Greetings from J-List December 10, 2003

Hello again from Japan, home of cars with names like Suzuki Joy Pop Every Wagon.

Living for many years away from your home country would change anyone, and living in Japan is no different. For those working as ESL teachers, the long hours of talking with Japanese students of English can lead to embarrassing changes in your own language skills -- you actually end up speaking English too clearly and carefully. Since there are no personal checks in Japan (everything is done with cash or direct bank transfers), gaijin living in Japan lose the ability to write checks when they go home -- it takes me several tries to get one written when I'm in the U.S. Japanese roads generally don't have names, which forces your brain to remember roads spatially, rather than memorize places locations by street names. Also, since the Japanese language uses the katakana writing system to express foreign words, foreigners sometimes lose the connection with how words are spelled in English. The other day, I was enjoying some wine and camembert cheese with my wife, and I realized I had never seen the word camembert written in the Roman alphabet, and had no idea how to spell it. (I had to look it up.) Ditto for fashionable handbag maker Louis Vuitton, which rules the hearts of Japanese consumers -- I'd never seen the company's name written in anything but katakana so I had no idea how to write it. Australian swimming star Ian Thorpe has many fans in Japan, but for the longest time I wondered what a strange name "Ian Soap" was -- I'd only seen his name mentioned on Japanese television, and thus got his name wrong.

Japan has plenty of fast food, from U.S. chains like McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken to home-grown outfits like Freshness Burger, First Kitchen and MOS Burger. But the original fast food of Japan is "gyu-don," or beef bowl, basically a bowl of rice with steamed beef and onions on top (it's really good with raw egg, too). Yoshinoya is most popular popular chain of beef bowl restaurants, although there are several others that are serve identical food. Head into any beef bowl restaurant and you'll no doubt see lots of salarymen and male "freeters" (young people who work part-time jobs, freely switching from job to job several times a year) enjoying their beef bowls, but almost never any women. There's some unwritten social rule that says women can't go into beef bowl restaurants in Japan, and it's usually filled with male customers. Japan's beef bowl industry became a symbol for deflation in Japan when they lowered the price of a standard serving from $4.50 to $2.50 two years ago. You can enjoy Yoshinoya in the U.S., too, if you want to try some. Yoshinoya's English website is here: http://www.yoshinoya.com/en/index.html

Do you know what year it is? I often don't. In additional the Western calendar, the Japanese have a unique system of counting years based on the reign of the current emperor. The current era is the 15th year of the Heisei era (Heisei means "peace and prosperity"), when the Emperor Hirohito died and was succeeded by his son, so this year is Heisei 15. Before Heisei was the Showa era (from 1925 to 1988), before that was Taisho, and Meiji, and so on -- Japanese students have to memorize them all. Incidentally, the current Emperor of Japan is 125th in an unbroken line of emperors going back 2000 years. His name is Akihito, but since he's always called "Emperor Heisei" in Japan, it's quite common for Japanese to not know the name of their own emperor (Yasu didn't when I just asked him).

Are you a fan of Japan's dating-sim games? Curious, but don't know much about them? Well this is a great time to pick some up, because we're having a $1 shipping sale right now. All games are just $1 for shipping (for US Can.) or just $3.50 for international, as our way of saying thanks for your support over the past year. You can couple this shipping sale with our buy-4-get-20%-off sale, making this the best time ever to pick up dating-sim game or four. These story-based interactive games are translated into English, are fully uncensored and run great on English Windows computers. Feel free to email us for recommendations if you're not sure which to get.

For the new update, we've got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:

• First, we have a big volley of 2004 calendars in stock for you, which we've just gotten in -- anime, JPOP, lovely idol and beautiful traditional Japanese art calendars
  
• For fans of Japanese swimsuit models, we've restocked the excellent Hyper Product Revolution which features all the cutest and most popular sexy idols from Japan
  
• Also, look for a restocking of photobooks, including JPOP legends like Gackt and Morning Musume, body very cool
  
• For Hello Kitty fans, a super cool Kitty alarm clock that will brighten your room and make morning more fun
  
• Also, look for various restocked items, including the Hello Kitty shampoo bottle, ice cube tray, ceramic coffee mug and one of our favorite items, the Kitty Hub Mascot, a USB hub in which Hello Kitty copies your typing movements as you work at your computer
  
• Then we've got a rare "gashapon" (capsule toy) item: a set of super-realistic replicas of Japanese ramen, complete with little chopsticks, from all around Japan
  
• We have some great items for Japanese-style New Year's, including another variation of kadomatsu decorations, and a variety of rubber stamps that have fabulous New Years' greetings on them, for making Japanese New Years' cards (stock is limited)
  
• Want some delicious snacks from japan? We've got Maple Custard Pretz sticks, a fantastic treat from Japan
  
• Also in stock, find delicious Lait Chocolat from Glico, sold only in the winter in Japan, tasty wasabi furikake, and delicious ochazuke, one of my own favorite foods, as well as a general restocking of various popular items
  
• We've got fresh stock of the delicate and beautiful Congratulations Envelopes, which are used by Japanese when giving money gifts (but you can find many uses for them)
  
• We've gotten in fresh stock of the Cup Noodle coffee cup, which looks like a ramen but is a really unique cup from Japan (makes a great gift)
  
• Finally, for fans of our unique anime toy items, we've made a major restocking of items including the Cat Bus knapsack, various Ghibli plush keychains, Totoro stamps that are really fun to use, and plush Totoro and other toys of all sizes -- check them all out!
  

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

• For fans of delicious Japanese kogals, we've got the new issue of Cho Very Good (e.g Choberigu), featuring many lecherous Japanese Tokyo girls aged 18 to 21
  
• Then enjoy lesbian and bukkake play in love hotels with Deep Kiss, a new hardcore amateur gal's magazine
  
• For fans of Japan's beautiful hardcover photobooks, enjoy the extremely erotic and flexible nudes of Reina Shinto
  
• Nana Yanagisawa is a fabulously beautiful swimsuit idol from Japan, and you'll love her newest photobook
  
• be amazed at Zokkon, the super sexy hardcover photobook of Aya Shiozawa, a sexy TV idol in Japan who delights in showing you her sexy body
  
• Then enjoy Fairy Tale, a look at the most beautiful nudes of the Showa era in Japan, as well as various restocked photobooks (including the popular Yasuko Project)
  
• Enjoy a fabulous crossover between erotic maid hentai artwork and super erotic cosplay -- everything you ever wanted to know about maids!
  
• For hentai manga fans, we've got some great items for you: a new Explosive Breast Nurse manga by Hiroshi Kawamoto, super hentai with Capcom game characters in a great perfect-bound manga form, and ultra-experienced women who want to do it with virgins
  
• Look for several restocked manga including the excellent Nami SOS First Battle, premium dick girl with the Fetish Doll and TS I Love You series, the erotic Sweet Wife, and more
  
• Also for hentai fans, we've got trading cards from Alice Soft's Rance game, super sexy and fun to collect
  
• For our DVD customers, we have some great erotic DVDs, starting with a super all tekoki (hand job) and oshaburi (blow job) collection from Big Morkal (region free)
  
• Then enjoy the lovely sex of Sola Aoi (aka Sora Aoi), who dresses in some fantastic costumes as she fulfills your erotic fantasies (region free)
  
• For leg, stocking and panty fetish lovers, we've got a new erotic DVD featuring fantastic low-angle filming of beautiful, leggy models (region free)
  
• For fans of "soapland" sex, where men go to get professionally cleaned and serviced by a "soap girl," we've got a new erotic offering from Izumi Hasegawa -- her debut in adult video! (region free)
  
• Tamakeri is the Japanese fetish of ball-kicking -- see a great new penis-teasing production from SOD for you
  
• Then from Momotaro, we've got the excellent lesbian sex of Hitomi Hasegawa, who performs with vigor and grace for you (region 2)
  
• Then enjoy a huge restocking of our popular adult DVDs, with several No Cut!! (3 hour) productions, the very popular Gold Bird and Euro Angels, Lesbian Heaven 4 Hours Special, Super Angle of Breasts, and several more high-quality leg fetish titles for you!
  

Remember that J-List now sells warm hoody versions of several of our popular Japanese T-shirts, with long sleeves and pull-over hoods, great for keeping warm in these cold months. We also make available long-sleeved sweatshirts as well as fitted shirts for girls, that accent all the right curves. For our normal men's shirts, we offer a great selection of sizes, from small all the way to 3XL for most colors. Not sure what your size is? Click the handy size link in the description of each shirt and see all measurements in inches and centimeters.

Greetings from J-List December 8, 2003

Hello again from Japan!

