Greetings from J-List February 23, 2004

Hello again from Japan!

America and Japan are very different in many ways, and the relationships between men and women reflect this. Western-style feminism never took root with Japanese women because they didn't feel it was right for them -- while women want to be protected from discrimination and 'seku-hara' (sexual harassment) in the workplace, Japanese women who actively seek lifelong professional careers are rare. While many women work as full-time OLs ("office ladies," a Japanese term for any female office worker), other jobs that are popular with women include tour guides, flight attendants/ground hostesses, and language interpreters. But the greatest job a woman can aspire to in Japan is undeniably "joshi-ana," or female newscaster (e.g. "announcer," often shortened to "ana"). All throughout Japan, many women see these educated television personalities, so beautiful and well-dressed and usually fluent in English, and sigh with envy. By unwritten Japanese rule, female newscasters nearly always marry Japanese baseball stars.

I once had an interesting experience while hitchhiking around Western Japan. I was staying at a youth hostel in Hiroshima, and there were people from all over the world staying there -- it's always fun to meet people from other countries, and youth hostels are great for that. I got into a conversation with a young Australian college student who was positively burning with the fire of American feminism, and was visiting Japan for the first time to try to awaken her "Japanese sisters" to issues of equality. A middle-aged Japanese woman who was very down-to-Earth joined our conversation, and I was trying to translate for the two women so they could share their ideas. On the one hand, the Australian girl had many logical arguments about the roles women should be able to take in a society, while at the same time the common-sense statements made by the Japanese woman were very logical, too. The bottom line is, ideas we take for granted in our own country don't necessarily work the same in other parts of the world.

When is the color blue really green? When you're in Japan. For some reason that we're not able to fathom at all, the color green is often called "blue" ("ao" or "aoi") in Japanese. When foreigners come to Japan, they learn that the color green is "midori," but when you see a green traffic light, Japanese universally describe the light as "ao" (blue). If you go to Aomori Prefecture, don't look for a "blue forest" because there isn't one, but there are plenty of green forests. When they buy fresh vegetables, Japanese say they want to find the ones that are "ichiban aoi" (lit. the most blue, e.g. the freshest). Why is this? Tomo thinks that it's because a long time ago, there was another kanji that described the color green, but it unfortunately had the same reading (pronunciation) as the normal character for blue, "ao." Through some mechanism that is beyond my comprehension, certain objects (the green of a traffic signal, the green of a leaf on a tree) are described as "ao" (blue) in Japanese, instead of "midori" (green). Like bowing to a vending machine that has just verbally thanked you for making a purchase, it's all part of the wackiness of living in Japan.

All my life I've been a fan of the Peanuts cartoons, especially the classic strips of the 50s, 60s and 70s, which I read avidly while growing up. I'm very happy to see Fanta Graphics is going to be publishing all the strips in order, starting in 1950 and going on from there, and I'll be picking them up for my collection. If you're a Peanuts fan, check these great books out. The URL is http://www.fantagraphics.com/peanuts/peanuts.html

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

• First, for fans of meticulously made anime toy replicas, we've got limited stock of a great series based on Spirit of Wonder, with full sets available
  
• Also very cool, we've got full sets of a line of capsule toys based on the timeless classic anime show, Urusei Yatsura
  
• Interested in our Japanese snacks? We've got even more for you, including cheese flavored scone snacks, "baby" potato chips and chocolate cookies, and delicious chocolate treats from Japan
  
• Also, a huge restocking of snack page items, including Milk & Hot Chocolate Pretz, Pocky "G," Tsubu Tsubu Strawberry Pocky, Pocky Decorer, winter-limited March of the Koalas, and Cheesecake Choco Ball -- yum!
  
• Looking for something extremely cute? We have Usacolle (Usagi Collection) name stickers that are self-adhesive and so cute you might just drop dead
  
• We've restocked some great anime art books including the Chobits Your Eyes Only art book
  
• From Medicom Toy, the famous maker of great toys from Japan, we've got a soft vinyl replica of Benny the Cab from Roger Rabbit
  
• Then for fans of the original 1966 Ultraman (like me), we've got a very detailed toy replicas of the Science Special Search Party VTOL airship, one of the coolest toys we've seen
  
• Show how Japanese you are by giving Japanese "stick sugar" to your guests -- we've got this uniquely Japanese item in stock now
  
• We've got other wacky items for you too, including a cute door sign that lets you tell others when you're studying, "having a guest" or "out of door"
  
• The Diablock block figures from Japan combine stylish Japanese design with the cute block figure style you know -- we've got cute character keychains in stock for you
  
• We've got a neat item that my own kids love: rulers with swirling wheels inside to make amazing designs
  
• Finally, look for more wacky Japanese stickers, more wacky erasers in cute shapes, and more!
  

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

• First, we've got the MPEG Indies DVD, featuring a full color magazine and DVD with 4 hours of great sample movies for you
  
• For fans of the lovely Yoko Mitsuya, one of our favorite sexy idols, we have her new magazine release, with all pages dedicated to this lovely woman
  
• For fans of Japan's beautiful glossy photobooks, enjoy the beautiful body (and 99 cm bust) of Haruka Tanabe in her new offering
  
• Then enjoy the incredible beauty of Yua Aida in her very first shy photobook release for you
  
• We have many restocked photobooks too, including Micro Mini stocking lovers' photobook, Aki Hoshino's best-selling hardcover photobook, and more copies of the huge hit product On Location with Mai Hagiwara
  
• We've also got some excellent 18+ manga for you, including "Please be quiet while the doctor is examining you," a superb new hermaphroditism book, a great anthology of classic manga stories and more
  
• Also, we've restocked some excellent manga comics for you, including the Pururun Princess series, Memories of Pink, the Urushihara's amazing Dark Crimson
  
• Doujinshi collectors, we've got another bunch of all-new books for you, but check them before they sell out
  
• Also, we've restocked the extremely cool Youhei Kozou CG collections vol. 1 & 2
  
• For our DVD collectors, we've got more excellent titles from japan, starting with the debut DVD of the "absolute beauty," Karen Kisaragi (region free)
  
• Then enjoy excellent performances by girls from Northern Europe, in a great release by Wild Side (region free)
  
• Visit the "Planet of the Lustful Women" in a bold release from Dash, featuring tekoki and other Japanese fetishes (region free)
  
• Then witness the delightful Watermelon Breast Newscaster starring Kyoko Ayana, a super new title from Princess that you won't want to miss (region free)
  
• Then see more bizarre study of human genitalia fetish, brought to you by Moodyz (region 2)
  
• Then see a great new performance by 100% Tokyo Natural Girls, in a new DVD release by Wanz Factory (region 2)
  
• Finally, we've restocked another dozen or so popular DVD titles for you, so check out our selection!
  

Remember that J-List carries excellent magazine by our "reserve subscription." This means that you can get great anime, JPOP, fashion and other magazines sent to you as soon as the new issue is out in Japan -- a few days earlier than newsstands receive them here, in fact. Japanese anime magazines like Newtype Japan, street fashion magazines like FRUiTs, and the incredible Megami Magazine, filled with posters and cards in each issue -- all are available from us each month. Payment through any method is fine (credit card, check or money order) and you can stop your subscription at any time.

Greetings from J-List February 20, 2004

Hello again from all of us at J-List!

Rice is the staple food of Japan, and it's eaten pretty much two or three times a day by most Japanese. Japanese usually eat white rice, steamed in electric rice cookers that are owned by virtually every household (we have two or three in our house). Rice is usually eaten as a side dish to other foods (hamburger steak, sashimi, salmon, etc.), and the food you eat as a main course along with your rice is called "okazu." Supposedly, the idea of eating a small amount of a main dish with a lot of rice comes from Japan's wartime past, when everyone was poor and had very little to eat except rice. The best rice in Japan comes from Niigata Prefecture, on the Sea of Japan side of the country (the Snow Country in Kawabata's famous novel). It's called Koshi-Hikari, and restaurants proudly boast of serving only this type of rice to their customers. The Japanese have a couple of different words for rice, depending on what form it's in. "Genmai" refers to rice in its natural state, and "kome" (KOH-meh) is processed, uncooked white rice. Rice in its cooked form is "gohan," and this word is also used to refer to all food, not just rice. Similarly, "sake" refers to all alcoholic beverages, not just sake.

The fact that Japanese love to eat so much rice is the probable reason so many Japanese women seem to have problems with constipation -- after all, rice is supposed to firm up your stool, and they eat it every day. One report I saw on TV here said that 47% of Japanese high school girls and 57% of career women report problems with constipation ("benpi" in Japanese, in case it ever comes up in Trivial Pursuit). The high rate of constipation can cause other health problems including a tendency towards some cancers, and women have even been known to die when their intestines ruptured from an accumulation of waste products. Rice is very important to the Japanese, but perhaps some of them should consider eating less?

It's been said that South Korea is "the nearest country and yet the farthest away" from Japan. Despite being extremely close to one another geographically and genetically, and despite billions of dollars of trade flowing across the Sea of Japan (the Koreans hate that name by the way), it's often amazing how little understanding there is about customs on both sides of the water. Over the past few years, though, there've been real steps at meaningful cultural exchange between Japan and South Korea, helped in part by the co-hosting of the 2002 World Cup. Many Koreans such as KPOP singer BoA and actress Yoon Son Ha are regular faces on Japanese TV, and as of January, a ban on Japanese culture in Korea has been lifted, allowing Japanese music and other forms of culture to be sold in Korea. We hope for lots of happy interchange between the two countries now and in the future.

