Jet Lagging in the USA, ways that Japanese reflect total social harmony, and would you save your baby's umbilical cord?

Well, once again I've made the hop from Japan to San Diego, which takes about 24 hours from door to door -- not too bad, considering I've travelled halfway across the globe. International travel can be a hassle, but at least it's just one long flight compared with making several different connections, as you often have when flying inside the U.S., and alcohol on international flights is always free. I'm currently going through my brief period of "reverse culture shock" in which everything in the U.S. looks kind of funny to me, from the sizes of "small" drinks at restaurants to cars careening down the wrong side of the road and so on. The colors that enter my eye actually seem to be different, but that might be the jet lag I'm feeling right now, or perhaps the leftover effects of all that free alcohol on the plane.

The Japanese can be a harmonious group of people, able to move in tandem in ways that hodge-podge Americans might have trouble conceiving of. One interesting concept is koromo-gae (koh-roh-moh GAH-eh), the official changing from summer to winter clothes, or vice versa. Since Japanese all change from their winter to their summer school uniforms on June 1, and back to winter uniforms on October 1, warm weather often spills over requiring students to swelter in the heat for a few weeks on each end. Although it might be very hot outside, virtually all students make the switch on the same day, so that one day you're seeing dark blue winter uniforms and the next day they're replaced by white-topped sailor suits, as if by magic. We got a lesson on how important not standing out can be to students the other day. During some extra-hot weather last week, we suggested to our son that he switch to his summer uniform early, since it eas plenty warm to warrant wearing the short-sleeve outfit. It'll be some time before I can forget the look of utter shock he gave us as we suggested that he be the only boy in the entire school to switch to his summer uniform early just because it was uncomfortablly warm. Sometimes confirmity can be important, I guess. You never know when Japanese customs will catch you off guard. When our kids were born, I insisted on being in the operating room during the birth so I could be the one to cut the umbillicle cords and help bring them into the world. This was rare enough that I got some surprised comments from the doctor and nurses, who were impressed with my dedication. I was talking about this event with my wife the other day, and she told me "Oh yes, and I still have those umbicle cords saved in a drawer." Supposedly, it's considered a requirement for parents to save that all-important memento of their children when they're born, to dry it and put it in a specially decorated box and keep it safe. Another interesting child-related custom is that of throwing teeth that fall out on the roof or under the house, depending on whether the tooth that came out was on the bottom or the top of the mouth, respectively. This ensures that strong teeth will grow in the future. On the heels of our great permanent price reduction on a dozen or so of our English-translated PC dating-sim games, we've got great news for you: the next two games we're posting for pre-orders! The first title is Snow Sakura, an outstanding game by D.O. in which you play Yuuji Tachibana, who has moved to a cold part of Japan, surprised to find himself surrounded by beautiful girls who love him. Can he discover the mystery of the strange cherry blossoms that bloom in the cold of winter? Then enjoy the upcoming Lightning Knight Raidy, the popular fantasy "monster combat RPG" from Zyx in which you must prowl through virtual dungeous and do battle with beautiful female monsters. Both games are in pre-production now and will be released in the coming months. You can preorder now and get free shipping when they come in! For the new update, the J-List staff has prepared lots of new and back-in-stock goodies for you, including ear cleaners shaped like samurai swords, our fun electric eraser shaped like a banana, good luck charms for 'safety driving,' restocked snacks (Black Sugar Caramels, Black Black Tablet Strong Type, Shigekix Cola), restocked toys (Totoro Alarm Clock, Bible Black figure, Hello Kitty Play Refrigerator), and much more. For our 18 plus customers, enjoy many great items too. Click here to see all the newly updated items. While I'm here in the U.S., the dedicated J-List staff will continue to process all orders and make sure everything ships smoothly. We hope that J-List can serve you today!