One of the difficulties facing Japan's economic future is the lack of entrepreneurial spirit among Japanese. The numbers bear this out -- the number of Japanese running a business less than 42 months old is just 2%, compared with 12% in China, 14% in Korea, 18% in Thailand and 10% in the U.S. The Japanese government is trying to make it easier for people to start companies, however. In the old days, you needed to have $30,000 cash in the bank to start a "yuugen gaisha" (limited corporation) and $100,000 to form a full "kabushiki gaisha" (stock corporation), requirements which helped young companies gain trust by showing they were fiscally solvent from the beginning. Now, however, you can start a company with just one yen in the bank, a move the Japanese government hopes will get more Japanese to start thinking about starting a new enterprise. (American concepts like limited partnerships and easy-to-declare S-corporations don't exist in Japan at all, unfortunately.) A big part of the problem is probably that Japanese are more group-oriented and are more averse to the risks involved with being an entrepreneur. There are many other reasons why Japanese are less likely to take the plunge and start a company, though: the strained banking and investment system here is not friendly to start-ups, there's very little venture capital system, and if you should have to declare personal bankruptcy, you're forbidden from going overseas for ten years.

The Japanese people are some of the longest-lived in the world, partly because of a stable country with a good medical system. When you get sick in Japan, you usually either go to a large hospital (there are three or four around us here in Isesaki), or to a smaller medical clinic. You must always bring your "hoken-sho" or insurance card, a little booklet that has all the information about your insurance printed inside. There are two systems of medical insurance in Japan: Citizen's Insurance, which is open to everyone including foreigners and self-employed, and Social Insurance, which is arranged through companies. In Citizen's Insurance, you pay monthly premiums and must pay 30% of all medical costs that you incur; if you don't have any other insurance, you're required to join this system by law. With Social Insurance, workers pay monthly premiums that are matched by the companies they work for. This system used to have a deductible of just 10%, making it more popular with company employees, but last year the Japanese government raised the deductible to 30%, too, blurring the lines between the two insurance systems. Japan has free health care for everyone under 5 and over the age of 60, a very enviable situation compared to how things are in the U.S.

Have you ever spoken to a Japanese person and wondered why they make noises of agreement while you're talking? This is aspect of Japanese speech called "aizuchi," basically "agreeing sounds" that speakers make when having a conversation. In Japanese, I could be explaining something that happened to me, and the person I'm speaking to would say things like "ee" (rhymes with way; it means yes), "so" (that's true), and "ne" (a general word of agreement) constantly as I spoke. These agreement words may sound odd in English, but in Japanese they're necessary to show that you're listening attentively to the other person -- not making these noises shows you're not paying attention, and the person you're talking with is likely to stop talking and ask what's wrong. The trouble is when Japanese carry aizuchi into English, and butt into what you're saying with "that's right" and "yes." Aizuchi sounds very strange when done in English.

For the new update, we've got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:

• First, we've got the excellent new film by Versus director Ryuhei Kitamura, Azumi, an incredibly beautiful samurai film featuring the lovely Aya Ueto, with full English subtitles and many extras (region 2)
  
• For fans of traditional Japanese items, we've got more beautiful New Year's decorations, including an authentic "kadomatsu" pine and bamboo decoration that's really beautiful
  
• Also, we've got some cool 2004 Japanese tea cups, with the images of monkeys (since 2004 is the year of the Monkey)
  
• The new Encyclopedia of High School Girl Uniforms is a hardcover photobook featuring pretty photos of all the most famous uniforms of Japan's top schools
  
• We have the newest issue of Gothic & Lolita Bible in stock for you, filled with breathtakingly beautiful gothic cosplay photos, tips on how to make the clothes, and a complete pattern for you too -- great for fans of "dandy gothic style"
  
• For fans of Japanese swimsuit idols, we've got the newest photobook of Mayumi Ono, the cute girl in TV commercials for Acom, a high-interest finance company that bombards late-night TV in Japan with this cute girl's face
  
• We've stocked several of the traditional plates and trays, too, which are really fun to eat with
  
• Enjoy delicious treats from Japan, including "black sesame seed and milk" Pretz, tasty furikake for your rice, and spicy flavored Japanese seaweed
  
• Also, check out delicious new bubblegum including cute Little Twin Star bubblegum
  
• For fans of Domo-kun, we've got a new all-purpose pouch that you can use to keep anything
  
• For anime fans, enjoy a new pre-painted figure from the Utawareru Mono anime series, a very cool item for your collection
  
• For fans of Crayon Shin-chan, the most famous little brat in Japan, we've got cute little plush toys of Shin-chan and his cute dog Shiro
  
• For Dragonball Z fans, a very rare "super strap set" with PVC versions of your favorite characters, very cool
  
• We've added stock of various "How to Draw Manga" books, including Getting Started, and A Day in the Life of a Japanese Schoolgirl
  
• From Japan's famous computer peripherals company we have the Choro Q Mouse, a great small-sized USB mouse great for mobile computing, which is fully functional yet looks like a cute Choro Q car toy, and works with English computers (Windows or Mac)
  
• Also, we have fresh stock of the oh-so-cool Shirow Masamune designed computer mouse, a joy to use and hold, and fully compatible with all computers (Mac or Windows)
  
• For those who like Japanese cars, we've got some new Tomica die-cast cars, the Honda Odyssey and the Mazda RX-7, so cool
  
• If you like to drink green tea, we've got a very stylish Japanese tea tin in stock
  
• Finally, see great chopsticks for New Year's (or for any celebration), more socks glue for your "loose socks," and more!
  

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

• For fans of the excellent Diva series, enjoy the erotic Kaori Nakatani's stylish nude, with many fresh and innovative photographs for you (including "Girls in Underoos")
  
• Then enjoy the erotic sex of Run Gal, featuring real Japanese amateurs having sex in love hotels
  
• Also, enjoy the very stylish and erotic "Tequira" [sic] featuring many fetishes: getting naked outside in public places, bukkake, girls who smoke, cosplay and more
  
• Then enjoy the delightful nude of Riko Aoyama, who charms with her traditional Japanese nude photographs
  
• For hentai manga fans, we've got some extra-special items for you, starting with the erotic Live Wire Insertion from Megastore Comics with 340 pages of extreme erotic manga, the charmingly erotic Night Milk by Takaoka Motofumi, and an Excellent series hentai manga exploring sex and the sisterhood
  
• Also, more restocked hentai manga for you, with fresh stock of Nami SOS, Love Diary, Mocchi Presents DV, and more
  
• For yaoi fans, we've got a great compilation manga with works by a dozen talented yaoi artists, Deep Aqua, as well as a major restocking of the Kinniku Otoko (Muscle Man) series
  
• For our DVD customers, enjoy some great new erotic releases for you, starting with the 4-hour Non-stop Ecstacy of Kaori Fujimori, a great new DVD by Million (region free)
  
• Then take in the incredible busty beauty of Marina Matsushima in her erotic new DVD release (region free)
  
• Then enjoy the erotic sex of three mini-skirted angels, Akira Watase, Mako Umino and Miri Sugihara, who will knock your socks off as they perform hardcore sex for you (region free)
  
• See the sweet, natural sex of Yui Hasegawa, age 20 (region free)
  
• Then enjoy the delicious lesbian action of Moe Yamasaki and Shion Natsume, in another top-quality erotic lesbian selection from U&K (region free)
  
• Finally, we've added fresh stock of some great DVDs, including more that ship free -- browse our selection to see them all!
  

Remember that J-List carries over 100 quality adult magazines from Japan, with stylish professional titles like Urecco, Urecco Gal, Bejean and Gokuh, as well as great amateur magazines. A unique part of Japan's erotic culture, we hope you'll browse our selection of magazines or try a revolving monthly subscription (you can cancel at any time). See magazine page 3 for bargains -- we've got dozens of discounted items starting at just $5!

Also remember that our 2004 calendars are going fast -- so fast, that we've sold nearly half of them already, and no more will be coming in! We hope you'll browse our still-extensive selection of anime, JPOP, Japanese idol, unique traditional and other calendars now! Order 4 or more and get 20% off, with free mailing tubes, too.

Greetings from J-List December 5, 2003

Hello and Happy Friday from J-List!

Winter is approaching, and days are getting chillier. It's the season when Japanese get ready for wild and fun Christmas parties and quiet, solemn New Years' celebrations -- the opposite of the way it's done U.S. It's also the time of year that drivers prepare for Japan's endless cycle of winter road construction, as local governments hurry to use up their construction budgets before the end of Japan's fiscal year next March. Everywhere I drive for the next three months, I know I'll face constant delays as roads are torn up and put down again, in an eternal cycle of government-sponsored inefficiency. The main problem is a law that dictates that 100% of the taxes collected on cars and gasoline must be used to build more roads, with no exceptions, despite the fact that Japan already has plenty of roads that work just fine. It's a major political issue in Japan, with most of the "old guard" politicians in Japan's ruling Liberal Democrat Party supporting the ongoing wasting of resources because of effective lobbying by Japan's construction companies. Japan spends a whopping $9 billion a year on its roads, an amazing sum considering that the U.S. spends $11 billion yet is 25 times as large (Japan's annual public works expenditures would allow it to build the Panama Canal every year). Yet despite the fact that Japan is so in the red that its credit rating is lower than that of Botswana, this massive waste is allowed to go on, in the name of preserving jobs. The idea that Japan's leaders are so ineffectual that they can't fix this terrible situation makes me grieve for my adopted country.

