Japan Culture Lesson

It's funny the way culture reflects language and vice-versa. One phrase you'll hear sometimes in Japanese is 天下の tenka no~, which literally means "having received the blessing of Heaven and the Emperor to rule Japan." During the sengoku or "Warring States" period of Japanese history, that's what the various warlords were trying to do: win enough power that they could go to the Emperor in Kyoto and receive his blessing to become the designated military ruler of the country (Shogun), which is what Tokugawa Ieyasu eventually did, ushering in the Edo Period and 264 years of peace. In modern usage, tenka no~ is used to refer to companies that receive special status from the government, and someone might cynically complain about tenka no NTT ("NTT, the company anointed by heaven to provide telephone service to the Japanese people") when their phone connection is bad. Another word that seems uniquely Japanese is 新米 shinmai (pronounced SHEEN-mai), which means "new rice" that's just been harvested. A person who starts a new job will often be referred to with this term, e.g. shinmai salaryman for someone who's just started their first 9-5 job, or a shinmai idol singer who has just made her singing debut and is still green and inexperienced.

IdolMaster is a game in which you must guide the careers of inexperienced idols.

Random Questions About Japan

There are many things about the Japanese that can cause foreigners to scratch our heads in confusion, and I thought I'd throw a few of them out to you, along with answers. Why are cherry blossoms such a famous image of Japan yet there are no cherries here? (The cherry trees in Japan are of a type that don't bear edible fruit.) Why do the Japanese love making the "peace" sign so much? (There are several theories, but the best is that an actor in a 1972 Konica camera commercial made the gesture spontaneously, causing it to become associated with photography.) Why do the Japanese say 'yes' when they mean 'no'? (It's common for Japanese to give verbal feedback when someone is talking to them, which often includes the word hai, which means "yes, I am following what you're saying," not necessarily "yes, I agree with you and will do what you suggest.") Why are the teeth of Japanese so crooked? (Orthodontic standards are improving, but many Japanese find crooked teeth, represented in anime by a single "fang" in the mouth, to be cute and endearing.) Why do the Japanese eat green tea and squid ink flavored ice cream so much? (Actually the most popular flavor of ice cream in Japan is vanilla, but that's not very interesting so you never hear about that on the Internet.) Do Japanese girls always rush out the door with a piece of toast in their mouth, like in anime? (No, it's just a visual meme anime creators propagate because it's fun.) Why do the Japanese sometimes point at things with their middle fingers? (They only learned the American usage of this gesture 10-15 years ago, and many people still find it natural to point at things using the middle finger, which would be very rude in the U.S.) We often have interesting discussions about Japanese culture and other issues on the J-List Facebook Page, so why not give us a "like"?

Questions about crooked teeth and cherry blossoms answered.

Japan and Train Otakus

Yesterday I drove to the other side of town to obtain a precious resource: a Subway sandwich. Depending on where you live in the world, you may not think that Subway sandwich shops are particularly rare or special, but in rural Japan where you're less likely to have interesting food choices, we really appreciate the Subway that recently opened. On the way I crossed over some train tracks and stopped my car for three seconds, which you're required to do here, and just then noticed an interesting thing: a dozen or so young-ish Japanese men lined up beside the railroad crossing with fabulously expensive cameras mounted on tripods, preparing to take a picture of a train that was passing by soon. Because there are so many trains in Japan, it's natural the country would have more than its share of 電車オタク densha otaku, aka railfans or rail buffs. When I was an English teacher I had several students who loved to travel around Japan seeking out rare trains to take pictures of, like the Chichibu Steam Locomotive, which has been re-purposed to promote ota-tourism as it's based out of the city where the AnoHana anime was "filmed," or the romantic Enoshima Line that runs from Kamakura to Shonan Beach, my personal favorite train. The train otakus I saw yesterday were lined up to photograph a rare sight: the passing of a "Dr. Yellow," which is what the Japanese call the yellow-colored trains designed to test tracks for damage and wear.

Japan is home to many densha otaku, who are usually not as cute as these girls are.

Tentacle Grape @ J-List

In addition to hundreds of fun Japanese snacks, J-List stocks wacky and fun Japan-related drinks, and one of our favorites is Tentacle Grape, the official drink of hentai fans at anime conventions, which we stock in San Diego for your ordering convenience. Now the creators of Tentacle Grape have a cool new plan to re-formulate the iconic drink to be healthier, easier to ship and generally be more awesome, and they've got an Indiegogo campaign set up for fans who want to pledge their support and score some free limited swag. Let's give them some love now!

