China, Japan, and Okinawa

Everyone has encountered extremely frustrating individuals who hold opinions so bizarre that it makes us wonder how they could be from the same planet as us. They're usually trolling discussion boards online, spouting the strangest views and (in accordance with Godwin's Law, which states that in any Internet discussion, someone will inevitably bring up Adolf Hitler) generally being as annoying as possible. I once had a discussion with a passionate Gundam fan who insisted that Gundam F91 was the "best" U.C. Gundam ever, which was perplexing to me since most fans would probably rank it at or near last place, and I reached the conclusion that some people were placed on Earth for the sole purpose of perplexing me. (Remember, this kind of contrarian is called an amanojaku in Japanese, after a mischievous Buddhist deity). This week I had a similar sensation while reading the news. First I saw a headline about China blasting Japan for "refusing to apologize" for World War II, which was funny because there have been no less than 50 official statements of apology by Japan, including several to China. (Maybe Wikipedia is blocked there, so they can't see this information?) The humor continued when China's leading newspaper posted an extensive article suggesting that Okinawa actually belonged to China and not Japan, based on the fact that the Ryukyu Kingdom used to pay tribute to China before being annexed by Satsuma in 1611 and by Japan proper in 1879. Based on that logic, all of Europe should still belong to Rome, and China might have to return itself to Mongolian rule, no matter who's living there now and what nation they consider themselves to be part of.

China made Hibiki cry. Bad China!!

Mother's Day 2013

Sunday is Mother's Day, a day to think of your okaasan and do something nice for her if you can. Mothers are a big part of anime, and when I asked J-List's Facebook fans to name their favorite anime mothers, I got hundreds of interesting responses. Some are the simple "good mother" types, like Akiko from Kanon, while others can be well fleshed-out and quite interesting, like Sosuke's awesome mom from Ponyo or Madoka's down-to-earth (but so tragic) mother from Madoka Magica. Some mothers have a childish side (Sanae from Clannad, Yasuko from Toradora) which causes problems for their children, while others are bad-ass, like Saya Takagi's Luger-toting mom from Highschool of the Dead, or Mahiro's fork-wielding mother from Haiyore! Nyaruko-san, who is a professional monster hunter. One core element of many anime stories is that a mother must die dramatically in order for her child to go on a journey towards adulthood, as seen in Attack on Titan and many others. No discussion of anime mothers can be complete without considering the popular 1976 series 母を訪ねて三千里 Haha no Tazunete Sanzen-ri, or 3000 Leagues In Search of Mother, which helped launch the career of Hayao Miyazaki. It tells the story of Marco, who travels from Italy to Argentina to find his sick mother. In one scene that's broadcast on natsukashii (nostalgic) anime programs at least once a year, Marco encounters a dying woman and kindly lets her believe he is her son so she can be happy at the end of her life, which never fails to bring on the tears.

3000 light-years in search of Mother. Happy Mother's Day, mom!

Japanese Love Foreigners Who Love Japan

One subject I write about a lot is the great interest the Japanese seem to take in what foreigners visiting from other parts of the world think about their country. This is a topic that shows up on Japanese TV a lot, such as a popular show called YOUは何しに日本へ？ YOU wa nani shini Nihon e? or "Why did you come to Japan?" in which camera crews hang around the arrival lobby of Narita Airport and interview random foreign visitors, asking them why they've come to Japan. The answers are always interesting, from a collector of Japanese swords on a buying trip to an experienced cosplayer arriving in Japan to show off his skills at a fan event to a group of French visitors who were in Tokyo to study ninjutsu, the art of the Ninja. There was one family from Texas who had spent ten days doing various things in Tokyo, and the Japanese interviewers were amazed that Americans could visit a country with no detailed plan of what they wanted to do, hitting Tokyo Disneyland one day and the temples of Nikko the next depending on their mood -- Japanese people love to plan every hour of every day when they take a vacation. The finale of the show came when the family was invited into the studio, which is kind of a cliché at this point -- come to Japan, find yourself on a Japanese game show -- but they certainly had fun.

Japanese are interested in foreigners who are interested in Japan.

New Game Coming: If My Heart Had Wings!

Here's some great news: one of the best visual novels in recent years is coming out in English, called If My Heart Had Wings (Japanese title この空に翼を広げて Kono Sora ni Tsubasa o Hirogete), a great story about youth and love and dreams. The game will be out in June, and you can preorder either the package or download edition now.