At J-List, we really believe that Japan's interactive dating-sim games are great, and so we carry virtually every English-translated game available in our San Diego warehouse for your convenience. We're happy to announce the next great game to be released: G-Collections' new Heart de Roommate, in which you play Yusuke, a boy who finds yourself living in a girls' dorm with some very beautiful female roommates. A innovative new dating-sim game for Windows computers, the story is divided into 26 anime-style episodes, complete with opening credits, "eyecatch" breaks before commercials and more. In stock and ready to ship out to you right away!

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

• First, for all who love Totoro, we've added some high-quality plush toys from Sun Arrow, Japan's famous maker of toys for nearly 100 years
  
• Also, a major restocking of popular Totoro and Studio Ghibli items, including the Knitting Bou Nezumi from Spirited Away, the Totoro Soot Sprite keychain and more
  
• For fans of our delicious Japanese snacks, we've added many new items for you, including Indian Chai flavored chocolate snacks (wow!), Barbecue flavored "scone" snacks, and some delicious Japanese potato chip and sesame munchies
  
• Domo-kun fans, we've restocked the super large Domo-kun stuffed plush, the largest Domo they ever made!
  
• From Medicom Toy, we've got a deluxe set of six detailed Kubrick figures from Dragon Head, the popular anime and manga, a fabulous item for collectors
  
• Also for fans of unique Japanese toys, we've got a set of six classic steam locomotives from Japan's golden years, a great item for trainophiles all over the world
  
• We've got a great new Tomica die-cast metal car in stock, the Nissan Cima, sold in the U.S. as the Infinity Q45
  
• For Hello Kitty fans, we have a great form-fitting pillow which will make sleeping more comfortable, and make it fun to sleep with Kitty
  
• We've got more wacky Japanese folding fans that are very traditional and nice to look at
  
• We've added more stock of the popular Japanese brush pens which let you write flowing Japanese calligraphy
  
• For sushi fans, we've got some handy "temaki" sets which allow you to make rolled-type sushi easily
  
• J-List carries unique DVDs from Japan, and we've added stock of My Neighbor Totoro (the official Ghibli release with full subtitles and many extras) as well as OH! Mikey vol. 4 (both region 2)
  
• For all students of Japanese (or just about any other subject), we've gotten in more stock of the Zebra Check Set study aids, which help you memorize any information, the way the Japanese do
  
• Finally, we've got wacky Japanese stamps, more music boxes for anime collectors, fresh stock of the deluxe 120 cm loose socks, and more!
  

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

• First, check out the new Monthly Chisato Morishita, featuring amazing photos of one of Japan's most beautiful ladies
  
• Then see limited stock of some popular magazines, including more items posted starting at just $5
  
• We love Japan's tradition of leg fetish photography, and we've added a new photobook for you
  
• Then enjoy the delightful swimsuit photos of Izumi Yokoyama, an amazing Race Queen popular in Japan now
  
• Also, a superb offering with Hikari Kisugi and Kirari Koizumi, two very special Japanese idols
  
• For 18+ manga fans, we've added some great new comics, including the newest Maya Miyazaki Presents, cute cosplay manga, and a dynamite work by Hidemi Amano
  
• Also, we've restocked several popular manga for you, including Blue Eyes (all volumes)
  
• We've got more excellent doujinshi for you to check out, including amateur comics based on Bluer than Indigo, Sakura Wars and more
  
• For yaoi fans, we've added a great new manga for you too -- Aim For My Heart and Let's Fall in Love
  
• For our DVD customers, we've got some excellent new items for you, starting with The Stewardess Best 4 Hours, 240 minutes of all-stewardess action (region free)
  
• Sola Aoi, aka Sora Aoi, is one of our all-time favorites in the JAV world -- see her in a new release that features mult-angle features (region free)
  
• From SOD, enjoy the "pure select" performances of stars like Ai Kurosawa, Kokoro Amano and Kyoko Ayana in a great new best-hits release (region free)
  
• For fans of girl-on-girl action, we have a new release by Soft on Demand in which girls must battle other girls, with sexy results (region free)
  
• We've loved Akira Watase ever since she appeared on the JAV scene some years ago -- see her in a bold new release from Wanz Factory with some of her best performances ever (region free)
  
• Then from Moodyz, enjoy a wonderful new release starring Manami Suzuki in a beautiful tropical land
  
• Finally, look for a big update to our DVD stock, including Anna Ohura's DVD works, Stars!! with Monoka (sigh...), more 4-hour DVDs full of the best girl-girl performances you can find, and more!
  

Remember that J-List offers automatic discounts on many items that we make available. Looking for some DVDs? Get 4 or more and get an automatic 15% off. Looking for some Japanese dating-sim games? Buy 4 or more and get a great bit 20% discount. Some of our wacky Japanese T-shirts with messages like "I'm looking for a Japanese Girlfriend"? Get 3 or more and get a 10% discount. All discounts are automatic at time of checkout.

Greetings from J-List February 18, 2004

Hello from J-List! Spring is beginning to spring here in Japan, a time that's called Haru Ichiban in Japanese. On the Kanto plain that means strong, dusty winds blowing everywhere, as high pressure and low pressure zones fight it out for control of the country. It's windy outside, but at least it's getting warmer.

People and customs can vary quite a lot from place to place. In America, we try to respect individuality, and the concept that everyone is unique and special is seen as a positive one. But in Japan, the dynamics of how groups function tend to make people less interested in being seen as unique or special by the in-group at large. I like to consider my own life to be quite unique -- I'm an American who's been lucky enough to live in Japan for the past 13 years and evangelize Japanese pop culture to many great people all around the world. I also lived in New Zealand for a year when I was a boy, and am one of the few Yanks in the world who can recite Fred Dagg comedy monologues. I had a Japanese friend who was very different from "average" Japanese in many ways, yet when I pointed this out to her once she said, "No, I'm just a normal, average Japanese." My friend actively wanted to be thought of as normal (in Japanese: futsuu) and not different (kawatteru) from the norm, and my compliment that she was "unique" actually upset her.

In the course of my adult life I've read most of James Clavell's books on Asia and Japan. While his historically-based novels are interesting, I've always had a problem with his Japanese characters who are finely attuned to such concepts as giri (duty, honor, obligation) and ninjo (lit. human feeling, e.g. the moral tradition of giving up something for others) and other flowery concepts that didn't seem to mesh with modern Japan. I've never met a Japanese who was ready to commit seppuku, although James Clavell's characters always seem ready to disembowel themselves at a moment's notice to defend their honor. I have observed, however, that most Japanese do practice real filial piety, that is, showing respect to their parents and making decisions that take their parents wishes into account. For example, while Americans usually leave home in their late teens or early twenties and never live with their parents again, it's customary for the oldest son or daughter to stay at home permanently, taking over the family business (if there is one) and maintaining the house as the central hub for the rest of the family members. When that person gets married, their wife or husband will come live with them in their parents house, in effect being legally adopted by that family. When my father-in-law married my wife's mother, he came to live at our house, taking his wife's last name and taking over the family liquor shop. I also joined their household, although I kept my own last name. A bit of trivia for you: a man who lives with his wife's parents but doesn't take their last name is called a Masuo (mah-SOO-oh), named after the husband in the long-running anime show Sazae-san. If you want to surprise Japanese friends, pull this bit of knowledge out and watch their jaws hit the floor that a foreigner would know something like this.

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

• First, for anyone wanting to study Japanese, we've got some useful items: kanji workbooks for Japanese students that are great for anyone trying to master written Japanese
  
• Also, workbooks for practicing writing of hiragana, katakana and kanji, and more fun word cards in stock
  
• And for any serious student of Japanese, we're happy to have the new Canon Wordtank IDF-3000, featuring four complete dictionaries inside an easy to use electronic unit -- features full English menus and manual
  
• Hello Kitty collectors, we've got some really cool items for you today, including plush Kitty hand towel sets for your bathroom
  
• Also, fresh stock of the Hello Kitty USB hub, the excellent Kitty diary, and other cool items
  
• Check out our unique Japanese snack items, including sour ume gummi treats, chocolate covered pumpkin seeds, tasty senbei crackers, and a great new kind of hard candy that's really fun to eat
  
• Also, restocked traditional snacks like kneading candy (semi-liquid candy you mix with chopsticks) and the delicious "bubble ball" fizzing candy
  
• For fans of our wacky things from Japan, enjoy train maps of the Tokyo and Osaka area, great for your wall
  
• For fans of Shirow Masamune's amazing works, we've got vol. 1 of the very hard to find Jashin Hunter (Demon Hunter) illustrated novel back in stock -- but our current stock will be the last available
  
• For Gundam fans, we've got the new Haro Capsule Toy series, featuring really cool PVC toys of Gundam characters in Haro-styled capsules
  
• By request, we've restocked the popular fude-pen brush pens, which write like a Chinese writing brush
  
• Look for some really amazing wood-cut chopsticks, perfect for putting out when guests come over to eat
  
• Promote health in your mouth with "tongue cleaners," which are shaped so that you can easily brush your tongue just like you brush your teeth to remove plaque
  
• We've got some very stylish block-toy style toys from Japan similar to Lego, which you can attach to your phone or keychain
  
• For women who want to restore the pinkness of their nipples (something Japanese women are concerned about apparently), we've restocked the popular Chikubina pinkening cream
  
• We've done a major restocking of many Totoro and Studio Ghibli toys, including several Totoro plush toys, Soot Sprite plushes, the Totoro and Jiji knapsacks, the Spirited Away plush Collection, and the Fox Squirrel from Lapura and Nausica
  
• Also, an item we're proud to be able to make available to you, the giant Totoro Cuckoo Clock, a truly amazing item for your home
  
• Finally, look for many other great items from Japan, including the Cup Noodle coffee cup (a favorite of mine), new ways to make sushi and gyoza in your home, a sunny side up egg maker, and more!
  

