for adult products and should probably be considered "not safe for work" (a yes/no verification screen will be displayed to filter products from our mature site). To see all the J-List products, check out J-List or the JBOX.com updated products link.

	Gals Paradise 2007 ~ Tokyo Autosalon. See the girls who promote F-1 racing in Japan in this great new photobook.
	Chinkame 3. Absolutely gorgeous photography in this new "Chinkame" series book.
	Flexible -- Ayuri Iisaku. This is the kind of photobook I love to bring you -- innovative, fresh and fun.
	Get Ecstasy Challenge Match -- Rika Asao. Rika Asao looks sweet in this bold 4 hour DVD.
	Burn My Date. We've got limited stock of doujinshi on the site for you too.
	Gothic Lolita & Punk Brand Book 2007 Spring vol. 5. A book loaded with cool pictures for gothic & lolita fans.
	Arcadia Black Version *Preorder*. Man, this is almost as cool as the Really Big Yamato we posted earlier this month.
	YesJapan's Japanese From Zero Vol. 1. New textbook line brought to you by the hardworking people at YesJapan.com.
	Comickers - Art File 014. New artbook featuring illustrations by Japan's top artists.
	Keroro Gunso K66 ~ Keron Army Action Figure Series. Great new toy for Keroro fans.
	Tyrant Habanero -- Thai Flavor. Now, you might not be thinking that you need Thai flavored Habanero chips, but let me tell you, these things are delicious!
	Black Sesame Caramel. Yowza! Black Sesame Caramels! They're really good, too, and I don't say that about every product J-List sells.
	Hello Kitty Cotton Swab Holder *Pearl Pink. Make sure your ears are as cute as they can be.
	"Wagara" Cotton Shirts ~ Sakura *M Size*. Line of button up 100% cotton shirts with amazing Japanese designs.
	YUME MIRU KUSURI :: A Drug That Makes You Dream *Preorder*. I was playing this last night, doing some of the final beta testing, and I have to say I couldn't believe the drama of some of the stories. I was literally crying out as I played. Can't wait to get it out as to our fans.

I'm feeling sad about Mi-chan so I'll show you some pictures. This is our cat, taken a few days before she ran got hit by a car.

Animals totally have personalities, and even though it looks like she hated being put in this doll house by my daughter, she was always happy to "gaman" (put up with) anything my daughter wanted to do. A real kid's cat.

This is Mi-chan's brother, Ku-chan (from kuro, black). This dumb cat loved to climb inside people's cars and hid inside a moving can that brought some furniture to us, then got carted off. We *hope* he's alive somewhere but aren't sure.

Mi-chan as a baby, back when we could play Kitten Stick-Ons©.

I joke when I post about things like my wife saying "I'm glad we have pets around, they die in place of family members" but living in the context of a very Buddhist place like Japan, I start to believe it. And if believing it makes it actually work, I'd certainly give up a beloved pet over a family member. So if you died to save one of us from some bad fate, Mi-chan, you have our eternal thanks.

All about trains and fuzzy blue rabbits from London, linguistic quirks of the Japanese language, and finding someone's "secret talent"

One thing I like about living in Japan is the rail culture here, so very different from the freeway- and automobile-based transportation system of Southern California. Trains have crisscrossed Japan since the first tracks were laid down in 1872, and you can go just about anywhere you want by rail, either a speedy bullet train between major cities or convenient local train when taking shorter trips. While you still need a car to really get around out in the inaka (boonies) where we live, residents of larger cities like Tokyo can easily get along without owning a car, and considering that a monthly parking space can cost up to $500 per month, that's probably a good thing. One of the most convenient train lines in Tokyo is the Yama-no-te loop line, which circles all of Tokyo and provides an easy way to get to most locations, as well as a fun drinking game for college students: get off at one stop, drink, get on the next train and go one station down, drink some more, repeat. There are plenty of advertisements in trains for various products, and every once in a while a company will buy every spot of advertising in a Yama-no-te train when it really wants to get its message across. The other day I got inside a train and was amazed to see pictures of Brits wearing cute plush rabbit ears, with the slogan "Go! London" everywhere, designed to make Japanese tourists think about taking a vacation there. I'm certain the advertising campaign succeeded in making Japanese feel all warm and fuzzy about Londoners.

