Greetings from J-List September 18, 2002

Greetings from Japan, home of the original canned coffee (first canned in 1969 by the Ueshima Coffee Company of Kobe, Japan).

A long chapter has come to an end in Japan, with official confirmation on the fate of ten Japanese abducted to North Korea more than twenty years ago. Despite two decades of denials by the North Korean government, they surprisingly admitted everything at a summit which took place between Kim Jong Il and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Tuesday. Six of the persons abducted, which included a Japanese girl of 13, were confirmed dead; four are still alive, some married to North Koreans now. It was very good to receive final word on the fate of those kidnapped, but it was a shock to the families who received word that their loved ones were dead, and it was very moving to see them speaking at the press conference about their sadness. There's honestly a lot of anger of the North Koreans for bringing such sorrow to Japan, although people are relieved to finally know the fate of the abductees.

Sometimes the functions of words work differently in different languages. When I first got to Japan, some friends took me to a sento, a public bath with a sauna. It was late, near closing time for the establishment, and we were a little late getting out of the bath, which caused inconvenience for the staff who were trying to clean up so they could go home. I thanked the lady at the counter as I left, using the Japanese phrase "arigatou gozaimashita." But my Japanese friends corrected me, saying I should apologize instead, using the word "sumimasen deshita." I was confused. Why apologize when I'm trying to thank the lady for letting us stay past closing time? "Thank you sounds cheap," I was told. "In this case it's better to use words of apology." In many situations, it's customary to use "sumimasen" (pardon me) instead of "arigatou" (thank you) in exactly the same situation.

Learning Japanese can be fun, especially when you try to master some famous Japanese tongue twisters (yes, they have them in Japanese too). One famous one is very simple: "bus, gas, bakuhatsu [ba-KOO-ha-TSU; it means explosion]." It's hard to say it five times fast. Another one is "Niwa niwa, niwa niwa-tori ga iru" which means "There are two chickens in the garden." Still another one is "Tonari no kyaku wa yoku kaki kuu kyaku da" which means, "The customer next to me is a customer who eats a lot of oysters."

For the new update, we've got another cool volley of rare and wacky things from Japan, including:

• First, a really cool limited series from UHA: a series of extremely authentic replicas of Japanese war helmets used in Japanese history -- it's really cool!
  
• If you love Japan's sexy swimsuit idols, check out the hardcover photobook of Megumi, one of the top models in Japan today
  
• Also, a sexy swimsuit idol DVD from the lovely Sorami Hagawa
  
• For collectors of toys, we've got a dynamite "great pictorial of world miniature cars" featuring toy card and model cars from around the world -- the pictures are just great
  
• We've got fresh stock of some cute things, including the Japan-licensed Snoopy Tea Server and the Mi-ke Neko alarm clock (both very cool)
  
• We've got fresh stock of Japanese "fude pens" (pens that write like beautiful Chinese writing brushes), including a new color
  
• Also, two fun items: a realistic-looking crab's leg pen that you can pick up things with, and a wacky fish keychain that opens when you pull a string (very silly, trust us)
  
• For fans of our snack items, we've got CC Lemon candies (very good), some Japanese traditional hard candies, and tasty Tako Yaki (octopus balls) flavored snacks!
  
• We love the Hayao Miyazaki film My Neighbor Totoro, and have new Totoro music boxes for collectors
  
• New Hello Kitty items including a soft, plush Hello Kitty pillow, a fun Hello Kitty toy car and many other cool items
  
• For collector of extremely nice Japanese anime statues, we've got a scale replicate of Kei from the Dirty Pair in stock
  
• Finally, see new chopstick and bento box sets, new cute Pop Animal items for your kitchen, a handy Japanese wallet, and more!
  

For our adult customers, we've got many new 18+ products. They include:

• First, for fans of Japanese bukkake, we've got the new Gal's Shower in stock for you, and it's a really great issue
  
• Also in stock, magazines featuring Japanese amateurs, couples in love hotels, and more
  
• Fans of beautiful kogals will enjoy Gal Mode, a magazine featuring beautiful kogals (and AV stars dressed in kogal style) in sexy bikini and more
  
• Also, new and restocked nude photobooks for you, for fans of Japan's excellent nude photographers
  
• We have another great update to our hentai manga section, with a large number of excellent new books in stock for you
  
• The Paradise Lost Evangelion hentai mangas we posted last week sold very well. Although availability will continue to decline for these books, we've got more in stock for you
  
• For doujinshi lovers, an extra special selection of doujinshi which were obtained at the past Comic Market -- check out what we've added as they will go fast!
  
• For DVD collectors, we have another great selection of products for you, including a superb 3-in-1 DVD featuring three complete AV video releases of Hikari Kisugi (region free)
  
• For fans of huge breasts, enjoy a massive *4 hour* offering from Yellow Box (region free)
  
• We love Nao Oikawa for her beautiful body and erotic style. Enjoy her newest Soft on Demand release in which she performs your wildest fantasies for you... (region free)
  
• The busty Eri Yukawa stars in a great new installment of Dream Shower, from the fine folks at Waap Entertainment (region 2)
  
• Enjoy a top-notch performance by indies queen Akira Watase, Do You Wanna Fuck? (region 2)
  
• Finally we've got fresh stock of some other hardcore DVD titles, including Akira Watase in LA (Japanese girl vs. big, black guys from the USA), Chinese AV star Emily, fresh stock of the Deep Kiss series, and more!
  

Remember that J-List sells cool Star Wars related items that are only sold in Japan, including the dynamite Tomy Star Wars displayable figure and vehicle set (we're down to only a few full sets left in stock), the cool large soft vinyl figures of Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker and a Clone Trooper from Epoch, and really nice Star Wars plush dolls. See our Star Wars section (in the Anime & Toys master category) or search for "Star Wars" to see these items.

Greetings from J-List September 16, 2002

Hello again from all of us in Japan!

Sometimes gaijin get all the luck. While I was in college, my favorite band was a Japanese group called Psy-s (pronounced "size"). They're quite a minor band, not even known to many Japanese, although anime fans know a few theme songs they did (the "Angel Night" open song from City Hunter, the opening theme from To-y, and a few others). When I came to Japan ten years ago, I naturally wanted to attend my favorite band in concert, which I did, taking the train down to Tokyo where the concert was being held. It was fun, although slightly unnerving being the only gaijin in a crowd of about 5000 Japanese fans. It turns out that the vocalist of the band, Chaka, had seen me in the crowd (since I stood out so much); I wrote her a fan letter, one thing lead to another, and we became friends. It's kind of unfair to all the Japanese fans who didn't stand out quite as much at the concert, but I didn't mind of course. One good thing you can say about Japan: unlike most of life, sometimes it's unfair in your favor.

It's funny how the Japanese are more advanced then the U.S. in some areas, and very far behind in others. Areas that the Japanese excel in include home electronics (duh), but they're also very good at manufacturing incredibly soft blankets made of acrylic fibers. We've given these soft, warm blankets as Christmas gifts to our family in the U.S. and they've been very well received. Japanese refrigerators are quite pricey ($1000-1500 or so), but they're cool, with many neat features like the ability to open from the left or right side, family voice mail, and on ours, a special pull-out drawer made specially for storing wine. Japanese toilet seats that wash your butt (and dry it) are famous, but Japanese toilet paper holders are also really cool, too -- you can replace the toilet paper roll with a single smooth movement of one hand. They have nifty accessories for cars here, including curtains for the inside of your car and neon lights that illuminate the bottom of the car, used by Japanese young men to attract girls. Whereas American electrical cords are apparently required by law to all be blocky and ugly, Japanese extension cords are cute and come in many colors. On the other hand, they have no Mexican food to speak of here in Japan, no salsa, no nachos; bagels are also an alien thing to the Japanese, and are very hard to find; and Japanese peanut butter is, well, so over-sweetened that no American could be happy eating it.