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

• First, we have two excellent new issues of Penthouse Japan and Penthouse Special, wonderful magazines produced entirely in Japan and featuring Japanese models and aesthetic sensibilities
  
• We've got the new issue of Do-Up!, the super sexy magazine featuring real Japanese girls off the street
  
• For fans of Manami Suzuki, the delightful former Race Queen turned video idol, we've got a magazine with DVD of her best works (region 2)
  
• Also for DVD fans, we've got a great 5 hour magazine and sampler DVD item, the new DVD Dash (region free)
  
• Then enjoy the delightful nude of Emi Kitagawa in her amazing new photobook release
  
• Also, the amazing sexy photobook of Natsuki Katoh, featuring many artistically beautiful photos
  
• For 18+ manga fans, we've got some excellent new works for you, including The Bandage Man and Ryoh-Yuuki's amazing Love Mix
  
• Also, we've restocked many manga volumes for you, including Punky Knight, P-Total Bio Chemical Lab, Refrection, and all four volumes of the popular Female Panther
  
• For doujinshi fans, we've got another selection of top-quality comics posted, with some amazing new parody anime releases for you
  
• Also, yaoi fans, enjoy a big restock of popular books too, including the Muscle Man series
  
• We've restocked the beautiful Libido 7 DVD Visual Works art book too, for collectors of Japan's dating-sim games
  
• For our DVD customers, we've got some great items for you, starting with a fantastic *8 hours* of the "Ero Best" of Big Morkal, an amazing feat by one of Japan's top professional studios (region free)
  
• Then see the best girls from Hungary in another bold "Japanese actors vs European gals" release from Wild Side (region free)
  
• Then catch a wild trio of performances by Ai Kurosawa, Mai Haruna and Miyuki Hourai in a massive 2-DVD set from Soft on Demand (region free)
  
• Ami Ayukawa has debuted in the indies world, allowing this amazing angel to really shine at her best -- see a great new release from her through Wanz Factory (region 2)
  
• Then for fans of the luscious Kyoko Ayana, a fantastic treat: a great new DVD from Moodyz which comes with a latex toy that was molded from Kyoko's own body (region 2)
  
• Finally, look for some great new DVDs in stock, including Dream Woman Best 4 Hours, a bizarre sports festival from Moodyz, more "black men vs Japanese girls" titles, Akira Watase's parody of the Mini-Suka Police, and more!
  

Remember that J-List carries many cute items for your kitchen, including bento boxes and accessories, Japanese chopsticks (both basic ones for general use and cute chopsticks), sushi and onigiri molds, wacky Japanse kitchen containers, and more. Please check out the "Kitchen and Bento" section of the Wacky Things from Japan page!

Greetings from J-List February 11, 2004

Hello again from all your friends at J-List!

A big change is coming to Japan: the end of gyudon as we know it. One of the most popular fast foods here, gyudon (beef bowl, e.g. steamed beef and onions on white rice) is a staple of Japanese men, because it's cheap and filling. Because of the mad cow scare in the U.S. and subsequent banning of U.S. beef in Japan, all national beef bowl chains such as Yoshinoya have been forced to cease selling their flagship product, trying to coax customers with alternate foods instead, like curry, pork bowl or katsudon (a fried pork cutlet on white rice, with sauce smothered over it). McDonald's Japan is fervently advertising the fact that it uses only Australian beef, appealing to parents who are concerned about the safety of their food.

The Japanese do love to play with the English language in creative ways, often resulting in some bizarre concoctions. The main use of English in Japan is decorative, and English isn't meant to communicate anything meaningful -- thus it's not really an issue if the words on the can of beer you're drinking sound a little funny. The Japanese feel that English is very positive and direct, not vague in meaning like their own language can be. Often, positive English words finds their way into the names of products or companies, like Cook-Do! (instant Chinese food), Farm-Do! (a farm supply retailer), I'll (travel agency), Will (the name of a bishoujo game company, and a car from Toyota), and Fappy ("the fax machine that makes you happy" by Sharp). Just as the Swiss accidentally hit upon the name Swatch for their Swiss watches because the designers didn't speak enough English to know that the word sounded a little strange, the Japanese have used creative English to their advantage, coming up with terms like Re-House (a company that remodels homes), nice middy (a happy, carefree term for a middle-aged woman, designed to make them feel good about their age so they'll travel more), and Toyota's popular small car Fun! Car! Go!

J-List is the only official source for Yulia Nova merchandise outside of Japan, because of our special relationship with the photographer who discovered the beautiful Russian model. We're happy to announce that we've completed a licensing agreement that will allow us to bring Yulia products to fans around the world, and at great prices. The prices of the upcoming U.S. release Yulia Nova DVDs, vol. 1-3, has been lowered to $40, allowing many more fans of Yulia to buy her products and support the creation of future DVDs. If you preordered the DVDs, you'll be getting them at the lower price. If you haven't ordered them yet, why not preorder them now? They're scheduled to ship in March 2004.

For the new update, we've got some excellent products from Japan for you, described below. To view all products updated in the past 3 days, click: http://www.jlist.com/UPDATES/PG/3/

• First, for fans of really excellent anime-style edge art, we've got the fantastic art book of Toshiyuki Tanaka, which will blow your mind
  
• For fans of really wacky and excellent Vermillion Pleasure Nights, the late-night Japanese television show which spawned OH! Mikey, we've got the last two volumes, featuring amazing and bizarre short films from Japan's best young directors
  
• We've got some great snack items for you today, including Fujiya's Strawberry Shortcake snacks (yum), Chelsea toffees, tasty strawberry-chocolate sticks, and a bizarre new flavor of Shigekix, the super-tart "hard gummy" from Japan
  
• Wealso stock many varieties of Japanese chewing gum, and we've restocked these today for you
  
• Also back in stock -- many varieties of Japanese "minty" eyedrops, which wake you up and keep you alert all day
  
• We've also restocked several popular Japanese treats, including Pocari Sweat powder, Choco Ball Peanuts, and Pretz sticks flavored like traditional Tonkotsu Ramen (a famous food from Kyushu)
  
• The Japanese are fond of collecting bizarre erasers of all shapes and sizes -- we've gotten in some funny parody food erasers for you today
  
• We love the anime show Please Teacher -- now Kotobukiya has issued a set of "One Coin Figures" of the females from this show, and we've got full sets in stock for you!
  
• Look for various manga in stock, too, including the original Please Teacher mangas sets, Chobits bilingual comics vol 1, the really popular Ghost in the Shell bilingual manga and more
  
• We'verestocked our traditional Japanese hot springs bath powder, which lets you sample many famous hot springs around Japan
  
• Licca-chan is the super cute fashion doll from Takara, the anti-Barbie since she's demure, cute and girlish. We have a limited "Idol Licca" set of three dolls in stock today
  
• We carry all the Japan-market Hot Wheels vehicles, and we've restocked several varieties for you, including the Thunderbirds, Stingray and other great cars
  
• Finally, check out a giant puffy dice (great for playing giant games of Axis & Allies), more of the popular lighted ear cleaners, healthy masks to keep your germs from spreading, and more!
  

For our 18+ customers, we've got many new products. To view all new products, click this link: http://www.jlist.com/UPDATES/R/3/

• We have the new issue of Dela Beppin, filled with beautiful JAV stars from Japan including Yoko Kumada
  
• Thenenjoy the new issue of Yo! featuring fantastic Tokyo girls in love hotels
  
• Enjoy the new issue if Hip & Lip, a beautiful hybrid magazine that combines hentai manga and beautiful models in an interesting mix
  
• Fans of Japan's photobooks, we've got the beautiful hardcover offering of Kumiko Akiyoshi's beautiful body
  
• Thensee the most beautiful bikini idols in Japan in Young Magazine Bikinies, a great photobook featuring the sexiest swimsuit idols in Japan
  
• Then we have another treat, a great glossy photobook of Chinatsu Watatsuki, one of my personal faves
  
• For hentai manga fans, we've got several new books posted for you, including the elegant Trap by Action Comics, Dynamite Miko by Tenma Comics and more
  
• Also, a big restocking of popular books, including the Blue Eyes series, Fetish Doll, Dark Crimson, and several best-selling hermaphrodite themed comics
  
• For doujinshi enthusiasts, we've got more authentic doujinshi books from Japan, featuring super H parody of your favorite anime characters
  
• AG is the magazine of "art, sex and CG culture," and it's the best source of English-translated 18+ manga in the U.S. -- we've restocked several issues of this popular book, including the last stock we'll be getting of volume 2
  
• DVD fans, we've got some great new additions for you, starting with the newest performance by the pure and lovely Akiho Yoshizawa, released by Samantha (region free)
  
• For fans of the sly and sexy Ran Asakawa, see her best works from Dogma, in a great compilation disc for you (region free)
  
• Explore the world of female self-pleasuring in a new disc from Soft on Demand, a great new Magic Mirror Bus production shot in their go-anywhere studio (region free)
  
• From SOD's Deep's label, enjoy the Best Selection of their works of 2003,a whopping 4 hours of material presented for you to peruse (region free)
  
• Then from Waap Entertainment, we've got the new Dream Shower release featuring the performance of Miho Suzuki, in a great bukkake work for you (region 2)
  
• Finally, restocked DVD titles include Asuka Sawaguchi's popular VIP Shower, Ami Hinata's Semen Club, more Japanese Pro Wrestling for grown-ups and more!
  