One of the more interesting aspects of having bilingual kids is the conversations you can have with them about how they perceive their two languages. My kids grew up speaking Japanese primarily, but many trips to the U.S. and interaction with me kept their English skills up to speed. I like to ask them if they feel their personalities are different when switching from one language to the other, and seeing what insights they might have for me. The other day my son asked me what the difference between the words sutoraiku (strike, with a 'ku' sound on the end, ストライク) and sutoraiki (the same, this time with a 'ki' on the end, ストライキ) was. Japanese is quite impoverished phonetically, with just five vowels compared to the twelve vowel sounds we produce in English -- for example, the schwa or the unique way a New Yorker pronounces the first syllable of "coffee" -- and they sometimes split English words into chunks that are easier for them to digest. The words strike with a 'ku' sound on the end is the term Japanese use for a strike in baseball or bowling, but the word with a 'ki' on the end is a labor dispute, two very different concepts in the minds of the Japanese. Some other split words include mishin (a sewing machine) vs. mashin (any machine, mecha or robot); bureiki (what stops your car) vs. bureiku (what you take when you're tired); and one that I invariably mess up, garasu (glass, what your windows are made of) and gurasu (a glass that you drink out of). Socially, Japan is a different place from the West, and human relationships often have more formality than they might in the States. Therefore it takes time to really get to know a Japanese person, and it's not uncommon to keep on discovering things along the way, even years later. One interesting aspect of Japanese relationships that pops up from time to time is kakushi-gei (ka-ku-shee-GEI、隠し芸), the "secret talent" that people will hide from everyone else, only to pull out suddenly for dramatic effect. Jun is the J-List employee who brings you delicious snacks and "wacky things from Japan." When he first started working here we took everyone out for Indian food to welcome him, and he showed us his secret talent of being able to eat curry and rice deftly with his hands like they do in India, a skill he'd picked up while traveling the Silk Road. Once I took DVD and Japan iTunes-card meister Tomo out to dinner at a Japanese curry restaurant but realized I didn't have enough money to cover his meal, so he ordered the 1300 gram Super Curry Plate, which you get free if you can eat three pounds of rice and curry within 20 minutes -- he did it with time to spare. Other J-List staff members have secret abilities, too, like Yasu, who can do a great Eddie Murphy impression in Japanese; super-packer Saori, who possesses vast knowledge of American punk bands; and our newest employee Asami, proficient in Brazilian martial arts. Are you ready for White Day, on March 14th? This is the day when men who received a gift of chocolate on Valentine's Day give some sort of return gift -- okaeshi in Japanese -- to the wives, girlfriends, daughters and female co-workers who gave them something. It's pure marketing fluff, of course, but kind of fun, and companies are happy to take advantage of the event by thinking of ways to sell products. Even Apple gets into the spirit of White Day their Japan store page, by suggesting that men buy engraved iPods for their better halves as a way of saying "Thanks for the chocolate!" We've got a big announcement for you all today, with the return of our Domo-kun T-shirts and hoodies to the site. As you probably know, Domo-kun is the incredibly cute official spokesmonster for NHK, Japan's public broadcast system (the initials stand for Nippon Hoso Kyokai in case it ever comes up in casual conversation). We've got our classic Domo-kun men's T-shirt, our stylish Fitted Tee for girls, and a super item for those in cold parts of the world, our super-warm Domo-kun hooded sweatshirt. Check out the great new Domo-kun items on the site now! Remember that J-List carries great Japan-only snacks like Pocky, Pretz, Meltykiss and much more, with a staggering 200 "oishii-licious" products in stock. We've also got all varieties of the delicious Japan-only flavors of Nestle Kit Kat, including Sakura (great for spring), Strawberry, Green Tea and the brand new Peach, available by the individual pack or as a discounted sealed boxes. Japan's summers are hot and humid, though, and soon we'll have to take all chocolate products off the site to keep them from melting, so if you'd like to enjoy this year's great crop of J-Snacks, the best time to make your order is now. Since this winter has been such a warm one in Japan, we expect to have to take the chocolate snacks off the site earlier than normal, probably in April this year. Check out our selection of great snacks now! Here are today's "really cool products" that I thought were especially noteworthy. Note: the J-List links below may be for adult products and should probably be considered "not safe for work" (a yes/no verification screen will be displayed to filter products from our mature site). To see all the J-List products, check out J-List or the JBOX.com updated products link.

	Urecco DVD vol. 245 Nov. 2006. Urecco is still a great magazine, filled with pictures of beautiful women, and now a DVD for you to enjoy.
	Japanese T-shirt "Domo-kun" (Men's Standard). Domo-kun fans, we're happy to announce the return of NHK's official Spokesmonster to our humble pages. Now better than ever before! We've also got cool a greatDomo-kun hoodie on the site, too.
	Japanese T-shirt "Domo-kun" (Girl's Fitted). We've also got our stylish girl's Domo-kun shirt back on the site. Looks great!
	Legs of Yamato Nadeshiko ~ Cosplay Henka. More long, silky legs for you to enjoy from Japan.
	First Arisa ~ Saisho no Arisa -- Arisa Kuroda. Gorgeous glossy photobook of Akira Kuroda.
	W Cast -- Hotaru Akane & ICHIKA (region 2). Wow, this is quite a combination, Hotaru Akane and Ichika performing together. I can't think of a cooler pair of actresses in Japan right now.
	Figumate vol.1 Full set + Rare Figures (Set of 7) ~ Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu vol.1 . Haruhi Suzumiya is the most excellent anime series to come along since Evangelion, and we've gotten in cool figures from the series. Hurry, the full sets we have in stock are quite rare.
	Photography in Japan 1853-1912. This is one book I'm going to get myself -- a collection of *400* photographs from Japan from 1853 through 1912, from the age of Perry to the end of the Meiji Era. My gosh, what a great idea, and such a beautiful presentation!
	Hello Kitty Plush in Kimono *Pink ~ Large. This is the kind of thing J-List lives to sell -- high quality, really uniquely Japanese thiings that are just plain fun.
	March of Koala -- Cafe Latte. Yummy new taste of March of Koala, or March of the Koalas. Does it have an official English name??
	Toppo -- Double Berry Cheesecake. Mmm, baked Toppo pretzel sticks with berry cheesecake inside, wow!
	1st Grade Kanji Chart. A handy wall chart featuring all the kanji you need in your first year of study. Very handy!
	Pentel Deluxe Brush Pen (Fude Pen) -- Bold Line - XFP5M. Why write with a normal pen when you can create Japanese brush writing?
	Front Innocent vol. 1 ~ Satoshi Urushihara. Satoshi Urushihara is just a god when it comes to creating amazing artwork and characters, and his work is still the best.
	Hiyoko Brand -- Hiyoko Kobayashi Illustration. We also restocked this amazing artbook collection from Hiyoko Kobayashi, whose pen name means "baby chick."
	Iron Man Shigekix . More Shigekix goodness for you, this time in a package that will improve your energy as well as your brain power.