J-List has thousands of cool and unique things from Japan for you. Many of the products we sell would be excellent Christmas gifts for the ones close to you, such as our 2003 calendars, as well as many other fun and wacky things from Japan. Why not consider giving wacky things from Japan this year? If so, it's a good time to start making plans, as the holidays will be here before you know it!

For the new update, we've got an extra-cool selection of items for you, including:

• First, for fans of our Japanese T-shirts, we've got another cool item for you: yet another excellent and very wacky T-shirt, this one featuring a famous message found in 7-11 convenience stores
  
• If you love Japan, why not get a Japanese flag? We've got some in stock now
  
• We love the sexy swimsuit angels of Japan, and have stock of the new Sayaka Yamamoto magazine and DVD combo item (region 2)
  
• Also, we've got a superb DVD featuring six lovely swimsuit idols for you, including Sachie Koike and Erika Ito (region 2)
  
• Our bento boxes are a consistently popular item, and we've got two new ones for you for fans of the cute character Elmo
  
• The Domo-kun character good we posted last week proved very popular, so we've got more items for you: a Domo-kun "eye pillow" that helps you rest, a keychain, and fresh stock of the phone/camera straps that are so cute
  
• We have some cool Hello Kitty items for you, including Kitty fax coversheets (very cute), and Hello Kitty pocket tissue. Let's be friend -- we'll have a cheerful time!
  
• For fans of Japanese pro wrestling (there's a worldwide cult out there, believe it or not), we've got some very cool Japanese Pro Wrestling figures in stock
  
• Japanese boys like trains, and so the creators of Hello Kitty have created "Shinkansen," a cool character series for boys, and we've got some nice items in stock
  
• At J-List, we love to promote the study of Japanese, and so we sell Japanese study aids. We've got a new item for you, a cool Zebra Check Set that helps you memorize anything from Japanese to English to History
  
• For Hamtaro fans, a really cute Hamtaro letter and sticker set
  
• Also, if you like Kubrick, we've got more of the cool "generic" Kubrick figures that you can use to customize your own
  
• Finally, look for other cool items, including new Race Queen items, fresh stock of the Spirited Away film comics, and more!
  

For our adult customers, we've got many new 18+ products. They include:

• For magazine fans, we've got the new Urecco, and a lovely issue it is, with Race Queen Ran Enoki on the cover and many lovely gals inside
  
• Also, we've got some other nice magazines for you, including a rare issue of Top Speed
  
• We've got some nice photobooks in stock for you, including Rei Ito's beautiful nude hardcover offering, and a spunky new "Chinkame" format nude photobook starring Mai Hagiwara (!)
  
• Also, a dynamite photobook entitled Costume Play featuring the best hentai anime cosplay we've seen -- and it comes with a pair of girls' underwear, too!
  
• To go along with our hentai manga sale mentioned above, we've posted a bunch of brand-new hentai comics for you, with a half-dozen all-new manga posted to the site, and all part of the 15%-off sale
  
• Also, we've got new doujinshi, including two books from the Plump Pop series (good for fans of er, large girls)
  
• For fans of hentai DVD, enjoy our new postings, with several very nice uncensored hentai anime titles newly posted (and stocked in San Diego too!)
  
• We've got lots of nice AV DVD titles for you, starting with the very debut hardcore performance of Aoi Sora (whose name means "blue sky" in Japanese) (region free)
  
• Enjoy 4 hours (240 minutes) of amateur and pro AV from Big Morkal, in their great new Ultra Nuke Max (region free)
  
• Soft on Demand has a very cool "Female Cat Fight Championship" release in which six AV stars fight it out in the ring, pulling each other's clothes off and more (region free)
  
• Also from SOD, enjoy the newest Idol Semen series, featuring superb bukkake action with the beautiful adult video idol Eri Imai (region free)
  
• For fans of the new rising star in the Japanese AV world, Nozomi Momoi stars in the erotic new AV Special Training Department from Wanz Factory (region 2)
  
• For swimsuit idol fans, we've got Girl's Pop, a sexy swimsuit idol DVD that's just lovely (region 2)
  
• Finally, Tomo has restocked some titles from Waap, including DVDs by Akira Watase, Aika Miura and the excellent Gokkun Best Selection.
  

Remember that J-List sells really nice region-free DVD players, and we've got three different ones to choose from: the Sampo DVE-612, a solid, fully-featured play that should fill most everyone's needs; the Lasonic DVB-090, a small-size portable player that will fit just about anywhere; and the deluxe Sampo DVE-681P, Sampo's first region-free player with progressive scan. All our DVD players are fully region-free, and also support PAL and NTSC playback on any TV. Best of all, these players are all very affordable, and are all backed by the manufacturers full 1-year warranty, as well as J-List's policy of standing by anything we sell. If you're looking for a player that lets you play all DVDs, including RCE discs, we've got three excellent choices for you!

Greetings from J-List September 14, 2002

Greetings again from your resident gaijin in Japan!

A seal has become a media star in Japan this summer by swimming into Tokyo and charming residents there. The seal, who swam up the Tamagawa River, has been named Tama-chan by the news media, which reports on what he's been doing each day. Thousands of Japanese have flocked to the river to see Tama-chan for themselves. You can see a desktop wallpaper of him here: http://www.jlist.com/screen_001.jpg .

The Japanese are very into nicknames It seems that every famous singer and actor on TV here has a cute nickname that is universally known and used. Singer Ayumi Hamasaki, who has snagged the coveted "CL1" spot in our calendar list for three years running, is known simply as "Ayu." Actress Rena Tanaka is known as "Natchan" (Na-chan) because she appeared in commercials for Kirin's orange drink by the same name. J-List staff members have nicknames, too. Yasu used to eat a kind of chocolate called Yan-Yan, and so the name stuck to him as well. My wife's nickname was "Cha-kun" for reasons I can't discover (she won't tell me). My own nickname around the house is P-chan, but I wasn't named after the famous pig from Ranma 1/2. I was named after a 16 year old Siamese we used to have by the same name.

I remember reading through old Saint Seiya manga, while in college in the 80's, and wondering why they always write the blood type of each character along with their name, age and astrological sign. In Japan, it's believed that you can tell a lot about a person's personality and character traits from his blood type. Type A people are neat, tidy, and plan things meticulously, almost to a fault. Type B are "going my way" (as the Japanese say), meaning that they do their own thing without worrying about the opinions of others, and don't plan things out in advance. They can be messy, and tend to act on impulse (I am type B, and my wife is always commenting on why do some things I do based on my blood type). Type O people have a private world inside their minds, supposedly, and they're quick to become passionate about something, but then change to something else just as easily. Type O people have the ability to lead others. Finally, AB people have "two faces," one that they make in front of some people and another one they keep to themselves. Like the various beliefs that are related to Buddhism (such as, you're not supposed to sleep with your pillow pointing north, as this is reserved for the dead before cremation), the Japanese blood type beliefs are hard to get used to at first, but when you live here long enough, you start thinking there might be something to them after all...

We've got some nice items for you today, including a restocking of the entire series of Lunatic Party and Paradise Lost, two excellent "doujinshi anthologies" (wide manga-format books with dozens of doujinshi inside), parodying Sailor Moon and Evangeion. They're a great series, and although they're out of print, we managed to find some fresh stock. Enjoy browsing our stock of cool items from Japan.

The J-Mate page has been updated again, with a great interview with Ai Nagase, one of the most popular AV stars of the Indies revolution in Japan. Also, enjoy reviews (with lots of screenshots) of Ringo Kihara's erotic summer vacation and a great new release from Akira Watase. The URL for J-Mate is http://www.jmate.com/

Remember, this is the month to get free shipping (US/Canada) on all Peach Princess game titles. One title that I recommend for anime fans: Critical Point, the first sci-fi bishoujo game translated into English. Because it was written by one of the writers of the original Macross and Gundam series, it has that cool 80s anime "look and feel" with a great erotic hentai story.