Are you a big guy? Then you're in luck! J-List makes many wacky Japanese T-shirts, and we're always closing out old designs to make room for new shirts. We're down to the last few of several of our close-out T-shirts, and most of the shirts in stock are XXL or XXXL. If you're on the large side, you can take advantage of the big discounts for these close-out items and save.

Remember that J-List stocks virtually every English-language Japanese dating-sim game available, with great games from Peach Princess, G-Collections, Hobibox, and JAST USA. These story-based interactive games allow you to interact with beautiful anime girls in a multi-path game story, and try to win their hearts. If you're interested in these great games but don't know which would be good, feel free to ask us for recommendations!

Greetings from J-List February 6, 2004

Hello and Happy Friday from all of us in Japan!

One of the coolest "needless items" that can be found Japan are the massage chairs, made by National (Panasonic) and several other companies. These chairs use little wheels built into the unit to massage your shoulders and back, and they're really quite advanced. The newest models massage your legs and feet along with your back, and have optional "minus ion" (negatively-charged ion) generators that makes the air around you feel like it does when a thunderstorm has just gone past. Another neat needless item the Japanese have come up with are the famous washlets, toilet seats that will wash your butt for you with a stream of warm water, then dry it with warm air -- they have bidets, too, if you have guests visiting from France (ha-ha). Other features of toilet seats in Japan are lids that close slowly when you let go of them, and a heating elements built into the seat, which are great in the winter (these toilets are called "warmlets").

You've been in Japan too long when you get a 'nihongo ga jozu' and feel really insulted. It's an odd fact of life in Japan, but foreigners who are learning Japanese strive for that magic moment when people will stop complimenting them on how good their Japanese is. Being told "your Japanese is very good" ("nihongo ga jozu") is a sign that your language ability is good, but not quite good enough -- if it were, the person you're conversing with would just shut up and talk to you normally. After studying Japanese for four years at SDSU and living in Japan since 1992, I am hopefully as fluent as I will ever need to be, although there are still occasional difficulties. I went to KFC a few months ago, but for some reason, I couldn't make myself understood by the girl taking my order. It turned out that she was a foreigner herself, a university student from China, and hadn't understood my American Japanese accent.

The Japanese can be very expressive with English words sometimes, making new words that capture emotions in interesting ways. Soft-serve ice cream is called "soft cream" here, and the love between a parent and child is called "skinship." Sometimes the Japanese take English words and turn them into sexual things -- words like "fashion," "health," "image" and "pink" all tend to be sexual in nature, usually related to establishments where men can go for professional service of one kind or another. The Japanese also make up some interesting words of their own, too. Opening a bag of potato chips down the middle so that it opens like a flower, allowing everyone to share the contents, is called "manko-ake" which means "to open the bag so that it looks like female genitalia." Also, that really cute thing that Japanese actresses do of leaving their panties on one leg while making love is called "kata-ashi-pan," literally "one-legged panties."

For today's BIG update, we've got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:

• First, for all fans of wacky things from Japan, we've gotten in the next Vermilion Pleasure Nights, a wacky selection of late-night short films that has a huge cult following in Japan -- fully subtitled in English! Our favorite story is the one about the girl who finds herself in an OH! Mikey like world of mannequins
  
• Speaking of OH! Mikey, we were able to get more stock of the very popular first three discs, so fans of this bizarre and funny Japanese creation can enjoy them all
  
• If you don't have a region free DVD player yet, we humble recommend the three units we have -- two great transportable players and a new low-cost model that's just $78, all in stock now!
  
• For Japanese snack fans, enjoy delicious kim chee flavored fried nori, tasty rice crackers, tasty dried sardines which Japanese actually eat, and delicious Milk Cocoa chocolate cakes by Morinaga
  
• Also, we've done a major restocking of popular snacks for you, with Pocky (Sweet Pumpkin, Almond Crush, Cocoa Powder and Men's), Pretz (Tomato, Milk and Cocoa, and Crispy Pizza), and the very last stock we'll be getting of the best-selling Gummi Sushi (fruit flavored sushi pieces on marshmallow rice)
  
• A rare item for fans of the Ragnarok Online game and characters, we've got the Premium Illustration File in stock (but stock is limited)
  
• For Godzilla fans, we've got a most excellent soft vinyl Godzilla toy from Bandai, for the new Godzilla film in Japan -- 12 inches long
  
• We've got several great photobooks back in stock, including Boa, Yuko Ogura, and the Encyclopedia of High School Uniforms
  
• We have two positively beautiful soft vinyl pre-painted figures from Welcome to Pia Carrot, which would look great in your room
  
• Also very cool, we have a highly detailed series of figures from the longest-running TV show in history, Mito Komon, a samurai drama that's been on the air without a break for 34 years
  
• Do you like Crayon Shinchan, the Bart Simpson of Japan? We've got plush versions of Shinchan and his dog, Shiro
  
• We love cute things from Japan, and one of the cutest things around is the Usagi Collection series -- see some cute Usa-Colle erasers with little flying rabbit pods inside
  
• We love to bring you bizarre things from Japan, and we've restocked our "beginners' mark" magnets which you stick to your car -- they're really for anyone whose been driving for a year or less, but I had one on my car while in college because I thought they looked cool
  
• We've got more wacky pins with funny images and messages on them, and more Japanese signs and stickers too
  
• For all your wacky interior decorating needs, we have more maps of Japanese cities, including Tokyo and Osaka
  
• A popular board game played in Japan is Shogi, the Japanese version of Chess -- we've got a deluxe Shogi board with wooden pieces in stock for you to play with now
  
• For bento fans, we've got some great items for you, including the Kyoto DX and Kani Kani bento sets, fresh stock of chopsticks, and more
  
• For Hello Kitty fans, we've got more of the popular Kitty mayonnaise cups, onigiri makers and printed chopsticks, too
  
• Totoro and Hayao Miyazaki fans, we've got several excellent new items for you, including toys and music boxes from Laputa, Kiki's Delivery Service and more
  
• For students of Japanese, we've added stock of our inexpensive mini dictionaries
  
• We've restocked our Japanese "kairo" hand/pocket warmers, amazing little pockets of sand that keep you toasty for up to 18 hours, which we highly recommend to everyone living in cold parts of the world
  
• Finally, we've got some great "wacky things from Japan" for you, including a portable opener that can open anything, a handy cutter, and more!
  

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

• For fans of deliciously beautiful Japanese women, we have the new issue of Urecco Gal, filled to the top with stylish and sexy kogals
  
• Photobook fans, we've got some great items for you, starting with a new sassy nude photobook offering by Miwa Tosaki
  
• Then enjoy the dynamite nudes of Ryo Uehara, a fantastic new busty idol who has exploded onto the scene here
  
• Next up is a super cute hardcover photobook by swimsuit idol Junko Fukada, with the ponderous title of "Bloody Cherry"
  
• Also, various restocked photobooks for you, including hardcover works by the super Kaori, Mayu Koizumi's "Bazooka" and Miri Hanai's "First Experience"
  
• For fans of the fetish of "New Half," we have a new gouka-bon deluxe photobook in stock
  
• Then enjoy our great new hentai manga, with many newly posted adult comics for collectors, including Glossy Leg by Mint Mizutani, as well as a giant update of sold out titles for you
  
• For yaoi customers, we've also got several popular books in for you, including several issues of Muscle Men and b-Boy Zips
  
• We've got another bunch of great brand-new doujinshi for you, including parodies of many of the top anime shows
  
• For our DVD customers, we've got some great new titles for you, starting with the super Max-A Anniversary Special, a whopping 4 hours of sex from the best names in Japan (region free)
  
• Then for fans of the super-busty Marina Matsushima, one of the most buxom women we've ever seen, we have a great new offering from TMA (region free)
  
• From Dogma and director Hitoshi Nomura, enjoy superb girl/girl action with Akira Watase and Yui Kayama (region free)
  
• From SOD, we have the Sperm Bible, in which you will learn about the Seven Deeds of Bukkake Happiness, starring Kokoro Amano and directed by the famous Kazuhiko Matsumoto (region free)
  
• Then we've got a great performance of all "girl on top" (called "horse riding style" in Japanese), a great DVD release from Soft on Demand (region free)
  
• Finally, enjoy a major update of DVD titles for you, including Marina Matsushima, Anna Ohura, Mizuho Kano, Aoi Sora, Asuka Sawaguchi and more.
  

Remember that J-List still has many great 2004 Japanese calendars in stock, at great prices because they're all being closed out. We've got anime, traditional, cute character, JPOP and nude calendars available for you -- click to see our remaining stock. Still over 50+ great calendars to choose from, starting at just $3!

Greetings from J-List January 29, 2004

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Greetings from J-List January 23, 2004

Hello again from all of us at J-List!

Rice is the staple food of Japan, and it's eaten pretty much two or three times a day by most Japanese. Japanese usually eat white rice, steamed in electric rice cookers that are owned by virtually every household (we have two or three in our house). Rice is usually eaten as a side dish to other foods (hamburger steak, sashimi, salmon, etc.), and the food you eat as a main course along with your rice is called "okazu." Supposedly, the idea of eating a small amount of a main dish with a lot of rice comes from Japan's wartime past, when everyone was poor and had very little to eat except rice. The best rice in Japan comes from Niigata Prefecture, on the Sea of Japan side of the country (the Snow Country in Kawabata's famous novel). It's called Koshi-Hikari, and restaurants proudly boast of serving only this type of rice to their customers. The Japanese have a couple of different words for rice, depending on what form it's in. "Genmai" refers to rice in its natural state, and "kome" (KOH-meh) is processed, uncooked white rice. Rice in its cooked form is "gohan," and this word is also used to refer to all food, not just rice. Similarly, "sake" refers to all alcoholic beverages, not just sake.