I don't know why, but Ueno Station, located in Northn Tokyo, is my favorite.

There's something really old about it, and you can feel the Taisho Era still present on every train platform.

Competition has actually come to Japan's cellphone world, and I'm happy to see it. Here KDDI's "au" company, the one I use, is taking aim at NTT Docomo with their twin spokeswomen, Yukie Nakama (who looks kind of creapy here) on the left, and Ryoko Shinohara (who sang the theme song to the Street Fighter II movie way back in 1994), in a nice Spring-themed ad series.

More pictures of the ads. They talk about something called the Republic of London Bunnies, which is so cute I think I'll stop reading the ad lest I give myself "cuteness poisoning."

They have cool dalmations in London?

Popping into a convenience store, where they're selling "White Day Guilt" to all men who haven't bought their White Day return gift yet.

"Gentle as the breeze, deep as the ocean, constant as the moon, mysterious LOVE." Thank you, Hello Kitty.

On the relationship of foreigners and the Japanese, the "gaijin samurai" and an unexpected crime wave in Japan

All countries have foreigners living in their midst, whether its a Swedish college student working for a season at a ski resort in Arizona or an Iranian assembling windshield washer motors at a factory in Nagoya. Japan's 1.6 million foreigners currently make up around 1.5% of the population here, which sounds like a lot until you consider that the foreign-born populations of countries like Germany and the U.S. is 9% and 11%, respectively. As you probably know from reading J-List, the Japanese word for foreigner is gaijin (GUY-jihn) which could also be translated as "outsider" since the characters literally mean "outside-person." Because the word can carry negative connotations, you'll always hear the more polite word gaikokujin or "outside-country-person" used on the NHK news and in formal situations. Japan's first encounter with Westerners came in 1543, when Portuguese sailors washed up on Tanegashima, an island near Kyushu. To the Japanese, these foreigners were Bigfoot-sized giants, disgustingly unhygienic and very hairy, and they were called Namban (Southern Barbarians) and thought to be the embodiment of Tengu, legendary long-nosed spirits who lived in the mountains and who loved to cause havoc. We do, don't we?

One of the most influential foreigners in Japanese history would have to be William Adams, an Englishman who arrived in Japan with a Dutch ship in 1600 and who was befriended by Ieyasu Tokugawa, the third of the three unifiers of Japanese history. Adams' arrival was good timing for Tokugawa, who put the 19 cannon on the ship to good use at the Battle of Sekigahara, the watershed victory that made him the Shogun (military general) of all Japan and ended Japan's Warring States Period. Adams showed the Japanese how to build the first Western-style ships, and freely shared his knowledge of astronomy and navigation. As he rose in rank in the service of the Shogun, he eventually became his personal advisor and translator. In thanks for his service, he was made the only gaijin samurai in history, given honorary swords and a fief with retainers in present-day Yokohama. If you've read your James Clavell, you know that this is the basis for the book Shogun. Japan is experiencing an unexpected crime wave, as the rising cost of metals is causing unsavory elements of society to steal anything that's not nailed down. All throughout the Kanto area there are reports of metal pipes, aluminum siding, wires and other metal objects being stolen from homes, factories and other public places, presumably for shipping for sale to hot markets like China. Even something so lowly as the steel gratings on roads are in demand, and yesterday our city was on the national news when it was reported that sixteen heavy grates had been stolen over the past few days. Additionally, there's been a rash of thefts of traditional solid copper fire bells that are hung outside at Japanese fire stations, some of which are more than 100 years old. We hope the culprits are caught soon. J-List sells a line of unique Japanese-themed T-shirts, warm hoodies and embroidered hats, with wacky and fun original designs on them. Today we've got a new T-shirt that celebrates one of my favorite things, Japanese beer, with a wacky parody logo that looks great. Let everyone know you love delicious Japanese beer with this wacky new J-List T-shirt. Neon Genesis Evangelion, the ground-breaking anime series from 1995, is popping up everywhere here in Japan. The Japanese post office has even gotten Eva fever with a rare issuing of Evangelion stamps featuring characters from the series. We've managed to get our hands on some of these stamp sets, for fans looking for something really special to add to their collection, on the site now! Here are today's "really cool products" that I thought were especially noteworthy. Note: the J-List links below may be for adult products and should probably be considered "not safe for work" (a yes/no verification screen will be displayed to filter products from our mature site). To see all the J-List products, check out J-List or the JBOX.com updated products link.