Shared experiences through anime and manga, on raising kids who are "half," and understanding an aspect of Japan through Newsweek

Anime and comic books -- which are collectively referred with the term "manga" in Japanese -- are an inseparable part of modern life here, and even people who never wear the label of otaku grow up plugged into this "universal culture machine." Whether it's being moved by the episode when Doraemon is preparing to return to the future and Nobita refuses to yield to the bully Gian so his robot cat friend will be able to keep from worrying about him; thrilling at the mind-bending twists of Evangelion, ultimately an anime about humans attempting to artificially create the Rapture; or tearing through their father's collection of Tezuka Osamu comics as my kids are doing now, each generation is brought closer together by the shared popular culture that's all around them. Outside of special fan events at Tokyo Big Sight and geekish havens like Akihabara, anime culture is not all that visible, although every once in a while you see one of the famous Ita-sha cars with anime characters painted on the hoods, or an auto repair shop that inexplicably uses the art of Space Battleship Yamato on its sign. Still, it seems that love of anime and related culture is never far from the surface. Every Sunday my parents' rural liquor store gets the new Shonen Jump in a day earlier than the convenience store chains, the only benefit given to mom-and-pop shops by the publishing industry, and it's not uncommon for a man in a business suit to drive up in a BMW and rush in to buy the newest issue. The current government, it seems, has finally started to realize that anime and manga have become one of the primary ambassadors of goodwill for Japan and are talking about providing seed capital and other funding to help the industry stay strong.

It's interesting having kids who are half Japanese and half American, and my wife and I put quite a lot of thought into what kind of identity we want them to have. It's important to both of us that the Japanese side of our kids be "complete," but exactly what is it to be Japanese? There are certain to be many definitions, but to me, it means that they should have received their compulsory education in Japan and learned their kanji (check), and should be able to eat natto, the famous fermented soybeans (check). They should know the value of good relationships -- the group of boys my son rides the train with will probably be friends for the rest of their lives -- and should love peace, since that's one of the defining character traits of the Japanese today (war between Jedi and Sith is allowed). Of course, the American side is equally important, and we've always taken steps to expose them to as many aspects of life in the U.S. as we can, including mandatory summer camp each year, a sightseeing trip to D.C., lots of books in English, and awareness of fun events like Halloween, Christmas and so on. My kids are also familiar with all the Schoolhouse Rock songs and the full catalog of Weird Al Yankovich -- hopefully we're doing okay. My wife reads the Japanese version of Newsweek, and sometimes I like to thumb through it to compare it to the U.S. version, or the sometimes laughable "International" edition that just happens to have exactly one news story from the various regions it's sold in, e.g. India, Singapore, Japan, etc. Although Newsweek is published here in Japanese, the editors knows that its readers tend to be interested in English and international business, and they recently ran an article on how to tackle an American-style job interview. The questions they presented seemed chosen to be as close to linguistic torture for Japanese ESL learners as could be, with no "right" answers at all. The list included open-ended questions ("tell me about yourself"), asked them to accurately evaluate themselves in both positive and negative ways ("what are your strengths or weaknesses?") and asked the interviewee to estimate in concrete terms what they thought they could achieve for the company in the future. This is the complete opposite of how job interviews are handled in Japan, where people looking for employment are expected to act in an extremely humble way, accurately representing their past work or educational history while dressing down what they're achieved in the past, and avoiding standing out from other applicants. If you don't wear this mantle of modesty during a job interview you certainly won't be hired in Japan. This month's "Dating-Sim Game of the Month" is the classic sci-fi game Critical Point, created by one of the original writers of such old-school anime titles as Macross, Mobile Suit Gundam and Bubblegum Crisis! The year is 2037, and mankind is in the midst of a new cold war -- but things are getting hot in space. When a dire situation on the moon threatens political stability, you're dispatched to investigate. The military learned long ago that women are better adapted to lonely assignments in space, which naturally leads to some interesting plot twists. A rich and complex game with over 20 potential endings to explore, available this month only at a special price! 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.

	UK 02 ~ Ura Karami 02. Wow, fabulous photobook filled with beautiful AV stars, many of whom are impossible to find anymore.
	Sukusui vol. 13 Sep. 2006. Wow, swimsuit fetish is really getting highly developed.
	Beautiful Spy Sisters -- Riko Tachibana. I just love Riko Tachibana and her "sister" on the cover.
	Yuko -- Yuko Mano. Fabulous nude idol from Japan appears in her first photobook.
	Japan Unmasked. Beacuse this is a book by Boye Lafayette De Mente, you know it's good.
	Asakusa T-shirt ~ Kotobuki. Gorgeous T-shirt for kanji fans.
	Cure vol. 37 Oct 2006. Popular magazine for J-Rock fans, also known as Visual-kei Rock.
	Mu-Bot ~ Music Player Character. A little robot whose arms are iPod earbuds!
	Comp Ace vol. 014. Outstanding manga and anime/game magazine with lots of free stuff, including a poster and Fate/sta night free stuff.
	Panda *Sex Style* Glass -- Small. The "Sexy Style" series is back with these great Panda cups, showing you teh traditional 48 sexual positions in Japan.
	Kishin Densho -- 11 Buddhist Gods ~ Full Complete Set (Set of 26). This is a fantastic series: a collection of toys that are ancient Buddhist gods. Outstanding!
	Spinning Shoe Tree. Store your shoes in a the most efficient way possible.
	Lotte Rich Fruit Chocolate -- Raspberry. Chocolate will be going bye-bye soon, but we've still got plenty of stock. Thhis is one of the new items we're posting today.
	Zebra Spiral Ergonomic Pen -- Green. New pen from Japan, designed for study by a Waseda professor.
	Hello Kitty Chrimen Box KOPPORI Shape ~ Red. Put your stuff in these cute chirimen boxes.
	Namco Classics Soundrop -- Individual. Soundrop are back, with classic video games this time.
	Black Choco Ball -- Bitter. Delicious Choco Ball!

Japan and its interesting top-down society, a trip to the park, and all about Japan and conveyor-belt sushi

One of the more interesting aspects of Japan is the top-down nature of its society, how it's ostensibly structured in a way that channels more respect to senior individuals in a school or organization, and society in general. When a younger student or junior employee in a company (kohai) sees an older student or senior employee (senpai), it's expected that he will greet his senior using a formal salutation like Ohayo gozaimasu, while the senior will reply with the more informal Ohayo. In English, I might talk about my brother or my sister without necessarily concerning myself with wether the sibling in question were older or younger than me, but in Japanese these concepts are always split into "oniisan / ototo" and "oneesan / imoto" for older and younger brother and sister, respectively. What about twins, you ask? The one to pop out first is the older one, even if it's only by a few minutes. Lang- uage always reflects the society that generates it, and there are invisible linguistic lines drawn to preserve the separate-ness of individuals from different groups. For example, the word for "friend" is tomodachi, but this usually only applies to someone of the same age as you, or who entered an organization at the same time as you; for other acquaintances, you'd usually use a different word like junior/senior, colleague, etc. My wife loves watching CSI, turning on the Japanese dubbed track because it'd be a chore for her to understand all the medical terminology, and sometimes I like to listen in. In order to remain faithful to the original English dialogue, the CSI team speak incredibly informally to each other, even to their superiors, something that could not be conceived of in Japan. The weather was nice over the weekend, so my daughter and I went for a bicycle ride to the park, and as is often the case, I found myself surrounded by kids who were curious about this large gaijin with golden hair on his arms. Whenever I interact with children in Japan, I make sure to take off my sunglasses to avoid scaring them, since kids in Japan don't have that much opportunity to get used to interacting with foreigners. I also make liberal use of the phrases that kids expect English-speakers to say all the time, like "How are you?" and "Oh my god!" and "Unbelievable!" which got many giggles. As I watched my daughter play and made small talk with the Japanese parents around me, I wondered why I was the only gaijin parent around on a sunny Saturday. With 3% of my city's population made up of foreigners, mostly from Brazil and Peru, you'd think there'd be more mothers with their kids there, mixing in with the other parents, but there were none to be seen.

The other night we all went out for sushi, and like many people do, we opted for a kaiten-zushi restaurant, featuring sushi on a conveyor belt allowing you to grab what you want as it sails by. Unfortunately for our growling stomachs, a few hundred other customers had also gotten the hankering for sushi, and so we had to wait over an our for a table to open up. This popular alternative to a traditional-style sushi restaurant was invented in 1958 by an enterprising restaurant owner in Osaka who was having trouble staffing his restaurant, so he came up with a way for very a few employees to service many customers at once. According to research, a lot of the popularity of conveyor-belt sushi comes from the way the products scroll by from right to left, which creates a pleasant sensation in the brain as any want can be fulfilled just by reaching out one's hand. Although there are many cheap sushi restaurants in our city, we've been happy to find a few that offer better quality "neta" (the fish-part of sushi) for around $1.75-$3 per plate. Truly, life is too short to be eating cheap sushi.

Many gaijin come to Japan and fall in love with onsen (OWN-sen, 温泉), the famous natural hot springs that have been enjoyed by Japanese for centuries. The best hot springs are, of course, the mixed-bathing variety, called kon'yoku （混浴） in Japanese, which can be quite hard to find (I've only found one in my years in Japan). Our newest wacky T-shirt proclaims your affinity for Japan's bathing culture, featuring a kanji slogan that reads "I love mixed-bathing hot springs," with the normal "heart" shape cleverly replaced by the "onsen mark," a symbol that denotes Japanese hot springs. Check out our newest T-shirt now! Remember that J-List specializes in bento, the traditional boxed lunch that is so prevalent in anime and Japanese popular culture. The Japanese are big fans of what they called shoku no ni, translating to "the beauty of food," and bento boxed lunches are often very beautiful to look at. In addition to dozens of large and small bento boxes (including the cool Goth-Loli bento boxes with a garter to keep your lunch securely shut), we have everything you need to complete your bento experience, including chopsticks, chopstick cases, and those little wiener shapers that turn sausages into octopuses, flowers and more! 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.

	Mecha ii Sep 2006 -- Ai Himeno. A fabulous photomag featuring Ai Hiimeno,
	Sexual Esthetic Full Course -- Tsugumi Nagasawa. SOD actress Tsugumi Nagasawa has never looked better!
	Ecstasy Bicycle. Another bold idea from Soft on Demand, girls who ride bicycles in public places with no underwear on!
	PREM -- Kaori Shimamura. Kaori Shimamura is a beautiful example of Japanese grace. This is her "sayonara" photobook.
	awake -- Nana Kasai. And another nice item for photobook fans that I recommend a lot.
	Kateigaho International Edition 2006 Autumn issue vol. 13. Fabulous English language book of Japanese culture, a really rare treat from japan. This issue is especially interesting. Usually only available as a revolving magazine subscription, but we've gotten in some issues for you today.
	Illustrated Japanese Language Dictionary ~ Isso Nippon Tango cho. A great way to learn Japanese by memorizing picture images!
	Queen Bonjourno Anthology Comic. Amazing manga anthology based on a popular game.
	3D Oppai Mouse Pad -- Girl Illustrated by Noantica. It's a mouse pad with built-in soft ergonomics that are shaped like, well, use your imagination.
	Kera Apr. 2007 vol. 105. New issue of Kera, for those who want to keep an eye on the current state of the Tokyo street fashion scene.
	Chii Maid Costume Figure - Chobits *Preorder*. Fantastic figure of Chii from Chobits, one of my favorite CLAMP anime series.
	Japanese T-Shirt - I Like Mixed Bathing. Our newest wacky T-shirt tells all Japanese females taht you'd like to bathe with them!
	WA ~ Fragrance Oil *TSUKI / Moon*. We've gotten in some amazing fragrance oils for you today. This is the scent of the moon.
	Suzumiya Haruhi Soundrop -- Full Set (Set of 8). Haruhi fans, don't let this great set of Soundrop toys pass you by!
	Chirimen Hello Kitty Zabuton ~ Lucky Cat. Lucky Cat meets Hello Kitty meets kimono fabric. Very nice.
	Pururun Gummy -- Apple Mango & Yellow Mango. Delicious gummy snack made with real mango!
	Hemp Moon Tapestry *Blue*. These are just amazing -- beautiful wall hangings made from hemp and cotton, super for hanging in your home.
	Illuminate Cube Speaker. A Rubik's Cube shaped speaker for your iPod that lights up. What won't they think of next?
	Re-ment Fresh Kaiten Sushi Speaking of sushi, we've got some great Re-Ment miniature sushi that come complete with little plates, just amazing! You get everything but the wasabi.

Another odd toy from Japan. This is a cute bishojo female Self-Defense Force moe character.

This one is deep. A "bootlet T-shirts" (sic) that takes the Back to the Future characters and Peanuts-ifies them.

Matches with strange symbols on them.

Slap-a my hand, black soul man! (That's a reference to a classic SNL skit.) That reminds me to do a post on the Japanese and their strange fascination with black culture.

Ah, Indian food in Tokyo. How do I love thee.

Funny English in Japan, teaching about America through Easter Eggs, and confusing Japanese company names explained

Japan can be such a funny place. You could be going along, minding your own business when suddenly, bam, the country will hit you with English that's so bizarre you have to stop what you're doing and gaze at it with amazement. I took my kids to the onsen (public hot springs bath) over the weekend, and while I was getting dressed I looked up to see an air filter with "Clean-Poo" written on the side. In neighboring Takasaki (sister city with Kelloggs home Battle Creek, MI, in case you were curious) there's a swimming school called Koma which decided to be cute and write its name with a "c" instead of a "k," resulting in Coma Swimming School -- not exactly where I want my kids learning to swim. The letters L and R are the same phonetic concept in Japanese, which causes a lot of confusion when speaking English, and most bilingual Japanese I know go out of their way to avoid the word "election" for this reason. A couple of years ago there was a poor restaurateur who built a large Texas-style steak house in our city with a giant sign that proclaimed RONE STAR -- I never did find out if he got the name wrong on purpose to show his originality or if it was an accident. I don't have to go very far to find funny English: the rural liquor shop that my wife's parents run has a delivery van with RIQUOR SHOP YANAI printed on the back.

Nippon, Nippan, Nissan, Nisshin. What's up with those similar-sounding Japanese names? The name of Japan in its own language is Nippon or Nihon, with the former having a little more official-ness by virtue of it being the term used by NHK, Japan's version of the BBC. The name means "origin of the sun" (日本) and was bestowed on the country by China, which names itself the "kingdom at the center of the world" （中国). Since the Japanese communicate ideas with kanji characters rather than an alphabet as we do, it's natural for words to be created by combining kanji the way we make acronyms in English. Since no one wants to bother trying to remember a name like Nihon Shuppan Hanbai Kabushiki Gaisha (日本出版販売株式会社), it's was natural for Japan's second largest book distributor to adopt the more reasonable name of Nippan. Ramen powerhouse Nisshin took a famous slogan meaning "to live a pure life every day" and boiled it down to the most important two characters to get their name. Japan's famous automobile maker Nissan's name originally was "Japan Industrial Corporation Ltd." (日本産業株式会社) but in its abbreviated form (日産) it essentially means "Made in Japan," about as direct a name as you could ask for. Often, a company will come to view its kanji name as outdated and will re-brand itself with cooler English-sounding name, which is what happened when Nippon Denki Kabushiki Gaisha (日本電気株式会社）, aka "Nichiden" （日電） decided that it would call itself NEC instead. Although it sounds corny, I do consider myself to be a kind of ambassador for the U.S. in Japan, and I like to spread awareness of all things American when I get the chance. On Sunday we had a late Easter with my daughter's Girl Scout troop, decorating eggs and making Easter Baskets and doing all that stuff that you might take for granted, but which is very exotic and mysterious here in Japan. The girls had loads of fun learning to color the eggs and arrange everything nicely, and the new Brownies were especially thrilled since they'd never seen anything like it. Since the Japanese aren't too keen on eating something that's been on the ground, we used foil-wrapped Cadbury Eggs for our egg hunt, and the kids all had a blast. We had one small cultural break-down when my Japanese mother-in-law boiled the eggs we were to color only partially, thinking that they were to be decorated but not eaten, so that everyone who opened one of their eggs got oozing egg yolk all over the place. Remember that J-List sells a magazine that's personally done a lot of good for me, Nihongo Journal, a monthly periodical featuring Japanese lessons for many levels, from beginner-intermediate on up, covering a variety of language areas, from business Japanese to conversational speaking to preparing for the JLPT. We carry the magazine via our popular "Reserve Subscription" service which lets you get Japan's most interesting magazine sent to you each month, paying on a month-to-month basis or for a year at a time. We have dozens of other effective tools for studying Japanese, from textbooks like the Genki series and kanji workbooks and great flashcards for learning hiragana, katakana and kanji. Why not browse them all 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.