Big Bento + Kitchen Sale This Month

This month J-List is having a sale on all bento and kitchen items, including our huge selection of excellent bento boxes from Japan, our always kawaii bento accessories, plus cool products like our fun coffee and tea cups, Totoro and Spirited Away-themed miso soup bowls and more. Christmas is just around the corner, and these products would make great gifts for the special people on your list!

Wayo Setchu: Blending Japan with the West

One important concept in Japan is 和洋折衷 wayoh-setchu, which means "a blending of Japanese and Western" and which describes describes the country's long tradition of trying to pair the best of Japan with Europe and America. The term comes up in such areas as architecture that blends both Japanese and European elements and weddings designed to incorporate both Christian and traditional Shinto themes, and this Japanese Sexy Maid Kimono thing. There are many kinds of foods that are both "Western" (because they arrived in Japan after 1868) yet still uniquely Japanese somehow, too. Japanese companies will also blend Western and Japanese themes in advertising. BUB is the company that makes those fizzing bath tablets which are so delightful when placed under your body so that the bubbles travel up your back while sitting in the bath. They just released a new bath powder product called Bubuccino (designed to sound like cappuccino). In the TV commercial, a woman opens a door to find a handsome male model who puts her in a giant bath that looks like a coffee cup while speaking ridiculous Italian to her.

Parody Italian man sold separately.

Otaku Dreams Come True in Japan

I've written before about the way Japan-related fandom can be a place where dreams come true. Many of Japan's professional creators including manga artist group CLAMP, Fate/stay night writer Nasu and music/vocal team I've Sound/KOTOKO started out as artists making doujin works to sell at Comiket, while they refined their skills so they could go pro eventually. Then there are singers like British teen Beckii Cruel and the singing duo ClariS, who were able to turn popularity on Japan's Nico Douga video sharing site into record contracts. Dreams can come true in the J-POP world, too. American Chris Hart from San Francisco was always fascinated with Japanese music, and he studied the language in part using J-POP songs, which is a good way to reduce your speaking accent and pick up vocabulary words. After coming to Japan in 2009, he appeared on a TV show called Nodo-jiman! The World in which foreigners sing songs in Japanese (this is a thing here), and he cleaned the floor with the other contestants by virtue of his amazing silky voice. The next thing he knew he'd signed with Universal Music and had a major debut single under his belt. Chris had always been a fan of Matsuda Seiko, the Japanese idol singer who pretty much invented the category back in the early 1980s (she's the direct inspiration for Lynn Minmei), and he was able to fulfill his dream of singing with her in a duet single that comes out today. You can find this single plus of Seiko-chan's songs on iTunes Japan (iTunes link), and buy them with the handy iTunes Japan prepaid cards we sell!

J-POP fan Chris Hart's dreams came true in Japan.

Halloween 2013

Although Japan has no historical connection to the American (actually Scottish) tradition of Halloween, there's been more and more attention paid to the holiday over the past decade or so. While a lot of this comes from companies using Halloween to market products, such as the events Tokyo Disneyland puts on during the month of October, it also flows from Japan's natural love of cosplay. There's no custom of trick-or-treating in Japan, but many schools put on costume events which allow children to get into the spirit of things, and there are parties and parades in Japanese cities that allow folks to show off their costuming skills. Raising bilingual and "bi-cultural" kids has been a challenge for my wife and I, since even more important than mastering both languages is having the proper cultural and emotional connections to each country. Happily, I've been able to use Halloween as a bridge to the U.S. for my kids, and we still watch It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown on TV together every October 31st. You never know how the complex world of anime memes will work, and for some reason Japanese artists have really embraced Halloween as an excuse to make incredible cute moe art. If you want to see some of these pictures, I'll be posting some to the J-List Facebook Page and Twitter feed.

Another Halloween is upon us all.

Fun "Harem" Eroge in English

One fun category of English-translated eroge is the "harem" game, which forgo some of the more subtle story elements visual novels are known for in lieu of good old fashioned "H" play. We're well stocked with great harem-themed themes in English, from Harem Party to Come See Me Tonight vol. 1 & 2 to the Idols Galore/Slave Pageant combo game. Click here to see the top English-translated harem game titles!