	Mini Skirt Illustrated DVD vol. 86 ~ Minisuka DVD Dec 2006. Great item for leg, stocking, and mini-skirt fans. Comes with a DVD!
	Gay Erotic Art in Japan vol. 2 ~ Transitions of Gay Fantasy in the Times. This is quite a book, for fans interested in exploring Japan's traditional gay erotic art.
	Hitomi no Lesson 123 -- Hitomi Ito. Super cute gymnastics idol in her new photobook.
	Zenra Lady's Chiropractic Clinic. Great new Zenra title from SOD. We just love this concept.
	The Sportful Exercise. There's a big base of fandom for cosplay, and here's a collection of four gorgeous girls in sports-related outfits, including leotards.
	Neon Genesis Evangelion Stamp Set *Rare Limited Edition . Evangelion stamps, available now only.
	Japanese T-shirt - Japanese Beer (Men's standard). I love Japanese beer, and now we've got a T-shirt that lets the whole world know this!
	NEON GENESIS EVANGELION CHARACTERS TYPE-F -- Full Set *Set of 5*. Cool new Eva figures, now in stock.
	Momoko Doll ~ Love, Yukata Summer. Another Momoko Doll, a large-scale doll featuring a beautiful kimono figure.
	Seeing Kyoto. Excellent Japanese photobook of Kyoto that's also filled with English explanations of Japan's most amazing city.
	Comic AG Super Erotic Manga Anthology vol. 51. New issue of Comic AG, now featuring one of my favorite manga, the Spirit of Capitalism (!).
	Pocky Decore -- Chocolate. New Pocky flavor, yum! This is the very thick, rich Decorer Pocky.
	Puchi Blythe -- Shy Bear ~ Tip Toe. Blythe is back on J-List with a cool new doll that's so stylish.
	Cinnamoroll with Magnet ~ White. Cinnamoroll is cute Sanrio character that's part rabbit, part cinnamon roll (?).
	Takoyaki Maker Set. Score! We've gotten in the cool takoyaki makers back for you again, by massive customer request.
	Hello Kitty Emblem - Chrome Plastic. Now you can turn your car into a Hello Kitty Limited Edition, just like they have in Japan.
	My Neighbor Totoro Deluxe Cuckoo Clock. Back in stock -- one of my all-time favorite J-List products ever.
	Hello Kitty DX Ice Tray. Also back on the site, the best-selling Hello Kitty Ice Cube Trays
	Neko Bus *Knitting* Doll -- Totoro. We've restocked those cool hand-knit style Totoro plush toys, too.

The reality of "learning Japanese," Japan's special relationship with garbage, and the history of the Japanese Postal Mark

One thing I've heard from foreigners who have recently come to Japan -- and which I've probably uttered myself a long time ago -- is the phrase "And then, when I've learned Japanese..." This is amusing to me since you never actually "learn" any language in the sense of suddenly becoming completely competent in all aspects of its use. A foreigner living in Japan naturally stakes out the important areas of his life or work and attains working fluency in those areas, usually not bothering with aspects of the language that will probably never touch him. After four years of study in college and a decade and a half of living in Japan I'm able to function in a wide variety of situations here, including business settings, dealing with family and friends, ordering a pizza and giving directions to my house, attending funerals and weddings and so on...but if I were suddenly thrust into the world of a banker, a politician or a daiku carpenter who builds houses using traditional Japanese techniques, I'd be completely lost. Similarly, my wife is perfectly functional in English in most cases, yet when its time for the CSI broadcast on NHK, I know she'll flip the TV into Japanese mode since the show lies outside of her established linguistic boundaries. As your life meanders on and the way you use language changes, naturally your language skills will change too. When I became a father, I realized that I didn't have a clue how to speak Japanese "baby talk," so I started that aspect of my language education. In the process of running a Japanese company I've had to learn how to read contracts in Japanese to make sure I didn't accidentally sign away my house or something, and now I'm quite comfortable with most Japanese legalese.