One word you learn pretty early when studying Japanese is "gaman suru" which means to endure or tolerate something. If a restaurant is too warm, most Japanese will "gaman" or put up with unpleasant situation rather than asking the restaurant staff to turn the heat down. Again and again we see examples of Japanese faced with a problem doing nothing about it, just putting up with the situation, instead of proactively doing something to fix it. This tendency to show extreme patience is considered a virtue here, and it may be in some situations. But my wife and I refuse to join the rest of Japan in putting up with what needs to be changed: whether it's speaking out about the lack of a non-smoking section at a restaurant or tactfully recommending that the soba noodle sauce might taste better if it were chilled rather than served at room temperature, we nearly always speak our minds. It's not easy going against the grain in Japan, and we really stand out sometimes, but we figure it will help Japan in the long run.

Well, Musashimaru, the last Hawaiian sumo wrestler active in Japan's sumo association, has retired, after being plagued for many months by a wrist injury. Musashimaru, 32, was the second wrestler to attain sumo's highest rank of Grand Champion (Yokozuna), and he weighed a massive 522 lb (237 kg) at his highest point. With his retirement, there are no more Americans active in sumo, although there are several Mongolian and one Russian rikishi (the Japanese word for sumo wrestlers). Mongolian wrestler Asashouryu is the only current Grand Champion in sumo right now.

For fans of Hayao Miyazaki's fabulous masterpiece Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, we're extremely proud to have the Limited Edition Collectors' Box in stock for you, which comes in a huge box with many cool extras, including a beautiful framed illustration by Mr. Miyazaki, a painted resin model of the great Ohmu, the Nausica ceramic statue, and the DVD in a special DVD cover, also designed personally by Mr. Miyazaki. Because of the size of these massive boxes, they must be sent by EMS -- but that's good, because it means they'll still get there in plenty of time for Christmas!

For the new update, we've got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:

• First, we've got the new Cosmo issue in stock for you, a fantastic perfect-bound photobook that features all the best of Japanese cosplay, along with a pattern that you can pull out and use to make your own costumes
  
• Christmas is a big deal in Japan, but in the final analysis, New Years' Day, with its themes of quiet renewal for the new year, are more important to the Japanese -- and we've got some traditional Japanese decorations on our site for you!
  
• For Miyazaki fans, we've got fresh stock of one of my personal favorite items, the Castle in the Sky Laputa playing cards (which I use when playing games with my kids)
  
• Gackt is a JPOP singer who is without a doubt the single most sexy Japanese man -- enjoy limited stock of his really cool photobook
  
• For fans of unique erasers, we've got some cool items: sets of traditional Japanese toys like kendama, Japanese yo-yos and Japanese traditional tops, which are real erasers that you can really play with
  
• For fans of Sanrio's characters, we've got some cute Sanrio snacks, delicious and fun to eat
  
• Then enjoy more classic Japanese snack foods, including spicy furikake for your rice, more delicious varieties of Ochazuke, newly posted for you
  
• Also for snack fans, we have a huge update of products for you, with many items restocked -- Pocky (all flavors), Miso Butter Pretz, Fran chocolate sticks, fun to eat Gummi Sushi, and Black Black caffeine gum
  
• We have some more wacky Japanese signs with thought-provoking slogans on them, for those who love the aesthetic beauty of kanji characters
  
• We have more traditional Japanese bowls, which make it fun to eat Japanese foods including miso soup
  
• From the very cool character goods company San-X, we've got a rare item: super-cute "bottlecap friends" toys featuring their most famous characters, including Koge-pan, Tare Panda, Nyanko Restaurant and more (with full sets available)
  
• We love unique toys from Japan, and we've got more of the Tomica mini-cars, beautiful die-cast toys cars that are uniquely Japanese
  
• For completed figure fans, we've got toy models of Cliff Fitter from Star Ocean, a really cool figure made by Kotobukiya, and a beautiful cold cast completed model of Rei Ayanami
  
• We've restocked the popular Welsh Corgi Groomy plush pet, too, a great friend for your computer
  
• Finally look for fresh stock of traditional Japanese report paper and "Check Set" study aids (great for students), delicious almond Toppo, and more!
  

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

• First, we've got a great stylish nude magazine called Ero-Pop, featuring the super stylish sex of authentic Japanese amateurs in what we've come to call "Japanese Girls in Underoos"
  
• Then we've got a great erotic magazine with 120 minute DVD featuring the fetish of beautiful Japanese girls having sex with bit black guys from the U.S.
  
• We have some great erotic photobooks for you, including Nao Oikawa's super sexy new photobook Megami, featuring the popular fetish of gymnastics and leg-bending flexibility
  
• Then enjoy the sizzling photobook of Yasuko Akiba, so sexy in her frilly cosplay outfits that you will not believe your eyes
  
• For fans of hentai manga from Japan, we've got more excellent new volumes for you, starting with A Summer Drop by Tsukasa Comics, the best of Female Teacher manga by Toen Comics and a great erotic manga for Christmas
  
• Yasu has posted various new stock of erotic comics, including Do Tomorrow Is a New Day?, Tanu-Puri Chan, Immoral Scenario, The Ties That Bind, Very Satisfied with Five Body Parts and more
  
• Also, look for fresh stock of Youhei Kozou's superb CG collection, which is made available to J-List customers in uncensored form, something even Japanese fans don't get to enjoy
  
• For yaoi fans, we've got the great new issue of Hertz, a compilation manga featuring the works of a dozen talented yaoi artists
  
• For DVD fans, we've got more great titles for you, starting with Ran Monbu (aka the French dessert "Mont Blanc"), appearing in both a normal and a deluxe edition of Let's Cum Face Ayaya, in which she parodies the famous JPOP idol Aya Matsuura (region free)
  
• From Soft on Demand, enjoy the Fan Thanksgiving Day of Kokoro Amano, in which she says thanks to her fans by performing sexual acts on them -- a great new edition of this popular title (region free)
  
• For SOD Outlet fans, enjoy the delightful Saint Roshutsu offering, featuring the Japanese fetish of "roshutsu" or getting naked and having sex in public places (region free)
  
• The lesbian DVDs of U&K are famous all over Japan, and the studio produces only high-quality lesbian adult video --- we've got a great new production for you starring Shoko Mikami and Naomi Hirose (region free)
  
• For fans of bondage play, enjoy the erotic Actress Restraint Maniac presentation of Asuka Sawaguchi who is bound, teased and made into a sexual plaything for your enjoyment (region 2)
  
• Finally, look for restocked erotic DVDs like Mariay Yumeno & Anna Ohura in I Love H, Kanabun in Project B, and fresh stock of the popular Mourning Dress Sisters.
  

Remember that J-List is the home of the original Wacky Japanese T-shirts, with messages like "Beware Perverts on Trains" "I'm Looking for a Japanese Girlfriend" and "Beware of Perverts." Our shirts are all printed in the USA on quality 6.1 lb 100% cotton shirts, and all sizes are full U.S. sizes, with size S through 3XL available in most designs. To double check what size shirt is best for you, click the size link below each shirt description to see the measurements of our shirts in inches and centimeters. Order three shirts and get 10% off!

Greetings from J-List December 1, 2003

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Greetings from J-List November 28, 2003

Hello again from all of us at J-List!

I took an hour off work today to attend my daughter's "sankanbi," parent's day at school, when mothers and father come to see their kids in class (although I was the only father there). I've always been impressed with how much attention Japanese give to the education of their children, and many Japanese take a very active interest in what their children are learning. But education in Japan is very different from the U.S. First of all, Japan has chosen to standardize nearly all aspects of education on a national level, so that all aspects of learning, from textbooks to desks to how classes are structured, is decided by Japan's national Ministry of Education. School is quite strict in Japan, and there's only one "right" way for kids to do anything -- my daughter got in trouble for calling her older brother by his name (Kazuki) instead of using the word "oniichan" (Japanese for older brother), like all the other kids.

Japan's school system is undergoing many changes. Some of the changes are good -- for example, public schools recently ended the practice of holding classes on the first and third Saturdays of the month, to allow children to spend more time with their family. However, other changes bode ill for Japan's future. In postwar Japan, one of the pillars of society was that success could be achieved by excelling at academic competition, and the image of diligent students working hard to get the coveted top spot in the class rankings or to pass the difficult university entrance exams is a good one. However, public schools are no longer allowed to rank students by performance, and the old "hensachi" system, which was a numeric value assigned to all schools based on students test scores, has been outlawed. Also, despite the shrinking number of students and large number of universities operating at a loss now, a total of twelve new public, prefectural and private universities are coming on-line in Japan next spring, with more on the way. All of this means that, as Japan's population of students continues to shrink, it will be easier for students to get into the school of their choice without studying, which will mean even a degree from one of Japan's top schools may be meaningless in the future. This is why I'm planning to send my kids to school in the U.S.

If you've paid attention while watching Japanese anime or JAV, you've probably picked up on the word "ne." This is an interesting Japanese grammatical particle that usually goes on the ends of sentences and serves several purposes, mostly related to asking for confirmation of information or agreement with an opinion. Here are two examples:

"Aisu kohii futatsu desu ne?" You'd like two glasses of ice coffee, is that right?
"Kyou wa atsui desu ne." It's hot today, isn't it?