The fact that Japanese love to eat so much rice is the probable reason so many Japanese women seem to have problems with constipation -- after all, rice is supposed to firm up your stool, and they eat it every day. One report I saw on TV here said that 47% of Japanese high school girls and 57% of career women report problems with constipation ("benpi" in Japanese, in case it ever comes up in Trivial Pursuit). The high rate of constipation can cause other health problems including a tendency towards some cancers, and women have even been known to die when their intestines ruptured from an accumulation of waste products. Rice is very important to the Japanese, but perhaps some of them should consider eating less?

It's been said that South Korea is "the nearest country and yet the farthest away" from Japan. Despite being extremely close to one another geographically and genetically, and despite billions of dollars of trade flowing across the Sea of Japan (the Koreans hate that name by the way), it's often amazing how little understanding there is about customs on both sides of the water. Over the past few years, though, there've been real steps at meaningful cultural exchange between Japan and South Korea, helped in part by the co-hosting of the 2002 World Cup. Many Koreans such as KPOP singer BoA and actress Yoon Son Ha are regular faces on Japanese TV, and as of January, a ban on Japanese culture in Korea has been lifted, allowing Japanese music and other forms of culture to be sold in Korea. We hope for lots of happy interchange between the two countries now and in the future.

At J-List, we really believe that Japan's interactive dating-sim games are great, and so we carry virtually every English-translated game available in our San Diego warehouse for your convenience. We're happy to announce the next great game to be released: G-Collections' new Heart de Roommate, in which you play Yusuke, a boy who finds yourself living in a girls' dorm with some very beautiful female roommates. A innovative new dating-sim game for Windows computers, the story is divided into 26 anime-style episodes, complete with opening credits, "eyecatch" breaks before commercials and more. In stock and ready to ship out to you right away!

For the new update, we've got some excellent products from Japan for you, described below. To view all products updated in the past 3 days, click: http://www.jlist.com/UPDATES/PG/3/

• First, for all who love Totoro, we've added some high-quality plush toys from Sun Arrow, Japan's famous maker of toys for nearly 100 years
  
• Also, a majorrestocking of popular Totoro and Studio Ghibli items, including the Knitting Bou Nezumi from Spirited Away, the Totoro Soot Sprite keychain and more
  
• For fans of our delicious Japanese snacks, we've added many new items for you, including Indian Chai flavored chocolate snacks (wow!), Barbecue flavored "scone" snacks, and some delicious Japanese potato chip and sesame munchies
  
• Domo-kunfans, we've restocked the super large Domo-kun stuffed plush, the largest Domo they ever made!
  
• From Medicom Toy, we've got a deluxe set of six detailed Kubrick figures from Dragon Head, the popular anime and manga, a fabulous item for collectors
  
• Also forfans of unique Japanese toys, we've got a set of six classic steam locomotives from Japan's golden years, a great item for trainophiles all over the world
  
• We've gota great new Tomica die-cast metal car in stock, the Nissan Cima, sold in the U.S. as the Infinity Q45
  
• For Hello Kitty fans, we have a great form-fitting pillow which will make sleeping more comfortable, and make it fun to sleep with Kitty
  
• We've got more wacky Japanese folding fans that are very traditional and nice to look at
  
• We'veadded more stock of the popular Japanese brush pens which let you write flowing Japanese calligraphy
  
• Forsushi fans, we've got some handy "temaki" sets which allow you to make rolled-type sushi easily
  
• J-List carries unique DVDs from Japan, and we've added stock of My Neighbor Totoro (the official Ghibli release with full subtitles and many extras) as well as OH! Mikey vol. 4 (both region 2)
  
• For all students of Japanese (or just about any other subject), we've gotten in more stock of the Zebra Check Set study aids, which help you memorize any information, the way the Japanese do
  
• Finally, we've got wacky Japanese stamps, more music boxes for anime collectors, fresh stock of the deluxe 120 cm loose socks, and more!
  

For our 18+ customers, we've got many new products. To view all new products, click this link: http://www.jlist.com/UPDATES/R/3/

• First, check out the new Monthly Chisato Morishita, featuring amazing photos of one of Japan's most beautiful ladies
  
• Then see limited stock of some popular magazines, including more items posted starting at just $5
  
• We love Japan's tradition of leg fetish photography, and we've added a new photobook for you
  
• Then enjoy the delightful swimsuit photos of Izumi Yokoyama, an amazing Race Queen popular in Japan now
  
• Also,a superb offering with Hikari Kisugi and Kirari Koizumi, two very special Japanese idols
  
• For 18+ manga fans, we've added some great new comics, including the newest Maya Miyazaki Presents, cute cosplay manga, and a dynamite work by Hidemi Amano
  
• Also, we've restocked several popular manga for you, including Blue Eyes (all volumes)
  
• We've got more excellent doujinshi for you to check out, including amateur comics based on Bluer than Indigo, Sakura Wars and more
  
• For yaoi fans, we've added a great new manga for you too -- Aim For My Heart and Let's Fall in Love
  
• For our DVD customers, we've got some excellent new items for you, starting with The Stewardess Best 4 Hours, 240 minutes of all-stewardess action (region free)
  
• Sola Aoi, aka Sora Aoi, is one of our all-time favorites in the JAV world -- see her in a new release that features mult-angle features (region free)
  
• From SOD, enjoy the "pure select" performances of stars like Ai Kurosawa, Kokoro Amano and Kyoko Ayana in a great new best-hits release (region free)
  
• For fans of girl-on-girl action, we have a new release by Soft on Demand in which girls must battle other girls, with sexy results (region free)
  
• We've loved Akira Watase ever since she appeared on the JAV scene some years ago -- see her in a bold new release from Wanz Factory with some of her best performances ever (region free)
  
• Then from Moodyz, enjoy a wonderful new release starring Manami Suzuki in a beautiful tropical land
  
• Finally, look for a big update to our DVD stock, including Anna Ohura's DVD works, Stars!! with Monoka (sigh...), more 4-hour DVDs full of the best girl-girl performances you can find, and more!
  

Remember that J-List offers automatic discounts on many items that we make available. Looking for some DVDs? Get 4 or more and get an automatic 15% off. Looking for some Japanese dating-sim games? Buy 4 or more and get a great bit 20% discount. Some of our wacky Japanese T-shirts with messages like "I'm looking for a Japanese Girlfriend"? Get 3 or more and get a 10% discount. All discounts are automatic at time of checkout.

Greetings from J-List January 21, 2004

Hello again from J-List!

Japan is an interesting country, often being pulled this way or that by various outside influences. Japanese people go to a Shinto Shrine to pray on New Year's Day, turn to Buddhism for death-related customs such as funerals, have Christian weddings, and import customs like Valentine's Day and Christmas just to balance things out. Japanese can be quite superstitious, and many people here pay attention to their horoscope using the Western astrological system, although more tend to follow to the Buddhist system of lucky and unlucky days -- when getting married or taking delivery of a new car, for example, you always make sure to do it on the "lucky" day, called Taian. Japanese are also very big on using feng shui to improve the flow of energy in environments.

Since Japan used the Chinese calendar until the 1873, they also maintain some elements from that system, such as animal years, e.g. the year of the dog, the snake, etc. 2004 is the year of the monkey, and this is the birth animal for any babies born this year -- I was born in 1968, also a monkey year. But there's an unfortunate Japanese superstition surrounding women born in the year of the horse when the element fire is dominant -- most recently in 1966. Females born in this year, called Hinoeuma-no-onna or Fire Horse Women, are supposed to be un-tamable, shrew-like women who devour men, and there is subtle discrimination against them, especially by older Japanese. Eager to spare girl-children the pain of this superstition, many couples avoided having children in 1966, which caused the birth rate to plunge in that year -- very silly. If you want to see what birth animal you are according to the Chinese zodiac, here is a chart: http://www.io.com/~cortese/hinoeuma/year.html

The topic of the role of women in Japan and how it differs from the West is a very complex one. For starters, Japan is definitely a man's paradise where men are uniquely able to take the lead in just about any area they want, politics, business, you name it. In the U.S., the very act of a boss asking his female employee to get him a cup of coffee calls up any number of sexist images, but here, no one would think anything of such a request. Although there are laws against discrimination in the workplace as well as "seku-hara" (sexual harassment), there are many visible signs that Japan is for the most part a Man's Country. The best example of this was the lightning speed with which Pfizer's popular pill for men was approved for sale here by Japan's Diet, comprised almost entirely of the drug's target market. How about the Pill? Although available for 30 years in the West, birth-control pills remained illegal to dispense until a few months after the arrival of the popular drug for men, when Japanese lawmakers sheepishly admitted the double standard and approved it for sale. And yet, although Japanese women have consciously decided not to embrace Western-style feminism, they don't lack for control at all -- just ask my wife. Like almost all Japanese households, my wife handles all finances, making sure money is saved for important events, and generally protecting the happiness of the whole family.