Every morning my car greets me and gives me my daily "What day is today?" trivia point, informing me that today is Ice Cream Day (May 9), Natto Day (July 10), Haiku Day (August 19) and UFO Day (June 24), and so on, and every time I get in my car I never know what wacky and esoteric new information I'll be presented with. Tomorrow is "Japanese Postal Mark Day," celebrating the establishment of the unique symbol used to indicate a place where you can find postal services here, which looks like the marriage of a capital T with an equals sign, or like the katakana symbol for te (テ）. The Japanese post office was established in 1871, just four years into the reign of the new Emperor Meiji that proved to be a watershed moment in the modernization of the country. In 1887, as part of a national revitalization effort, the Postal Service announced that the English letter "T" would be the new symbol of the Post Office of Japan. Ten days later, the ministry sheepishly admitted that they had mis-read their own symbol, and the actual symbol of Japan's postal organization was the one that's in use today. The "postal mark" symbol is officially registered with the International Standards Organization and is included in all Japanese fonts on personal computers. One of the first words a foreigner who comes to live in Japan learns is gomi, the most common term for garbage in Japanese. The reason is that Japan -- a nation that ranks 63rd in the world in terms of land area yet 10th in terms of population -- must understandably take some special measures to make sure its trash situation doesn't get out of hand. As newly arrived gaijin must learn, trash can be disposed of on designated days, and must be separated into various categories (burnables on Tuesday and Friday, non-burnables on Wednesday, organic trash every other week) and disposed of in approved bags you can buy in stores in that city. Although the words "environmentally conscious" don't spring to mind when you think of Japan, with its custom of covering the sides of mountains in concrete on the off chance there might be a rock slide someday, the country has been recycling for decades as one way of reducing the amount of trash generated by society. When you buy shampoo or bathroom cleaner, you're presented with a choice: a regular plastic container, or a cheaper refill-only package that lets you refill the bottle you've already got at home and cut down on what you throw away. There are many laws on the books requiring that you take special steps to safely dispose of old cars, computers and televisions, and it's common for home electronics stores to take away your old stuff for free when you buy something new, to save customers from the hassle of paying a recycling company money to take care of their old junk. In addition to an extensive line of cool Japanese T-shirts and super-warm hooded sweatshirts, all printed with loving care by our staff in San Diego using the best printing methods for years of use, we also sell embroidered hats featuring cool and wacky kanji logos and anime designs for you to wear on your head. Many of our most popular T-shirt designs, from our "Cheshire Totoro" to our "Otaku" parody of the Oakley brand to our world-famous "Looking for a Japanese Girlfriend," are available on high quality Vintage Chino Twill Caps made by Alternative Apparel, featuring soft "bio-washed" fabric, an adjustable brass buckle for "set and forget" size adjustment, and handy holes in the top to keep your head cool. Today we've got a new addition in our hat lineup: the three cute cats from the Mona Neko, three cute ASCII characters from Japan's famous 2ch BBS who love to drink, dance and always have fun. Check out the new hat now! Here are today's "really cool products" that I thought were especially noteworthy. Note: the J-List links below may be for adult products and should probably be considered "not safe for work." To see all the J-List products, check out J-List or the JBOX.com updated products link.

	Urecco Gal DVD Oct 2006 . Urecco Gal has really changed, there's no denying it. Gone are the ultra-stylish girls showing their bubblegum nudes. This new Urecco Gal comes with a massive 4 hour DVD in place of it.
	Love Pola -- Misaki. Beautiful photobook featuring Misaki, shot as a series of bold polaroids in a love hotel.
	HISUI -- Mayumi Ono. Cute-as-a-button Mayumi Ono is looking great in her newest photobook.
	Sexual Esthetic Full Course -- Kaho Kasumi. Why do I love the elegance of the Japan side of "ero" over, say, much of what I see in the U.S.? The elegance of this woman is part of the answer.
	A Graceful Degenerate of Lesbian -- Noa. Enjoy the very beautiful Noa as she shows you how to perform with other women.
	Japanese Hat - Beware of Perverts. New embroidered hat for you, featuring the popular 2ch characters Mona Neko, who sing the Numanuma song.
	Fighting Heroine Insult Princess 22 ~ Touki Ryoujyoku vol. 22. A brand new Fighting Heroine Insult Princess, in which real characters from anime and video games right the good fight against tentacle monsters.
	Oishiku Meshiagare (Delicious Seduction). An aptly named manga about delicious seduction in a variety of short stories.
	Replication Space ~ Fukusei Kukan. Why is this cool? I can't put my finger on it, but they recreated a part of old Japan back in the Showa Era with perfect faithfulness. Looking at these pictures is calming, somehow.
	Bata Bata Mamegoma. Awww, this is the cutest Mamegoma plush I've ever seen. Not only is he (she?) soft as all get-out, but he (she?) flaps his (her?) tail when you press the right place.
	HIragana Learning Tape A *Three Refills. This is, um, celophane tape that helps you learn Japanese, starting with hiragana. Wow!
	Miniture Geta for Display. Cute little Geta to display in your home, or wear if you have extremely small feet.
	Sanko Soy Sauce Rice Cracker . Mmm, my favorite type of senbei, bar none...
	Soyjoy -- Mango/ Coconuts Flavor *Energy Bar. A cool new healthy energy bar that's got tons of soy inside.
	Tomica 114 -- JSDF Light Armoured Vehicle. Cool! Japanese miltary vehicles in the Tomica series.
	Saber *Kisekae* Figure -- Fate/Stay Night. Wow, a figure of Saber that you can dress up in different outfits.
	Kanji Sticker -- Moe "Cute". We got some cool kanji stickers in, with beautiful designs and fun meanings.
	Best of YesJapan Volume 1. It's back! Our good friends over at YesJapan have the most entertaining and useful 4 hours you can imagine. Go on a date with Keiko, and learn to be annoying in Japanese!
	Nintendo DS Can Pen Case. Nintendo DS fans, here is the ultimate pencil case.

Since I'm talking about shampoo, here you go, some pictures of shampoo. Yes, I did get some rather odd looks taking these, thanks.

I've often thought this would be a good name for shampoo... This is one of the refill only packages, of course.

Another one. This one is Nuance Airy, whatever that is.

Wash your hair with black, sooty charcoal, yes!

From across the room, Tommy Lee Jones was silently watching me with eyes that were somehow sad.