I'm starting a new idea here at J-List: the Japanese Word of the Day. Today's word is one of the first that gaijin learn when they come to Japan: daijoubu (dai-JOE-boo). It's means "okay" or "alright" and pops up just about everywhere, in anime, manga, and even AV. Since the subject is often left off in Japanese, someone saying "Daijoubu?" would usually be asking "Are you alright?" with the subject taken from the context. Taking the "dai" (big) off leaves "joubu" which means "healthy." It's kind of funny though, because the characters for "joubu" mean "husband" in Chinese, thus the word "daijoubu" looks like it means "big husband" to Chinese who see the Japanese word.

Greetings from J-List September 12, 2002

Hello again from all of us in Japan!

The first anniversary of the World Trade Center disaster was a sad and sobering event here in Japan. The ceremonies taking place in the U.S. were covered in depth by the Japanese news stations, who did many hours of reporting on the sad anniversary. Takeshi "Beat" Kitano, the Japanese director and actor, was on hand to give his thoughts on the attacks. Japanese viewers were then shown the shocking footage of the inside of the WTC filmed by the French brothers Jules and Gideon Naudet who were making the documentary on firemen in New York during the attacks, some of the most riveting images I've ever seen. 24 Japanese were killed in the attacks, mostly workers at Japanese banks which were located in the building. Japanese have a great respect and love for America, and it was a great honor for them to have been able to work in such a prestigious building. Happily, many hundreds of Japanese employees were able to evacuate in time and were safe.

One of the engines for change in Japan is provided by people like me: foreigners who live here and observe the society from the inside. When I came to Japan in 1992, one of the first things I noticed was children playing in moving cars, standing up in the back seats and waving out the windows. There was no law requiring child safety seats in Japan at that time; it just wasn't part of the culture here. I have, at times, knocked on the windows of cars and told the drivers to please get child seats for their children. Another time, I caught a Japanese boy throwing his trash on the ground in a park, and I admonished him about keeping his country clean: he was wide-eyed with shock at being bawled out by an American speaking Japanese, and I think it took my words to heart more than he would otherwise have. Japan has been called the one country that cares what its foreign population thinks, and books about Japan written by gaijin living here are translated into Japanese and sell briskly. Of course, it's very easy to take the attitude that everything different from how things are back home is "wrong" (e.g., the Japanese drive on the "wrong" side of the street compared to the U.S.), and everyone living in a foreign country has a tendency to do this sometimes. About 1% of the population of Japan is made up of foreign nationals, mostly from countries like Brazil, Peru, South Korea. Japanese seem to think this is a high number, but when we went to Germany, we were told that 9% of the workers were guest workers were from Turkey (we're not sure if this number is accurate, but there sure were a lot of rowdy Turkish soccer fans when we were there).

Well, the great race to preorder 2003 Japanese calendars is on again this year, and we've already had hundreds of preorders for calendars, which will start to come in from our distributors around the end of September. It's still too early to guess which calendars will prove the most popular, but as usual, anime calendars like Chobits and Totoro, nude calendars like Ryoko Mitake and Hitomi Hayasaka, and idol calendars like Yuko Ogura and Yinling of Joytoy are off to a strong start. If you haven't seen the large calendars from Japan, with huge poster-sized sheets and beautiful printing, we hope you'll preorder some calendars from us so you can experience them. These calendars also make unique and thoughtful Christmas gifts, too. See the calendar pages for more information.

Have you seen some of our ads on magazines? J-List advertises in magazines like Giant Robot and While You Were Sleeping. If you found J-List through one of these advertisements, please reply to this mail and let us know. We like to keep track of how effective our advertising is. Thanks!

For the new update, we've got a ton of new items for you, including:

• First, for all fans of the British sci-fi show Thunderbirds, we've got the cool 2nd series of Thunderbirds vehicles in for you (they're really cool) -- we have several sets available, too
  
• "Domo" is a very useful Japanese word that can be used in almost any situation. There's a famous Japanese character called Domo-kun, and we've got several new products for Domo-kun fans and collectors, including a great plush square pillow, fresh stock of the cute Domo-kun plush dolls, and more
  
• For fans of Hello Kitty, several nice items, including some very nice Hello Kitty Japanese bento boxes (lunch boxes) that are great, a Kitty "pair mug cup" set, and more
  
• Speaking of Hello Kitty, we restocked what has become one of the most popular items in our history, the Hello Kitty vibrating shoulder massage -- we've got 600 in stock now (they make wacky Christmas gifts)
  
• We love the cool Star Wars items released for the Japanese market, including the beautiful pre-painted figures by Kotobukiya -- we've posted the new Anakin Skywalker 1/7 scale figure, along with fresh stock of the popular Darth Vader figure that is so cool
  
• We've gotten in fresh stock of several popular toy items, including the Totoro tin toy collection, the cool Bastard!! Gabriel deluxe figure, and the extremely cool Macross YV-21 die-cast fighter
  
• For Kubrick fans, we've added a new category for Kubrick toys so they're easy to find -- enjoy our stock of these unique Japanese toys
  
• New wacky and useful things from Japan, including cool "fude pens" (pens that write like Japanese writing brushes), Step Board to massage your feet, and fresh stock of our traditional soba noodle tray
  
• Finally, we've added a few new calendars that weren't posted before, including Ichiro's 2003 calendar, various other sports, character and wacky calendars, and more.
  

For our adult customers, we've got many new 18+ products. They include:

• For fans of Japan's excellent adult magazines, we've got the new issue of Gokuh, brimming with top-quality Japanese AV idols like Nao Oikawa, Mai Hagiwara and Ai Kurosawa
  
• Also, for fans of Western women, we've got several issues of the surprisingly popular Bachelor, filled with beautiful models from America and Europe
  
• One of our all-time favorite magazines is Photo Shot, the "Eichi Mook" (a mook is a cross between a magazine and a book), and we've got some issues in stock for you
  
• For photobook fans, we've got some nice items, including the very erotic Mission Fetish, for panty and stocking fans
  
• If you love Japan's erotic manga, we've got more volumes in stock for you, including some nice ones from Angel Comics, Fox Comics and more
  
• Also: courtesy of Yasu, a major restocking of some popular manga issues, including Irodori, Fetish Doll, the Yui Shop erotic art boks, and more
  
• Also, we've got doujinshi, including a dozen or more new doujinshi obtained at the most recent Comic Market, but they will go fast...
  
• For DVD lovers, we've got more items for you, starting with a new Les Max 4 Hours (vol. 2), featuring 4 hours of excellent lesbian AV for you (region free)
  
• Itsuki Ninoshita performs in a great new Fan Thanks Day from Soft on Demand, doing sex acts on her fans while wearing many famous anime costumes to say thanks for their support (region free)
  
• See the anal sex of 50 AV actresses and amateur girls in a new offering from Deep's that's great for anal fans (region free)
  
• We love the beautiful Maiko Kazano, and think you'll enjoy her silky new soft porn release from Take Shobo (region 2)
  
• For fans of Wanz Factory's bold AV style, see Natsumi Kawahama's beautiful Hip & Vagina release, featuring excellent performances by this experienced woman (region 2)
  
• Finally, Tomo has restocked the DVDs on our site, including Go Go Kanabun Land, Magic Mirror Boxcar Special Set, Anna Ohura's popular hardcore releases, Super Bishoujo Kiss, and DVDs by Akira Watase!
  

At J-List, we carry unique Japanese chewing gum from Japan, like Lotte's popular Blue Berry and Black Black (menthol gum with caffeine in it), and Xylitol gums (Xylitol is an advanced chemical from Norway that halts tooth decay). Check out our Japanese gum section and see all the cool items we've got in stock for you.

Greetings from J-List September 10, 2002

Hello from all of us at J-List!

Well, Harumi's wedding at St. Marry's (sic) Church went off without a hitch. Japanese weddings are very structured, and there are many facets to them that are interesting for Westerners, many roles that each person involved with the wedding has to play. As the employer of the bride, I had to give the second speech, following the employer of the groom. During the "wedding party" (reception), Harumi's parents came over to pour my beer (pouring beer for others is a big custom in Japan) and thank me for giving the speech and to apologize for their "stupid, lazy and useless" daughter, which is a very complex thing that Japanese tend to do. Its one way that Japanese show humility by lowering the people in their "in group" (and thus, raise the level of others they're trying to be polite to). It's similar to the when, if you give a Japanese woman a compliment about how pretty she is, she will often deny it, sometimes vehemently.