Japan has had a strong tradition of love-simulation games, which allow you to interact romantically with beautiful anime girls, and we've worked hard over the year to support awareness of this unique form of Japanese entertainment. J-List carries virtually every English language dating-sim game in print, with all titles in stock in our San Diego warehouse. Because we're a little overstocked on some titles, we've got a great new offer for you: two "special sets" of great games from G-Collections. Get the classic game DOR plus your choice of two other G-Collections games for $95 (normally $135), or DOR plus three games for just $135 (normally $185). Choose from Kango Shicyauzo 1 or 2, Kana, Chain, Horny Bunnies, or Come See Me Tonight. A super chance to complete your bishoujo game collection!

Remember the January DVD sale! Because our fiscal year is ending on Jan 31st, we're having a special sale on all DVDs -- get an extra-large 20% discount when you buy 4 or more DVDs from Japan. Check out our great selection of titles now, before the ones you want sell our and this special DVD sale ends!

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

• First, we've got a dynamite item for Shirow Masamune fans: the new Treasure of Togihime illustration collection, which includes all works (including some very cool alternate versions of his most famous artworks) -- you can fix calendar stickers to the pictures to make a customized desktop calendar, too!
  
• For fans of the Japanese love of cosplay, creating anime costumes, we've got the new issue of CosMode, featuring tons of photos of fabulous costumes as well as a pattern that you can use to create your own
  
• Star Wars fans, we've got a cool soft vinyl figure of Jango Fett for your collection
  
• Fans of the Japanese pop quartet Speed, we've got a cool reissue of one of their most popular photobooks ever -- see all four girls in beautiful glossy shots that will knock your socks off
  
• For fans of innovative off-the-wall Japanese short films, we've got the new Grasshoppa! DVD, featuring fabulous films that are subtitled in English (great for OH! Mikey fans too)
  
• We love cute things from Japan, and we've got a really fun Kitty thermos/bottle with pop-up straw in stock for you, along with fresh stock of our popular Hello Kitty ceramic mug (large)
  
• Also, more fun Japanese egg bath toys -- a bath egg that dissolves, bring a sweet "strawberry milk" fragrance to your bath water and revealing a Snoopy toy
  
• For fans of Jiji, the popular black cat from Kiki's Delivery Service, we've got some cool "vibrating Jiji" plush toys (similar toys have proven very popular in the past, and these have been hard to reorder or keep in stock)
  
• Also, a very small plush of the really cool "No Face" (Kaonashi) from Spirited Away
  
• We've got some cool traditional Japanese dishes for your kitchen, including a miso soup bowl and a cool square cup for drinking sake
  
• Speed Racer fans, we've restocked the popular Mach 5 Hot Wheels, sold only in the Japanese market
  
• For your desk, an all-purpose sturdy steel basket to keep the things you need in
  
• For fans of our Japanese snack items, we've got delicious "Koeda" (which means "twig" in Japanese) stick snacks, in chocolate/strawberry and "black cocoa" flavor
  
• Also, strawberries "frozen" in white chocolate, spicy cracker rings, and various freshly restocked snack items
  
• Also, enjoy tasty senbei rice crackers in various flavors (shrimp, seaweed and crab)
  
• We've restocked our popular miniature Japanese food items, including the best-selling Washoku Zanmai series, extremely detailed replicas of traditional Japanese food, as well as my own favorite, miniature supermarket food items from Japan
  
• We've got a handy clip for your portable phone, which helps keep it from getting lost
  
• Finally, see more wacky signs in Japanese, some extremely well made chopsticks, more wacky maps from Japan, and other cool items!
  

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

• For fans of truly beautiful Japanese women, we've got the new Karami Photo Magazine, featuring the delightful erotic body of Akiho Yoshizawa
  
• Then see the incredible beauty of the Best of Sabra Girls, featuring 40+ superb models like Yoko Kumada, Yuko Ogura, Waka Inoue, Yinling and more -- don't miss this superb special issue
  
• For fans of the Japanese fetish known as "New Half" (She Male or Mr. Lady), we've got a new gouka-bon format photobook in stock
  
• We've also restocked the very lovely Yulia Nova photobooks, but the stock we have now is all we'll have ever -- the books are out of print
  
• For hentai manga fans, we've got some great items for you, including the delightfully erotic Introvert Eros vol. 3, an erotic fantasy work from Delta Comics and the superb Dawn of the Silver Dragon
  
• Also, a big restocking of our popular hentai mangas, including sold-out works like Noble Illusionist, Equation of the Immoral, and Full Course
  
• We have a great volley of new doujinshi comics for you, as well several "doujin soft" CD-ROMs, featuring fan-created works like games and cosplay photographs
  
• For our DVD fans, we've got some great new titles for you, starting with the lovely No Cut!! release of Haruka Tsukino, a fresh, clean adult film star from Japan (region free)
  
• Then enjoy the lovely Ai Kurosawa dressing up as your favorite anime characters in Animetic Costume Play (region free)
  
• From Soft on Demand, enjoy a new "Sperm Lesbian" release, featuring lesbians who also like to do it with men in the mix (region free)
  
• Then enjoy the delightful sex of Momo Takai and Rua Mochizuki, who are happy to assist your masturbation (region free)
  
• From Moodyz, see the super indies debut of Hikari Kisugi and Kirari Koizumi, performing a smorgasbord  of sweet sex in sunny Okinawa (region 2, 2 DVDs)
  
• We've also restocked several popular DVD titles for you, just in time for our special January DVD sale!
  

Remember that J-List now sells long-sleeve and hoody versions of our popular wacky Japanese T-shirts, like "Looking for a Japanese Girlfriend" "Beware of Perverts Touching Women on Trains" and so on. A great way to wear a wacky Japanese message and stay warm at the same time!

Greetings from J-List January 19, 2004

Hello again from Japan!

It seems that no recent invention has changed our lives as much as the portable phone, and this is true in Japan as well. Cellular phones (called "keitai" in Japanese) are extremely popular here, and there are currently 80 million subscribers to the various cell phone companies in Japan -- more than 60% of the entire country. Cell phones have many nifty features, like Java so you can play games, GPS sensors, and vintage 80's video game music and sound effects for the ringing sound (Yasu is really big on this). But the most popular "killer app" has proved to be phones with digital cameras built into them, which were created by J-Phone (now owned by Vodafone) as a way of competing with telecommunications giant NTT and industry-dominating Docomo line of phones. The latest phones feature cameras that are actually good -- megapixel and higher, with support for removable media to store the pictures on.

In response to the rise of camera phones, an innovative company has come up with an "alibi service" for people with inquisitive spouses. After registering with the system, you can store a picture of yourself as a cropped image and paste it over other background images stored in the phone. If your wife suddenly calls and asks you to take a picture of your current location and send it to her, so she can check to see if you're really working late, just send her a picture of yourself against a background of your desk at work, and she'll never know you were really out drinking with your friends, or engaged in some other activity. There are other "alibi services" too. At J-List, we subscribe to a Japanese cable radio service that allows us to listen to 440 radio channels, including radio stations from California, New York, and London. Several of the channels the company offers are to help people who need an alibi, providing background sounds of pachinko parlors, crowded pubs or train stations -- which allow people to fool their significant others into believing they're somewhere they aren't.

It can be quite interesting to analyze Japan's car names. Above all, car names must sound "kakko ii" (cool, stylish), and since nothing sounds cooler to the Japanese ear than English, most cars here get their names from English words -- like Honda Life and Subaru Legend, or Nissan's Sunny and March (sold as Nissan Micra in Europe). But many other names come from slightly altered English, so that they cause the same emotional response while being original. Words like Carolla or Tercel or Sylphy or Premacy sound like English, but car companies can still "own" the original names. In recent years, Japanese car companies have started mining Spanish as a source for car names, resulting in cars like Daihatsu's little van Vamos (I love that name), Nissan's El Grand, Toyota's Carina and Familia, and Mitsubishi's Diamante and Viento, and the oddly named Pajero. Japanese cars must never, ever have Japanese names, since that would be "kakko warui" (un-cool, bad style) -- Japanese are always amused to learn that the Suzuki Jiminy was sold as Suzuki Samurai in the U.S. However, there are some cars whose names started out as Japanese words before being "English-ified." Toyota Camry, for example, gets its name from "kamuri," which means crown in Japanese -- which is funny, since Toyota sells a higher-priced sedan here called Toyota Crown, and in the past as sold the Toyota Corona, which means crown in Spanish.

Announcing the J-List January DVD Sale! J-List is a Japanese corporation and our fiscal year ends Jan 31st. J-List has thousands of cool items from Japan in stock, but at the end of our year we have to pay taxes on that stock. Rather than do that, we'd rather sell it to you, which is why we're having a great sale on all our extensive stock of DVDs from Japan! For the next ten days only, you an get an extra-large 20% discount when you buy 4 or more DVDs from Japan! Check out our great selection of titles now, before the ones you want sell our and this special DVD sale ends!

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

• First, for all fans of fantastic anime figures and garage kits, we've got the 2003 All That Figure photobook from Hobby Japan, just loaded with fantastic photos of these amazing 3D anime statues and figures
  
• Also, we have a great polystone statue of Mizuho Kazumi from the great anime Please Teacher, that'd be great for your room
  
• Ayaya fans, we've got a great new hardcover Aya Matsuura photobook in stock for you, filled with great photographs of this amazing Japanese singer and idol
  
• We're big fans of the detailed food replicas that are popular in Japan, and we make sure to carry all these great items -- now you can find the new Dessert Shop Series 2, with ten great desserts that Japanese love (full sets are available too)
  
• Then enjoy a pair of cool "Hawaiian Wedding Hello Kitty and Dear Daniel" from Sanrio, sold only in Japan
  
• Also, a really cool trading card series based on the hentai game Street Angel Kurumi
  
• We've got another really cool Blythe doll that comes with a full-head costume to wear, very stylish and nifty
  
• Studying Japanese? We've restocked our popular J-E and E-J dictionaries as well as our 4-character word and Japanese proverb dictionaries, really fun to study
  
• Also, we've gotten in more stock of the very popular Chobits Bilingual Manga vol 1 & 2, so you can enjoy this great manga by CLAMP and see both the original Japanese and a full English translation!
  