Culture shock for foreigners coming to Japan, reflections on the Japanese word "nantonaku" and test culture as a Great Democritizer in Japan

When a foreigner comes to live in Japan, he or she is in for some changes. I remember my first hours in this country back in 1991, gazing out the window of the train from Narita Airport to Tokyo and thinking -- stupidly -- how the beautiful "kawara" tiles on all the houses made them look, well, very Japanese. My next bit of culture shock was seeing more vending machines in one city block than were installed in my entire university back home -- and that's not even counting the ones selling beer. Japanese homes are smaller than those in the U.S. and make use of space more efficiently, however this means that stairs tend to be steeper and much more dangerous if you have a fall. There are plenty of other large and small surprises for a gaijin moving to Japan. People riding bicycles while holding an umbrella over their heads, or using umbrellas in the snow. Toilets with a faucet in the top to let you wash your hands with the clean water as it flows into the tank. The strange custom of crosswalks to play "Comin' Through the Rye" when it's time to cross, as an aid for blind people. Perhaps the biggest surprise of all is how used to Japan a person can get, a thought that occurred to me last night while I was sitting at the kotatsu wearing my yukata, enjoying a beer and some saki-ika, dried, shredded "squid jerky" that gets more delicious the longer you live here.

When you learn a language as different from English as Japanese is, you sometimes run into words or phrases that can't be easily translated from one side to the other. My wife, who is not mechanically inclined, bought an Alpine car stereo for her BMW but complained to me that it didn't have a CD player. It took me less than a full second to look at her stereo, guess that there must be a front panel that hides the CD slot, and verify this by pushing the panel out of the way, revealing the slot. "How did you know to do that?" she asked me, and I replied, "Nantonaku." This is a word that's very hard to pin down in English, and itself speaks volumes about how full of subtle nuances the Japanese language can be. Literally meaning "somehow" or "some way," nantonaku (pronounced NAHN-toh-NAH-koo) is used in vague situations when you can't pin down a concrete reason for something. It could be translated as "without thinking about it" "without deep consideration," or in the case of me figuring out my wife's car stereo, "I just knew." If you love movies directed by Ron Howard but aren't sure why, you might use the phrase "nantonaku suki," or if the dreamy art of Japanese illustrator Range Murata calms you, you might use the phrase in that situation, too. It's probably a word most Japanese wouldn't expect a foreigner to know, so if you want to surprise a Japanese person, try pulling out the word and watch the look of shock on their faces. February is month of Valentines Day, when girls and women throughout Japan will be thinking about which chocolates to give to their boyfriends, husbands and fathers. It's is also the height of Juken Season, when millions of Japanese students will be taking their college entrance exams that will determine what university (for current high school students) or what high school (for current junior high students) they will attend. It's one of the most important moments in the life of a Japanese person, and students aiming for the best schools have studied for years in preparation. Japan has had a long tradition of requiring tests to gain admittance to universities, government jobs, and other high-ranking positions, and while the system isn't perfect, it's certainly better than letting the son of whoever has the most money or power get special treatment -- by and large, the tests are a real mechanism of Democratization here. Another benefit of Japan's test culture is the effect it has on young people, forcing them to set goals and really reflect on their education during some very impressionable and potentially dangerous years. I'm convinced all human beings have a "bad judgement gene" that kicks in between the ages of 16-22 or so, when young people will be compelled to do things that aren't in their overall best interests (apologies to young people reading this, who will insist that there is no such gene, but will then realize that I was right when they get to their mid-20s or so). Because of the focus on tests, a large number of Japanese are busy dedicating themselves to their studies when they might otherwise be out getting into trouble. We've got a new wacky Japanese T-shirt for fans of Japan's "otaku" culture, a word which describes the current generation of fans of Japanese anime, manga and other forms of popular culture from the Land of the Rising Sun. Our new shirt features a replica of a sign visible in every train station in Japan, showing "Otaku" as the current train station, with O-Daiba (the area where the famous Comic Market doujinshi convention is held) displayed as the previous station and Akihabara (Tokyo's electronics and otaku culture Mecca) as the next stop. A great new kanji shirt design for otakus all over the world -- check it out now! J-List sells a wide selection of Japanese dating-sim games for PCs in which your goal is to find the keys to unlock the hearts of beautiful girls. We're happy to announce that the upcoming Peach Princess release, YUME MIRU KUSURI :: A Drug That Makes You Dream, is in "heavy beta" testing now and is moving towards "golden master" status. A stylish game that explores Japan's modern society, you get to interact with the beautiful Mizuki (a good student who secretly hates herself), the mysterious Aeka (the transfer student with a strange secret), the popular and powerful Kyoka, the mysterious cat girl Nekoko Catseye, and more. Coming soon to a computer near you -- order now and get free shipping when the game is ready! Here are today's "really cool products" that I thought were especially noteworthy. Note: the J-List links below may be for adult products and should probably be considered "not safe for work." To see all the J-List products, check out J-List or the JBOX.com updated products link.

