Greetings from J-List June 23, 2004

Hello again from all your friends in Japan!

Now that the ban on Japanese cultural imports has been lifted in South Korea, there's lots of evidence of sharing of culture between the two nations. More and more Korean stars are becoming commonplace on Japanese TV, like my favorite, the lovely Yoon Son Ha (her Korean-Japanese accent is so cute). The popular South Korean war film Brotherhood (in Korean, Taegukgi Hwinalrimyeo) is playing in theatres in Japan right now, and when Korean actor Bin Won came to Japan to promote the movie he was surprised to see 500 screaming Japanese fans at the airport to see him. We're glad to see this new cultural sharing between South Korea and Japan and hope to see more of it in the future.

Japan is experiencing a real "bug boom" right now, as millions of elementary school kids learn everything they can about various kinds of beetles like the Goliath Beetle, Rhinoceros Beetle, Eastern Hercules Beetle and a Japanese variety called Ookuwagata. Part of the interest in bugs is being fueled by the popularity of Mushi King ("Bug King"), an arcade game by Sega which spits out a bar-coded insect card that kids use to fight other 3D animated insects. My son loves this game and has a complete collection of the cards, which have information about the bugs printed on them. Last weekend we took the kids to a nearby Insect Zoo which happened to sell various kinds of beetles, and sure enough, my kids conned us into buying two of them as pets. We're now the proud owners of two red-backed Ookuwagata, which sleep in their cage in a dark corner of my son's room.

There's a fun game Japanese kids play, called Shiritori (lit. "take the rear end") Game. To play, someone thinks of a word -- say, chopsticks, which is "hashi" in Japanese. Then the next person takes the last syllable -- "shi" -- and thinks of a word that starts with this syllable, say, "shika" (deer). The next person continues, with a word that starts with "ka" and so on. In Japanese phonetics, the only consonant that can appear by itself without a noun after it is the letter "n", so in Shiritori Game, saying a word that ends in "n" (such as lion, "raion" in Japanese) ends the game for that person. This game is played by virtually all children in Japan and is a fun way for kids (or gaijin) to pick up and reinforce vocabulary words. It's a great game to play in the car, too.

We love Japan's interactive dating-sim games, which are a huge category of software here -- approximately 25% of all software in Japan are interactive love-sim games of one kind or another. Today we're announcing preorders for two upcoming games from Hirameki, which are DVD games that will play with any standard DVD player, as well as PC/Mac with DVD drives or Sony Playstation/Xbox. In Hourglass of Summer, you suddenly "timeslip" to the end of summer vacation, surprised to learn that your girlfriend Kaho has been killed in an accident the day before. Can you save her by finding a way to go back in time? An adventure of a lifetime, a summer that crosses the boundaries of space and time. Then in Tea Society of a Witch, you must interact with three magical beings and find a way to allow humans to once again live in peace with the mages of the World of Magic. Two great non-H interactive anime games!

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

• First, we've got a real treat for Shirow Masamune fans -- the new Intron Depot figure set, series 3, featuring his amazing original characters and lovely females, who come alive as high quality soft vinyl figures for you
  
• Then for Ultraman fans, we've got newly recreated sets of the dynamite Ultraman Bobblehead toys, with excellent sets in stock for you to buy
  
• The gorgeous Tamao Sato appears in a fabulous new "Monthly" photobook (although they don't come out monthly so this name is meaningless) -- shot against a traditional Japanese background, she is really lovely
  
• Want to add a touch of Japan to your kitchen? We have dynamite all-purpose containers for holding sugar, coffee, or just about anything -- they feature the super cute Hello Kitty and Teddy the Teddy and My Melody
  
• Also for Kitty fans, we've got some great oil-removing sheets for you, which allow you to remove excess oil from your face, featuring super Kitty-chan designs
  
• Another fun Sanrio item: a super elastic My Melody toy that you can stretch, punch and squeeze to relieve stress
  
• Interested in Japanese cosplay? Enjoy some great restocked items including Goth Loli vol. 2, loaded with great photographs of gorgeous goth outfits and more
  
• Enjoy one of my favorite things in the world, a nice dip in a hot springs bath, with new onsen powder we've got in stock for you
  
• For fans of the super cute character series Frog Style, we have a dynamite treat for you: sets of extremely colorful lemon ramune candy, with outrageous and cool designs on each one, available as a set for collectors
  
• We've got some great snack items for you today including delicious "Lemon and Pepper" flavored Pretz, a classic Japanese rice cracker that we highly recommend, and a selection of fun low-priced treats you can try out
  
• Restocked snack items include more traditional Okinawan Black Candy (Kuro Ame), tasty miso soup, restocked flavors of Pretz, sake candy, and one of my favorite items, Poiful fruit-flavored jelly beans
  
• We also have restocked gum for you: sugar-free Black Black with Xylitol, Blue Berry and Plum gum, and tasty "Watering Kiss Mint" that quenches your thirst
  
• Godzilla fans, we've got a cool new trading card series based on the new movie -- they are really cool!
  
• Got milk? Then you need Futayaky-kun, handy milk sealing clips that allow milk in paper cartons to last longer
  
• For fans of CLAMP, the manga artists who created Cardcaptor Sakura, Rayearth and Chobits, we've got fresh stock of their dynamite new manga
  
• Totoro fans, we've restocked some awesome items for you, including the deluxe large-size Totoro cuckoo clock, several soft Totoro plush toys, and the excellent Totoro aluminum bento box
  
• Domo-kun fans, we haven't forgotten you -- we've got fresh stock of several of the most popular Domo items, including the large plush Domo-kun, the large and medium Domo cube plushes, and more
  
• We've also got more traditional Japanese dishes for you, including a very convenient miso soup bowl
  
• Finally look for more great Hello Kitty items including the awesome Sanrio Ice Cube Tray and fresh stock of the Kitty Desktop Vacuums, restocked fude pens for brush writing, and more.
  
• For our 18+ customers, we've got many new products. The new items include:
  
• For fans of Japan's delightful H magazines, we've got the Shuffle, with authentic Tokyo girls in love hotels and great photography
  
• Then enjoy the popular Japanese magazine that features girls from the U.S. and Eastern Europe, including some girls who are hard to find
  
• From the lens of Hiraokanovsky Kuratachenko, the parodically Russian-ified pen name of Japanese photographer Hirano Kurata, a great new Joytoy series book with bold mix of communist and Asian sexy imagery
  
• Also very cool, we've got the new photobook of Momo Mizutani, with loads of luscious photographs of one of Japan's most gorgeous ladies
  
• We have a great restocking of popular photobooks, too, including great offerings from Kaoru, Ran Asakawa, Yoko Matsugane, Yuko Ogawa and more
  
• For Japan's H manga fans and collectors, we've got some dynamite new works for you, including the amazing new WANT from Tenma Comics, a superb "Twin Tail" anthology manga, and an interesting work exploring the nature of infidelity
  
• Also, we've got another great restocking of manga for you, including Female Panther 1-4, Neo Gentle Casty, the Illustrated Maya Miyazaki, What? - N? and many more great books
  
• We have some dynamite new DVDs for you, starting with 4 hours of "ii onna" (lit. "good woman," i.e. especially beautiful women performing for you (region free)
  
• Then, a great title from Hajime Planning, famous Japanese AV director asks beautiful Tokyo girls to get their friends to be in a video, in a great new "Best Friends Series" release (region free)
  
• Then from SOD's Hibino label, enjoy a new concept: "The Wife who put on the Swimming Suit," a fun hitozuma themed offering (region free)
  
• From Deep's, a Female Hospital Memorial featuring the most moments of their popular all-woman nurse concept series (region free)
  
• Moodyz brings you a great new offering, Leg & Foot Infinity, a great collection of amazing high-end themes that you will enjoy watching (region 2)
  
• Then from Waap Entertainment, a great new "gokkun" themed release, featuring amazing and experienced women who perform for you (region 2)
  
• Finally, look for many restocked DVDs, including Mai Hagiwara's great recent titles, Hiyori Shiraishi's Masterpiece Concentration release, Aoi Sora's Devil's Training, and more!
  

J-List carries over 2000 unique products from Japan, from full sets of cool miniature toys from Japan, to unique Totoro and Hello Kitty products to cool Shirow Masamune collectibles, we've got something for everyone. But there's one reality about Japan: although you may have heard that Japanese businessmen are long-range planners, in reality virtually all of the products we sell have very limited production runs. Most items can't be ordered through our distributors once the initial stock is gone, which invariably causes frustration for customers who waited to get the item they wanted. Our advice is when you see something cool on our site, get it before it disappears. Similarly, we're always closing out our popular wacky Japanese T-shirts so that we can make room for new designs. If you've got your eye on a T-shirt or three, don't wait to get them!

Greetings from J-List June 21, 2004

Hello again from all of your friends in Japan!

It's typhoon time in Japan, as typhoon no. 6 meanders its way across the Pacific to touch down in central Japan, right where we are. Typhoons are a big problem, but they usually hit in September -- this is a rare storm to be coming this early in the season. We're battening down all the hatches here...

Coca Cola's new C2 is coming to the U.S. this summer, but it's out here in Japan already. A reformulating of Coke with half the sugar and half the carbs, it's basically a retread of a 1990s Japanese product, Coke Light, which the company brought out here after Diet Coke failed to win over Japanese consumers. (They thought it tasted like medicine.) While some of the J-List staff have taken to drinking C2, I'll stick to drinking mugi-cha (barley tea), a favorite of most Japanese and a delicious natural drink in the summer. We have cold-brew barley tea bags in stock if you'd like to try some.

Although Japan is famous for sake (sah-kay, remember, try not to say saki if you can avoid it), or distilled rice wine, the national beverage of Japan is definitely beer. Japan's beer market is dominated by the four major breweries, Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo, and Suntory, who introduce dozens of new beers per year in an attempt to win market share from the others: beer with double the carbonation, blends of dark and light beers, beers brewed for women, and season-limited beers such as Sapporo's A Winter's Tale and Kirin's Taste of Autumn. There are actually two kinds of beer sold in Japan: regular beer and "happoshu," a low-malt beverage that's taxed at a lower rate than beer, so it's a lot cheaper (but I don't like the taste). Although there have been some inroads made by microbreweries in Japan, by and large the major breweries have not made much impact in Japan. Part of the problem is that the Japanese government, which is dependent on a steady stream of beer taxes, is not willing to grant licenses to small companies that might not pay their taxes. Whenever you enjoy a frosty beer in Japan you always have "otsumami," a word which means any food you munch on with your beer. There are many foods to choose from: beef jerky, rice crackers with peanuts, cheese with dried cod strips, or if you're feeling adventurous, dried, shredded squid, which seems to taste better the longer one lives in Japan.