Other functions of the all-purpose Japanese particle "ne" include softening a sentence so its meaning it less harsh ("Chotto furotimashita ne." You've gained a little weight, haven't you?); emphasizing what you want to say ("Kondo chanto kiite kudasai, ne." Please listen closely next time, alright?); working as a pause in sentences, like "um" in English; and to get the attention of the listener before saying something. Girls use "ne" more often than men and with a higher intonation, so males should use the word with caution lest they appear effeminate.

We're happy to report that poor Daisuke, who injured his knee and had to spend a month in the hospital, is back at work and is doing very well. He's still going to "rihabiri" (rehabilitation) several times a week, but it's great to have him back.

For the new update, we've got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:

• First, for fans of Japan's excellent miniature toys, called "candy toys" since they usually come with candy inside, we have super detailed replicas of booths at Japanese festivals, with full sets available
  
• For Hello Kitty fans, a fun to play "Hello Kitty Yo-Yo Fishing Game" that you play just like you do at Japanese festivals
  
• For anime fans, we have super action figures from Dragonball Z, designed for the Japanese market by Bandai
  
• Then enjoy some really cool items: Japanese traditional taiko drums that really work -- they look and sound great
  
• We've got more wacky Japanese signs for your room, made of real pine
  
• For fans of traditional Japanese food, we've got cool noodle trays and two different bowls for miso soup, very nice
  
• We've got some great Japanese snack treats for you, including delicious almond Fran chocolate and almond sticks, Oreo Choco Sticks that you will love, and traditional rice crackers that are a favorite around here at J-List (Brent and I eat them every day)
  
• Also, great new miso soup with baked shiitake mushrooms inside, yum!
  
• Restocked snack foods include Kabaya Tiramisu Pocky-like snacks, Hi-Chew tangerine, coconut Pocky, more wacky "Kiss Mint Gum" and more
  
• For fans of our unique only-sold-in-Japan toy items, we've gotten a bunch of new stock in for you, starting with a major update of our super detailed miniature food items -- look for fresh stock of all items, including miniature Japanese food, family restaurant food, Chinese food from Yokohama's Chinatown, "train station bento" miniatures and more
  
• Also, we've restocked the cool Japan Hot Wheels Mach 5, a super collectible item for Speed Race fans (like me)
  
• We've also added fresh stock of all the popular Groomy plush toys from Elecom, which feature soft chamois bottoms that you can use to keep your computer monitor clean
  
• Also great for anyone with a computer, we've fresh stock of the cute Massage Rabbit and Soft Squeeze Rabbit, which are great for relieving stress
  
• Finally, for those studying Japanese, we've added stock of all our popular Canon Wordtanks electronic study aids, which are *the* way to effectively study Japanese.
  

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

• For fans of erotic magazines from Japan, we've got the great new issue of Deka Melon (Big Melon), featuring hardcore Race Queen that you'll love
  
• We've also got the new issue of Aishite Ageru, e.g. I'll Love You, featuring great amateurs in love hotels
  
• For Japanese photobook fans, we've got some great items, including a delightful photobook by Yuka Hirata, the delightful swimsuit photos of Mariko Okubo, and more
  
• Also, fresh stock of some really rare and cool photobooks, which won't be available again -- great items for Yuko Ogura and Yinling fans!
  
• We have some great erotic hentai manga for you, including the delightful Compensation of Ai by Do Comics, a 2 volume set of the Bad Slayers series by Hit Comics, and EX Comics excellent Milky Onsen
  
• Also, we've got some restocked manga for you including Keep On Puru-Run My Sweet Baby, and more!
  
• For G-Taste fans, we've gotten in the very nice 2004 calendars for this year, but we only have three and no more will be available
  
• For our DVD customers, we've got some really fabulous items for you, starting with 4 hours of the very best sex of Saori Kamiya, a delightfully erotic AV star on the Million label (region free)
  
• Then enjoy more top-quality leg fetish action from Japan, with Tights Variation, everything you ever wanted to know about long-legged Japanese women in erotic stockings and tights (region free)
  
• TMA brings you a whopping 10 hours of top adult video action, with cosplay and more by Japan's top adult stars (region free)
  
• Nampa is the act of men picking up girls on the street -- now see "reverse nampa" in which lesbians pick up Japanese kogals in Tokyo's Shibuya region and ask them to try their hand at lesbian kissing (region free)
  
• Also for "reverse nampa" fans, see the erotic sex of girls who pick up guys and have sex with them, brought you by SOD's famous female adult video director Chie Sugawara (region free)
  
• Then, we've got a new Actress Restraint Maniac series DVD featuring fun bondage play by Azusa Kyouno, a delightful and erotic adult video star
  
• Finally, we've got fresh stock of popular erotic DVDs from Japan, including Sayaka Tsutsumi's Masterpiece Concentration, Ami Ayu's 4-hour MAX file, erotic Gymnastics Girls, Eighteen Pleasure, and more!
  

Remember that J-List is having a big $1 shipping sale on all English-translated dating-sim games, interactive story-based PC games in which the story is to make beautiful anime girls fall in love with you. A unique slice of pop culture for adults from Japan, we've worked hard to bring these great games to our customers since they first appeared back in 1996. Coupled with our 20% discount for buying 4 or more titles, this makes it a great time to complete your bishoujo game collection!

Greetings from J-List November 26, 2003

Hello again from all your friends at J-List!

Although you may think of trains when you think of Japan, you really need a car to get around unless you live in a large city like Tokyo or Nagoya. In Gunma Prefecture, where we live, there are train lines connecting the cities, but without a car it'd be very inconvenient to get anywhere. Buying a car here is a little different than it is in the U.S. For starters, nearly everyone buys cars from showrooms operated by the manufacturers (Mazda, Toyota), rather than from third-party dealers. GM's Saturn dealerships were directly based on this model. Since you're buying a car directly from the company that made it, they have total control over the buying experience and can come up with innovative ways of presenting their products to customers. Nissan has done just that with the launching of "Carest Zama," the first large-scale "car mall" twice the size of Tokyo Dome, where prospective auto buyers can browse over 100 of Nissan'a new cars, test drive them in an on-premises driving track, get service and buy various car-related products, and entertain their kids. When you buy a car in America, you usually drive off the lot that afternoon, but in Japan, virtually everyone orders the car they want, choosing color and options, and waits for it to be delivered in three weeks.

Something that causes some frustration in Japan is the sha-ken system, which is basically a total vehicle check-up all cars must get three years after a new car purchase and every two years after that. A combination safety check of all parts of the car, smog certification and tune-up, getting your car sha-ken'ed can cost anywhere from $500 to $1500 depending on how large the engine is and on the age of your car. (Part of the sha-ken fee is a road-use tax, and another part is the minimum car insurance that all drivers must carry.) Since the sha-ken fee is so expensive, Japanese usually use it as an excuse to buy a new car instead, which of course makes car manufacturers happy. On the one hand, sha-ken acts as a kind of ongoing "over-use" tax, punishing drivers who don't buy new cars every 3-5 years, and gaijin living in Japan are usually livid when they hear about all the money they have to pay to keep driving. On the other hand, having a solid safety check of all cars on a regular basis makes driving much safer, and cars almost never break here. In fact, I've only had one car problem in my twelve years in Japan, when a cat trying to get out of the cold climbed into my engine compartment, only to be ripped to shreds when I turned on my car.

What color are your eyes? All Japanese people have brown eyes, although if you ever ask them what color their eyes are, they'll tell you "black" (because the center of the eyes are black, as opposed to the iris). Japanese are often interested in the eyes of foreigners, since they come in different colors, something totally unknown in Japan (although they do have color contact lenses here). When I tell Japanese that my eyes change color depending on what I'm wearing, ranging from green to hazel to blue, they usually don't believe it's possible. My wife and I are studying Spanish, and I've been asked by my teacher, a Japanese who grew up in Peru, if I saw the world through a blue or green tint because of the color of my eyes.

J-List carries over 200 different photobooks from Japan, with beautiful idols and models, famous JPOP singers, and lovely nude photobooks. It's a great time to browse J-List's huge selection of photobook items, for two reasons. First, we've found fresh stock of some really rare items that were previously sold out, and have added them to the site. Also, for the rest of 2003 we're giving an extra big discount to customers who buy 4 more photobooks together: a whopping 20% (discount automatically applied at checkout).

For the new update, we've got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:

• Because we genuinely feel it's our duty to make cool and unique products available to you from Japan, we're happy to have Tomy's Micro Aqua miniature aquariums, which recreate real fishtanks in every detail for you
  
• The Paper Stitch Lock, a great device that "stitches" sheets of paper together so you never need staples, has been one of our biggest sellers -- now we've got a deluxe version that comes in different colors
  
• For Domo-kun fans, we've restocked the popular Domo-kun towels and washcloths
  
• We love the high-quality Totoro toys of Sun Arrow, a famous Japanese toy company famous for their high quality products -- we've got more Makkuro Kurosuke, er, Soot Sprites in stock for you
  
• Japan's unique toys, like Blythe and Kubrick, really come alive in the new issue of Dolly Bird, featuring a special look at the most stylish toys you've ever seen
  
• We have more wacky Japanese signs for you, including one for people with men in the house who can't keep from missing the toilet
  
• We've got fresh stock of the popular FX Neo eyedrops, which wake you up when you're sleepy -- a very popular item
  
• We love cute things from Japan, and one of our favorites is the UsaColle Friends (short for Usako Collection and Friends) -- enjoy eyeglass wipes and origami paper
  
• For Hello Kitty fans, we've got lots of cool things you can only find in Japan, including a set of Kitty kitchen figures, a delicious way to make ice cream with Kitty, and a Kitty microwave cake set
  
• Then try some delicious traditional Japanese tastes including furikake, sweet bean soup, and more
  
• We've restocked the popular Japanese spicy caffeine gum Black Black, advertised by Jean Claude van Damme
  
• One of our best-selling DVD titles is Happa-Tai ("Fig Leaf Army") who were a big hit in the States -- we have "Yatta!" back in stock for you
  
• Finally, look for more bizarre Japanese pins, fresh stock of cool Every Blythe miniature figures, fresh stock of 120 cm authentic "loose socks" and more!
  