As is customary at Japanese weddings, the friends of the bride and groom were assigned various performances to do in front of everyone. The best one was put on by several friends of the groom in which they wrote words like laziness, poverty, short temper and unfaithfulness on pieces of wood. The groom had to punch through each board, defeating the demons that would keep him from making Harumi happy and proving his love for her in front of everyone. Another wedding custom is to choose music for the wedding reception, usually something that's very trendy in Japan at that time. Disney music like the themes from Aladdin or Beauty and the Beast are usually chosen by couples in Disney-loving Japan, but Harumi's new husband was a Star Wars fan, so he went with the love theme from Attack of the Clones for the main theme of the wedding. It was very nice.

Those who've been with J-List for a while know that something very busy happens to us every September: we post hundreds of anime, JPOP, idol, nude and other calendars for preorder to our website. Well, calendar season has arrived this year with a vengeance, and we've worked hard to post all the dynamite Japanese calendars to J-List for you!

In case you haven't seen the beautiful and glossy calendars that are popular in Japan, think of the high-quality, shiny pages in a good Japanese photobook -- but reproduced in large-size for your wall. Most calendars are "B2" size, which is 28 x 20 inches, quite large (anime calendars tend to be smaller and cheaper, see the size table for more information). Most calendars have seven pages, meaning you have a poster-size cover page and six calendar pages with two months on each page. You can display the front page of the calendar on your wall while you wait for the new year to begin.

Unfortunately, the window for us to order these calendars is very narrow, and we can only guarantee availability of these calendars through mid-October. To ensure that your calendar comes in without delay, we ask that you preorder as soon as possible. Orders made after the middle of October might not be available, as our Japanese distributors begin to run out of stock of popular calendars very quickly.

Shipping (SAL) on calendars is $5-6 per calendar, plus $3 for a tube (we ship them from the U.S. specifically to protect your calendars). Up to two calendars can be sent in one tube (they will be opened and carefully rolled). Order four or more calendars and get free tubes. Payment with a credit card is preferred, since we can hold the order without charging anything until the calendars actually come in. In some cases, we may ask for pre-payment if you order certain calendars.

Japan's calendars are a really special way to spend your year, with beautiful, glossy printing and great characters and photography. We've got 250+ calendars for you to choose from, everything from lovely JPOP and idols to rare anime calendars to swimsuit idols and actresses and more. Because J-List is dedicated to bringing you Japan's unique pop culture in all its beautiful forms, we go all-out to make sure not just the top few calendars are available, but virtually all of them, with the best selection you will find anywhere. Enjoy a unique year with your favorite Japanese singers, actresses, AV stars, and other characters -- you'll love it! Also, they make excellent Christmas gifts!

Important note! Although the Japanese calendars are beautifully printed and very large, the only pictures we currently have on hand are tiny thumbnails which we scan from at a very high resolution. This usually makes it very difficult for you to decide which calendars you want to get. This year, for the first time, we're adding unrelated pictures of the anime or models in the calendar, so that you can see examples of the calendar pages that will be representative of the actual calendar. Please note that the rightmost picture in calendars which have two pictures, and in some cases both pictures, doesn't reflect the actual pages in this year's calendar (but they should be representative based on our experience with these high-quality calendars).

Greetings from J-List September 6, 2002

Hello again from Japan, home of cars with names like Bongo Friendee, Nissan Bluebird Sunny and Mitsubishi Thanks.

It's interesting to observe the balance of technology between Japan and the U.S. The Japanese are way ahead of us when it comes to anime, miniature electronics and toilet seats that wash your butt then dry it, but in the market of clothes dryers, which did not exist in Japan until the past 15 years or so, they're way behind. In Japan most housewives hang clothes out to try, and don't use a dryer at all, but in summer when it's very humid, and during Japan's month-long rainy season, clothes don't dry at all outside. I bought a dryer for my wife, but it's not really up to par with some of Japan's other technology. For one thing, it doesn't have an outdoor exhaust vent, and releases all the moisture from the drying clothes inside the house, which can't be very heathy. Dishwashers are also just starting to catch on in Japan, although since Japanese kitchen are not very large, the dishwashers have to be very small to fit. As a result, most Americans would probably have trouble identifying a Japanese dishwasher if they saw one.

Most people know that in Japan, shoes are removed before you enter a house. This is done because to the Japanese, there's nothing dirtier than feet, and shoes belong outside. Japanese houses always have a lowered section near the front door called the "genkan," a convenient place to leave your shoes so they'll be there when you need to go out again (we built one into our house in America). Japanese know that Americans leave their shoes on inside the house from watching American television, and it looks very funny to them. Last night, I was watching Shrek with my son, and he was amazed to see the Princess in bed with her shoes on. Inside the house, Japanese usually wear slippers, and if a gaijin goes to a Japanese person's house, the Japanese person will give him slippers to wear, even if they're much too small for his feet. Although we try to "live like Americans" when we go to the U.S., most of my Japanese family (including myself) quietly leave our shoes near the front door when back home -- it just feels to odd to walk on carpet with shoes.

Tomorrow is a happy day at J-List: Harumi-chan is getting married. In accordance with Japanese wedding customs, I must give a speech in Japanese, because I am Harumi's boss. Giving a speech in a foreign language is always a challenge, but I'll take the bull by the horns and do my best. If you want to learn more about what goes on in a Japanese wedding, see the "Two Weddings, No Funerals" article on my personal webpage (http://www.peterpayne.net). You can see pictures of Harumi and other J-List staff members by clicking the "about J-List" link on our website.

We're happy to announce two new designs for fans of our world-famous Japanese T-shirts: an alternate version of "Looking for a Japanese Girlfriend" (our most popular shirt) and a matching "Looking for a Japanese Boyfriend" for girls, our first Baby Doll T-shirt! Both feature a very simple styling and a pleasant brush-stroke Japanese script, and they go great together, too. Both are in stock and ready for you to order!

For the pre-weekend update we've got an extra-special bunch of items for you, including:

• For toy collectors, we've got some nice items for you, including more only-released-in-Japan Hot Wheels (two new vehicles), as well as fresh stock of some popular Godzilla items
  
• Also, we've restocked the smash hit Amalie Kubrick figures, from the excellent French film
  
• For fans of the Japanese anime Ojamajo Doremi (Troublesome Witch Doremi), we've got extremely limited stock of large soft vinyl figures that are way cool
  
• Also for fans of toys, we've got a rare item, a super photobook of the most famous tin toys of the first half of the 20th century, including robots made by Japanese toy makers of the era
  
• One of the most popular toy items in the past year or so has been the Captain Harlock toy series, a very cool item. We've posted the last full sets of these toys that will be available, six of them, so if you're looking to get the full set of these cool toys, hurry
  
• For Japanese snack fans, we've got melon flavored caramel corns (yes, you read correctly), new fried rice and ramune candy, and "candy bubbles" that you can really eat (fun!)
  
• We're down to just two of the Studio Ghibli region 2 DVD players, so if are a collector of rare items from Japan and would like to get one of these players, we recommend that you hurry!
  
• If you love Hello Kitty, check out the Kitty "melody camera" and several other fun items we've added
  
• For fans of Hamtaro and cute hamsters, we've got a fun pack of hamster goods you or your kids will love
  
• We've got more Japanese eyedrops which customers can't seem to get enough of, and fresh stock of our "Times simply to very important..." funny English notebook
  
• Finally, look for new Japanese chopsticks, a handy "soft pack" for storing just about anything, a great item to aid cooking with oil, and much more!
  

For our adult customers, we've got many new 18+ products, including:

• For magazine lovers, we have the new magazines for you, including the beautiful new issues of Penthouse Japan and Penthouse Special, featuring all-Japanese models shot in Penthouse style!
  