The most profitable Disney theme park in the world is Tokyo Disneyland, which opened in 1983 and has broken all records for money-making for the Disney theme parks (oops, I mean "resorts"). The Japanese penchant for spending money on souvenirs for family members, called "omiyage," helps push this profitability up. Japan has a second theme park to enjoy now, too: DisneySea, centered around themes of the sea. The park features a volcano, a replica of Agrabah from Aladdin, a fun under-the-sea area for younger kids, a cruise ship, a "jet coaster" (as they say in Japan) based on Journey to the Center of the Earth, and even a hotel where you can get married right inside the park (for all the Japanese "Disney otaku" who really love Disney characters). When we went to the park last year, my son commented that it was "kakko warui" (unstylish, uncool) for Mickey Mouse to speak Japanese when he should be speaking English.

Thanks for all the warm feedback on our problem with our graphic images -- we really love being able to serve such an excellent group of individuals around the world! Now that the J-List graphics are back to normal, remember we're having a one-week special "Thanks Sale" to say thanks to everyone for their patience. Get a special 20% discount on 4 or more DVDs, or a whopping discount of 25% on 4 or more English dating-sim games.

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

• First, for fans of the amazing Chobits anime and manga by CLAMP, we have a superb high-end set of Chobits candy toys (shokugan) featuring the incredibly beautiful female characters (full sets are in stock)
  
• Want to keep your desk clean? We recommend our cute Hello Kitty desk vacuum cleaners, which allow you to clean up dirt, dust and more from your desk and keep it looking clean -- plus they're great for displaying
  
• Also for fans of Kitty items not available outside of Japan, we have a great Hello Kitty tissue cover that fits over any long box of tissue
  
• We're big fans of the Pinky character toys from Vance Project, extremely cool super deformed anime figures -- to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Gainax, we've got some Pinky Cosplay figures featuring Asuka and Rei from Evangelion -- so cool!
  
• Are you a fan of Japan's wonderful cars? We've got more Tomica die-cast metal vehicles that are great to collect and display -- newly added are the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and the new Honda Odyssey
  
• For fans of our tasty Japanese snack items, we've got delicious Endomame Pretz, tasty maguro snacks, pretzel sticks with the tasty flavor of green soybeans that are eaten as a snack with beer
  
• Also, look for cream soda Hi-Chew Kids, a delicious variation on beef jerky (heh heh), and more dynamite fizzing bubble ball bubble gum
  
• Restocked snack items include several varieties of Shigekix (the delicious super-tart gummi treats), Mobi snack cookies, various flavors of Lotte chewing gum, and more
  
• Enjoy the dynamite photographs of Mariko Takeda, a gorgeous and stylish model from the fashion magazine SuperCawaii (SCawaii), in her new photobook
  
• Like wacky Japanese English? We've got a set of all-purpose canvas bags that are rife with funny English
  
• Next we have two very uniquely Japanese ways to clean your ears, with ring-style cotton swabs and soft Japanese "cleaning hooks" that feel great
  
• Brighten your computer area with a single beautiful flower -- we've got a handy flower holder from Hanako Style
  
• Studying Japanese? We have fresh stock of great flashcards that make it fun to learn basic words and greetings, as kids do, as well as more katakana flashcards and 1st grade kanji study books
  
• Learning to make bento as the Japanese do? We've got more wiener shapers, which allow you to turn sausages into penguins, crabs, tulips and more
  
• For fans of the super cute Pinky Street figures, little super deformed high school figures, we've restocked the Special Box, which includes a photobook with two figures
  
• Finally, we have a great box for storing anything, restocked authentic chopsticks from Japan, and many more cool items for you!
  

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

• For fans of our excellent JAV magazines, we have the dynamite new issues of Best Video and Video Boy, the great monthly magazines for fans of the Japanese video industry
  
• We've also got the new issue of Gotcha, featuring super Tokyo girls in gorgeous love hotels
  
• For photobook fans, we've got some really special items for you today, including Hikaru Koto's fabulous glossy offering showing her in her best naughty pictures ever
  
• Also, Aya Kudo will amaze and delight you with her gorgeous photobook offering
  
• For H manga fans, a superb new work from Mujin Comics featuring amazing themes of hermaphroditism and more, as well as the super office love story by Nuku Nuku Heart and a Love Song of Angels
  
• Also, we've got a major restocking of manga for you too, including the great futanari manga Buttagiri Sisters, Sleeping Doll, Madam Hisae's Diary, How To Make a Widow, and many more
  
• Also for yaoi lovers, we have a great new story about love, life and barriers
  
• For our DVD customers, enjoy some amazing new titles for you, starting with the Complete AV Actress performance by Nao., the silky and sexy starlet who always puts a period after her name (region free)
  
• Then see the real on-camera performance of girls from Hungary, as Japanese actors and film crews capture the most beautiful girls of that country for you (region free)
  
• Next-up, a great DVD for fans of she-male love (e.g. Mr. Lady), gorgeous girls who also pack meat (region free)
  
• We've got another bold "anatomy study" with girls from famous cabaret clubs, brought to you by Soft on Demand (region free)
  
• From Moodyz, see the very best of the their Superuma Rezu series, featuring gorgeous girls on camera for you (region 2)
  
• Then, enter Tokyo's super disco world and experience dancin' vixens who lose all inhibitions when they get out on the dance floor (region 2)
  
• Also, for fans of Yulia Nova's amazing and graceful body, we've got good news -- the 2nd DVD is back from the duplicators and in stock now, ready for your immediate order
  
• Finally a great restocking of popular DVD titles, including Noa Torigoe's Beautiful Leg, Mai Sakashita's Female Teacher, lots of Tekoki and more, Kyoko Ayana's dynamite 4 hours special, and more!
  

Remember that J-List carries dozens of the coolest magazines from Japan, with regular subscriptions available via our Reserve Subscription system. Interested in the mysterious world of Japanese cosplay? We recommend Gothic & Lolita Bible and COSmode, both of which feature real sewing patterns in the back that you can use to make costumes. Interested in JPOP music? Why not get a subscription to Zappy, which comes with a CD in every issue, or the excellent Uta Bon, which prints sheet music from the most popular songs in Japan. Want to keep an eye on Japan's high tech world? Then I recommend one of my favorite magazines, Goods Press, which shows you what's hip in the world of electronics, men's fashion and Zippo lighters each month.

Greetings from J-List June 18, 2004

Hello and TGIF from all of us in Japan!

First of all, we're extremely happy to announce that all 18+ images on the J-List website have been put back to normal, with no more annoying yellow censors. We thank everyone for their understanding while we fixed that unpleasant problem. To show our appreciation, we're announcing a one-week-long "Thanks Sale" (to use a popular Japanese term). For the next week, you can get a special 20% discount on purchases of 4 or more DVDs, and a whopping 25% discount on purchased of 4 or more bishoujo dating-sim games. All DVDs and games are part of the same. We've got the best customers in the world at J-List, and we want you to know we appreciate you!

The Japanese do love tests. In addition to their world-famous college entrance exams, the Japanese have standardized tests for just about everything, with levels that are similar to the belt colors in karate and judo. Just about every subject, from abacus to waapro (word processing) to accounting have national tests that students and adults are encouraged to study for and take. The most famous test in Japan is Eiken, a series of English ability tests that Japanese students take over the course of their lives -- level 3 while in junior high school, level 2 while in high school, and level 1 if they really want to try a challenging test during or after college. There are standardized tests for Japanese brush writing, penmanship, memorizing train schedules, and even a test for calculating rapidly and accurately with a calculator. All sports have their own various standardized tests, too, to provide a series of goals for students learning to play the sport. My son takes skiing lessons every winter, and he's progressed quite well by clearing each level of the skiing tests -- he's only 9 and he can already ski down slopes I wouldn't walk down.

For gaijin like you or me, there's another useful test: the Nihongo Noryoku Shiken or the Japanese Ability Test, taken each December at various cities around the world. It's a standardized test that checks all aspects of Japanese comprehension. There are four levels to the test, designed so you can take one each year as you advance in your Japanese studies. Level 4 tests basic kana and the first 100 kanji, levels 3 and 2 are progressively harder, and level 1 is a really difficult test required for all students who want to enter a Japanese university. Japan's test mania may seem odd, but I think it is a good way to motivate people to study and better themselves. If you'd like to take the Japanese Ability Test and are near Los Angeles, see http://www.jflalc.org/proftest/ (do a Google search for other cities). Note that if you are interested in taking the test, you must sign up soon, so don't delay -- many a gaijin has worked up his or her courage to challenge the test, only to forget to sign up by the cut-off period, which is in late summer.

Today is Friday, and that means I'll be taking the kids to our favorite public bath. Bathing in hot springs ("onsen") and public baths ("sento") is a popular pastime in Japan, and despite the hard economic times of the past few years, Japan's public bathing sector never stopped growing. Our favorite bath is called Yura no Sato, or Hot Water Village, and offers over a dozen different baths to enjoy, from traditional Japanese "kama" baths which are basically giant metal pots to baths with rocks on the bottom which massage your feet, several saunas and more. It's a lot of good, clean fun, Japan-style.

We had a bug in our RSS feed, which caused the feed to not update properly. We've fixed it now. You can use any standard RSS feed reader to quickly note when the site has been updated, see the newest 120 products, and access J-List's updated pages easily. RSS readers let you set up feeds from your favorite websites so you can quickly check for updated information. If you have any questions about the RSS feed, please let us know.