• Also, after several months of being backordered all over Japan, we've managed to get in more of the Ghost in the Shell Bilingual Manga too, which features color pages and an all-new translation of this most excellent work (much better than the Studio Proteus one)
  
• Japanese smoke a lot, but they try to practice good smoking manners, which one TV commercial calls "Smokin' Clean" -- if you smoke, you can do your part by carrying a portable ashtray which allows you to avoid dropping ashes and butts on the ground
  
• We've got some great snack items for you today, including traditional "tonkotsu" ramen flavored snacks, traditional "sakura daikon" snacks, and delicious poppable castella cakes that have been popular in Japan for centuries
  
• Also, a cool candy version of the famous ramune bottle soft drinks, but you can eat these!
  
• One of our favorite foods in Japan is gyoza, aka Pot Stickers, the delicious Chinese dumplings you dip in a sauce that contains soy sauce, vinegar and spicy sesame oil -- now you can try to make your own with cool gyoza makers that we have in stock
  
• If you're a collector of antique teddy bears, we've got a rare and cool item: Japanese miniature toy replicas of the most famous teddy bears of the 20th century
  
• Finally, we've got more cool Japanese maps, fresh stock of the rare "socks glue" which you use to glue your loose socks to your legs, more disposable chopsticks, and more!
  
• For our 18+ customers, we've got many new products. They include:
  
• For fans of Japan's professional JAV stars, we've got the new Video Boy, filled with great stars like Nao Oikawa, Kurumi Morishita, Alice Ogura, Aoi Sora and more
  
• We've also got the new issue of Meets Girl (as in "boy meets girl"), featuring real sex in love hotels by gorgeous amateurs
  
• Then enjoy the new Video Girls, a special magazine with 120 minute DVD for you to enjoy
  
• For photobook fans, enjoy the delightful sexy swimsuit photos of Moeco Matsushita, a charming and beautiful swimsuit idol from Japan
  
• For fans of Japan's bondage and domination fetishism, we've got the new Eve Grande all-color photobook, brimming with great photographs for you
  
• We've got some great new erotic comics for you, including Tsukasa Comics' Milk Communication, fetish with Female Teacher Izumi or Maid Ayaya, and an erotic comic detailing sexual between people who used to be just friends -- you will love these new books
  
• We've also added fresh stock to our manga pages, with great works like Kuikomi Scanty, The Secret of Me and Her, Yuwaku - Seduction, Gothic Taste and more
  
• We have another dozen or so all-new doujinshi from the past Comic Market, with great erotic comics based on famous anime shows
  
• For our DVD fans, we have some great new DVD titles for you, starting with Azumi Kawashima's delightful softcore release - "Azumi's Smile & Nude Make Us Happy" (region free)
  
• Then enjoy the very nice new project from Soft on Demand, in which female friends must look at various girls' genitalia and guess which belongs to their friends (region free)
  
• Also from SOD, a massive harem of beautiful girls who give themselves willingly to men (region free)
  
• There's a great new release in the "black men vs Japanese girls" series by Moodyz, this time featuring Ann Nanba (An Namba) taking on a roomfull of black guys from the U.S. (region 2)
  
• Then enjoy the wonderful new release of "Nao." (she always has a period after her name, in imitation of Morning Musume.), featuring some of her best cosplay and bukkake work ever (region 2)
  
• Finally fresh stock of several DVDs including cosplay, lesbian, and other great titles, just in time for our special DVD sale!
  

Remember that J-List sells wacky T-shirts with message like "I'm looking for a Japanese girlfriend" (our most popular shirt ever), "Respect the Emperor, Expel the Foreign Barbarians" "It is forbidden to take a bath with your tattoo" and so on. Why not browse our selection of T-shirts today? Because your satisfaction is important to us, J-List goes the extra distance for you, stocking a wide range of sizes (from small to XXXL for most shirts), so everyone can enjoy our fun Japanese T-shirts. They're printed in the USA and all sizes are full American sizes. If you're not sure exactly what size you need, the measurements for the shirts in centimeters and inches is displayed via the "Click here for size info" link. We also have hoodie and long-sleeve sweatshirt versions of our unique designs, too!

Greetings from J-List January 15, 2004

Hello again from your friends at J-List!

Well, my little trip to San Diego and Las Vegas has come to an end, and it's time for me to make the jump back to Japan. It's always nice to come home -- nothing makes a person appreciate what a great place their home country is like living in another one. One thing I really miss about San Diego when I'm in Japan is the weather: today, while the rest of the U.S. was freezing, it was a balmy 74 degrees, perfect for wearing short-sleeves.

Tokyo is a really exciting city, a sprawling mass of people and concrete that really boggles the mind the first time you're there. The population of Tokyo itself stands at around 12 million, but if you count the neighboring cities of Kawasaki and Yokohama and nearby prefectures of Chiba and Saitama, it grows to a massive 33 million. About a quarter of all Japanese live within 100 km (60 miles) of the Tokyo, making it by far the most influential part of the country. Because Tokyo is so massive, every few years someone brings up the topic of moving the capital to another part of the country, like Japan's Tohoku region (the northern section of the main Japanese island of Honshu), which is still underdeveloped economically. Unfortunately there's not much momentum for such a plan at present.

If you're ever in Tokyo, there are some good places to see, the famous "playgrounds" which are fun to check out, whether you want to have fun or just do some people-watching. First is Harajuku, a stylish area on the Yama-no-Te loop line where you can find very cool shops, and very hip young people. Go on Sundays to see people dressed up in Gothic & Lolita fashions. Next is Shibuya, also on the Yama-no-Te train line. Go out the Hachiko exit (Hachiko was a faithful dog who waited at this station for ten years for his master to return, unaware that his master had died; you can see a statue of him here), preferably on a Friday or Saturday night, and just feel the energy from the lights, the massive TV screens, the street musicians, and the cool restaurants. Roppingi is also good -- famous for its bars and "image clubs" (establishments where you can have girls dressed in costumes pour drinks for you), and Tokyo's Hard Rock Cafe is there. Finally, if you ever hit Tokyo, you must go to Akihabara, the electronic mecca of Japan, with hundreds of large and small electronics shops. When riding the train, you can always tell you've stopped in Akihabara because all the gaijin suddenly get off the train.

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 the new update, we've got some excellent all-new products from Japan for you, from toy magazines to cool items for your home to brand-new Gundam toys to nifty Kitty items and more. Items for adults include erotic new magazines and super sexy photobooks and hentai manga/doujinshi and great DVDs like the popular "clothed female, naked male" DVD series. Three dozen new products from Japan for you to check out -- please browse 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 and high-end indies 18+ DVDs -- require a special region-free player to view. J-List stocks two excellent transportable region-free players from Lasonic, the feature-rich yet inexpensive DVF-982 and the even more affordable DVB-8092. These players will play discs from any country in the world, including playing PAL (European) discs on an NTSC (North American) TV and vice-versa. They also play VCDs as well as CD-R and DVD-R/CD-RW media. And they start at just $88!

Greetings from J-List January 12, 2004

Hello again from J-List!

Well, we're back in sunny San Diego again, safe and sound. We had a great show in Las Vegas -- thanks to everyone who came by to say hello. Doing an "adult" show was a totally new experience for us, but we had fun, and got to see a lot of cool stuff (Hulk Hogan came by our booth, too). I'm used to having "reverse culture shock" when I come to California from Japan -- little things like ordering a small drink and getting a drink that's larger than a large size in Japan. It was amazing how much culture shock we had in Nevada though: everything from the rules of the road to where you're allowed to smoke (everywhere) were quite different from what we were used to in California.

The circle is now complete: I just caught the last chapter of the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. It was truly amazing, a real visual treat, although the Tolkien purist in me might have a thing or two to say about the final cut (which will probably be fixed in the final DVD release). My wife suspects I plan my business trips to the U.S. to coincide with movies that just happen to not be opening in Japan for a few more months, so I can see them early -- where would she get an idea like that?

When you learn a language as different from English as Japanese, there are inevitably some words that don't translate on a perfect 1-to-1 basis, which can present some challenges to anyone learning the language. The concept of "cold," for example, is expressed with two different words: samui (sa-MOO-ee, coldness in the air) and tsumetai (TSOO-meh-TAI, coldness to the touch). Similarly, cold water (mizu) and hot water (yu or o-yu) are two totally different concepts in Japanese. There are two words for "love" in Japanese, too, and if you want to have some fun ask Japanese what the difference between them is -- they'll stumble as they try to come up with a way to explain the difference. The two words are koi (which usually describes romantic love between a man and a woman, or the hot love you get while dating) and ai (a higher kind of love that is used for family or anyone who's very dear to you, or the steady, long-burning love of marriage). Yet another concept that takes several forms in Japanese is "heart." There are three potential ways to express this word: shinzo (the actual heart pumping blood in your body), kokoro (the philosophical elements of your heart, aka your spirit or soul), and haato (the English word heart, written in the katakana writing system), which usually describes a traditional heart shape but can also be an alternate way to write kokoro. Incidentally, while Westerners usually assume the "self" or "mind" is in your head, Japanese indicate that it's in your chest, where your heart is. In case it ever comes up in Trivial Pursuit.