• Also, several new and reduced priced amateur and other magazine items, as well as fresh stock of the excellent issue of Karami dedicated exclusively to Izumi Morino
  
• We have the new issue of DVD Soft Catalog, a great magazine and dual video CD featuring 2 hours of samples of great Japanese AV for you, for a great price
  
• If you love Japan's leg and stocking fetish photobooks, we've got Eri Fukazawa's excellent new offering
  
• Also, enjoy new hardcover nude photobooks by Natsuki Okamoto and a super pocket-size photobook of Bunko Kanazawa in San Francsico!
  
• Bishoujo game fans might know about Forget-Me-Not, a beautiful erotic hentai game that's popular in Japan right now -- and we've got the art book in stock for you
  
• For hentai manga fans, we've got another volley of new books in stock for you, including hentai artist Fuuga's excellent new work, as well as a general restocking of popular titles including Chataro and others
  
• Also, good stock of two great hentai doujinshi, Rock DOA (parodying Dead or Alive) and Tropical Princess 8 (parodying King of Fighters) -- both excellent!
  
• For DVD lovers, we've got another excellent selection of items for you, starting off with Soft on Demand's newest "zenra" ("stark nakedness") production, Zenra Orchestra, featuring 20 girls who play a full orchestra piece in the nude (region free)
  
• Also from SOD, Nozomi Momoi and Kyoka Usami go all around Japan to relieve the pressure and stress of their fans in the Magic Mirror Bus, in the newest Fan Thanks presentation (region free)
  
• We love Hikari Kisugi for her innocent smile and beautiful girl-next-door body, and now she performs for you in a super new release from Sexia (region free)
  
• Enjoy the lovely soft porn of Sola Aoi, e.g. "Blue Sky", in a new release from Eichi (region free)
  
• From Waap Entertainment, a huge sampling of all that is Waap, performed by the beautiful Harumi Hirose (region 2)
  
• We've got the dynamite new Nao Oikawa "Super Angle of Manko" in stock for you, featuring 90% of footage shot from the point-of-view of Nao-chan's pussy region (region 2)
  
• Finally, look for many restocked DVD items, including the Amateur Bukkake series, Man's Juice, Street Fucker, and more!
  

The J-Mate site has been updated yet again, with a new review of Nao Oikawa's lovely DVD "Black Date." You can read about dozens of Japanese products (DVDs, Japanese love sim games, photobooks) with lots of pictures, and also read English reviews with famous AV idols from Japan. J-Mate is our way of saying thanks to everyone for making J-List a success. The URL is http://www.jmate.com/

Greetings from J-List September 4, 2002

Greetings from all of us at J-List!

With the Japanese recession continuing for so long, it's become quite common to see companies suddenly go out of businesses. It seems that taking a trip to the next town will always bring some new discovery of a new business here or there that has closed its doors. Even establishments that never used to go out of business in the "old" Japan, like convenience stores, now close regularly. While there are many reasons why business is bad in Japan, I have to lay a lot of blame at the feet of Japanese managers and owners who just plain seem to lack inventiveness and fresh ideas. Lack of leadership, especially in areas of management, seems to be the primary challenge facing Japan these days. Some of the things businesses do are just silly, too. We used to shop at a local electronics store called Plug City, but one day they announced a "closing sale" and sold all the products in the store at a deep discount. We were sad that our favorite store was going under, and started buying from another shop (K's Denki). It turned out that Plug City wasn't actually going out of business at all, just closing their store for a month to redo the fixtures. If they had posted this somewhere in the store, we might not have given up on them and found another shop to patronize, but instead, they lost us as customers as we got used to buying from another chain.

Something that makes Japanese people happy no end is when Japanese become famous outside of Japan. Nothing tickles Japanese more than having baseball players like Nomo and Ichiro, writers like Kenzaburo Oe and Yukio Mishima, and directors like Akira Kurosawa and Hayao Miyazaki hailed in the international community. In a recent issue of Time, my wife was reading about the popularity of plastic surgery throughout Asia, and saw SMAP member Takuya Kimura (the "Brad Pitt" of Japan) and Norika Fujiwara in the issue. She was overjoyed to see two Japanese stars in such a famous magazine as Time! Sadly, she was reading the International Edition of the magazine, which is of course loaded with articles of extra interest to people living outside the U.S., which aren't necessarily printed in the U.S. version of the magazine. I didn't have the heart to tell her...

If you ever visit Japan, it's good manners to bring a gift, called "omiyage" (oh-mee-YAH-gay), to Japanese you will be visiting. Some items, like boxes of chocolates, beef jerky, and macadamia nuts from Hawaii, are so famous that they're almost cliched. Some other items you might want to consider include vitamins (they're incredibly expensive in Japan) or a carton of cigarettes from your home country (find our of the intended recipient smokes first, of course). I've noticed a lot of expensive high-end toothpaste that's sold in the U.S. is available through mail order in Japan, often at laughably high prices (three tubes of whitening toothpaste for $60, etc.), so maybe some high-quality toothpaste might be a nice gift. And with the popularity of Starbucks in Japan these days, one of our favorite gifts for Japanese friends are the large 10 lb bags of coffee. You can't go wrong with something like this.

We have some great products for you today, starting with:

• For fans of one of the best-selling items in J-List history, the Hello Kitty vibrating shoulder massager, we've got a great new version -- a deluxe large-size massager great for massaging your back, neck and various other places
  
• If you love Japan's Race Queens, we've got a special item, the brand new Top GT Race Queen Guide for 2002, featuring the hottest RQs, including Toko Ushikawa (!)
  
• For fans Japanese lovely swimsuit idols, we've got a super "pocket" photobook featuring the lovely Aki Kawamura
  
• Also, a rare item for bikini and swimsuit idol fans, a collection of 106 sexy "fresh talent angels" courtesy of Fuji Television
  
• We love cute licensed goods from Sesame Street, Peanuts and so on that are only sold in Japan -- and we've got fresh stock of some cool Sesame Street pens for you today
  
• We have fresh stock of the cool "Cup Noodle Mug Cup" that looks like a cup of ramen but is a great coffee cup
  
• For fans of our Japanese snack foods, enjoy the delicious chocolate and strawberry Pucca, delicious "fizzy" gummi cola candy, new furikake, and more!
  
• For fans of cute things from Japan, we've got little bottles of Japanese "drinks" that contains cute little erasers -- very cute and wacky
  
• If you love Domo-kun, the scary monster that is the spokesman for Japan's NHK broadcasting network, we've got limited stock of two cool plushes
  
• One of the most popular anime series in Japan today is One Piece, a bizarre anime show about pirates -- we've got Bandai's deluxe Going Merry ship (that's also a game you can play) in stock now
  
• We also have a bizarre figure series based on Marilyn Manson and designed by a talented Japanese sculptor -- very freaky
  
• Finally, look for fans to keep you cool, new Hello Kitty items for your little ones, a deluxe new bento box set, and more!
  

For our adult customers, we've got many new 18+ products, including:

• First, we have some nice new and reduced magazine items for you, including new magazines on the "under $7" page
  
• For fans of Japan's lovely hardcover nude photobooks, we have a great 4-book set of photobooks featuring famous nude idols from Japan
  
• If you love the uniquely Japanese vibrators and sex toys we've added in recent months, check out the very cute "Rabbit Rotor," a little vibrating bunny that has many protruding parts to bring much pleasure -- and it's so cute
  
• For doujinshi fans and collectors, we've got a super volley of limited stock doujinshi for you, with two dozen all-new books posted including some very rare and cool items
  
• Also, we've got great hentai manga items for you, including new books by Angel Comics, AV Comics and more
  
• Also, freshly stocked comics including more volumes of the famous Pururun Seminar series
  
• For DVD lovers, we've got another huge list of new offerings, including the new "Jun Kusanagi," the lovely Cocolo, who has a beautiful body and sexy "Kubire" (the name for the dip in a woman's body between her breasts and hip) (region free)
  
• There's more "Amateur Bukkake" fun from Soft on Demand, as cute, naive girls go into the Magic Mirror Bus and receive semen from men (region free)
  
• Enjoy the lovely performance of Sayaka Tsutsumi, the hottest star in Japan AV today, in "Lovely Semen" (region free)
  
• For region free DVD player owners, enjoy a new erotic "Black Date" with Shinobu Rei, the erotic indies AV idol (region 2)
  
• From Moodyz, a new release from the Moodyz Musume idol group, who perform hardcore love for you (region 2)
  
• Finally, a bunch of newly stocked DVDs, including Love Semen (a special bukkake item), Adult Video Wrestling, Do Lesbian, and more!
  