The Japanese Love Lists

Quick, do you know how many Great Lakes there are in North America? The answer is five. The reason I know this is, the official name of the Great Lakes in Japanese is 五大湖 go-daiko or the Five Great Lakes. The Japanese love to codify the things around them into little lists to make them easier to manage, not unlike the classic Seven Wonders of the World ranking. These "most famous" mini lists are positively legion in Japan, and no matter what subject you're interested in, there's probably a "best" list for you. Have you read Shakespeare's 四大悲劇 yondai higeki or Four Great Tragedies? I didn't know there were only four of them, but this is the term the Japanese use to describe Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello and King Lear. How about the 世界三大珍味 sekai sandai chinmi or Three Rare Delicacies of the World? They're caviar, foie gras and truffles. How about 世界三大スープ sekai sandai soup, or the Three Great Soups of the world? They're Bouillabaisse, Shark's Fin and Tom Yan Kung. How about the Three Great Guitarists of the world? Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. If you're planning an extended trip to Japan you might want to hit the 日本三景 nihon sankei, the Three Most Beautiful Views of Japan, which are the gnarled Japan Pines of Matsushima near Sendai in the Tohoku area, the view from the top of Amano Hashidate Mountain in Kyoto and the famous "floating Japanese arch" at Miyajima, near Hiroshima.

The islands of Matsushima were beloved of Date Masamune, the samurai who inspired Darth Vader.

I Love Summer in Japan

For a country of such famous subtlety and nuance, in which the subjects of sentences are usually left off because everyone knows what is being discussed from the context, Japan's seasons are anything but subtle. Winter is fiercely cold, with a biting wind that comes down from the Japan Alps called kara-kaze; spring is alive with cherry blossoms and chirping uguisu (Japanese nightingale) outside my window; summer is unbearably hot and humid yet overflowing with unique Japanese flavor, and so on. Although summer in Japan is sticky and unpleasant, I find it's my favorite time of year in Japan -- you can always escape the unbearable heat by running your air-con (Japanese air conditioning is great), and no other time of year is as full of awesome Japanese festivals, from Tanabata in July to the big fireworks festival that signals the end of summer in our city. There are some famous images of summer in Japan, such as a glass of mugi-cha barley tea sweating beside a slice of suika (watermelon), or girls wearing colorful yukata cotton kimonos. Another famous image is 蚊取り線香 katori-senko, the spiral-shaped "mosquito-killing incense" that burns for 6-10 hours while emitting a pleasant smoke that keeps mosquitoes from tormenting you. We've got this incense in stock today, as well as the iconic katori-buta or "mosquito killing pig," a ceramic pig that holds a burning incense coil safely to keep the ash from falling into the floor, etc.

Summer is one of my favorite times of year in Japan.

Come to Akiba for the Shops!

If you ever visit the Tokyo area, you'll find many things to do: go shopping for fresh fish at the Tsukiji fish market, ride a "water taxi" boat designed by the creator of Space Battleship Yamato, catch a day of sumo wrestling if there's a tournament on while you're here, or take a day trip to Kamakura to see the beautiful temples and the Kamakura Daibutsu, the second largest statue of Buddha in Japan. Increasingly Akihabara has become a big attraction for tourists, and you know the train has arrived there because all the foreigners will suddenly get off. Originally a mild-mannered corner of Tokyo, it became a black market for electronics due to its closeness to Japan's first school of electrical engineering in neighboring Kanda, and as Japan's electronics industry took off in the 1970s, Akiba became the best place to find everything from PCs to amateur radios to vacuum tubes. Shops selling used Super Famicom games became popular in the 80s, and when 2D moe boom arrived a decade later, Akiba became forever associated with anime, doujinshi and eroge. Now if you go to Akihabara you'll see a large number of foreigners with cameras snapping pictures of whatever the latest variation of "Akiba maid" happens to be -- currently the trend is towards sengoku maids who dress in armor reminiscent of the "Warring States" period of Japanese history while they hand out tissues and ask you to visit their maid cafe.

Visiting shops in Akihabara is tons of fun.

Reduced Prices on Anime Games for PSP, PS3 and PSVita!

Remember, J-List carries awesome import anime games for the Sony PSP, PS3 and PSVita, which are all region free, so you can play games from any part of the world. We've got gorgeous visual novels, ecchi fighting games, even a game where the object is to collect pantsu. We've lowered our prices on all of these great games, so why not browse our selection now and see what you'd like to play? The Vita has especially started to shine as an excellent platform for otaku gaming, with its large, bright screen that's great for displaying Hatsune Miku dancing on your desk, and it just received a price drop, too, to $199 (in the U.S.).

Saya no Uta Available by Download!

Remember: Song of Saya, the legendary eroge written by Urobuchi Gen, creator of Madoka Magica, Fate/Zero and Psycho-Pass, is in stock and shipping now. You can order either the gorgeous shrinkwrapped CD-ROM edition that comes with a glossy manual with beautiful character art, or opt for the speedy Internet Download Edition, which is available right now. You can each get both for $5 more.