	Bejean Sep 2006 vol. 155. Love to see a new issue of Bejean every month. This is fast becoming my favorite "H" magazine from japan...
	Japanese T-shirt - "Otaku Train Sign". Our newest T-shirt, featuring a cool "Train Man" style tribute to otaku culture.
	She-so... Rina Matsumura. This totle is really odd. It basically combines the word "seesaw" in Japanese with phrase "she so..." since this model is so, so...
	Anicos Japan -- Mihiro. Man, Mihiro is really cool in this new anime cosplay fetish release. She dresses up in some cool anime outfits, including Haruhi Suzumiya, Saber from Fate/stay night, and more.
	Mai ing 3+ ~ Maicching 3+. Um, wow, is all I can say at these Linda Project doujinshi we've gotten in. Don't delay if you want to grab one or more, since we only have a few of each.
	Fruits No. 112 Nov 2006. Cool, a new issue of Fruits for fans of Tokyo's hip grunge culture.
	Leviathan ~ Umi Gami. Really nice ero manga from one of Japan's top artists. Fabulous art inside, including tentacle themes, always popular.
	Fate/stay night Production Drawings ~ Gengashu. A nice artbook for the show, filed with all the production and design sketches from the anime.
	"Harumachi" Strawberry Chocolate. New treat for ichigo (strawberry) fans...
	Bleach Omikuji -- School Ver.. These are cool -- little figures for Bleach fans that you can put onyour phone, etc., and they also tell your fortune, or something like that.
	Rei Ayanami *School Swimsuits* Figure -- Evangelion. Rei-chan in elementary school mode. Or super deformed,I can't really tell.
	DX Monochrome Kitty Bento Box Set. New bento set for Hello Kitty fans. Added to the red one we posted last time.
	Kitty *Soccer* Band Aid -- Bukatsu Series ~ w/ Keychain Type Can Case. We've gotten in more of these cute Hello Kitty sports-themed keychains, which contain band-aids (yes, they're cute, too).
	Soryu Asuka *School Swimsuits* Figure -- Evangelion. Cool "chibi" version of Asuka.
	"Masu" ~ Sake Cup. Drink to your health with this square Japanese sake cup. Totally cool. Of course you can be boring and put stuff in it, too.
	Cinnamo Roll Mug Cup. Have the most kawaii coffee cup at the office.

More pictures from Japan, just for you, Dear Reader. This is the view of Asama-san, just about the biggest volcano in the Kanto area, as srrn from our balcony in Karuizawa.

Testing the zoom on my new digital camera. Yes, that's smoke rising from the cone.

Daughter Rina enjoying some snow.

Japan's "Strawberry Boom" is in full swing!

About police and "police boxes" in Japan, learning to mispronounce your own language, and various meanings of "genki"

The subject of Japan's police is an interesting one. Japan's boys in blue are organized under the umbrella of the National Police Force, one of the first areas of society to be modernized in the European model when the country began its transformation from a feudal backwater into an industrialized nation in the 1870s. As with the Ministry of Education, Japan's police are a very top-down organization, and there's very little in the way of variance between police in different parts of the country, from Hokkaido to Okinawa. One big difference between the police in Japan and in the U.S. is the network of koban, the so-called "Police Boxes" or small police stations situated around Japanese cities. If you have a problem or need to ask for directions, there's usually a Koban nearby where you can get help. Police in Japan are komuin (KOH-mu-een), part of the sprawling caste of life-long public employees originally modelled on Britain's Civil Service system, who must pass a challenging regimen of tests in order to achieve that enviable status, just like firemen, teachers and employees at government offices here. Because komuin by definition cannot be fired except in extremely rare situations, it creates somewhat of a gap between society's protectors and Taro Q. Yamada (i.e., the average Japanese person on the street, Joe Sake Bottle if you will).