Remember that for the rest of the month of September, we're offering free shipping on all Peach Princess games. It's a great opportunity to try out the games you haven't played yet, or if you're new to Japanese love-sim adventure games, try your first.

Greetings from J-List September 2, 2002

Hello again from your good friends in Japan!

Japan has many nice customs, and one of my favorites are the hot towels restaurants give you when you sit down to order. Similar to the hot towels they hand out in airplanes, the steamed towels are just the ticket to make customers feel pampered and positive about the meal they're about to enjoy. Almost all eating establishments from ramen houses to finer restaurants hand out the hot towels (called "oshibori" in Japanese), although some restaurants to give you a slightly cheaper towel made of paper. This is a great custom, I think, and I often think it'd be nice to see it catch on in the U.S.

Do you want to go to Kentucky? In Japan, going to Kentucky means going to KFC, one of the most successful American businesses to enter the Japanese market (they opened here in 1971). While American food chains like McDonald's usually make a lot of changes to the menu to make the food appeal to local tastes (Teriyaki Burger, etc.), KFC in Japan stays pretty close to their U.S. menu, offering original recipe and extra crispy chicken, popcorn chicken and one of our favorite menu items, the Twisters, a large chicken strip in a flour tortilla, just about the only thing approximating a burrito you can find in Japan. They do make some "local" menu items, of course -- during the World Cup, they had a Korean version of their Twister that was really good. The company that runs KFC in Japan also operates the successful Pizza Hut chain, however we're not sure where Pepsi enters into the equation, as they sell Coke at both restaurants. McDonald's has been putting a lot of price pressure on all competing restaurants over the past years, making KFC's products look expensive by comparison. They combat this by emphasizing that they use Japan-grown chickens, whereas McDonald's imports all its beef and chicken from Australia. KFC restaurants in Japan are always fun for visitors because they have life-size statues of Colonel Sanders in front of them (dressed up as Santa around Christmas), and sometimes you can spot foreigners posing with the Colonel in pictures. If you want to see what he looks like, here's a picture: http://www.bigempire.com/sake/images/kfc2.jpg. Since turkey is almost totally unheard of in Japan, gaijin like me often get KFC on Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.

We've added a new feature to our DVD listings by adding a "DVD (all titles)" which allows you to browse all our DVDs in stock in one category. We hope this makes it easier to find the titles you want in our excellent selection. At J-List, we love DVD, and stock over 600 different titles for you at any given time, so we've always got lots of cool things in stock ready for immediate shipping. Feedback on our site and its ease of browsing is always appreciated!

For the new update, we've got a super selection of products from Japan for you, including:

• If you're a member of the Star Wars generation, we've got a great item for you: the only-released-in-Japan full size Yoda plush from Tomy. It's really cool!
  
• For fans of The Dog series, we've got stock of the two most popular breeds ever, the Pug and Welsh Corgi, in a large, deluxe size (with real leather collar)
  
• For Kubrick fans, a super rare and special item: the Tofu People, a set of five cute Kubrick characters whose heads are large blocks of tofu
  
• The Japanese are big believers in Feng Shui, and as a result we've got a set of cute "feng shui lucky teddy bears" for you, which you can put on your phone, camera, keys, etc. -- they bring love, respect, self-confidence and more to you
  
• For Hello Kitty fans, a really fun item: a child's toy cellular phone that's extremely cute, and features Kitty talking and singing to you when you press the buttons
  
• For fans of our snack pages, enjoy a new flavor of delicious Toppo from Lotte, as well as spicy Japanese rice crackers (called "persimmon seeds" since they look the same), with peanuts -- great!
  
• Finally, look for other items like a new Hello Kitty deluxe toothbrush for little ones, a "kogal style" jaguar skin picture frame, and more!
  
• We love the sexy Race Queens that help promote F1 racing in Japan, and we've got a dynamite new DVD featuring 120 minutes of the most famous RQ's in all Japan (region free)
  
• Also, we're happy to announce preorders for the Japanese release of one of Hayao Miyazaki's best films ever, Castle in the Sky Laputa, which will come out in Japan October 4th -- the 2-DVD set will feature both English subtitles and the excellent dubbed track (region 2)
  

For our adult customers, we've got many new 18+ products. They include:

• For magazine fans, we've got the new Gal's Dee, featuring beautiful Japanese AV models of cup "D" or over, as well as the dynamite new Video Boy and Best Video, filled with Japanese AV idols for you
  
• We've also got new and back in stock photobooks for you, including some nice hardcover works!
  
• Also, a new "Chinkame" format photobook, a small pocket-sized collection of lovely nudes of 15 Japanese girls all taken on their birthdays
  
• For fans of Japanese erotic manga, we've got some extra special books in stock for you, including the much-requested Chokotto 2, an all-Chobits erotic comic anthology, and great new erotic comics from Angel Comics, as well as restocked items
  
• Also, for hentai doujinshi fans, we've got some brand new works, a very hardcore Gundam hentai manga and another book with erotic parody of Chobits and other CLAMP characters
  
• For fans of Japanese bishoujo love-sim games who would like to try out some titles on their original form, we've got a few authentic Japanese games posted to the site, including some titles from the original game maker JAST that are quite good
  
• For DVD lovers, we've got another excellent volley of rare Japanese titles for you, starting with the very erotic "Man's Juice" bukkake DVD from Soft on Demand, starring Yuka Igarashi (region free)
  
• For fans of Japanese lesbian performances, don't miss the new Lesbian Lovers release featuring lesbian fucking, penis play, and soapland and love hotel playing (region free)
  
• The lovely Miki Sawaguchi (101 cm, J cup) teams up with beautiful Ryo Ayanami in a superb new huge breast fetish DVD release -- a really excellent item for Japan AV fans! (region free)
  
• We love Nozomi Momoi for her erotic body and pure face, and you will too, in her new release from Wanz Factory (region 2)
  
• Enjoy a great bukkake extravaganza in Waap Entertainment's latest Dream Shower starring Akira Watase (region 2)
  
• Finally, see newly restocked DVD titles including the Do Lesbian series, SOD Best Selection, Study of Man's Penis by Naive Girls, and more!
  

Remember that at J-List, we carry the whole line of unique Japanese chewing gum from companies like Lotte and Glico. Some of our most popular items are Lotte's "Black Black" (menthol gum with caffeine, it will keep you awake!), delicious Sweetie (grapefruit) gum, and a fun item, Fruit of the Bubble, with "lucky" gumballs hidden in the package. Check out all these items on our Japanese snack pages!

Greetings from J-List August 30, 2002

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Greetings from J-List August 28, 2002

Hello again from Japan. My wife and kids got home from the U.S. last night, so my quiet week spent rattling around the house along has come to an end at last. As usual, the kids came back chirping away happily in English, especially my daughter Rina, who absorbs English like a sponge when she visits the U.S. (but reverts to full Japanese just as quickly when she comes home). It's nice having them all back safely.

Japan's long ongoing recession continues, as business remains bad for many industries. Prices in Japan are actually falling, due to a deflationary spiral the country has fallen into -- it seems every day, I see a something that costs less today than it did a few years ago, from McDonald's hamburgers to Yoshinoya beef bowl to clothes. But not all aspects of the Japanese economy are in recession: while hard times may be falling on some fringe industries like makers of toilet seats that wash your butt (we have one of these at home by the way), manufacturers in core industries like housing and automobiles are doing surprisingly well. Honda recently posted their most profitable quarter in their history, earning $905 million on $16 billion in automobile sales, showing that Japanese consumers haven't stopped spending money altogether, they've just narrowed their spending habits and aren't wasting money on frivolous things.