Buddhist Themes Present in Every Day Life in Japan

One of the more interesting paradoxes about Japan is the way around 70% of people here will insist they don't belong to any religion, yes nearly all households have a 仏壇 butsudan or Buddhist altar, essentially a miniature Ark of the Covenant for keeping in touch with one's dead ancestors. Yes, Buddhism does form the core of Japanese spirituality and culture, and many common elements of Japanese society have their origin in Buddhism, although it's not easy to see it today. Before eating, Japanese always say 頂きます itadakimasu, which is a very polite way of saying "I receive this," a Buddhist phrase which is essentially thanking the animal that died so you could eat its meat. In the final days of December Japanese will do 大掃除 oh-souji or "big cleaning," making sure their house is cleaned from top to bottom so they can enter the new year with a clean plate, and sure enough, this tradition evolved from the custom of cleaning the local Buddhist temple for New Year's. Finally, the Japanese word for a contrarian who doesn't like popular things or who goes out of his way to appear aloof around others is あまのじゃく amanojaku, and it turns out this name comes from a Buddhist deity who is basically a devil known for finding out what people are most interested in then tempting with it, for his own mischievous enjoyment.

An example of Amanojaku, waiting to temp passers-by with evil.

Driving in Japan

One thing about living in Japan: living here will make you a better driver. The combination of driving on narrow roads with many twists and turns, dodging pedestrians walking along the streets that are too narrow for sidewalks, and parking rear-end first into tiny parking spaces, will polish your driving skills so much that you'll get compliments when you go back home. There's one problem though -- living in Japan will also make you forget anything you ever knew about your car's engine. Because cars here must receive a special check-up called 車検 sha-ken every two years, which both makes automobiles safer to operate and provides an excuse for people to buy a new car instead of maintaining their old one, it's customary for drivers to leave every minor technical aspect of their car's performance up to their car dealer or mechanic. The only time I've even lifted the hood (which the Japanese call the "bonnet," borrowing the British term) is when a stray cat managed to climb into my car's engine compartment to sleep, only to be ripped to ribbons when I started my car, which was really bizarre and sad.

This is Touhou x Wacky Races fanart.

When Japanese Memes Attack

I've been a long-time student of Internet memes, and I enjoy posting them to J-List's Twitter and Facebook pages when I encounter some amusing ones. Memes, of course, are "units of culture" (ideas, beliefs, dancing CGI babies, what have you) that evolve and change as they move from person to person, and ever since the "All Your Base are Belong To Us" Internet event of 2000, they've been a big source of entertainment and occasional enlightenment for people online. I've always been intrigued by the barriers between different areas of the web, which keep most memes from crossing over freely between, say, the U.S. and Japan, ensuring that Japanese will know a lot about cute ASCII art but very little about LOLcats, for example. Often the barriers are linguistic in nature -- you're more likely to know the "over 9000" line from Dragonball Z than a Japanese person is because it's only in the English dub, while Japanese fans will quote famous Gundam lines like Kamille's, "You wouldn't have gotten shot down if you hadn't come out and tried to do battle with me!" that never entered our shared consciousness. But there are often "bridges" between the two worlds, for example the videos of box-loving Japanese cat Maru with English subtitles, and websites like 4chan that actively embrace Japanese memes involving Yukkuri or Yotsubato or Giga Pudding. It's still puzzling how some memes never make the jump from one side to the other -- most web users in the West aren't aware of Konata's "a flat chest is a status symbol" meme -- while others, such as the legendary "Yaranaika?" man, or those silly "celebrities with tiny faces" images, are able to make the crossing more easily. One cross-cultural meme I've always wondered about was Bob Ross, painter of so many "happy trees," who is quite a famous meme here in Japan. It turns his Bob's classic Joy of Painting lessons were broadcast by a late-night Osaka-based variety program called Tantei! Knight Scoop, and his current popularity in Pixiv fanart flows from that show.

It's fun to analyze how some memes flow easy through different cultures while others don't.

All DVDs & Blu-ray Disks are On Sale

It's a new month, and a new sale for you. This month we're giving 2x points on all DVD and Blu-ray media, with everything from the gorgeous Hatsune Miku "live" concert Blu-rays, the English subtitled Studio Ghibli films and Space Battleship Yamato series, plus all your favorite "naughty" offerings. Click to see the top-ranked DVD and Blu-rays from Japan now!

Saya no Uta is NOW SHIPPING

The day is finally here: Song of Saya, the legendary eroge written by Urobuchi Gen, creator of Madoka Magika, Fate/Zero and Psycho-Pass, is in stock and shipping now. We'll be shipping the preorders out to customers from San Diego toda, and (in keeping with our no-delay policy for download versions of games), have been released . Order the game now -- you can choose from shrinkwrapped CD-ROM package with full-color glossy printing, the Internet Download Edition for speedy electronic delivery, or get both for just $5 more.