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

• First, for those who want to explore Japan's love of "minus ion" products, we've got something very special for you: a Sanrio Hello Kitty hair dryer that emits negatively charged ions as it dries your hair
  
• Also for Kitty enthusiasts, we've found more limited stock of the soon-to-be-gone-forever Hello Kitty Massager, the coolest pop culture item the world has ever seen
  
• The lovely Kyoko Fukada, an actress and singer who is famous all over Asia, has an amazing new photobook release for you capturing her in the most amazing Gothic & Lolita outfits
  
• For fans of Ruroni Kenshin, aka Samurai X, we've got another dynamite Story Image Figure series, with five extremely detailed figures for you to display anywhere (full sets in stock)
  
• Fans of Tomy's die-cast Japanese cars, we've got some cool new items, including the Toyota Harrier, aka the Lexus RX300, and very cool Toyota Probox
  
• Fans of delicious Japanese snacks, we've got a new flavors of Pretz for you, delicious traditional treats, and with tasty ramune and other snacks that are fun to munch on (and very affordable, too)
  
• Other Hello Kitty items include a really cool Kitty watering can as well as various restocked Sanrio items sold only in Japan
  
• We live to bring you wacky and unique things from Japan -- we have a new electric eraser that makes it easy to permanently remove pencil marks from paper, something only the Japanese could have thought of
  
• For your car or home, we have a great wire clip system that makes it easy to stick anything anywhere -- trash bags in your car, holders for the things you need in your daily life, and more
  
• At Japanese weddings it's customary to bring a cash gift in a beautifully decorated envelope -- we've got the envelopes in stock for you today
  
• For anyone with a notebook computer, we have two positively wonderful laptop bags from Japan's top computer peripheral maker Elecom
  
• Budding manga artists, we've made a major restocking of How To Draw Manga books, with all the most popular titles back in stock for you to order
  
• Look for fresh stock of several Studio Ghibli items including the Totoro Collection plush toys, the No Face keychain and music box, various soft Totoro toys and more
  
• We stock great Japanese films on DVD -- look for fresh stock of the wonderful Grasshoppa vol. 1, as well as Takeshi Kitano's ZATOICHI and more
  
• Finally we've got an all-purpose box from Japan, more of the popular Cup Noodle coffee cups that perfectly mimic the famous Japanese staple food, and more!
  

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

• For lovers of Japan's high quality 18+ magazines, we've got some great items for you, including the new issues of Penthouse Japan and Penthouse Special, featuring only Japanese models shot by Japanese photographers
  
• Then enjoy the beautiful photo-magazine of Miwa Ohshiro (Oshiro), the gorgeous swimsuit idol who will make your eyes pop out of your head with her new offering
  
• We've also reduced the prices of many of our magazines, starting at just $5 -- check out the great bargains we have for you
  
• Photobook collectors, enjoy the sweet natural photographs of Yuuka Sawachi, which will amaze and delight you
  
• For H manga fans, we've got more superb works for you, including an anthology of stories about women who go after inexperienced men, an excellent comic about female teachers, and a great new book from Pon-Takanada
  
• We've also restocked several popular manga, including the Blue Eyes series, Legend of Demon Coming, and great works by the powerful manga artists Hiroyoshi Kira, Azuki Kurenai and Shiwasu no Okina
  
• Yaoi fans, we have another dramatic story of boy's love by the talented Kanako Meiji
  
• DVD collectors, we've got some great new items for you in time for our special sale -- starting with 4 hours of the most dynamite performances by Yui Asahina (region free)
  
• Next, we've got a selection of super low-angle "Noble Legs by Costume Play," including the silky, sexy legs, stockings and high heels of many dynamite ladies
  
• From SOD's best-selling Zenra series, we've got a naughty version of Swan Lake performed by extremely talented natural ballerinas -- don't miss this amazing new release! (region free)
  
• Next, see the very best of SOD's popular Idol series, featuring the best wet performances by Izumi Hasegawa, Nao Oikawa, Nanami Nanase and more (region free)
  
• Then from Moodyz, Cocolo fulfills all your fantasies in Illusion Hospital, a bold nurse-themed work from one of Japan's top indies studios (region 2)
  
• Then enjoy an amazing sports camp where fabulous full-size girls engage in all kinds of exercises to improve their bodies and their health (region 2)
  
• Finally we've got fresh stock of new DVDs, including Nao's wonderful Dream Shower, 4 Hours of Back Dynamite, All Girls' School 4 and many other titles!
  

Remember that J-List specializes in candy toys, miniature, affordable toys that often come with candy inside (hence the name). There are many different kinds of these great toys: realistic figures based on anime, deliciously realistic replicas of famous Japanese foods, replicas of Sony's AIBO robot dogs, and more. One series I especially love are the Furuta Star Trek replicas: extremely detailed and realistic starships from the timeless TV and movie series. They're very popular, and we ordered over 3000 of the ships two months ago, yet incredibly our stock is disappearing fast. Because we know that most collectors want to get full sets and avoid buying random duplicates, we're happy to make full sets of most items available. Browse our anime and toy pages for all these great toys that we have for you!

Greetings from J-List June 14, 2004

Hello and Happy Monday from all of us at J-List! It's a beautiful day in Japan -- a great day for a new J-List update!

The Japanese believe some interesting things about a person's blood type, mainly that it determines much of their personality. Whenever you see a profile of someone in a magazine, you can be sure that beside their birthdate, hobbies and favorite foods will be their blood type, since Japanese readers are always interested in knowing the blood types of their favorite people. Basically, type A are straight-laced, serious about everything, very organized (Felix from The Odd Couple, basically); type B are "my pace" (e.g. they go at their own pace, live in their own world), quickly get bored with things that don't interest them, and speak their minds to a fault; type O are very bold, hate to lose and have good leadership skills; and AB people are often so smart they look strange to everyone else. We saw an interesting TV show last night that attempted to break down the various personality types according to blood type. In one experiment they separated kids by blood type and asked them to move water from one aquarium to another one, them filmed the results. The type A kids used small spoons to carefully move the water from one tank to the other; the type B children tried to come up with a good way to move the water, but got bored and gave up in the middle; the type O kids lifted the first tank and poured the water into the second tank, not caring how much water they spilled on the floor in the process; and the type AB kids got smart and moved the two tanks around, so that it appeared that they'd moved the water when they hadn't actually done so.

The statistical data the show presented on blood types was interesting, too. People with blood type O tend to be quite charismatic, and some of Japan's most popular male heart throbs like SMAP member Takuya Kimura and singer/actor Masaharu Fukuyama are type O. People reported that the blood type they liked least was B (my own blood type) -- it seems that men and women with type B blood speak their minds too easily, and can offend others, making them difficult to be with. Most of the top Japanese athletes including soccer star Nakata and Yankee centerfielder Matsui were type O, and the vast majority of Japan's past Prime Ministers were also of this blood type. However, 60% of the sumo wrestlers to reach the highest rank of Yokozuna (Grand Champion) were of blood type A -- it seems it takes a meticulous nature to work your way up the top rank in Japan's traditional sport. Type B people may be the least popular with people of other blood types, but we have the highest representation at Tokyo University, Japan's top-ranked school, perhaps because we're creative and don't know what can't be done. The blood type couplings with the highest chance of divorce are two people with type A blood; couples where both have type B, or one has B and the other has O, are supposedly the happiest. Type A people are good at saving money for a rainy day; type B people waste their money on things they don't need (like me). For the record, Japanese are usually amazed that many Americans don't know their own blood type. In Japan, the interplay of blood types is always at work in any group.

J-List is proud to bring you dozens of great magazines from Japan, available each month via our revolving subscription system. We've got many great titles to choose from: all the popular anime magazines from Japan including Megumi, which comes with tons of free stuff in each issue; JPOP magazines like Zappy and Uta-BON; super cosplay magazines like Gothic & Lolita Bible and COSmode; and delightful fashion magazines like Super Cawaii and FRUiTs. We've added some great new magazines to our reserve list today, starting with Kera, a superb fashion/culture magazine that combines elements of FRUiTs and G&LB with superb and bold Tokyo street fashions. For fashion-oriented guys, we've got Smart, a super magazine of male fashion culture that comes with tons of cool stuff each month. Finally, for car enthusiasts, you can subscribe to Car Graphic and keep an eye on all that's happening in the Japanese automotive world each month. All magazines are loaded with color pictures for the Japanese-challenged, and are great ways to keep your finger on the pulse of Japan.

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

• First, for fans of Shirow Masamune, we're happy to announce preorders for the upcoming 2nd series of glossy Galgrease posters, as well as the long-awaited art book Intron Depot 4
  
• Also for Shirow lovers, two great new figures for you: Kusanagi and ManMachine, great for displaying anywhere
  
• Fans of Blythe and Kubrick figures, we're happy to announce a new series of Blythe Kubrick block figures, extremely well made and very fashionable -- and full sets are in stock!
  
• Then for all fans of Pokemon, we've got the ultimate toy set in stock for you -- a super set of soft vinyl figures that are fun to display or play with -- full sets are in stock for this item too (no need buy duplicates)
  
• Fans of Japan's delightful swimsuit idols, we've restocked several photobooks for you, including the offerings of Yuko Ogura, Maki Goto, Yoko Kumada, and more
  
• Hello Kitty lovers, we've got more cool only-sold-in-Japan items, including a great Kitty coffee cup and a way to cut your fingernails in style
  
• For fans of Japanese snack items, we've got delicious, er, squid meat, along with fun grape candies, tasty tako-yaki snacks and more!
  
• Restocked snack items include Relaxing Bear cookies, more Sushi Gummi that's really fun to eat, Grilled Corn Pretz and Pocari Sweat powder for making your own tasty drink!
  
• Also, for fans of our best-selling Bubble Ball fizzing candies, which have been sold in Japan since the early Showa era, we've got new flavors of delicious fizzing candies with bubble gum inside -- yum!
  
• For lovers of Panda-Z, the super cute panda robot who defends our happiness, we've got some new keychain mascots in stock
  
• Want to master a traditional Japanese game? We've got really cool kendama toys in stock now
  
• When Japanese cashiers give you change in Japan, they place it in a little dish to make it easy to pick up -- we've got these cool items in stock for you
  
• For fun in the bath, we've got some great "fortune monkey" toys that pop out of a dissolving ball in the bath water
  
• For fans of Japanese cars, we've got more Tomica die-cast metal vehicles for you, including the Toyota Estima and Soarer, and the popular Vitz
  
• Studying Japanese? We've got fresh stock of our popular dictionaries that help you learn various aspects of the Japanese language, as well as fresh stock of traditional Japanese writing paper
  
• Also, look for various restocked Japanese food miniatures, which are great to display as-is or use as food for dolls -- in stock are the Family Restaurant ver. 2 and Puchi Burger fast food replicas
  
• Finally, a super way to store men's neckties, a traditional air freshener that will improve the look of your home, a deluxe shogi board for anyone who wants to learn the game, and more!
  

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

• For fans of Japan's popular 18+ magazines, we've got some great new items, starting with the Diva Photo Magazine of Mihiro, the most popular new face in Japan's sexy model world -- don't miss out on this fantastic book!
  
