We had fun at Tokyo Disneyland. It was threatening to rain the whole time, but it didn't, so we knew we had gotten away clean. As told in the post below, we went on a Monday, on the 21st, assuming that the really big crowds would be there on the 23rd, which is the Emperor's Birthday and hence a holiday. The best time to go to Tokyo Disneyland, if you're wondering, is the non-holiday after a 3-day holiday, e.g. a Monday after a 3 day weekend. Then you'll have the whole place to yourself.
Today's post is below. It was cool sharing about a Dog of Flanders, which is a really cool movie. By all means, please go to Amazon and get this great anime. The link is here.
The Japanese believe a person's blood type foretells a lot about his personality, and Japan is having a "blood type boom" right now, with regular variety shows that report on what characteristics each blood type group share. In one recent show, they placed hidden cameras and watched a group of people eating all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue, in which you cook your food together on a big grill in the center of the table. A type people tend to be organized and neat, and the A types took just enough food and cooked it in a small corner of the grill. Type B people, who are "going my way" (a word the Japanese use for anyone who is in their own little world, like me), took too much food and hoarded it from everyone else. AB types, known for doing things differently from others, chose things like vegetables when everyone else was eating meat. In another experiment, they showed the last episode of one of the most moving anime shows of all time, A Dog of Flanders, based on a famous Belgian children's story, to rooms full of people separated by blood type. In the last minutes of the show, as young Mello goes into the St. James's Church to see the three famous Rubens paintings uncovered, allowing him to gaze at them for the first time, he finally knows happiness. As angels come to take him and his faithful dog Patrache up to heaven, the camera cuts back to the roomful of people who were watching the scene. 7 out of 8 of the type O people were bawling over the touching scene, while only 2 out of 8 of the type A and type AB people were in tears. For most of my life I didn't know my own blood type, something which is unthinkable in Japan, where the address book functions on cell phones have a place to record the blood type of the people you're calling.
We wanted to do something special for the kids this winter, so we took them down to Tokyo Disneyland. Tokyo Disneyland has been one of the most successful amusement parks in the world since it opened in 1983, raking in tons of money for the Disney empire. It recreates the original Disneyland in almost every way, although there's no Matterhorn and there actually seems to be more room to walk than at the California park. Knowing how bad the crowds can be during weekends and holidays, we went on a Monday, and were rewarded with a moderately pleasant Disneyland experience -- the longest wait was an hour or so. Of course we were obliged to buy lots of omiyage (oh-mee-YAH-geh) for people back home -- the ubiquitous souvenirs that prop up the Japanese economy. Disneyland's nickname is "nezumi-land" (nezumi = mouse) among Japanese fans.
There are some classic jokes in Japanese that I'll pass along to you. One stems from the words "oneesan" which means older sister but can also refer to a woman aged 18-25 or so, and "obasan" which means aunt but also any middle-aged woman. A classic joke in anime or manga features an innocent child who calls a woman "obasan" even though she's still young, and how she reacts to the label -- kind of like my reaction at being called "sir" for the first time in my life. Another classic joke you encounter every once in a while is a cow saying mou yamete (lit. "please stop it already"), which is amusing because the "moo" sound a cow makes sounds like the word mou ("already") in Japanese. Finally, the equivalent of the stale old joke "roadkill on the information super highway" in Japanese is dohto komu which means "...gets very crowded" but sounds like dot-com. So you can say, Amazon wa dohto komu, "That Amazon site sure has a lot of users." If you want to make a really stupid joke in Japanese, that is.
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
Friday, December 17, 2004
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Greetings from J-List 12/15/04
Japanese television is always interesting, with a broad mix of entertaining things to watch. Variety shows, which feature popular "talents" (entertainers) like cute-as-a-button Yuko Ogura, are a major staple of the airwaves. One show, called World's Greatest TV, brings clips of television from around the world, including bizarre TV commercials from America, Europe and Asia, and has famous people try to guess what will happen next. Another popular genre of television here is the "trendy drama," and love stories starring top stars like Yuji Oda and Akiko Yada are always near the top of the ratings charts. With the opening of cultural ties between South Korea and Japan, this year has also seen a huge explosion of interest in tear-jerking South Korean soaps, as well. Another popular genre of television here are classic Agatha Christie-style mysteries in which detectives have to solve a murder. There are many twists on the standard mystery formula, such as "Stewardess Deka" (a trip of crime-solving flight attendants) and one series in which they tell you who committed the murder right at the beginning, and then let you watch as the expert detective follows the trail right to the killer.
Like Cherry Blossoms in the Spring, words are fleeting things, and it can be surprising how their meanings change when they're imported into other languages. Many of the English words the Japanese use don't match up perfectly with their Japanese counterparts. When I had to replace a cooling fan in one of our Macs the other day, I went to the local computer store ("Power Up Computing Life") and asked for a fan, using the English word. Other concepts that we use the word "fan" for go by very different names in Japanese, such as senpuuki (an electric fan), uchiwa (a fan you use to fan yourself, non-folding) and sensu (a traditional folding Chinese fan). There are some other English words that the Japanese use, but only in limited ways. If there's a girl you're secretly in love with, a Japanese might advise you to "attack" her (meaning, go and win her love). The English word "camouflage" often refers to a gay man and woman marrying to hide this fact from others. And the English word "propose" is used in Japan only to mean a proposal of marriage, which certainly presents the potential for confusion in international work settings.
For whatever reason, