On reverse culture shock, phases kids go through in Japan, and all about Japanese TV

It's always fun being back in the U.S., because I get to experience that rarest of sensations, reverse culture shock, when things I see in my home country surprise me because of my years spent in Japan. Today I caught a radio ad for AM/PM Mini Mart whose message was essentially that we should all live the "good life" and treat ourselves to a candy bar today, and that "more is more, at AM/PM." It was similar to the commercials from Taco Bell promoting "fourthmeal," a meal between dinner and breakfast that supposedly we should all be eating. Advertising approaches like this probably wouldn't fly in Japan, a country where bottled unsweetened oolong or green tea is preferred three to one over Coca Cola and where, when given a choice between small and large cans of canned coffee that cost the same money, many will pick the smaller can because that's all the coffee they feel like drinking just now. Even though I'm a big American, when I go to Wendy's I'm content to get the smallest Frosty they sell, which is bigger than the large at Wendy's in Tokyo.

Raising kids in Japan is certainly an educational experience, and I've enjoyed watching my kids go through many phases in their lives so far. For my son, there was the fascination with Shinkansen trains that every Japanese boy goes through, and together we learned the names of all of them, from the blue and white Hikari that runs between Tokyo and Kyoto to the Tsubasa, the only bullet train that can run on normal tracks when needed. Around the age of eight he started his "bug phase," staying out for hours to catch beetles and keep them as pets -- his favorite was the Hercules Beetle, but I always liked the coloring of the classic scarabs. When Yu-Gi-Oh came along, my son turned his friends on to collecting the American cards, and they'd sit for hours comparing the differences between the Japanese and American versions. I wonder what his next phase will be?

Television in Japan is quite different from the U.S. First and foremost, there are a lot fewer channels to choose from in Japan, although more and more choices come along every year. The majority of television is provided by the "big five" commercial networks, Fuji TV, TBS, TV Asahi, Nippon TV and TV Tokyo, which create the sports, news, "doramas" (what Japanese TV dramas are usually called by fans, due to how the word is pronounced in Japanese) and anime programming that everyone enjoys watching. Japan is slowly switching from analog to digital broadcasting, and there are satellite and cable options, too. The past decade has seen a lot of investment from American companies, resulting in choices like local versions of Cartoon Network, the Discovery Channel and CNN International, and the cable-only version of Fox has been a big success as Japanese TV fans get hooked on U.S. shows. Not all of these television imports from the States have been welcome: lately it's hard to flip channels without running into lame American infomercials dubbed into Japanese, advertising exercise devices and weight loss gimicks and whatever. All things considered, I could do without that little piece of home.

J-List brings you many fun and wonderful products from Japan, including the super cute monster who happens to be the official mascot of Japan's public broadcasting network (NHK), Domo-kun. Today we've gotten in a cool new Domo-kin T-shirt for guys and girls, featuring an outlined version of our favorite monster. Check it out now!