• Then we've got a great issue of Mix, featuring super sexy Tokyo girls in various fun costumes for you
  
• Next up, the new issue of Hip & Lip, a superb magazine with both glossy photographs and H manga, with tons of fun stuff for you to enjoy
  
• For photobook fans, check out a great new offering from Hiromi Fujishima, excellent for fans of the genre we've come to call "Japanese girls in underoos"
  
• The lovely Aki Hoshino is back with a great new hardcover photobook, which will delight you as it delighted us
  
• Then enjoy what Nana Natsume has for you, a superb glossy photobook of some of her best photos ever
  
• We've restocked many photobook works for you too, including Mihori's dynamite books, Moe Yoshizawa's More II, Nanako Eighteen, and the dynamite low-angle photography of Miki Komori's Straddle
  
• For H manga fans, we've got some super works for you, including Tropical Pudding 2 by Fujio Okamoto, a delightful new work from Mujn Comics, and from the very popular Bijogi Junction, enjoy a great new manga release that you'll love
  
• For yaoi manga fans, we've got a great parody for you -- instead of Lord of the Rings, we have Lord of the Boy's Dorm
  
• DVD lovers, we've got some great new titles for you today, starting with 4 hours of the best "super soapland" performances on the Million label (region free)
  
• Next, SOD brings you a superb collection of all-female "MAX" performances, a super item for lovers of yuri and more (region free)
  
• Also from SOD, lovely Tokyo girls experiment with various fun places to put their tongues, a superbly wacky new DVD for you (region free)
  
• For fans of Japan's highly advanced stocking photography, we've got an all new "leg & hip" offering that's truly breathtaking (region free)
  
• From Moodyz, a super double performance with Ann Nanba and Kirari Koizumi exploring separate worlds of pleasure (region free)
  
• Finally, newly stocked DVD titles include Re-MIX 3-in-1 special releases by Marina Matsushima and Anna Ohura, 4 hours of premium back action, Ran Asakawa's super sexy performances, and more
  

Remember that J-List is fortunate to be able to carry the high-quality plush toys made by Sun Arrow, a Japanese toy company founded back in the Taisho era. For many years they've been the trusted partner and licensee of all Studio Ghibli toys including Totoro, Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service, and more. The plush toys they create are the best we've ever seen, soft to touch and furry to hold, and of such high quality we know you'll treasure these for years to come.

Greetings from J-List June 12, 2004

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Greetings from J-List June 2, 2004

Hello again from the hardworking J-List team!

It's amazing how very different Japan and America can be. In the U.S., a major element driving the economy are home sales, and the appreciation that owning a home can bring is one of the foremost ways to get ahead in life. But in Japan, the concept of a "used" home having any value at all is almost completely alien. Very few Japanese would consider purchasing an existing home from someone else; it's much more common to buy land and tear down any existing buildings, to make room for a new house that you'll build from scratch. While land is still very expensive, it's been steadily losing value in almost all parts of Japan ever since the speculative land bubble burst in 1989 -- thus buying land as an investment for the future is not something that most people are willing to do. Personally, I prefer the American system much better, even if rising home prices can make it difficult for young people to get their first home.

It's said that Japan is 25 years behind the U.S. in terms of social development, or 10 years behind, depending on who you ask. Seen from a certain viewpoint, there does seem to be a "social development gap" between Japan and the rest of the world, from the growth of the Internet to attitudes about women and more. For example, for decades you could find "skin color" crayons in Japan, but they were quietly renamed in the late 1990's. When I came to Japan, I was amazed to see that there was no child carseat law, and you could regularly see kids standing up in the front seats of cars driving around town. Embarrassment at being "behind" the West, though, caused Japan to enact a strict child seat law in 1999. In the early 90's, Japan was a smokers' paradise, with few limitations on where smokers could light up, but over the past decade, there's been real progress in making many areas free of smoking, including all JR local trains (smokers who want to enjoy a cigarette must pay extra to ride the more expensive Bullet Trains).

Have you ever spoken to a Japanese person and wondered why they make agreeing noises 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 "eeh" (yes), "so" (that's true), and "ne" (a general word of agreement). It may sound funny, but in Japanese, these words are necessary to show that you're listening attentively to the other person -- not making these sounds shows you're not paying attention, and the person you're talking with is likely to stop and ask you what's wrong. The trouble is when you carry aizuchi into English, and butt into what the other person is saying with "that's right" and "oh, yes -- it sounds really weird.

For the new update, we've got some excellent products from Japan for you, including several great new magazines, super cute photobooks, a great item for Cutey Honey fans, more great manga items, anti-catnip for cat haters, new Totoro and Hello Kitty toys, a super Macross/Robotech transforming model series, wacky Japanese buttons, a great replica of world famous military ships, a half dozen great new DVD releases including many items you won't want to miss, and more!

Remember that J-List sells hundreds of varieties of delicious Japanese snack foods, gum, candy and other treats. We've got traditional foods like miso soup and furikake (a name for foods that are sprinkled over white rice), amazing and fun to eat treats like Funya-Q (a big, soft gummy face that you can mash and eat), and more. Why not browse our excellent line of Japanese snack items today?

Greetings from J-List May 31, 2004

Greetings from J-List May 24, 2004

Hello and Happy Monday from all your friends in Japan!

Japan is buzzing about the special summit between Prime Minister Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jung Il held on Sunday, regarding the status of the families of former Japanese abducted to North Korea. Mr. Koizumi brought back with him the five children of two couples of Japanese abductees, who were happy to be reunited with their parents even though they don't speak Japanese, but he was unable to make headway regarding the family members of abductee Hitomi Soga. Her husband is Charles Robert Jenkins, an American soldier who defected to North Korea in 1965, and he refused to come to Japan for fear of being handed over to the U.S. military. A quick scan of CNN's website shows me that the issue of the abductees is not on the forefront of the world media, but it's a very important issue to the Japanese -- how would Americans feel if the hostages had been held in Iran for two decades, instead of 444 days? While Koizumi was praised by many for making headway on the long-standing problems with North Korea, he received the standard lambasting by the opposition parties for not accomplishing everything he could have, as well as by family members of the ten abductees who have been reported as dead by North Korea. The information they provided on the fates of the ten abductees is rife with errors, causing many to believe at least some of them may still be alive.

Mongolian Sumo wrestler Asashoryu has done it again, winning his third Sumo tournament in a row with a win against rival Hokutoriki, who had ended his outstanding 35-bout winning streak a few days before. The only current Yokozuna (Grand Champion, the highest of seven ranks in sumo) now that Hawaiian wrestler Musashimaru has retired, Asashoryu is at the top of his game. He has one problem though: he's terrified of earthquakes. There are no earthquakes in his home country of Mongolia, but we get shaken regularly in Japan.

One thing I admire about the Japanese is their single-mindedness and ability to stay focused on a goal. When I married my wife and moved to our city, I noticed a man in a nearby field, spending his Sunday afternoon with his remote controlled helicopter (one of the expensive ones), flying it around the field and landing it -- he's what you'd call an RC otaku. Well, it's been ten years since then, and that man is still in that field every Sunday afternoon, playing with his RC helicopter (sometimes his friends bring various airplanes, too). Over the past decade I've gone through many changes, becoming an informal ambassador of Japanese pop culture to the world, but I really respect that man for his steadfast adherence to his hobby. This Japanese tendency for steadiness can be seen in Japanese TV, with anime staples that have been on the air for decades and thousands and thousands of episodes -- shows like Doraemon (the "robot of cat type" who comes from the future to be with his friend, Nobita-kun) and Sazae-san (which follows the happenings of the Isono family every week, brought to you by the Toshiba Corporation), both running non-stop since 1969. The longest running movie series in history is also from Japan -- "Otoko wa Tsuraiyo" ("It's Tough Being a Man") followed the traveling salesman Tora-san year after year, for a total of 48 installments (it's in the Guiness Book), until actor Kiyoshi Atsumi died at age 68.

We're happy to report that Peach Princess's long-awaited dating-sim game Gibo - Stepmother's Sin will be shipping very soon. We hope all fans of English-translated dating-sims will consider picking up this title, which is really a great game. Preorder now for free shipping when it's released!

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

• First, for fans of Panda Z, the super cute panda robot piloted by young Pan Taron, we've got a 5-figure set in stock for you that's cool beyond words
  
• Then for Evangelion fans, we've got two dynamite China-dress clad figures of Rei and Asuka, complete with bases for you to display them proudly
  
• Spirited Away fans, we've got a very special item for you: a super-sized plush of Bou Nezumi, the purple mouse version of Bou, made by the famous Japanese toy company Sun Arrow
  
• For fans of our Japanese snacks, we've got some great new items for you, including delicious spicy rice crackers, chocolate tai-yaki (a new twist on a popular Japanese treat), and delicious potato fry snacks
  
• Also, the J-List staff keeps making a liar out of me, adding more flavors of Pocky after I've announced that no new Pocky would be added before summer -- the last flavor of the season is delicious banana Pocky, as well as a restocking of other flavors, including original and Kyoto Pretz
  
• And for fans of Japanese bubble gum, we've got a tasty new treat: grape flavored bubble gum by Marukawa, as well as fresh stock of the popular Hamtaro Gum full boxes
  
• Also great for fans of Japanese chocolate and snacks, we have plush versions of the most famous treats by Meiji, including Chocolate Mushrooms, Apollo and Pucca, great for attaching to your keys or your phone
  
• For Sanrio fans, we've got a super cute solar-powered Hello Kitty calculator that would look so cute on your desk
  
• Also, restocked Kitty items, including the Kitty Remote Control, the deluxe Kitty coffee cup, and more
  
• And from artist Seiichi Hayashi, more of his beautiful Japanese Girl Nagomi works, including a stylish all-purpose notebook and oil-removing sheets, to remove unwanted oil from your face
  
• Want to learn Japanese? We have more cute study cards for you, this time cards which help you learn animal names and hiragana
  
• For fans of Kill Bill, we have a treat: a superb photobook of Chiaki Kuriyama, who played GoGo Yubari in the first film (stock is limited, but more copies are on order)
  
• Then enjoy a wacky item: a "paper idol" set featuring a 3D paper doll of idol Minako Komukai that you can put together
  
• The lovely Megumi Okina looks great in a special new swimsuit photobook too
  
• Do you smoke? We've got another portable ashtray that helps you keep your ashes and butts away from the environment (plus it's very stylish)
  
• Or if you've recently quit smoking, we've got a wacky sign that says "I'm in a bad mood because I've just quit smoking"
  
• The Japanese can be quite interested in good luck charms of all types -- we've got a "power stone" that promises to increase your luck in gambling and games of chance
  
• We've restocked several snack items, including the Astro Boy Choco w/ toy, Bright Lighton Choco, miso soup, and spicy soy sauce peanut snacks
  
• Miyazaki fans, we've restocked many items, including the Totoro and Spirited Away stamp set, the Fox Squirrel plush from Nausica/Laputa, the deluxe Fuka Fuka Totoro plush, and more
  
• Domo-kun fans, enjoy many newly restocked items too, including the deluxe Domo-kun plush, notebooks, a new strap and more
  
• Finally, fans of Shirow Masamune, we've restocked the excellent Ghost in the Shell Limited Edition DVD, which includes the storyboards from the film and super limited packaging (region 2).
  

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

• For fans of Japanese 18+ magazines, we've got the perfect bound Yasashiku Shite Ne, e.g. Please Be Gentle With Me, featuring real couples and Tokyo girls
  
• Then enjoy a special deluxe magazine featuring the "big bast" [sic] of 13 positively gorgeous JAV idols
  
• For fans of Japan's bold hardcover photobooks, enjoy a new Bond work, featuring the elegant photos of Emi Yokoyama
  
• Also, a great photobook dedicated to two very cool subjects, women in men's shirts and eyeglasses, starring Maki Ogawa
  
• Then observe 70 authentic Tokyo girls living in their private rooms in a great photobook item, "Rooms and Underwear"
  
• Restocked photobook items include the gorgeous Mihiro work M+6, the gorgeous LCC Gold Romanian gymnast photobook, Sora Aoi's lovely photobook, and more
  
• For our H manga customers, we've got some great new offerings for you, including Sister Complex by the talented Yuuki, a bold new "hermaphro" work by Angel Comics, and more
  
• We've restocked some great comics for you too, including How to Make a Widow, Queen Bee, Melty, Equation of the Night and more
  
• Also for yaoi fans, we have some excellent new works for you, including the new issue of Deep Aqua, the excellent anthology of yaoi works
  
• For our DVD customers, we've got a great lineup of products for you, starting with the Real Private Life of Office Ladies, a 4 hour extravaganza from Big Morkal (region free)
  
• Then from Samansa, enjoy a great self-produced work by the lovely Sora Aoi (aka Sola Aoi), (region free)
  
• Next, we have a great 2-disc offering from Dogma featuring Kurumi Morishita, assisting you while wearing amazing costumes (region free)
  
• Soft on Demand's lovely Nana Natsume is your personal High Class Soap Lady in a new release from SOD, featuring dynamite action as only Japan could envision it (region free)
  
• From SOD's Deep's label, the lovely Marie Kurosawa shows you her very first "whale spouting" (as they call it in Japanese) (region free)
  
• Then from Moodyz, enjoy a great new Dream Woman series offering with the lovely Asuka Ozora, directed by "Alala Kurosawa" (region 2)
  
• Finally, we've got various restocked DVD titles, including the Palm of Hitomi Hayasaka, the excellent Girl's School, and a restocking of various Concentration series titles, which are all value priced.
  

Remember that J-List carries dozens of super cool "candy toy" (miniature toys that usually come with candy inside, called "shokugan" in Japanese) items from Japan, with many varieties of cool items -- anime figurines, replicas of famous battleships, super detailed replicas of Japanese food and sushi, Star Trek vehicles and more. They're great to display, and since we offer full sets of virtually all toys we sell, so you don't have to buy duplicates, you can save time, money and aggravation. We also stock cool display cases to put them in!

Greetings from J-List May 19, 2004

We appear to have had a hiccup with our listserver, which caused Monday's update to not be delivered to some readers until 1-2 days later. We're sorry for any confusion.

Each year in Japan, the list of who paid the most income taxes during the previous year is published in the newspaper. The actual incomes of individuals is private, but how much tax they paid is a matter of public record, and it's always fun to see who is making money (or who has bad accountants). For actors and "talents" (a Japanese catch-all word for any entertainer), the list was headed by Japanese TV personality Minomonta, host of Japan's version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? As usual, the comedy team Tunnels (one of whom played Japanese player Tanaka in Major League II and III) did well, taking the #2 and #5 spots, and another duo of comedians, Downtown, snagged #3 and #4. SMAP member Kusanagi, who learned the Korean language and is acting as a bridge of pop culture between South Korea and Japan, also did well last year, bagging the #6 position. In the JPOP world, Ayumi Hamasaki was bumped out of the top spot by the lead singer of B'z, who Tomo hates because he doesn't really play his instruments when he performs in concert. Manga artist Rumiko Takahashi also did very well -- worldwide sales of Inu Yasha pushed her to the #3 in the "other" category. But the person who paid the most taxes was Hitori Saito, owner of a successful health food company, who paid over $100 million in personal income taxes.

Did you know that the father of the tornado scale was Japanese? Tetsuya "Ted" Fujita was a Japanese scientist who came to the University of Chicago in the early 1950's to study storms and tornados. He was instrumental in making several breakthroughs in how we understand meteorology, and discovered many of the steps that tornados go through as they form. His research also improved air safety. So the next time you hear a casual report of an F5 or F3 level tornado, remember that the F stands for Fujita.

A quick update on the upcoming Yulia Nova DVD releases -- we're still waiting for them to come back from the duplicators. They'll be ready soon enough, and we hope you'll preorder them now. The discs offer lots of great new footage, never seen before, as well as complete English subtitling of all three discs. We're sorry for the delay, but we'll get these out for you as soon as we can.

J-List carries virtually every English-translated dating-sim game in print, and stocks them all for your convenience in our San Diego location. In addition to our special $1 shipping sale we're having right now, we're happy to announce reduced prices on all the Viper games by Hobibox, including Viper V16, Viper Paradice, Viper Limited edition, and Love Love Show. The hallmark of the Viper series is that the games feature full-frame animation, allowing for a very different game experience. Check out all the great titles we've got!

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

• First, for all computers users out there (everyone), we've got some unique Japanese mice that we like a lot, the compact Elecom mice that feature wind-up cords, great for notebook users
  
• For fans of our delicious Japanese snack foods, enjoy tonkatsu sauce-flavored rice crackers (yum!), more excellent Mobi crackers that are unique and tasty, and a delicious new gummi treat that's fun to eat
  
• Also, taste the fun new Top Pokemon bubblegum, 60 individual pieces of delicious green apple flavored gum
  
• Restocked snack items include Gummi Chocolate, Bisco mini cookies, delicious Ume and No Time gum, March of the Koalas, and much more
  
• Also, the VERY LAST Pocky we'll be getting in stock before summer -- don't delay!
  
• For fans of Japan' swimsuit idols, enjoy the photobook of Yukie Kawamura, a charming angel in a glossy hardcover photographic collection
  
• Then enjoy some great new Japanese folk and traditional music, including a bizarre item -- more Japanese war songs from World War II
  
• Sanrio fans, we've got a cute large Merry Melody plush toy that's really cute, as well as some totally fun Hello Kitty maracas
  
• Then we've got more of the Japanese Girl Nagomi items, this time tea tins that you can put green tea in, or just about anything
  
• Learning hiragana or katakana? We've got some handy stickers for you that are fun to stick, and very colorful
  
• Then, for your kitchen, we have a handy item: an "ice ball" maker, which makes a perfect sphere of ice, perfect for serving drinks to guests
  
• We also have other items for your kitchen, including the popular Kyoto and I.Kotoba Deluxe bento box set, the Hello Kitty mayonnaise holders (which you can put anything in), and more
  
• We love gashapon, the capsule toys sold in Japan, and today we've got a cool item: miniature replicas of the tools police in Japan use to fight crime, totally wacky and very detailed
  
• We've restocked several of the popular Domo-kun items, including the Domo-kun business card holder, the very large plush and "hug pillows," Domo pocket tissue, Domo all-purpose pouch and more
  
• Also, look for fresh stock of the popular Japan Hot Wheels vehicles, sold only in Japan, including my all-time favorite, the Mach 5 Hot Wheels
  
• Totoro fans, we've also restocked several Totoro items, including the Totoro Doll Collection and several plush toys
  
• For fans of Re-ment's super detailed food toys, which are perfect replicas of real food, we have fresh stock of the Cafe Meshi series, including full sets
  
• Want to have some unique fun? Try our Japanese Balloon Helicopter toys, which fly really high in the sky
  
• Finally, find a great item for fans of Sony's cute cat, Anywhere With You, more cute Groomy plush pets that help clean your computer area, funny Japanese erasers, fresh stock of wacky English notebooks, and more!
  

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

• For fans of Japan's excellent 18+ photographic magazines, we've got the new issue of Bejean, filled with incredibly beautiful women (note: stock is limited on this issue)
  
• Then we've got a deluxe issue of Iketeru Oneesan, a hard-to-translate title which basically means Good Lookin' Girls
  
• Photobook fans, enjoy the dynamite offering of Kyoko Nakajima, an incredible model photographed in a wide array of innovative cosplay situations
  
• Then we've got the new photobook offering of Yoko Kumada, the popular and very sexy swimsuit idol from Japan (and one of our favorites)
  
• Restocked photobook items include Aki Hoshino's delightful hardcover release, the lovely photobook of Aya Koizumi, and more
  
• For our H manga collectors, we've got some great new items for you, including the excellent and dreamy Halgion by EC Comics, Tsukasa's PaiPanYa, and a super new book by Chosuke Nagashima
  
• Then look for various restocked manga titles, too, including Dark Crimson, Suicup Kiki Ippatsu, A Course in Nakadashi, and many more titles
  
• For our DVD customers, we've got some great items for you, starting with the best 4 hours of Mizuho Kanou, aka Jun Kusanagi, one of the top JAV stars of the past decade and a woman with an incredible body (region free)
  
• Then explore a world of fascination with a new release from Dogma, featuring the lovely Senna Kurosaki (region free)
  
• From SOD, Female Director Haruna is back, this time exploring a new all-female "study" theme, filmed in beautiful Hawaii (region free)
  
• From SOD's Deep's label, witness the lovely play of 15 different Tokyo girls, aged 18-23 (region free)
  
• Next, enjoy the female "chikan" performance of Rei Aoki and Ruby Aiba, two amazingly sexy girls (region 2)
  
• Then, Juli Wakatsuki explores how far she can go in a great new release from Wanz Factory (region 2)
  
• Finally, enjoy various restocked DVD titles, including Mai Hagiwara's lovely recent releases, Sora Aoi's delicious Watermelon DVD, Maria Takagi's Perfect One Year, and the Minori Aoi Special Box Set.
  