There are many key reasons why much of Japan is having economic troubles. First and foremost is the sea of bad loans that are smothering Japan's banking industry, which came about originally when Japan's stock-and-land bubble burst at the start of the 1990's -- banks had issued billions in loans using land as collateral, but now the value of the original land has fallen by as much as half, causing a banking crisis ten times worse than the Savings and Loan problem in the U.S. back in the 1980s. Most of Japan's industries are very mature, and they lack the innovation and "eye of the tiger" that some other Asian nations such as South Korea have shown in opening new markets. Japan's population is an aging one, and business owners in their 50s and 60s don't have the same ability to cope with change as younger people might. Most leaders of Japan's corporations are also nearing retirement, and grow more and more averse to taking on risks that might do harm to the company and endanger their own retirement savings. Finally, while America bubbles with entrepreneurial energy (just pick up an issue of Inc Magazine to feel it), I see very little interest by young Japanese in embarking on the great adventure of starting their own businesses -- which is really sad, since I can tell you what a thoroughly fulfilling experience it can be. Sadly, it's just not a part of the culture of business here as it is in the U.S.

One thing foreigners notice when they come to Japan is the practice of putting samples of the food in restaurant windows so prospective customers can see how delicious the food is before they go in. The sample "food" is made of wax so it will keep for a long time, and the creation of delicious-looking fake food is an established form of art that goes back into Japan's Edo Period. Part of the start-up costs for opening a restaurant include hiring a company that does nothing but make fake wax food to create samples of the items on the menu to display to customers. There are competitions in Japan for wax food artists to compete to see who can make the most delicious fake food.

New in stock for fans of our funny Japanese T-shirts, an esoteric four-character Japanese message that could be translated as "Respect men, women are lowly" or "Up with male domination." It describes the attitude in males that they are naturally superior to women, an idea that is still very much a part of Japanese society today -- a taboo message, but one that's bizarre and fun to wear. Great for shocking Japanese people, plus it's a very attractively designed 100% cotton T-shirt.

Also, we've updated many items on the J-List site, adding fresh stock of many DVD, manga, toy, and "wacky" items for you to browse and enjoy. We've got new and back-in-stock Hello Kitty items for you, some excellent photobooks and rare comics, new Japanese snack and food items (including more miso soup mix, can't keep that in stock). Also, fresh stock of many toy items, including even more Domo-kun phone straps (everyone loves Domo-kun), and fresh stock of our best-selling talking gyroscopic light saber, released only in Japan by Tomy. Please enjoy the newly posted items!

Remember that Japan's 2003 calendar season is right around the corner. Very soon we'll have hundreds of great JPOP, idol, anime and other rare calendars from Japan for you to order (we're waiting for the calendar material from our distributor). We've already posted the first volley of calendars for you to browse, so check out the excellent and uniquely Japanese items already available for preorder. Of course they make great gifts, too.

J-List sells many nice and unique products from Japan, and one that we're especially proud of are the authentic school uniforms made by Matsukameya of Nagoya, Japan. These excellent uniforms are of the highest quality, and although they cost more than some cheesy imitation items we might have chosen (summer uniform tops start at $125, the high-quality pleated skirts at $135), we think you will be completely satisfied with these truly unique icons of Japanese culture. An especially good thing about Matsukameya's school uniforms is that you can choose from many styles, and many sizes, too -- consult the handy measurement chart to see which size is right for the intended recipient.

Greetings from J-List August 26, 2002

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Greetings from J-List August 23, 2002

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Greetings from J-List August 21, 2002

Hello from Japan, where everything is as different as it could be from the U.S., it seems sometimes. Even the number to dial for emergencies is the reverse -- in Japan, you dial 119.

One thing you learn when living in Japan: every region of the country has some food that it's "famous" for, which is used to promote the image of that part of the country. People who travel to those cities are expected to get excited about that food and buy some to bring it home, if possible (they're really big on buying souvenirs for family members in Japan). In Osaka, the famous food is tako-yaki, or balls of batter with pieces of octopus mean in them, and the best tako-yaki can be found at Otako-ya's in the heart of the entertainment district, near the famous "Glico" neon sign. In Kyoto, the highly-developed style of food known as kaiseki ryori, in which you eat a very complex multi-course meal that is beautifully prepared, is famous. Kyushu (the southernmost Japanese island) is famous for ton-kotsu ramen, ramen with a white soup, while Fukushima Prefecture (North of Tokyo) is famous for kita-kata ramen, which has curvy noodles. Gunma Prefecture, where J-List is based (right in the exact center of Japan's main island of Honshu) is famous for "sauce katsudon," a breaded, fried cutlet of pork with a delicious sauce on top of it, one of my son's favorite foods. In Takasaki, one city over from where we are, the famous food is "Daruma bento" or a bento (lunch box) that's in the shape of a bright-red daruma doll.

Japanese, like all languages in the world, comes in many different dialects. The fact that Japanese tend to move less, often living their whole lives in one area, helps make dialects more pronounced than say, in the U.S., where the population tends to be more mobile. When older Japanese from rural Japan are interviewed on TV, it's not uncommon for the TV station to put subtitles on so everyone else will understand what is being said. Standard Japanese is defined by the Ministry of Education as the Japanese of Tokyo, and that's what is taught in textbooks around the country, but many other dialects of Japanese have much more "flavor" to them. The most well-known is Osaka-ben, the dialect of the Osaka region, and it seems to be the official dialect of comedians and entertainers on Japanese television because of how funny it can be. If you want to try out some Osaka Japanese on a Japanese person, say "Osaka-ben ga wakara-hen" which is saying, I don't understand Osaka dialect, in Osaka-ben.

For the mid-week update, we've got a lot of cool stuff for you, including:

• First, for collectors of rare toys items from Japan, we've got the super-cool YF-21 die-cast metal fighter from Macross Plus, complete with moveable wings and a cool display box
  
• For fans of The Dog, there's limited stock of a cute dog "mini T-shirt" keychain
  
• Two very popular and cute characters from Japan are Anpan Man (Bean Paste Bread Man) and Doraemon (a robot-cat who comes from the future). We've got cute new toy items in for fans of these uniquely Japanese creations
  
• If you love Japanese race queens, see the new issue of Cam-Girl Collection, filled with lovely "campaign girls" from Japan
  
• For lovers of Japan's youthful idols like the lovely Yuko Oguro, enjoy the new issue of Spica
  
• For fans of Japanese snacks from J-List, we've got several new items to try, including "cheese kamaboko" (a cheese and steamed, pressed fish snack, which tastes better than it sounds), Anman Pan cookies, and a rare item for Star Wars fans
  
• Also, a big restock of snack items, including new miso soup, sukiyaki flavored furikake, and more
  
• Also, cool items for your kitchen, including an ice cube tray that will make perfectly round ice cubes, as well as fresh stock of our popular bento boxes (all colors).
  

For our adult customers, we've got many new 18+ products, including:

• For magazine fans, we start off with the excellent Mini-Suka Deluxe, the popular leg, stocking and mini-skirt fetish magazine from Japan (stock is limited, but we'll get more in later)
  
• For fans of amateur sex in love hotels, we've got several new items too, including the new issue of Love Con, short for Love Hotel Complex
  
• Makiko Esumi is a beautiful model and actress in Japan, and looks great in her new nude photobooks which are incredibly erotic
  
• Also, J-List carries the popular photobooks of Russian model Yulia Nova, whose works are not available in the U.S. and Europe -- and we've restocked these for you
  
• We've got another excellent volley of brand-spanking new doujinshi from the Comic Market, great for collectors of Japan's amateur adult comics, however not that these books will go fast!
  