When you learn Japanese, or any foreign language for that matter, you need to get used to new and often strange pronunciations of familiar words. In the film "Madagascar," which my kids still try to watch at least twice a day if they can get away with it, Marty the Zebra is trying to find "the wild" which he believes is located in Connecticut. Once, my wife asked the kids, "Why does he want to go to Connecticut?" For phonetic reasons, Connecticut renders quite bizarrely in Japanese, a five-syllable word that sounds like "coh-neh-chi-KAH- tto" (in katakana, it's コネチカット). This pronounciation was so different from the English name that my kids were used to that they burst up laughing, then spent an hour trying to get my wife to pronounce "Connecticut" the proper way (which she couldn't do -- kids can be so cruel). In addition to place names, the Japanese use many English words in daily life, with altered pronunciations to fit their language, and it's always hard for English speakers to learn to "mispronounce" words, like "weekend" (ウィークエンド, which sounds like "oo-EE-koo-EN-doh"), "stew" (スチュー, which comes out like "su-CHOO" according to the rules of Japanese phonology), or good old "McDonald's" (マクドナルド, which is "ma-ku-do-NA-roo-doh"). Ogenki desu ka? This is one of the first phrases a student of Japanese encounters, and it corresponds to the greeting "how are you?" although "are you well?" is a slightly more accurate translation. In the context of this greeting, genki means "fine or "well" and you can reply by saying "Hai, genki desu (Yes, I am fine). But words don't always map cleanly to other languages, and genki can have other meanings, such as describing children running around (energetic), or someone beaming with happiness about something, or someone getting healthy after an illness. An elderly person is called genki if he's still hale for his age, you try to cheer up a depressed person by saying Genki wo dashite (lit. show me some genki), and the word can also describe the state that many men find themselves in when they first get up in the morning. The o on ogenki desu ka is an honorific prefix that shows respect, and it's often found on family titles (okaasan = mother, obaasan = grandmother), Buddhist words (otera = Buddhist temple), and "cute" words often used around kids or babies (oshiri = a cute-sounding word for a person's rear end). You never know where the next "boom" is going to come from in Japan. It could be sneakers with ridiculously thick soles one year, fashionable clothes sporting the Union Jack the next year, and ridiculous librarian-esque horn-rimmed glasses the next. Right now Japan is in the middle of an "Ichigo Boom" or surge in strawberry-flavored food products, with dozens of delicious strawberry related products showing up in stores. Today we've posted some great new ichigo products for you to sample, from chocolate covered Koeda stick snacks to Strawberry Choco Flake to a bold new Strawberry Crunky, the chocolate with the oddest name in Japan. Check out our line up of strawberry products now! J-List loves to bring Japan to our thousands of customers, and one of our most popular product categories are our "reserve subscription" magazines, which make it easy for you to get the best anime, manga, toy and hobby, goth-loli fashion and other magazines sent to you each month. You can pay for each issue as it comes in and quit or change magazines at any time, or choose to pay annually via our new annual subscription option. We've posted a great new magazine to the site today, the gorgeous Comptiq, a 350+ tome filled with beautiful color pictures of popular characters from bishoujo anime and games, with a special focus on the beauty and design of the characters. Each issue of Comptiq is filled with cool free stuff, too, like posters, pencil boards, cards, and more. If you love Megami Magazine, Newtype Japan or Dengeki G's, we hope you'll consider checking out this great new character-centric offering for you. Here are today's "really cool products" that I thought were especially noteworthy. Note: the J-List links below may be for adult products and should probably be considered "not safe for work." To see all the J-List products, check out J-List or the JBOX.com updated products link.

	Jyoyuu@. -- Ayano Azusa. Explore the mystery of "woman" with this photomag dedicated to the nude works of Azusa Ayano. Comes with a DVD too.
	The Collaboration of Panty hose Cosplay ~ Cho Bikyaku Corabo de Panst Cosplay. All I can say is, theyt've taken this low-angle, panty and stocking and high heel photograph to such an amazing level, I'm just amazed. Fabulous photography throughout this issue.
	R-017 Reina. Gorgeous photobook model really shines for her fans.
	Rola no Oshigoto -- Rola Sato (Laura Sato). Rola Sato is gorgeous, although I pity her -- her manager wasn't smart enough to make her name, y'know, Laura like it should be? But I'm sure the damage is done. She is, by the way, a look-alike for Aya Ueto. Which is pretty damn cool.
	Comptiq Reserve subscription. Gorgeous new magazine available via reserve subscription. In addition to the top notch manga and pictures, you get free stuff like posters, pencil boards, and in the current issue that we've got here, a full color doujinshi. Best of all, this is not an adult magazine -- the characters are so beautiful and compelling, there's no need for any of that stuff.
	Dawn of the Silver Dragon 3 ~ Gin Ryu no Reimei vol. 3. I'm always excited about an erotic manga that's also handled well, with a real story and great art and characters.
	Afternoon Jan 2007. Jeez Louise, this is a huge tome of manga -- like, 800+ pages! That's about 1.2 cents per page.
	Stand Alone Complex Solid State Society Visual Book ~ Koukaku Kidoutai Visual Book. Great item for Ghost in the Shell fans, like me.
	Hello Kitty Slippers (Leopard Style). Keep your feel toasty with Hello Kitty this winter!
	Strawberry Crunky Chocolate. Yummy Strawberry Crunky, new for 2007.
	Hinomaru Strap - Japanese Flag Strap. I don't know why, but there's something compelling about this. It's small, it's a soft plush Japanese flag made out of kimono fabric, and it can be put on many things including your phone or camera.
	Yuukanalia 1/6 Scale Figure -- Enchanter. Thisis one of the more captivating figures we've posted in recent months, and that's saying something. Large 1/6 scale, really good detail, viewable from any, er, angle.
	Onegai My Melody Costume Party -- Set of 8 *Full Set + Rare Item* ~ Kuromi x Maid Cafe Ver.. Maid Cafes are big in Tokyo's Akihabara region these days, and this is a great product: figures of maid costumes from real Akiba made cafes that are cosplaying Kuromi, the cool Sanrio character. They look great!
	Morinaga Strawberry Choco Flake. I've been a fan of Choco Flake -- essentially chocolate covered corn flakes from Morinaga -- for years. Now there's a new flavor to try.
	Kitty *Buden* Shoulder Bag -- Beige *Gamaguchi Type* ~ Buden High School *Kitty Club*. I love this retro Hello Kitty look, and here's a great way to keep your money safe and stay stylish too.
	Matsuri (Festival) Happi -- Orange. Beautiful happi coat from Japan, for Japanese festivals. Let this happi make you happy.
	Japanese Incense (Green Tea) w/Incense Stand. Cool, green tea scented incense with a very Japanese holder for it. Back in stock.