Remember that J-List stocks over 100 kinds of Japanese snack items, with such popular products as Pocky, Black Black caffeine gum, and one of our favorite items, Sushi Gummi, little gummi sushi pieces (fruit-flavored, not fish-flavored) sitting on marshmallow "rice." We also carry the delicious "Bubble Ball" candies, inexpensive cola, ramune, grape and other candies that contain fizzing "carbonation" inside -- a fun item that's great to eat. We also recommend the Hello Kitty Chewing Candy, stick soft candy that looks like gum but is chewy like Starburst Fruit Chews. There's always something fun for you at J-List!

Greetings from J-List May 17, 2004

Hello from Japan, where stores play Auld Lang Syne to signal to customers that the store is about to close.

Den Fujita, the father of McDonald's in Japan, died last month at the age of 78. A respected business leader here, Mr. Fujita fought hard to win over Ray Kroc for the right to bring McDonald's to Japan in 1971, beating out over 300 more established rivals who wanted the franchise for Japan. He did so by showing passion and eagerness, and he was also aided by his fluency in English and understanding of Western business models. Although McDonald's Japan went into the red as a result of trying to cut prices too far, the company is back in black now. I believe McDonald's Japan could teach some things to its American parent. The restaurants are always clean and pleasant, and they only serve 100% orange juice with Happy Meals, not Hi-C sugar water, which makes me happier as a parent. The portions are reasonable without being too large, and you can choose a small salad instead of french fries with any meal at no extra cost. And green tea shakes are great in the summer ^_^ In addition to founding McDonald's, Mr. Fujita was one of the founders of Toys R Us in Japan.

Before I came to Japan, I never thought that I had much in common with men from Sri Lanka, Peru or Pakistan, but here, we're all part of one big happy gaijin family. Gaijin (lit. "outside-person") is the Japanese word for foreigner, and because it can have a slightly rude connotation to it, the softer word gaikokujin ("outside-country-person") is the preferred term. But although all non-Japanese living in Japan are ostensibly foreigners, there seem to be some subtle rules for how Japanese label members of different groups. Koreans and Chinese, who are much closer culturally to Japanese, aren't described with the word gaijin; instead, they're referred to specifically by their nationality. But the rest of us are usually grouped together with the term gaijin, as if the word were acting as a catch-all word to describe people whose nationalities aren't recognizable by looking at their faces. While foreigners often dislike being addressed by the term gaijin by Japanese, most friends of mine use it among themselves freely.

When learning Japanese, it's always fun to learn the gitaigo, a group of words similar to onomatopoeia which describe the state of objects. Because they consist of repetitions of words, they are cute and fun to use. If you're hungry, the Japanese would say that you're "peko peko," a word which describes the way you feel when your stomach is very empty. Alternately, "kara kara" describes your throat when you're thirsty. If you get soaking wet in the rain, you're "bisho bisho," and if you get indigestion, your stomach is "muka muka" (MOO-ka MOOka). If your skin is especially smooth and clean, someone might say it's "sube sube" (SOO-beh SOO-beh, a word which comes from suberu, "to glide"), and if you're a little on the plump side, you might be described as "puyo puyo" (POO-yo POO-yo), a word which sounds quite cute. Other fun gigaigo words include "paku paku" (to eat rapidly; this is where Pac-Man gets his name from); "beta beta" (beh-tah beh-tah; to be sticky); and pan pan (pahn pahn; being so full you slap your stomach like a sumo wrestler).

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

• First, we have more excellent traditional Japanese shoes, this time great setta and zori sandals for men which sport really neat ukiyoe prints on them, capturing the spirit of Edo period art -- they're so cool!
  
• For those interested in learning to prepare a traditional Japanese treat, we've got a real tako-yaki cooking set, allowing you to make delicious tako-yaki, balls of batter with octopus meat inside
  
• For fans of the cute Hidamari no Tami ("Sunshine People") relaxation aids from Tomy, we've got two new varieties: one little person holding a fishing pole, another with a pretty flower
  
• For our snack fans enjoy traditional Japanese whistling candy (sold in Japan for decades), tasty chocolate malt balls with an Astro Boy toy, tasty mini-snacks and more
  
• Also, a new delicious full box of Mix Fruits bubblegum, tasty and delicious
  
• For fans of super detailed Japanese candy toy figures, we've got a cool set of Men At Work, roadside construction crews that are really fun to display
  
• Fans of the beautiful swimsuit idol Chisato Morishita, we've got a great item for you: collectable trading cards featuring the lovely girl's glossy photographs on them
  
• For anime fans, we've got a great deck of Princess Mononoke playing cards that are fabulous
  
• Also, a superb item for true Totoro fans: various restocked items including Totoro magnets, knapsacks, and our Totoro Cukoo clock that must be seen to be believed
  
• We've got a new Pink Nipple Cream item in stock for you, a useful item that's helpful in returning dark nipples to their younger pink color
  
• We just love the beautiful contemporary nihonga paintings of Seiichu Hayashi -- enjoy several new Japanese Girl Nagomi items for your room, in stock today
  
• Have fun in the bath with a cute Lucky Cat egg toy from Takara -- a fun egg that dissolves in the bath, releasing a cute Lucky Cat toy to play with or display
  
• Also, we've added two new cool Power Stone good luck charms, which help bring good luck to you (they also help you diet)
  
• We're big fans of wacky parody items from Japan -- we've got more hamster ramen erasers for you that are really fun
  
• We've got fresh stock of the Character Design Bible, a great artbook that examines beautiful manga and anime character structure
  
• We've added stock of items to help you study Japanese, including hiragana/katakana quiz cards and the cool kanji quiz booklets that Japanese elementary school students use
  
• We've added stock of cool things for your kitchen, including the sausage cutters that you can use to turn small sausages into octopi, crabs, etc.
  
• Finally, check out a great traditional all-purpose box, an ashtray you can use to putt balls into it, fresh stock of the Pictorial Pocket Book series, restocked display cases for our popular candy toy items, more miniature shogi boards, and more!
  

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

• For fans of big Japanese girls, we've got the new Gal's Dee, featuring many lovely girls of D cup or larger
  
• Next, we've got the new Yappari Hitozuma issue, for fans of mature, experienced Japanese married women
  
• For photobook fans, don't miss Rui Hayama's delightful hardcover photobook, just released (it's still warm)
  
• Chikako Sakurai is heir to Yuko Ogura as one of Japan's most incredibly cute idols -- see her sexy new hardcover photobook release
  
• Then take in the delicious Moe Yoshizawa first photobook, a superb item shot in a luxurious location
  
• Restocked photobooks include items by Minako Komukai, Kaoru and the incredibly beautiful Ryo Uehara (wow)
  
• H manga fans, we've got some superb items for you, including an excellent new work by Yumisuke Kotoyoshi and Hot Milk Comics, an exploration of many sexy themes by EX Comics, the "secret smell" and more
  
• We also have various restocked manga for you, including Twiny Attraction, Refrection (sic) and many more titles
  
• Also for yaoi fans, a super new work from Aqua Comics that will knock your socks off
  
• For our DVD customers, enjoy some great new releases, starting with the bargain-priced "Concentration" release of Misato Sugihara, a really gorgeous Japanese JAV star (region free)
  
• From V&R Planning, enjoy another 100% authentic performance by two former Japanese Campaign Girls, similar to Race Queens -- very nice (region free)
  
• Then from soft on Demand, enjoy a fanatics 5 1/2 hours of deluxe JAV featuring Ai Kurosawa, Mai Haruna and Miyuki Hourai (region free)
  
• Then experience the world of esthe, Deep's style, as experienced Manae Sugimi expertly guides to other ladies to health and beauty (region free)
  
• Next up, there's a brilliant new release by Ami Ayukawa on the Wanz Factory label, featuring the Complete Ami that her fans should not miss (region 2)
  
• Then from Moodyz, a truly wacky parody of Joshi Juni Gakubo ("12 Girl Musicians"), the group of sixteen beautiful Chinese girls who play on traditional Chinese wood and string instruments -- this time it's a much more devious project indeed (region 2)
  
• Finally, look for various restocked DVD titles, including Stairway to Heaven & Highway to Hell (one of my all-time favorites), Ballerina, Stewardess Best 4 Hours, Marina Matsushima's recent DVD release, and more!
  

Remember that we're still having our great $1 shipping sale on all English-translated dating-sim games. Since we've got a huge variety of games in stock for you, with a variety of themes from romantic to dramatic school sim to comedy and more, we hope you'll check out what we've got for you. If you buy 4 or more games, you still get our regular discount of 20% off. Why not stock up on these excellent games today?

Greetings from J-List May 12, 2004

Hello again from all of us in Japan!

Japan seems to be the home of the "boom" -- as each year crawls by, it's amazing to see the kinds of things that become popular with young people here. In the past, we've seen some interesting fashion trends among Tokyoites, including the dog tag boom, when all the kogals were wearing military ID tags with their personal information on them; the Union Jack boom, which saw millions of Japanese sporting the British flag on their clothes; the infamous thick sole sneaker boom, when girls wore shoes that made them 6-10 inches taller; and one of my favorites, the camisole boom, when every girl in Tokyo seemed to be walking around in her underwear. There was even a boom called "my boom," in which everyone found something to be interested in, even if you were the only one in the world who cared about that thing. Currently, Japan seems to be on a big health drink kick, with many new amino acid drinks appearing on the market. Bottled green tea is very popular too, especially ones with flavonoids that reduce blood sugar. Japan is having a "gay boom" right now -- a new wave of funny comedians, very effeminate and fashionable, appear regularly on a wide variety of TV shows. Supposedly in Tokyo there's a trend towards men who are interested in wearing make-up, just like girls. Called "Morios," these men put heart stickers on their faces and dress in outrageous fashions like the kogals of a few years ago -- you cold almost call them "koguys." At J-List we're having a bit of a boom, too: all the male Japanese staff have shaved their heads, in preparation for Japan's hot and humid summer.