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

• For fans of Japan's beautiful erotic photography, we've got the new issue of Urecco, the "hybrid skin magazine" that features top-quality AV stars like Aoi Sora, Hitomi Hayasaka, Asuka Sawaguchi, and more, and Urecco is now an all-color magazine too!
  
• We've got a great item for you next, a full color magazine that comes with a 125 minute sampler DVD and a life-sized poster of Aoi Sora
  
• Then enjoy the new issue of Meets Girl (as in "boy meets girl") featuring real Japanese amateurs age 18 to 20 in love hotels with their boyfriends
  
• We've got the wonderful hardcover swimsuit photobook of Noriko Satoh, age 18, and she looks really great
  
• Then enjoy the delicious body of Tsukasa Kato's new photobook release, Rindoh
  
• We have some super new erotic manga for you including Yutaka Tanaka's great new Shiawase H, the very erotic manga Ayame by AV Comics, and a very grown-up erotic manga by Action Comics
  
• Also, a real treat for fans of Japan's highly developed tradition of hermaphrodite erotica, a new work by Amanoja 9 ("Amanojack") in his best-selling "TS I Love You" series
  
• For doujinshi fans, we've got two great new doujinshi from the famous circle Ochimentaiko, for fans of Akira Minazuki's erotic busty women, and a super Zeta Gundam hentai doujinshi
  
• For DVD fans, we have a great volley of new releases for you, starting with a new Body Concept erotic leg fetish from Shinkosha (region free)
  
• Then enjoy the super natural and shy sex of Momo Takai in her adult film debut (region free)
  
• Ai Nagase fans, Deep's has put together a great collection of 4 hours of her best hardcore works, and for a super price (region free)
  
• Miku Hasegawa and Ai Shimura look great as they perform lesbian sex and 3P (three people, e.g. manage a trois) with am extremely lucky man (region free)
  
• Enjoy the lesbian kissing of beautiful Japanese ladies in the new Les Kiss by U&K, the famous all-lesbian adult video studio (region free)
  
• Then have a feast of bukkake in Semen Club, which features delightfully slutty women playing with sperm (region 2)
  
• Finally, look for various restocked and reduced price DVD titles, with many more that ship with free SAL shipping!
  

Remember that J-List carries many items featuring the beautiful Russian nude idol Yulia Nova, including magazines, videos and more. Since J-List is the official representative of Yulia Nova, we have the best selection you'll find anywhere. Buy 3 or more Russian Beauties/Yulia Nova items and get an extra 10% discount, too.

Greetings from J-List November 21, 2003

Hello and Happy Friday from all of us at J-List! We've got a great update for you tonight just in time for the weekend!

One of the most frustrating things about living in Japan is being on a different wavelength from everyone else -- the common pool of "joshiki" (common sense) that all Japanese plug into doesn't seem to work for us foreigners. Japanese change from winter to summer clothes pretty much on the same day, due to the standardization of the educational system on a national level, but foreigners don't know that just because the first of October has come we should suddenly stop wearing T-shirts and start donning sweaters. In Japan, shops are often closed one day during the week, usually Tuesday or Wednesday, but gaijin don't know this -- and it seems we always make a special trip only to find the place we want to shop at closed. Christmas music usually stops around the New Year's Day, but Japanese shops and radio stations often play it all winter long, which is slightly odd to my gaijin mind. Oh well, it's all part of the fun of living in a place like Japan.

One of my favorites from my YBIJTLW list, located on my personal homepage: "You've been in Japan too long when it takes you several seconds of deep thought to recall the first name of the President of the United States." It's true -- you'd be surprised what living in a foreign country can do to your ability to recall seldom-used information, or even remember some English vocabulary words. Try going years without ever hearing or uttering difficult words, like "gynecologist" or "irreplaceable" -- they can be quite difficult to dredge up from the depths of your memory, even if English is your native language. It's especially bad for native English speakers who work as English teachers in Japan, because you can go for months without hearing any English except the simplified speech of your students, which invariably begins to affect your English in a negative way. In the same way that living in a country like India or New Zealand would begin to affect your own spoken English over time, living in Japan can takes its toll, too.

Japan is not, all things considered, the country you should come to if you're disabled in some way. Standards about wheelchair access are haphazard all around the country, with some cities trying to modernize their facilities, especially public places like parks, so that people with disabilities can use them. Some platforms on some train stations have some kind of wheelchair access, but if the station you're going to doesn't have the same access, it's quite difficult to use the train. One of the primary motivating factors for the progress of Japanese society is how their country looks in the eyes of the foreigners who visit or live here, and Japanese are aware that North American and European foreigners tend to look down on Japan's record when it comes to dealing with its disabled citizens. As a general rule, though, many Japanese will tell you that Japan is a small country without much land (Japan has a population density of 335 persons per square km, vs. just 29 in the U.S.), and just can't have the same amount of access that people in wheelchairs enjoy in the U.S. About a kilometer from J-List there's an interesting sports center for disabled people, with facilities for swimming, wheelchair racing, wheelchair basketball, and other activities.

Remember that we're in the middle of 2004 calendar season, with hundreds of great anime, JPOP, art, idol, traditional and nude calendars in stock for you to order. The warehouse that we constructed this summer is serving us well, allowing us to stock more calendars for you than we ever have in the past. Please note, however, that preorders are now closed for calendars, and already our stock of calendars is starting to sell out, with a half-dozen calendars selling out every day or so. Please check out our stock before the calendars you want are gone! Remember, order 4 or more calendars and get an extra 15% off, and free mailing tubes, too.

For the new update, we've got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:

• First, for fans of incredibly cute things from Japan, we've got Hidamari no Tami, a happy character who rocks his head from side to side via solar power - a special Christmas item!
  
• Also, a traditional wooden Christmas Tree that's popular in Japan this year
  
• If you're a Star Wars fans, be sure to pick up the deluxe soft vinyl completed model by Kotobuki, featuring Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper armor from A New Hope
  
• For all fans of Japanese pop culture, we've got a great set of four photobooks, loaded with information on Japan as seen through movie poster art, cosplay and more
  
• For fans of Japan's wonderful high-end character toys, we've got the new issue of Bean's, which features beautiful photography of cool Blythe, Kubrick and other great toys from Japan
  
• Masumi Toyooka is one of the popular stars of Battle Royale II, and she has many fans in Japan -- enjoy her sweet hardcover photobook in stock now
  
• For fans of Japan's famous school uniform culture, we've got two new photobooks that show many pretty models wearing some of Japan's most famous uniforms -- great for cosplay fans
  
• We have some great snack foods from Japan, including traditional Japanese mustard, Milky Cocoa soft candies and Hello Kitty mayonnaise flavored fried squid
  
• Also, we've restocked our popular Hello Kitty toilet paper (both colors)
  
• We've also got super cute Fruit Yogurt Pretzels from the Nyanko Restaurant character series
  
• Then enjoy the delightful swimsuit offering of Mai Mochizuki, a beautiful and popular cute idol in Japan today
  
• For fans of CLAMP, we've got a great 2 volume set of their newest manga work, XXX Holic
  
• We've got more wacky Japanese sign plates, including "Do Not Urinate Here" and a classic Japanese exit sign
  
• Also, new wacky Japanese colorful "pin badges" for your collection
  
• We've got some fun items for you, including more Japanese play money and Japanese train tickets (complete with ticket clipper)
  
• We have some cool traditional cloth drawstring bags with hiragana on them, very cool
  
• Finally, enjoy cute "Lucky Cat" stickers, more varieties of Pocky and Pretz in stock for you, a great way to make coffee in the Japanese style, Hello Kitty watercolor painting, and more!
  

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

• First, enjoy the new issue of Senningiri, featuring delightful kogals from Shibuya
  
• We've got the new issue of I'll Give Myself To You, for fans of erotic hardcore sex by Japanese amateurs
  
• For fans with an international eye, we've got the new issue of Bachelor, Japan's magazine for fans of busty women all around the world, with girls from Germany, Czech, Latvia and more
  
• Also: a great treat for our magazine customers, we've added abut 15-20 items that were previously out of stock, including many of our popular $5 magazine -- but they'll go fast!
  