• For collectors of hentai manga, we've got a huge update of new items for you, including Toen Comics' "Teacher, Forgive Me" and "Family Play's, Honey Life"
  
• Also, another large update of back-in-stock manga items, including Sex Crime, Under the School Uniform, and Three Sisters' H Story
  
• J-List carries the dynamite G-Taste series of hentai art books, and we've restocked vol. 1
  
• If you love Japan's adult DVD titles, we've got some very special ones, starting with the new Premium release by Janes, starring the white-hot Sayaka Tsutsumi, the erotic young indies idol who is on her way to being #1 (region free)
  
• See the best performances of Kurumi Morishita's career with Soft on Demand in her third History DVD, with the best of six complete productions all on one disc (region free)
  
• Nao Oikawa is your sultry "teacher pet" in a new "female teacher" fetish from Soft on Demand (region free)
  
• Ringo Kihara is the new star of indies AV maker Dogma, headed by the famous Tohjiro, and she goes on a "summer sex training camp" to learn how to get better at sex (region free)
  
• From the very talented Moodyz, a new and very tender lesbian performance about sex between an older, experienced woman and a young, naive girl (region 2)
  
• Finally, a new "Japanese woman vs. big black men" production from Moodyz, the very erotic Akira Watase takes on a troop of big black guys from Los Angeles -- very interesting to see! (region 2).
  

I've on my way out the door early today, on my way to Tokyo on business. I'm meeting a friend from Italy, and will be taking him to my personal favorite sightseeing spot in Tokyo, the Anna Miller's restaurant in Meguro, famous for having the sexiest waitresses in all Japan. See you when I get back!

Greetings from J-List August 19, 2002

Greetings and salutations from Japan!

When I came to Japan in 1992, I excepted to see nothing but little tiny cars, because of course everyone in Japan had to be smaller than in the United States. I was surprised to see some very full-sized cars, such as the Toyota Land Cruiser and the ultra-huge Mitsubishi Pajaro. While Ford's massive Explorer is a bit big for most Japanese roads, it's not uncommon to see Chevy Blazers and PT Cruisers driving around, and we drive a Saturn (the first one sold in our prefecture). For drivers who want to maximize fuel economy, there is a class of car in Japan called "kei" (which means "light" in Japanese), which are identifiable by their yellow license plates. These cars all have 1000 ml-or-smaller engines and have very small, light bodies, about the size of a Geo Metro. Many types of cars come in small "kei" versions, including miniaturized SUVs and even vans (Daihatsu makes a tiny van called Vamos). The cars are legal for street and freeway use, although their lighter construction means a higher rate of fatalities in the event of an accident, so many avoid driving a "kei" car for this reason. There are benefits to driving Japan's smallest class of car, however. Japan's annual automobile tax is calculated based on the size of your car's engine; the more economical the car, the lower your tax. Tomo pays just $30 a year for his Honda Life, a "kei" car, but an owner of a large-engine sedan might have to pay $1000 or more.

When you learn a foreign language, one concept you catch early on is that a given word will often have many different meanings or nuances when used in another language. One of the first words students of Japanese learn is "genki," which is used in the Japanese greeting "Ogenki desu ka?" (Are you well?). In the context of this greeting, genki means "fine" or "well" and you can reply to this greeting by saying "Hai, genki desu" (Yes, I am fine). But 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. The word can also refer to a man in a state of sexual arousal. Studying a foreign language teaches you a lot about how words work and makes you think about your own language, too.

For today's update, we've got a super mix of products for you including:

• First, we've got an item that I personally love, a very high-quality soft vinyl figure from the famous Hayao Miyazaki film Castle in the Sky Laputa
  
• A fun item from Japan, we've got an Ultraman coin bank that gives you toys when you put money in, just like the machines in front of supermarkets
  
• We love Japan's super sexy Race Queens, and have a nice photobook for you
  
• Also, swimsuit and Japanese model photobooks, including a new offering from the lovely idol Megumi
  
• We sold out of our plush Totoro backpacks in record time when we posted them last month, but we've got more for you now -- they're so cute!
  
• We've got some cool items for fans of Hello Kitty, including a Hello Kitty recorder that plays real music, Hello Kitty band aids and wet tissues, little Hello Kitty and Daniel mascots, and more!
  
• Also, a fun "exploding Kitty" game you can play with your friends
  
• The very cute anime Tokyo Mew Mew is taking Japan by storm, and we've got several of the cute doll figures from Takara in stock
  
• We have some delicious snack items for you, including sesame seed cookies (they're good, trust us), new miso soup and "Grave of the Fireflies" Sakuma drop candies, and more
  
• We've also got a new "Ocean Mint" flavor of Japanese chewing gum, for those who didn't know the ocean wasn't minty
  
• Finally, look for more Japanese "fude pens" (pens that make beautiful writing, as if you were using a Chinese writing brush), neat things for your kitchen, a beautiful Japanese "congratulations envelope" for giving money as gifts, and more!
  

For our adult customers, we've got many new 18+ products, too. They include:

• For magazine fans, we have several nice amateur and love hotel magazines in stock for you
  
• Also, fresh stock of discounted magazines on our "magazines under $7" page, too
  
• We've got some very nice hardcover photobooks with lovely Japanese models in them, including the positively dynamite Ayami Sakurai (a massive G cup), and more!
  
• The Japanese have many fetishes, and one developed one is "medical fetish": women being examined in the nude, probed with various instruments by doctors. The new issue of Karte Club is in for fans of these themes
  
• A manga magazine we're happy to support of AG, the "art, sex and CG culture" which features *English translated* hentai manga by Shiwasu no Okina, famous at J-List, as well as many other great works -- and volume 4 is now in stock in San Diego
  
• We have another volley of excellent Japanese hentai manga for you, including both all-new books from Hit Comics and Tsukasa Comics and more, as well as fresh stock of several volumes (updated by Yasu)
  
• Also, another great treat for doujinshi collectors, another volley of very nice brand-new books purchased from the past Comic Market -- get them fast, since they won't last long
  
• For hentai DVD fans, we've posted even more of the popular adult anime DVDs from Nutech, all translated into English with both English dubbed tracks and subtitles, and all uncensored! (stocked in San Diego)
  
• For Japanese adult video fans, we've got several new DVDs for you too, starting with a new No Cut!!, a wonderful collection of 180 minutes of prime footage starring the lovely Asuka Sawaguchi (region free)
  
• See super-famous idols try their hand at "super bishoujo kissing" in a new production from Hajime, starring Nao Oikawa, Yuna Akimoto and Sayaka Hijiri (region free)
  
• The lovely Nozomi Momoi is subjected to teasing and sexual torture, but is totally forbidden to speak or utter any sound at all, in a fun new production from Soft on Demand (region free)
  
• See a great science-fiction AV in SOD's bold bukkake release "The Coming Sperm War" (region free)
  
• Ai Nagase is the younger step sister dreams are made of in a great new release by Dogma (region free)
  
• Another popular fetish in Japan is swimsuit fetish, the way wet swimsuit material looks against a woman's body. See a great new "Swimming Girl" series release (region free)
  
• Finally, we've restocked several other titles from Kuki, Soft on Demand and other studios, see them all!
  

At J-List, we love DVDs, and are happy that we can provide so many unique titles to our customers from Japan. 95% of the DVDs J-List sells are "region free" meaning you can use them in any player, but some discs from Japan -- Japan-released anime, hentai and high-end indies 18+ DVDs -- require a special region-free player to view. J-List stocks three different players in our San Diego office for your convenience, two different models by Sampo and a nice compact unit by Lasonic, that will play NTSC and PAL discs from all regions. And our prices are also excellent!

Want to know the history of the invention of the elevator? The background of special characters we use in English, like the ampersand? The story of the first submarines? Next time you're in a bookstore or at Amazon.com, pick up one of the Uncle John's Bathroom Readers, a really handy book filled with all kinds of trivia and fun information. Articles are very short, usually 1-2 pages, so you can read one in its entirety while visiting the bathroom. I swear by them, and when I buy them for gifts for others they tell me how much they enjoyed them.