The Japanese are a very clean people, with many traditions tuned to keeping things sanitary. Japanese bathe every day, taking nice long baths to relax away the day's stress and get the body really clean. Shoes and anything to do with the feet are considered unsanitary, and so shoes are removed when you enter a home, and are never washed in a washing machine. When using a public restroom, many Japanese prefer the seatless Japanese-style toilets to western-style sit-down toilets because nothing important touches the toilet itself. But there are times when Japan doesn't seem like such a clean place. In public restrooms, it's common for a plastic cup to be placed near the sink, presumably so that anyone who's thirsty can help himself to a drink of water -- despite the fact that any number of others might have used the cup in the past. Similarly, at Japanese shrines, there's often a metal cup that you can use to drink the purifying water. To my American sensibilities, hundreds of people using the same cup hour after hour isn't the most sanitary thing in the world. (To see what Japanese toilets are like, here is a link: http://www.jlist.com/japanese_toilet.html)

J-List carries dozens of English-language bishoujo games because we love this genre of romantic, fun game from Japan. We're happy to announce stock of the newest title, Jewel Knights Crusaders, a super "sentai" (fighting team) parody featuring the Jewel Knights, female defenders of justice who gain fighting power by doing naughty things. A great new dating-sim game for Windows computers, in stock in our San Diego office now -- and of course shipping is just $1 (US/Can; half price for international customers) during our special sale!

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

• First, for fans of Japanese film, we have the new release of Onmyoji II, a fascinating tale of Japan in the 9th century (region 2)
  
• For fans of Naruto, we've got a great item: a manga that's a collection of popular doujinshi dedicated to Naruto and friends
  
• Morning Musume is one of the top idol groups in Japan, full of cute bounciness that is uniquely Japanese -- we have a great photobook of Maki Gotoh, their most famous former member
  
• We love the detailed miniature "candy toys" that Japan is famous for -- today we have a cool replica of a street in the Showa era (1925-1989), a wonderful bygone time
  
• Also very cool, we've got 1/144 scale replicas of the most famous fighters of World War II, a great series from Bandai
  
• Then enjoy another treat from Japan: realistic replicas of Japan's most famous trains, made of die-cast metal
  
• For fans of our Japanese snacks, we've got more furikake and ochazuke, traditional foods you eat on top of rice, as well as delicious Strawberry Hi-Chew from Morinaga
  
• Restocked snack items include Petit Pizza crackers, Nova Rabbit chocolate, Cocoa flavored Pretz, and the amazingly delicious Poiful colorful jellybeans
  
• Also, look for fresh stock of the best-selling Bubble Balls, delicious candy balls with "fizzing" taste inside -- we've added stock of cola, ramune, melon, grape and lemon
  
• Then enjoy delicious Hamtaro bubblegum, a great item from the makers of Felix the Cat bubblegum]
  
• Zoid fans, we've got a great PVC figure of Chris Tasker, complete with stand
  
• Then we've got another wacky item: little ramen bowels that hold gum erasers, fun to play with
  
• We've restocked the popular Hidamari no Tami, or Sunshine People, toys, which rock their heads from side to side, powered by solar energy
  
• Totoro lovers, we've added many cool items for you, including the Totoro magnet sets, plush Totoro toys, and more
  
• We've also restocked the Groomy plush computer pets, which feature soft chamois bottoms which you can use to keep your monitor clean -- very handy and so cute!
  
• Wordtank users, we've restocked our popular electronic dictionary cases, which you can use to protect your Wordtank
  
• Also for anyone studying Japanese, we've restocked several dictionaries, including Japanese-Japanese, kanji and katakana -- they're handy and very affordable!
  
• For fans of truly wacky things from Japan, we've got more of the Salmon Strap, a phone strap/key holder that looks like a fish, and it opens its mouth when you pull a string
  
• For anyone wanting to do some power-erasing, we've restocked the popular electric erasers for you
  
• Look for fresh stock of several Japanese Girl Collection Nagomi series items, including the tea holder
  
• Finally, look for more Cup Noodle coffee cups (a favorite of mine), more shiatsu shoe inserts for women, more wacky pens from Japan, bilingual Chobits manga, and other great items!
  

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

• For fans of Japan's 18+ magazines, we've got the new issue of Ryu-Gu, or the Court of Dragon, featuring top-name JAV idols and Tokyo girls inside
  
• Then we have the new issue of Yasashiku Shite Ne, or Please Be Gentle with Me, featuring authentic performances from love hotels
  
• We have a great magazine + DVD item for fans of silky, long Japanese legs with stockings, a great item
  
• Photobook collectors, we've got a great new item for you, the delightful glossy photos of Satsuki Aida, age 19
  
• Then check out a great "private photobook" featuring the playful love of lovely girls from Tokyo
  
• Also for photobook lovers, check out the dynamite hardcover photobook of Miyu Inaba, yum
  
• H manga collectors, we've got a great volley of new comics for you, including Uniform Game by Hit Comics, a new anthology of great H themes, the latest volume of Love Junkies and more
  
• Also, we've got many restocked comics, including Pururin Seminar (all volumes), I Cup Idol, The Girls who Belongs to the Nation, and more
  
• Yaoi fans, look for fresh stock of popular books too, including the Gush Mania series
  
• We have some super DVD titles for you today, starting with a great "Concentration" release featuring Hiyori Shiraishi, who shows you her lovely performance (region free)
  
• Campaign Girls are an alternate form of Race Queens, extremely gorgeous girls who promote F-1 racing and advertise companies in Japan with their bodies -- enjoy a great authentic performance with two real former Campaign Girls from V&R Planning (region free)
  
• Next, we've got another "study" DVD from Soft on Demand in which 100 Japanese girls poke, prod and learn all about guys' favorite parts (region free)
  
• Then prepare for a very amazing "chikan bus ride" featuring all female members (region free)
  
• From Wanz Factory, Noa Torigoe (TOE-ree-GOH-eh) shows you her silky long legs and gorgeous feet, a great new release for leg fans (region 2)
  
• We've restocked the popular "BLAME! And so on..." by Tsutomu Nihei, as well as the sold-out
  
• Then enjoy great restocked DVDs, including more wacky Erika Nagai beating up on guys, Akira Watase's best releases and Ami Ayukawa's Super Angle of Oppai (region 2).
  

Remember that J-List is the only place you can get the excellent and authentic high school uniforms from Matsukameya of Nagoya. These are extremely well made uniforms that are famous all over Japan, and all uniforms are custom made to your size. Although they're a little expensive, the quality is exceptional -- of the hundreds of uniforms we've sold over the years, we've never received anything but positive comments from our customers. We've just lowered our prices on the summer skirt, so why not take the plunge and get yourself an authentic high school uniform from Japan? With the summer convention season coming up, you or your loved one would look great in one!

Japan's vending machines are very wacky -- there are automated machine selling everything from rice to cameras to beer. If you want to see some of Japan's wacky vending machines in action, see this link: http://www.jlist.com/japanese_vending_machines.html

Greetings from J-List May 10, 2004

Hello again from all your friends in Japan!

Japan is currently full of anxiety over the future of the national pension fund system, the equivalent to Social Security in the U.S. Although citizens are ostensibly required to pay into the fund each month, there is no enforcement of the system, and as a result, many self-employed Japanese refuse to make their payments. It turns out that several high-ranking politicians in the current government had skipped a few years worth of pension payments, even while they contemplated new ways to require Japanese citizens to pay into the system. Both Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda, the soft-spoken middle-aged man with "bar-code hair" who was the voice of the government during the Iraq hostage crisis, and Naoto Kan, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, Japan's only important opposition party, have both resigned their posts to take responsibility for the problem. The issue of what kind of lifestyle Japan's aging citizens can expect over the next few decades is big in Japan right now -- Japan is after all a country with a high cost of living, where real estate doesn't grow in value and a 1% return on a certificate of deposit is considered great.

No matter how long I live in Japan, there's an area of the Japanese language I just can't seem to pick up: Japanese abbreviated numbers. Often, numbers such as phone numbers on TV commercials are expressed as spoken Japanese words, with each syllable corresponding to a number according to some complex phonetic system that's impossible for gaijin to figure out. Want to order the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper? Just dial 026-999, which somehow corresponds to "ofuro de kyu-kyu-kyu" or "Let's get squeaky clean in the bath." Back in the mid-90s, before cell phones became the norm, Japanese young people carried pagers ("pocket bells") that could display numbers, and it was common for friends to communicate between themselves using these bizarre number-based messages. For example, to send "good morning" you'd send 084 ("oh-ha-yo", short for ohayo gozaimasu). The Japanese also teach multiplication tables to their kids quickly using these confusing number messages -- by the end of the second grade, my son had memorized all his times tables.

There's an unfortunate phenomenon that affects all Japanese who use computers or "waapro" (word processors) at work: they lost almost all ability to write Kanji, or Chinese characters. With the steady acceptance of computers into Japanese life, many people use keyboards all day long, and as a result, almost never actually write characters by hand. Because kanji is a very structured system, not writing it for long periods of time makes you forget how to write (although reading ability is retained). I imagine this happens not only with Japanese, but with all cultures that use kanji. I am affected by this problem as well, as I almost never hand-write Japanese anymore, and it's shocking when I go to write an easy character but can't bring it up in my mind.

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

• First, for fans of 80s and 90s anime, we have a treat: selected Japanese music CDs for you to check out, including some dynamite Macross CDs that are impossible to find
  
• If you love Ruroni Kenshin, this is your lucky day: we've got the new Samurai X Story Image Figure series, with full sets in stock for you
  
• For any students of Japanese, we've restocked a popular item: traditional Japanese report-writing paper (genko yoshi)
  
• Manga is claiming its place in the world's popular culture -- be on the leading edge with the new issue of Monthly Dengeki Gao, with over 550 pages of brand new Japanese manga stories and cool stuff
  
• For fans of Japan's gorgeous swimsuit idols, enjoy the new hardcover photobook of Aya Hirayama
  
• Next, we have a cool item for fans of the Thunderbirds show: Mega Bloks toys (compatible with Lego)
  
• For fans of Tomy's "Tomica" die-cast cars, we've got the new Toyota Prius 2003-2004 model in stock
  
• Fans of our Japanese snacks, enjoy delicious Chelsea Fruit Yogurt candies, delicious Bisco cookies loved by kids in Japan, and a fun item, chocolate eggs that you open to reveal a cool Disney figure inside
  
• Also, a new item: delicious Sapporo-style miso ramen that you can make at home
  
• We've restocked many snack and gum items, including various furikake (food that you sprinkle over white rice), delicious miso soup varieties, soy milk candy, Dakara "Pocari Sweat" gum, and various sugarless Xylitol gum varieties
  
• Dragon Quest fans, we have a neat new toy series featuring the monsters from the classic game series
  
• We've got another great all-purpose stainless steel case that can be used to carry medicine or just about anything else -- or use it as a portable ashtray if you want to practice good smoking manners
  
• We've got a handy item that cleans venetian blinds for you easily, very hand to have around the house
  
• For Totoro and Studio Ghibli fans, we have some great new items, including a music box from Kiki's Delivery Service, deluxe plush keychains, plush Totoro toys that are to die for, and more
  
• Godzilla fans, we've restocked the popular Godzilla 2000 phone strap/keychain, so you can take big G with you anywhere you go
  
• Finally, we've got an all-purpose soft case that can hold many things, fresh stock of our authentic Shogi board and wooden pieces, more chopsticks and items for your kitchen, and many other great items!
  