• For hardcover photobook fans, enjoy the very erotic offering of Kaori, with her dynamite body that will amaze you
  
• For hentai manga fans, we've got some top-quality adult comics for you, with two great works by Sho Katase, Hiroshi Kawamoto's erotic Monstrous Big Breasts, and parody Shirow Masamune hentai
  
• We've also got lots of restocked comics, including Buttagiri Sisters, Kunoichi Premium, Sacrifice, and more
  
• For DVD fans, we've got some great new items for you, starting with a great parody of "sentai" or colorful combat teams like Power rangers, this time with a very erotic twist (region free)
  
• Then enjoy the erotic sex of Mai Sakashita, who stars in 24 Hours Bukkake Semen & Sex, a great work from Soft on Demand (region free)
  
• From SOD's Deep's label, enjoy a great 2-in-1 release of Lesbian Hospital vol. 3 & 4, collected on a great bargain-priced DVD for you (region free)
  
• The erotic gals of Eastern Europe are back again, with more erotic Czech girls from Prague (region free)
  
• Then enjoy the best lesbian sex of U&K's Lesbian Ecstasy Best Vol. 1, with their most erotic lesbian performances ever (region free)
  
• From Waap Entertainment, enjoy a great Cosplay Bukkake Special featuring Nao. fulfilling your erotic wishes (region 2)
  
• Then we've got a great treat for fans of our bargain-priced Soft on Demand Outlet DVD titles: a full dozen titles added to the outlet page, with great titles like Super Bishoujo Kiss, Cat Fight Network Manticore, Kiss Battle Royale and more available for a great price!
  

Remember that J-List carries something that's almost impossible to get outside of Japan: authentic, beautifully hand-sewn Japanese high school uniforms, made just for you by the famous Matsukameya of Nagoya. Each uniform is sewn just for you, to the sizes you specify on our detailed chart, and the quality is not to be believed. If you love Japanese "cosplay" and want to try on a real Japanese female high school uniform (the company takes pride in offering sizes large enough for men to wear them), please see the excellent items we have on our site. We also have uniforms for guys, too!
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Greetings from J-List November 17, 2003

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Greetings from J-List November 14, 2003

Hello and TGIF from all your friends at J-List!

Hair loss is big business in Japan, and many companies provide services for Japanese who find themselves getting a bit of "bar code hair" on top. National chains like Adelance and Art Nature and Leave 21 use beautiful models like former Race Queen Miho Yoshioka to put a bright and happy face on the hair loss industry. Visit one of their clean locations and they'll use modern technology to investigate the reason your hair is thinning, and advise you on the best course of action (treatment, implants, wigs and so on). In Japan's aging society, treating hair loss is a booming industry, and I've even seen TV commercials advertising to women who experience hair loss in their later years.

Throughout the 1980s and early 90s, American companies struggled with the problem of how to do business in Japan. With its complex distribution systems and tendency to do business through shoukai (personal introductions), Japan was not an easy place for American companies to sell products. All that changed when Toys R Us entered the Japanese market, growing rapidly to 140 stores and changing the way toys were distributed in Japan -- and of course putting many smaller chains out of business in the process. Suddenly, American brands had a way to bring their products into Japan in large numbers, through the Toys R Us system, and dozens of products that would never have taken root in Japan, from Brio trains to Legos to Milton Bradley board games, are now quite popular. J-List has also had to deal with the changes brought about by Toys R Us's affect on the market -- in the seven years we've been in business, we've had several of the distributors we buy products from go bankrupt, forcing us to find other suppliers. Once, while driving in my Mazda Bongo Friendee, I saw a surprising thing: a small toy store that we had shopped at occasionally in the past went out of business, and was replaced by a store selling Buddhist altars and gravestones to elderly Japanese, a sure sign of the changes that are taking place here. As Costco and Walmart increase their interest in the country, Japan is probably in store for more changes.

Part of the reason why Japan can look so strange to outsiders is its tendency for them to do things as a group, something that's rarely done in America, a country that places importance on individuality rather than everyone working in harmony. One example of Japan's moving as a group is "koromo-gae" (koh-roh-mo-GA-eh, lit. "changing clothes"), when you put away your winter clothes and bring out the summer clothes you've got in storage. For Japanese school students, koromo-gae means the day you change from your winter uniform to the cooler summer uniform, or vice-versa in the autumn. For virtually every student in the country, the changeover takes place on June 1 and November 1 -- on those days and only those days, regardless of the actual weather or what part of Japan you live in. The prospect of millions of students changing from warm-weather to cooler-weather clothing on the exact same morning of the same day is vaguely unsettling to Westerners. Because Americans don't have a set day to switch from summer mode to winter mode, we tend to wear short-sleeve shirts fairly deep into autumn, and it's common for Japanese to ask "Aren't you cold?" to us even though it might still be a balmy October day outside

It's time for some "koromo-gae" at J-List, too. We're extremely proud of the success of our J-List trademark wacky Japanese T-shirts, and we thank all J-List customers for your support. Because not every part of the world offers T-shirt weather all year around, we've printed the first-ever long-sleeve crewneck and hoody versions of our most popular shirts, the classic "Looking for a Japanese Girlfriend." Now you can don these wacky and bizarre message everywhere you go, even in the colder months! All shirts are printed in the U.S. and all sizes are standard U.S. sizes. For customers in other countries, we've got a convenient size chart so you can check the sizes.

For the new update, we've got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:

• First, for Hello Kitty fans, we've got a super item for you this Christmas: a "Hello Kitty Dancing Santa" that features Japan's most famous character dancing as she sings Japanese Christmas carols, so cool!
  
• We've got other cool Kitty stuff in too, including Kitty Monjayaki (a traditional Japanese food), Kitty Monaka (chocolate in waffle cone) and more
  
• For fans of our other Japanese snack foods, we've got fresh stock of the delicious Mont Blanc and Tira Misu Pocky-like snacks, new sugarless gum from Japan, and more
  
• If you didn't get enough Domo-kun last update, we've restocked even more cool Domo-kun items, including the popular plush Domo-kun cubes that turn any room into a great Domo-kun shrine
  
• Also, some great traditional Japanese green tea in easy-to-prepare tea bags -- just like being in a sushi shop
  
• Want something esoteric from Japan? We've got part 2 of the Shows Enamel Signs series, featuring real signs that are incredibly famous to all Japanese, advertising products that have been around for half a century or more
  
• Another cool thing from Japan, we've got a series of mysterious phenomenon from around the world, rendered in fun miniature toys
  
• For fans of wacky Japanese messages, we've got more wacky Japanese "pin badges" with super cute messages on them
  
• We've also got a great deluxe idol magazine featuring super cute and famous idols lke Yuko Ogura, Yumiko Shaku, Nao Nagazawa and more
  
• It's getting cold, so you should warm yourself with the popular heating pads that are so popular in Japan -- a pack of 5 large heating pads that last up to 18 hours is just $3.50, a great price
  
• Studying Japanese? We've got some handy pocket dictionaries in stock that are great for those with some Japanese
  
• For fans of cute things from Japan, we recommend the Ham-Chan cute hamster rocket pencils that are really fun to write with, along with cola-scented gum erasers
  
• For fans of Japan's high-end cold cast anime statues, which really take your breath away with their detail and beauty, we have a Guilty Gear X "Millia Rage" figure
  
• Do you like funny English? We've got more wacky notebooks with funny English printed on them
  
• For fans of our unique anime toys from Japan, we've restocked the popular Bluer Than Indigo figure, the cool Haro robot clock from Gundam, two often-requested items
  
• Look for fresh stock of Tsutomu Nihei's popular art book "Blame! and so on"
  
• For Shirow Masamune fans, fresh stock of the Ghost in the Shell bilingual comics as well as the last stock of the poster books which are one of the best-selling items at J-List today
  
• Finally, for fans of Japan's cool Gothic fashion culture, we've got fresh stock of the Homemade Gothic Lolita, which includes patterns to make the cool-looking clothes in the book
  
• Finally, various other cool toy and characters items in time for Christmas, including Jiji pencil cases, Hello Kitty pachinko (cool!), Sanrio Weebles-like egg toys, cute Nyanko Nabe cats, and fresh stock of the popular Hello Kitty USB hub!
  