Sexual Nuances in Japanese Words

When you study a foreign language, it's natural to want to learn the "naughty" words first, but there's just one problem: most of profanity you're used to doesn't exist in Japanese. The most common insult is baka ("stupid"), and while the S-word does exist (it's kuso, in case you were wondering), there's no social stigma attached to it, and the word is regularly used in children's anime. That's not to say there aren't words that have an ecchi aspect to them, of course. Whenever I go to an udon restaurant I always do a double-take at seeing bukkake udon on the menu...but of course it's just a normal noodle dish with various ingredients tossed on including grated daikon radish, and it's naughty meaning arrived later. (My wife often trolls me by buying bukkake udon for my lunch if I don't specify what I want to eat.) If you like your gyudon beef bowl with extra juice you can ask for it つゆだくtsuyu-daku, or dripping with juice...though this word has developed a certain slang meaning, too. Kanji are made up of "radicals," elements that help define meaning, and one that appears along the bottom of characters like 思 (thought) or 恋 (romantic love) is called shita-gokoro...but this word also means "lower heart" and describes someone with less-than-pure intentions towards someone else. Okazu is an interesting word literally meaning "that which is eaten with rice," e.g. the main dish of any meal...though it also carries the slang meaning of "materials or fantasies used to assist in solo stress relief." In Italy and other countries you say "chin chin!" when making a toast, but this is a cute word for "penis" in Japanese. The single worst word in Japanese is manko, referring to female genitalia, and everyone avoids saying this word...though inevitably you'll need to refer to the number 10,000 (man) with a counter for small objects (ko), no doubt in front of a pretty girl, and will likely embarrass yourself.

There's a natural tendency for some words and concepts to bring out our ecchi side.

New Madoka Magica Movie!

The new Madoka Magica movie opened this weekend, so naturally I made time to go see it. Whereas the first two films (which we have on Blu-ray, complete with English subtitles) were a compilation of the series, the third movie features a great new story that starts where the series left off. (I'll avoid spoilers, but will say that the movie was great, with lots of everything that we all love about Madoka.) I like Madoka Magica because of the way writer Urobuchi Gen cleverly deconstructs the magical girl genre in the same way Western comics like Astro City or Top 10 toy with the superhero genre. Viewers go into Madoka expecting something in the tradition of Rayearth, Nanoha or Sailor Moon, yet the series refuses to conform to expectations, eschewing predictable monster-of-the-week stories and transformations that happen at the same point in every episode, instead jumping around chronologically and giving us a heroine who doesn't even become a magical girl until the series is mostly over, when the drama is highest.

The Madoka story continues with a new movie.

Culture Festivals in Anime

Over the weekend I went to my son's high school to attend his last 文化祭 bunka-sai or culture festival, since he'll be graduating next March. Culture festivals are put on every year in the fall, or in schools with higher academic standards, every two years. More than most aspects of Japan, culture festivals are somewhat easy for us to understand, since if you've watched three episodes of anime in your life you've probably seen two centered around a school festival -- though I've yet to catch an episode in which a character's parents show up to embarrass their kids in front of his classmates, as I did with my son. At a school festival, the different classes and school clubs put on various dashimono (er, mini events) which follow popular trends -- in addition to a zombie nurse-themed haunted house and movie club that created parody versions of famous TV commercials, one class put on an Attack on Titan-themed palm reading shop. Culture festivals serve several purposes: they're a chance for students to have some fun after test season, and they're important for cross-pollination between schools, as students from different schools can visit with friends, and incoming students trying to decide which high school to attend can visit and get a feel for things. Going to culture festivals are also the only way students who go to all-girl or all-boy schools can hope to find a girlfriend/boyfriend.

Culture Festivals are a staple of modern anime.

iPhone and Android Accessories from japan

J-List is well stocked with awesome products for your cell phone, whether you've got the iPhone 5/5S/4 or Samsung Galaxy 3/4. In addition to great anime-themed cases featuring Sailor Moon and other popular anime series, we stock those ridiculously cute Nyanko Earphone Jack cats that love to sit in your phone and act cute. Click to see the top iPhone and Android products from Japan!