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

• First, we've got a great item: a cool new issue of Gal's Shower, the popular wet-themed Japanese magazine
  
• Also, for fans of Japan's indies JAV, we have an issue of the all-indies DMM featuring two special 120 minute DVDs
  
• Then we've got a nice magazine for fans of "Oneesan" types, a word which can mean older sister but in this case refers to women aged 22-28
  
• Photobook fans, check out the gorgeous glossy photobook offering of Saori Kamiya, Yugure no Toki (Sunset Time)
  
• Don't miss the gorgeous hardcover photobook of Shinobu Ikehata, the luscious Japanese "Relax Angel"
  
• We've also got a new "Chinkame" (small pocket format) photobook featuring the private Polaroids of 11 popular JAV stars
  
• For H manga lovers, we have some nice new comics posted for you, including the very cool anthology Gorgeous Sisters Stories by Tsukasa, the lovely Caramel Lip by Tenma Comics, and Runaway Daughter by AV Comics
  
• Yasu has restocked many manga volumes, too, including Michael Plan, Skirt Chasers, Condensed Milky, Beast Toys and more
  
• Also, from the excellent people at Behind Moon who make such wonderful hermaphrodite-themed doujinshi and CG collections, we've got their latest: a cool new CD-ROM of dynamite images for you
  
• For DVD collectors, we've got some great new items, starting with the great Blue File DVD release of Naho Ozawa, featuring 3 complete video releases compiled onto one disc for you (region free)
  
• Then welcome yourself to the Max Cafe, a very special place where the stylish Ryoko Mitake is waiting to serve you (region free)
  
• Then, for fans of Soft on Demand's wacky "newscaster play," enjoy the lovely Nana Natsume who brings you all the "H news" (region free)
  
• We've got another "teacher's pet" DVD by SOD, too, featuring the lovely Mizuki Yoshizawa and Minami Aoyama (region free)
  
• Next up, return to Hungary to see the dynamite performances by natural girls there, filmed by Japanese directors and Japanese actors (region free)
  
• Then we've got the lovely Kazuha Murayama starring in a great new wet offering in the Dream Shower series -- don't miss it (region 2)
  
• Finally, we've restocked many popular DVD titles for you, including Super Angle of Oppai by Anna Ohura, Kyoko Ayana Complete, and great titles by Ami Ayukawa, Mai Sakashita and more!
  

Remember that we're still having our great $1 shipping sale on all English-translated dating-sim games. Since we've got a huge variety of games in stock for you, with a variety of themes from romantic to dramatic school sim to comedy and more, we hope you'll check out what we've got for you!

Also 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. Hundreds of customers are getting great new Japanese magazines through J-List, and we are happy to serve you all. Payment through any method is fine (credit card, check or money order, etc) and you can stop your subscription at any time.

Greetings from J-List May 5, 2004

Hello again from Japan, where drivers should always practice "safety driving."

When foreigners come to Japan for the first time, one of the first cultural differences they run into is the custom of taking shoes off before going into a house. Japanese homes (and some offices, such as J-List) have a lowered area at the front door called a "genkan," where you leave your shoes before going inside. After you've lived here a little while, it becomes second nature to open the door, kick off your shoes (or if you're the obsessive type, neatly line them up), and go inside. After you've lived in Japan a few years, seeing foreigners on TV wearing dirty shoes on plush, clean carpeting starts to look really weird after a while. To the Japanese sense of cleanliness, anything having to do with your feet is dirty under any circumstances -- actually, the genkan area where you leave your shoes is considered "outside" the house. Because you have to take your shoes off a dozen times a day in Japan, you tend to get very good at choosing shoes that can be put on easily -- high-top basketball shoes or boots are not recommended.

When you think of ramen, you may think of Japan, since the two go hand-in-hand a lot. Ramen is actually from China, although the Japanese have adopted it as one of their national foods. It's common for different regions of Japan to have a "meibutsu" (lit. "famous thing"), some food or other rare item that you can only find in that area, and many regions of Japan specialize in ramen noodles. The most famous shoyu (soy sauce based) ramen is Kitakata ramen, and can be found in Fukushima, about 100 km north of Tokyo. Sapporo, Hokkaido, is famous for Miso ramen, one of my favorite varieties. Kyushu, the southernmost Japanese island, is home of Tonkotsu ramen, a pork-based dish with white soup. And if you'd like to try Kani ramen, with a steamed crab sitting on top of your noodles, go to Niigata Prefecture, on the Sea of Japan side of the country.

Today is Children's Day, a day when families celebrate the health and happiness of their children, especially boy children. To help you celebrate, we have some traditional items for you, including Koi Nobori kites which simulate carp swimming upstream, delicious caramel corn that's sold only during this time of year, and a very cool traditional Mickey Mouse wearing a kimono. Today's also the last day of the Golden Week holidays, which means that right now, millions of Japanese are enduring hellacious traffic jams and crowded trains, trying to get back into the Tokyo area so they can start work tomorrow.

Announcing the May $1 bishoujo game shipping sale! J-List carries virtually every English-translated dating-sim game available, with all the great titles from G-Collections, JAST USA, Peach Princess and more. You can get any of these fantastic games and pay just $1 for shipping! Of course our "buy 4 or more, get 20% off" sale still applies, so feel free to stock up on a whole bunch of excellent titles now!

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

• First, for fans of Panda Z, the super cute panda mech piloted by young Pan Taron, we've got plush toys featuring all the characters from this super-cute universe
  
• Gundam lovers, don't miss the excellent new Mobile Suit Gundam Ultimate Operation series of toys, with full sets in stock for you
  
• Hello Kitty fans, we've got some cool items for you, including a nifty notebook you can write in
  
• We love Tomy's die-cast Japanese cars -- newly added to the site are the new Prius and WiLL Vi, two unique vehicles from Toyota
  
• We have more uniquely Japanese items for your kitchen, including attractive chopsticks and lovely traditional Japanese coasters
  
• Also, a bamboo tube that makes it easy to get your barbecue going this summer
  
• For fans of our delicious Japanese snacks, we've gotten in many new items including strawberry Calpis candies (yum) and Amino Shiki health tablets that are fun to eat
  
• Also, new varieties of unique gum from Japan, including Watering Kissmint (which quenches your thirst) and fresh stock of the very delicious Recaldent sugarless fruit gum with Xylitol
  
• Our restocking of the snack pages continues as well, with many new items in, including Every Burger (original), Doraemon Gummi treats, the super-cute Bright Lighton and Relax Bear cookie-and-toy sets, and more
  
• Fans of Japan's unique and sexy Race Queens, we've got a special Gal's Paradise trading card set for you, very nice
  
• Experience life during the Edo Period on a small scale thanks to a cool series of Edo buildings -- very realistic and fun to build a little town out of
  
• Like funny English? We've got a wacky tin from Japan that you can store many things in
  
• Blythe fans, we've restocked the attractive Blythe Plum Blossom figure for you
  
• We've restocked FX Neo, the incredibly popular Japanese eyedrops that wake you up with a burst of freshness
  
• Want to study Japanese? We've added stock of the handy Japanese Study Cards, which help you learn many Japanese words, as well as hiragana and katakana
  
• We love to bring you Japanese films on DVD with English subtitles -- today we've got Get Up!, a hilarious film with an all-star cast (region 2)
  
• We've restocked the authentic 70 and 120 cm "loose socks," the oversized socks that are so popular with Japanese high school girls
  
• Ghost in the Shell DVD fans, check out our extensive selection of these great discs -- we've reduced our prices on all of them for you!
  
• Finally, we've got more wacky Japanese signs for you, more cute hamster erasers, a great item for frying food in the kitchen, more wiener cutters for bento enthusiasts, and more!
  

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

• For lovers of classy Japanese women, we've got the new issue of E*Onna ("ii onna" = "good woman")
  
• We love the highly stylized photography we've come to call "Japanese girls in Underoos" -- check out the new issue of Smart Girls, a magazine so elegant that it's sold to Japanese women as well as men
  
• We have a great photo-magazine featuring the incredibly lovely Rei Yoshii, photographed in an amazing way for a dreamy visual effect
  
• For fans of Japan's glossy photobooks, we've got a great new work featuring Juri Hirota's beautiful body
  
• Then enjoy the super hardcover photobook of Erika Sawajiri, a delightful swimsuit & sexy idol from Japan
  
• H manga fans, we've got some great manga for you, featuring super sexy artwork and themes, including the excellent "Hinaco" by Momohime Comics and many other new offerings
  
• For our DVD customers, we've got some great new items for you, starting with 4 hours of fun and sexy performances by Miyuki Uehara, a delightful and clean JAV starlet (region free)
  
• Next, the gorgeous Kyoko Ayana dresses up in dozens of great anime and game girl costumes for you, a great new cosplay DVD (region free)
  
• From Soft on Demand, Mai Sakashita fulfills your ever desire, a very wet and interesting production for your enjoyment (region free)
  
• Also from SOD, a sexy teacher takes on a "beauty boy" played by female Sayaka Kusunoki (region free)
  
• See how far Moodyz can take super sexy dancing in a bold new release (region 2)
  
• We've also reduced prices on several popular titles, including DVDs for stocking lovers, Deep Kiss, the Dream Shower series, and more!
  

Yulia Nova fans, the upcoming Yulia Nova DVDs vol. 1-3 have gone golden master and are being printed right now. Yulia Nova is a fantastic Russian model whose gorgeous body will really knock your socks off. Her DVDs can be preordered for immediate delivery as soon as the discs are pressed. All three discs come with additional footage that's very interesting to see, and all spoken lines of Russian have been re-translated to English so that fans can learn more about Yulia than ever before. We hope you'll preorder these great DVDs!

Remember that J-List stocks great "region free" DVD players in our San Diego office for you. Made by Lasonic for the U.S. market, these players allow you to enjoy DVDs from around the world, including both PAL (Europe) and NTSC (North America/Japan) discs as well as discs from any region (including RCE discs). They come with full 1 year manufacturers' warranties, and are great for use as primary or secondary players. Best of all, they're very affordable. Check out our current models now!