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

• First, we've got the new issues of Video Boy and Best Video, two great magazines that are filled with the most famous professional adult video idols in Japan
  
• Also, a super erotic magazine featuring Kirari Koizumi and a host of other cute girls in fun cosplay
  
• For fans of our discounted $5 magazines, we've got a great volley of products that turned up in our stock room -- so you have the chance to buy these formerly unavailable books and save money too
  
• Super cute "campaign girl" (similar to a race queen, they promote products with their sexy bodies) Yuu Misaki looks great in her new hardcover photobook
  
• Also, enjoy the very erotic bondage photographs of famous Japanese pro wrestler Takako Inoue in her newest release
  
• Super cute swimsuit idols Sayaka Uchida and Sayaka Numajiri appear together in a super-cute double photobook, filled with great kogal style
  
• Then we've got fresh stock of several popular photobook items, including Yukari's oh-so-sweet Chance photobook and the dynamite Endless Race Queen photobook
  
• Yui Toshiki's full-color Yui Shop series set records for hentai art sales, and now there's a great remix, Yui Shop Mini Black, issued at a great new price
  
• We've restocked the popular Chichinoe Plus erotic art book, also
  
• For our hentai manga fans, enjoy many great new books, including the erotic Honey Angel Slave by Hashi Cube, Let Me Lick Your Stick by The Mikikazu, and a great new kemono manga by Masaki Kamitou
  
• Also, a major restocking of popular hentai manga including Private Teacher Miki, Leave it to Big Breasts, Comic Maker, Capricious of You and many more
  
• For our DVD fans, we've got some more great items for you, starting with a new Nao Oikawa's Bukkake Itassho, featuring wacky Japanese late-night television for adults, captured on a great DVD for fans all over the world (region free)
  
• Then we've got a new "roshutsu" (outdoor nude) offering from Dogma's Tohjiro, featuring nudity and sex in public places, starring four top-name actresses (region free)
  
• There's more "penis study" for fans of "tamakeri" or ball kicking/teasing from Soft on Demand, as inexperienced girls play with a man's testicles for the first time (region free)
  
• Also from SOD, enjoy the Super High Class Beautiful Legs Club, featuring erotic women with gorgeous legs, silky stockings, high high heels, and sexy mini-skirts (region free)
  
• Finally, we've got two great "Semen Champion Carnival" releases from Moodyz, in which top stars combat each other in teams or individually, trying to earn the Moodyz Cup for Scramble Semen Actress, directed by the father of bukkake, Kazuhiko Matsumoto (region 2).
  

Looking for some really unique gifts to give out this Christmas? J-List stocks over 2500 different unique products from Japan, from bizarre things that you never knew existed to supremely cute items for your home or room, to products for adults, of course. Why not browse J-List's list and see what we have for that special Japanophile on your Christmas list? Note that if ordering items from Japan, SAL shipping should be avoided as it tends to slow down as Christmas draws near.

Greetings from J-List November 12, 2003

Hello again from all of us at J-List!

A bout of colder weather here in Japan has caused us to perform our "bringing out the fan heater" ceremony earlier than usual. Since there's no central heating in Japan, people use small "fan heaters" to heat rooms. A tank full of kerosene is burned to heat the room, while a computer inside the heater controls the flame to keep the room temperature where you want it, and beeps every three hours to remind you to open the windows for ventilation. There are two downsides to heating your home with these Japanese heaters, though. First of all, they can be quite smelly, especially when you accidentally kick your heater when walking past it, causing the unit to turn off and fill your room with partially burned kerosene fumes. Also, the fuel in the removable tank invariably runs out at the most inconvenient times, requiring someone (usually me) to go outside into the shivering air to refill the tank with a small plastic pump, all while trying to keep from getting kerosene all over his hands. You can see a picture of what these heaters look like here: http://www.mitsubishielectric.co.jp/home/f_heater/ (page is Japanese).

It's not easy for a San Diego boy like me to live in a place like Japan. San Diego is, if you haven't been there in the winter, blessed with warm desert winds that keep the weather quite balmy when the rest of America is shivering with cold. Blessed, or cursed, I should say, since those same Santa Ana winds were to blame for turning huge areas into a tinderbox last month. Gunma Prefecture, right in the center of the main Japanese island of Honshu, is famous for three things that start with K: konnyaku, aka conjac, a very firm gelatinous food made from boiled yam flour; kakaa-denka, particularly strong-willed women like my wife; and kara-kaze, the freezing winds that whip down from the mountains that run through the middle of Japan into the Kanto region, where Gunma and Tokyo are located. Despite the cold, Kanto winters rarely get much snow, which is kind of bummer for me, since if it's going to be cold I'd like some pretty snow for my trouble. To survive winter in Japan, I always wear my "momohiki" (Japanese for long underwear).

Oops -- earthquake! Right in the middle of my update, too. Like California, Japan is earthquake country, and it seems that every third day we're feeling one shaker or another, but the one that just ended seemed to be stronger than most. According to NHK's news site, it was a 6.5 magnitude quake centered somewhere around Izu Peninsula, about 150 km south of here. As with living in California, you just learn to be at peace with the occasional shakes. In 1994 a terrible earthquake in the Kobe/Osaka are killed over 5000 people. Because strong quakes don't usually happen that far south the building codes were much more lenient than the ones for Tokyo.

Because J-List is based in Japan we're able to get many products for our customers that wouldn't otherwise be available. We've loved the wacky character Domo-kun, the spokesmonster for NHK's "BS" (broadcast satellite) channels, ever since he came out, and we carry over 40 really cool products for Domo-kun fans around the world, including plush toys, towels, keychains, and Domo-kun objets d'art for your home. Since Domo-kun items are among the most popular for Christmas, we've stocked up on virtually all items for you, with over 20 items restocked. Enjoy the great items!

J-List sells our original wacky Japanese T-shirts with messages like "I'm Looking for a Japanese Girlfriend." We have so many designs in stock that we're always closing out older ones to make room for new shirts, so don't wait too long to get the shirt or shirts you want. Are you a big guy? If so then you're in luck: several of our closeout shirts are all sold out except for the larger sizes, 2XL and 3XL. Take advantage of the great prices and get a cool shirt, or give them for Christmas!

For the new update, we've got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:

• First, Japan's tradition of highly detailed anime figures, models and cold-cast statues is wonderful, and we've got two excellent issues of Figure Maniacs, special photobooks that are filled to the brim with incredible pro-painted anime figures
  
• Also, Gothic & Lolita Bible is a fabulous encyclopedia of all that's goth in Japan -- we've gotten in back issues for fans who want to experience this fabulous item (each issue comes with a complete sewing pattern inside, too)
  
• For fans of Japanese candy toys (aka shokugan or gashapon), small but highly detailed toys that usually come with candy inside the box, we have a special reissue of the best-selling Thunderbirds vehicles from Konami, with limited stock of full sets available
  
• Also for fans of meticulous Japanese replica toys, we've restocked the Local Gift Goods, incredibly detailed replicas of the gifts that Japanese people give to one another during the summer (ochuugen) and winter (oseibo) months (full sets are available)
  
• Karaoke is a national pasttime of Japanese, and dogs are very popular in Japan too -- so Takara created the super-fun Singing Dog Story toys, doggies that sing real JPOP songs and even harmonize if you put them together!
  
• We have the new DVD of the too-cool-to-miss Ghost in the Shell TV series by Shirow Masamune, which features a new box to put your other discs in and a cool ID card holder
  
• For fans of our famous Japanese snack foods, we've got some fun items, including Hello Kitty cookies, cute chocolate mini doughnuts and more
  
• Look for various restocked snack and gum items, too, like real miso soup, Chocolate Mountain Mushrooms (they're cookies that are fun to eat), Meiji Fran (a luxurious stick snack like Pocky), Koala March (famous cookies that look like koala bears) and so on
  
• Also, we've restocked several cool Japan Hot Wheels (like the Speed Racer Mach 5 and Stingray), as well as the Tomica Nissan Skyline, very nice
  
• For Blythe fans, we've got fresh stock of the cute Every Blythe vol. 2 small figures
  
• Also, we've restocked the popular Panda Z robot figure with pilot -- damn this is cute!
  
• Want to learn how to draw manga? We carry all the great English-language How to Draw Manga books for you, and we've just added stock of some popular books that had sold out
  
• Aya Matsuura, aka "Ayaya," is the hottest force in the JPOP scene these days, and we've got a dynamite new photobook for her fans
  
• We have some cool new straps for your keitai, er, your cellular phone, which happen to match the phone strap on Lucy Liu's phone in Kill Bill
  
• We love the Kubrick toys from Medicom Toy, not just because they make wacky figures, but because they're so well designed -- perfect for all collectors. We have a new "military" Kubrick series that's really cool
  
• Japanese women are very hygienic, and they regularly trim facial hair such as eyebrows to match the style they want to project -- we've got some of these cool facial hair removers in stock for you
  
• Finally, enjoy more wacky Japanese badges with funny messages in English and Japanese, more wacky signs in Japanese, and other cool wacky items from Japan!
  

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

• We've got a great new "mook" (a cross between a magazine and a book) dedicated to the lovely Emiru Momose, a sweet and charming girl who will delight you with her first nude appearance
  
• Then enjoy the great new "love and eros of street girls magazine" Meets Girl, featuring real sex by erotic Japanese amateurs aged 18-22
  
• We've got some great new sexy swimsuit idol photobook items for you, including the lovely new offering by Manami Fuku and the super sexy hardcover photobook of Yuki (Yuuki) Etsuko
  
• For hentai manga lovers, we've got some excellent books for you, including Colorful Love by talented erotic illustrator Setsuna, maid fetish in Doki Doki Suru Koto, Sweet Sweet Voice by Hirohito Tokie, and more
  
• Also, a major restocking of other popular manga titles, including Beautiful and Talented, various dick girl comics, and the super-cool Ghost in the Shell 1.5
  
• For yaoi lovers, we've got the very cool vol. 2 of Gush Mania, too, featuring erotic works by ten yaoi artists
  
• We've got some great DVDs for you today, starting with a super 3 hour selection of great sex by new face Marimo Asoh, who has a 100 cm bust and an I cup yet a tiny, slender body (region free)
  
• For fans of our new leg fetish DVDs, we've got the dynamite new Leg Moment featuring the slender stocking-clad legs of Miyu Nagase and Meri Sakikawa -- yum (region free)
  
• For fans the stylish sexual style we've come to call "girls in Underoos" (because it includes sexy Japanese girls wearing too-small cute underpants), enjoy a great foray into lesbian love from SOD's Chujitsudoh label (region free)
  
• The erotic AV star Kay looks great getting fucked every which way from Sunday in a new release for her fans (region free)
  
• We're big fans of the dynamite Mirai Hoshizaki and her sizzling sexual style -- enjoy her great new release on the Wanz Factory label (region 2)
  
• Finally, we've even more adult DVDs with girls from Romania, Moscow, Vienna, Czech Republic and more, as well as Bukkake Dream Party, Semen Bank and the popular Clothed Female Naked Male series.
  