Sometimes Japan can really throw you a curve ball. In Japan, like in all countries, there are foreigners living and working there, from countries like the Brazil, Peru, South Korea, the U.S. and so on. They fill various jobs, such as English teachers, translators, factory workers, you name it. The other day I was in a game center, and I saw a sign posted on the wall that stated in extremely polite Japanese, "Thank you for using this game center. Please understand that our staff can only speak Japanese, so we cannot communicate with foreigners who can't speak Japanese. If you can't speak this language and have some trouble with our games, please go to another game center." Since the sign was written in Japanese, I don't know who they thought was going to read it.

For the new update, the J-List staff has worked extra hard to make a great update for you, with dozens of cool new products from Japan, including DVDs, magazines, photobooks, toys, wacky things from Japan, snacks, gum and more. Please take a few minutes to browse all the great new items we've posted for you! We've also restocked your old favorites, from manga to candy to DVDs, and we know you'll love the cool items for you.

Remember that J-List carries a really unique item sold only in Japan: ultra-soft acrylic character blankets from Japan, with printed images of Totoro and Hello Kitty on them. These blankets are incredibly soft and great to snuggle up against, and keep you really warm -- we actually sleep with two of them, one below and one above, for really toasty winters. My mother loves these blankets so much that she regularly has me bring them to her from Japan. Our current stock of warm blankets from Japan is all we'll be getting in for the rest of the season, so get your super-soft Japanese blanket today!

Greetings from J-List January 5, 2004

Hello again from J-List!

First of all, a full hard drive caused a dozen or so orders received over the weekend to show as incomplete on our end -- we received the orders but not the email addresses or names of the people who made them. If you ordered something through the J-List website on Saturday or Sunday and haven't received the second email from us, please contact us so we can get your order processed properly.

We had a fun weekend. Our kids don't get out enough since we're so busy with J-List, so we took them to beautiful Yokohama to show them the city, hitting such famous sites as Chinatown and the Gaijin Graveyard and Yokohama Marine Tower in Yamashita Park, the tallest lighthouse in the world (I've wanted to see it since I saw episode 15 of Robotech back in high school). Yokohama is a fabulous place, steeped in history and international culture, and I've always felt drawn to it -- maybe that's because my hometown of San Diego is similar in many ways, and in fact, Yokohama and San Diego are sister cities. We took the kids to have some fun at Hakkejima Sea Paradise, an amusement park and excellent aquarium located on an artifically created island in Yokohama Bay. We loved riding the rides, but had the most fun in the aquarium, a very well-designed system of tanks and windows that allow you to get inches away from some amazing marine life, and meet eyes with beluga whales, dolphins, penguins and more. There's also an escalator that goes up through a massive tank of aqua life, so that there are fish on all sides of you and above you. It was pretty cool.

In Yokohama we stayed in a Western hotel, one of the high-rise hotels popular in the major Japanese cities known as "city hotels." Staying in a city hotel is a totally Western experience -- everything from the beds to the bathtubs to the food in the restaurants is based on a slightly exaggerated ideal of what a fine hotel in America or Europe would be, as seen through Japanese eyes. It was actually a bit of a culture shock for my family and I -- we're so used to the rhythm of a Japanese-style inn, with tatami rooms, futons, cotton yukata and large communal hot spring baths, that the city hotel took some getting used to.

At the amusement park there was an Anna Miller's restaunt, which we happily ate at. Anna Millers' is a famous chain of "Boston style" family restaurants that's really good, and their pies can't be beat. But Anna Miller's is famous for another reason: their sexy waitress uniforms, which feature very short skirts and, er, support for various parts of a woman's anatomy. As part of the general Japanese boom in "cosplay" (costume play, i.e. dressing up in various uniforms or costumes), the Anna Miller's sexy waitress uniforms have become famous throughout the country, and are as recognizable to Japanese as the Playboy Bunny is to Americans. To see what the uniform looks like, just search for "waitress" on the J-List site and see what comes up -- the bishoujo game Viper V16 also features a girl wearing this famous costume on the cover. Supposedly, the best place to experience Anne Miller's is the restaurant in Meguro, Tokyo -- the girls are supposed to be the prettiest there, according to Tomo, who is an expert. If you're ever in Tokyo and want to experience some delicious food and pretty waitresses, just go to the Meguro or Ebisu train stations on the Yama-no-te loop line and take a taxi to the restaurant.

Now I'm at Narita Airport, about to make the leap from Japan to California again. I'll be attending the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas from Jan 8-12. If you'll be at the show and want to stop by and say hello, we'd love to see you! For more info on the show, see http://adultentertainmentexpo.com

For the new update, we have a whole lot of new items for you, from magazines to photobooks to doujinshi/manga to DVDs to anime toys to wacky things from Japan and more -- a great volley of new items for you to browse and enjoy! Also, look for freshly restocked items from Japan from our extensive selection of unique products from Japan for you. We hope we can serve you in some way!

Remember that J-List carries thousands of cool things from Japan, including the really cool miniature "candy toy" (called this because you usually get some ramune or other candy in the box). Our favorites include the full sets of Street Fighter II replica figures, the excellent Urusei Yatsura figures, and the replicas of famous foods found in Japan, like sushi, traditional Japanese dishes and miniature bento boxes sold in train stations all around Japan. Because we want you to be satisfied with these great toys, we go the extra mile for you and create full sets that you can buy -- so there's no need to buy two dozen toys and throw away all the duplicates. Please note that these candy toy items are all out of production, and no more will be available -- so if there's something you want to get, we recommend you get it before our stock runs out.

Greetings from J-List October 4, 2004

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Greetings from J-List October 4, 2004

Greetings from J-List January 1, 2004

"Akemashite omedetou" from all of us in Japan, where convertibles are known as open cars.

Before starting J-List in 1996, I taught English as a Second Language to Japanese students, usually children or high school kids. I had quite an extensive collection of ESL textbooks, vocabulary cards, and various games I would play in class. One such game was "English baseball" in which teams of students would get "hits" if they answered questions using English. Another is the popular Japanese game "fruits basket" in which you put, say, ten chairs in a circle and put one child in each chair, with one more standing in the center. This child must ask a question like "Do you like bananas?" and all kids who like bananas must change seats as quickly as they can. The one left in the center is "it" and must ask the next question to the group. I recently found another great tool for learning English, which I discovered with my kids: Mad Libs, the classic zany word game. My kids love to make up Mad Libs, and it makes them apply their language and vocabulary skills in ways that are amazingly effective. They're kids, so they have a tendency to want to choose words like "stinky underpants" but it's still a lot of laughs, and it helps their English.

If you're going to travel to Japan, you'd better bring your suitscase, and make sure you wear a clean shirts and a nice suits. My favorite sports is soccer, and my favorite anime show (and children's game) is Fruits Basket. Sound odd? For some inexplicable reason of Japanese phonetics, some English words are imported into Japanese in their plural forms. The word for a suit in Japanese is "suits," even though you may only be talking about one suit, and a can of fruit juice is "fruits juice." Japanese don't mind these words, although the misuse of English grammar tends to give English natives the heebie jeebies at first. Then you get used to the strange words, and the next thing you know, you're accidentally using them in English while talking to your mother on the phone -- how embarrassing. Sometimes the words are used in their plural forms to make them easier for Japanese to pronounce or write, and other times to keep two words from sounding the same in Japanese. Because "fruit" and "flute" would have the exact same pronunciation when written in katakana, the writing system used for expressing foreign loan words, the musical instrument became "furu-to" and the edible stuff became "furu-tsu." Other Japaneseified English words include peanuts butter, nutsmeg, and Kellogg's newest addition to the Japanese cereal market, Fruits Loops.

Driving in Japan can be different from what you might be used to. The Japanese drive on the right side of the road, like the British. Most drivers turn off their car's headlights at intersections (leaving the parking lights on), as a courtesy to drivers who might be blinded by their lights on the other side of the intersection. While honking a horn at another driver can cause road rage in the U.S., here a short "beep" is the universal way of saying thanks and good-bye as you pull away. In Tokyo, where drivers drive with consideration for others (unlike our prefecture, where drivers are very rude), a two-second flashing of the hazard lights is the correct way to say "thank you" when another car lets you in in front of him. Gaijin are always confused by the Japanese use of the word blue (aoi) to refer to green traffic lights -- they look green to us, but for some mysterious reason, they Japanese use the word blue to describe them. Finally, in Japan, there's a three second delay between the time when one traffic light turns red and the next turns green. By unwritten rule, Japanese drivers universally make use of this time to speed their car through the intersection, despite the red light, since they know they've got several seconds before the other cars will start moving.

For the new update, we've got some excellent products from Japan for you, including fresh stock of dozens of our popular anime, toy, wacky, DVD, Japanese snack, hentai and other products for you. We still have 80+ fantastic 2004 calendars, and prices have been knocked down yet again to help you help us reduce our inventory. Please browse the over 2000 excellent Japanese products we have available for you!

At J-List, we sell just about everything from cool Japanese items for your kitchen to rare anime toys to wacky T-shirts you don't know you need until you see them. We feel we have a mission to bring all forms of contemporary Japanese pop culture to our customers all over the world, and we love doing what we do. One item we've wanted to sell for many years are the squeaking shoes that Japanese parents buy for their children. Children love having shoes that squeak as they walk, and parents will enjoy knowing exactly where their child is at all time, from the sound of the squeaking. When our own children were small, they wore these shoes when we took trips to the U.S., and we got many comments about what a great idea these shoes were. So we're happy to be able to bring them to you!