	eonna Nov 2006 vol. 35. Another issue of eOnna, the magazine of "ii onna" (hot women), who don't need to take their clothes off, they're so pretty.
	ff ~ Fortissimo -- Carrousel Maki. Wow, is all I can say. If a women who may be a grandmother can look this good, then anything in the world is possible.
	My Love Sign -- Mai Ayane. Absolutely amazing photobook from a Japanese angel.
	Motto Ii? -- Naomi I 1st photobook. Another drop-dead gorgeous photobook from Japan.
	Elevator That Rises To Heaven. Japan is all about fetishes, and here's a fetish focusing on being trapped in an elevator with girls and having sex with them.
	Kera Maniax vol. 8. Gothic Lolita fans, this is a great magazine for you to check out.
	Saber DX Figure ~ Hyper Fate Collection *Fate/Stay Night. Wow, this is the coolest Fate item I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot, working where I work and all. Absolutely perfect detail, and she comes with a "human" face too!
	Japanese Nuance in Plain English! ~ Nihonrashisa wo Eigo ni Dekimasuka?. This is a great book by my favorite gaijin author, Boye Lafayette De Mente.
	Fantasy Harem. Japan's manga artists have been on a fantasy kick of late. Here's a new anthology book.
	Mai Shiranui 1/6 PVC Figure *Fatal Fury & King of Fighters* ~ Max Factory. *Fabulous* figure from Japan. The first production run of this sold out in record time, less than 2 hours.
	Bubble Man Soda Bottle Pen . Innovative pen with a carbonated drink (?) built into it.
	Naruto Eraser - Type A *green* . Naruto fans, we've got more wacky things for your school bag.
	Hello Kitty Red Chirimen Memo Pad w/Pen. This is a great item! A little Hello Kitty notebook with built in pen, made of kimono fabric. Wow!
	Doraemon Hanging Plush w/Takecopter. Doraemon fans, this is one of the coolest items we've ever gotten in at J-List.
	Nestle Kit Kat Pack -- Green Tea & Azuki. Wow, new Green Tea Kit Kat this late in the season. Enjoy this great treat!
	Mikakuto Juntsuyu Candy. This is something many customers have asked for, and we're happy to oblige.
	Animal Friends Picks (10pcs). Fun items for your bento box.
	Dengeki G's magazine reserve subscription. Looking for a great magazine to read every month? I like Dengeki G's mix of art, manga, posters and other good stuff, always focused on anime and game charactres.
	*Dark Grey* Totoro Plush Doll -- L. We've restocked a bunch of Totoro plush toys!

Ah, they finally came. I think I've entered that magical world known as "Nerdvanna."

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.