Remember that J-List stocks three great region-free DVD players that allow you to play DVDs from other regions, such as region 2 DVDs from Japan and Europe. They also support PAL/NTSC conversion and are loaded with spiffy features. We recently reduced our price on these players for people who want to order them for Christmas -- enjoy these three great ways to watch DVDs, which ship out of our San Diego location. Best of all, you can't beat the prices -- start at just $88 for the transportable Lasonic DVB-8092!

Greetings from J-List November 10, 2003

Hello again from all of us at J-List!

It's November in Japan, a time to head out into the mountains to enjoy "koyo," the turning of the leaves in the autumn. Like the week-long season of the sakura in early April, when cherry blossoms transform the country into a breathtaking world of exploding white flowers, autumn here can be a brilliant thing to behold with colors of red and gold. J-List is based in Gunma Prefecture, right in the center of the main Japanese island of Honshu (a city about 30 km from here is the actual geographic center of Japan, and they have "belly button festivals" in the summer there), and we're far enough from the concrete of Tokyo that we can enjoy the "vibrant nature" of Japan all around us. Gunma is nice in the fall, but the most famous place to enjoy the autumn colors is Nikko, a popular tourist destination and the site of Toshogu, a famous temple where shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa's remains are interred. It's a bit too beautiful for its own good though: every weekend tens of thousands of visitors from Tokyo converge on Nikko, turning the peaceful city into a bustling nightmare of cars.

You probably set your clock an hour back at the end of October. Most people grumble about having to remember to set their clocks forward and back in the spring and autumn, this isn't a problem in Japan, the only industrialized country that has not adopted the Daylight Savings Time system. Instead, we have to deal with the other extreme -- by the time I get up in the morning, the sun has been up for at least three hours. It's not that hard to get used to, but all things considered, having that daylight available when you're actually awake and using it is kind of convenient.

For one reason or another, some phrases in English have burned themselves on the collective consciousness of the Japanese, and are quite famous here. When an American named Dr. Clark (universally known as "Clark-hakase" HA-KA-say) went to Sapporo to help establish what would become Sapporo University, he left the following advice to his Japanese hosts: "Boys, be ambitious!" (i.e., strive to achieve excellence in all that you do). These three words are studied by all Japanese, and somehow manage to pop up all over the place in one form or another. (There's a manga and anime called "Boys Be..." that is based on this phrase.) When pop singer Momoe Yamaguchi retired from singing, she sang a song to her fans that went "Thank you for your kindness...thank you for your tenderness" and as a result, virtually all Japanese over 30 know this famous phrase. Speeches by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln ("Government for the people, by the people, and of the people") are studied in school the same way we studied Shakespeare in the U.S., too.

Glico has declared that November 11 is Pocky Day, because of the way 11 11 looks like Pocky snacks. Everyone enjoy some Pocky! We've got plenty in stock for you at J-List.

For the Monday update we have a great bunch of items for you. They include:

• First, for Final Fantasy X-2 fans, we've got a treat: fresh stock of the cute super deformed FFX2 character keychains from Bandai which had sold out before
  
• We have a cool item for fans of traditional Japanese things: special paper that's great for writing love letters to your girlfriend, your boyfriend, or anyone
  
• We've got some great snack items for you today, starting with a tasty new Melty Kiss taste -- white chocolate and cacao
  
• Also, we've gotten other cool items, like a sampler pack of Meiji chocolate, Baby Star chicken ramen, and a popular item, chocolate covered sunflower seeds
  
• It's "shichi go san" time in Japan right now, when kids aged 7, 5 or 3 get dressed up for special photographs and to go to the Shinto shrine -- we've got more stock of traditional chitose candy that's eaten at this time of year
  
• We love Love Hina, and we've got a great series of cute Love Hina figures, great to collect and display
  
• We have another cool series of toys from Japan, the Miniature Antique Museum, replicas of classic toys that were played with one hundred or more years ago
  
• For Hello Kitty fans, we've got a deluxe rice bowl with chopsticks set that's really cool, as well as various restocked items
  
• Also, a treat for Hello Kitty fans: super-warm Kitty Vests that are made of the same super-soft acrylics as our popular Japanese blankets -- these things are really neat
  
• For Totoro fans, fresh stock of the cute Totoro stickers, hand made in Japan
  
• If you love Domo-kun, we've got some new cute plush toys of Domo's friends, Usajii and Taachan, so cute
  
• Want to play with some Japanese money? We've got some cute toy money that's really fun to play with in stock
  
• We love all kinds of wacky things from Japan, and what could be more wacky than signs in Japanese? We've gotten in several cool Japanese signs for you
  
• Also, we've got some cute Japanese "pin badges" that have bizarre and cute designs on them, with wacky English and Japanese messages
  
• Also, we've restocked the "Japanese congratulations envelopes" which are used to give cash gifts at weddings (but you can do anything you like with the envelope)
  
• Finally, look for real Japanese wasabi, authentic Japanese abacuses, and more!
  

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

• First of all, we have the great new Minisuka Deluxe, for all fans of gorgeous Japanese women with long, slender legs wearing "panty stockings" and mini-skirts, photographed from a low angle
  
• We've got the new issue of the Top Speed, a magazine that's just overflowing with lovely adult actresses and Race Queens from Japan
  
• For fans of Maichy, e.g. Mai Hagiwara, we've got a superb new photobook featuring her excellent nude photographs, fresh, clean and very erotic!
  
• Also, the great hardcover nude photobook of Natusmi Mitsu, a sweet new nude idol from Japan
  
• Check out the super sexy photobooks of dynamite swimsuit idols Aya Kudo and Chiaki Sato, both amazing to behold
  
• Also, we've restocked several sexy idol photobook items too, including items by Yuko Ogura, Harumi Nemoto, Kaori Oguri, Yoko Matsugane
  
• Also, more copies of Girl Friends for fans of "Japanese girls in underoos"
  
• For hentai manga collectors, we've got some great new books in stock for you, including a collection of stories about erotic nymphomaniac girls by Kyun Comics, the super erotic Dirty Acts - Kegare by artist Hyji, and beautiful erotic artwork of Tomo Hirokawa in Cherry Concerto
  
• There are also many restocked manga works, including the erotic Twiny Attraction, Devil x Devil, No Mercy, and
  
• Also, a great new manga for yaoi fans by Takashi Kanzaki
  
• We've got some great DVD titles for you, starting with the new No Cut!! erotic release of Amu Masaki featuring 3 hours of her great sex for a great price (region free)
  
• Maria Takagi is the top adult star in Japan today, and looking at her new Lovers DVD release it's easy to see why -- enjoy her lovely sex with her brand new release (region free)
  
• Japan's up-skirt and sexy stocking fetish photography is famous among Japanophiles, and now you can enjoy this great thrill on DVD, with The Chiralism, a great "situation and costume play" release from Shinkosha (region free)
  
• The Japanese love to use lubricating lotion during sex to create slippery fun -- we've got a new DVD from SOD's Martian Devil label for fans of this erotic "lotion play" (region free)
  
• Then, enjoy Yui Kayama in an erotic fighting ninja DVD in which she transforms into a super-heroine to defend justice for all (region free)
  
• Then, the busty and beautiful Maria Yumeno shows you her best hardcore sex ever in a new 3 hour release from Wanz Factory (one of our favorite indies studios in Japan)
  
• Finally, look for freshly restocked girls from Russia, Hungary, Germany and France, as well as even more discounted DVDs with free shipping!
  

J-List sells virtually every Japanese dating-sim game available, with great English-translated games by JAST USA, Peach Princess, G-Collections, Himeya Soft and more. We've recently reduced our prices on three great titles from Peach Princess: X-Change 1 (hilarious sex change comedy), Snow Drop (beautiful erotic love story in a winter wonderland) and Critical Point (intense sci-fi game with elements of classic 80's anime) to just $24.95. Enjoy these great prices on these excellent games! (And if you buy 4 or more games you get another 20% off.)

Remember that J-List has stock of great 2004 calendars right now...but our stock is limited to what we've got on hand as well as the few calendars that haven't come in yet (we're still waiting for delivery on them). If you've got your eye on a very special anime, JPOP, bikini idol, nude or other calendar from Japan this year, we humbly recommend that you buy soon! We'll be making our last calendar order to our distributors towards the end of this week!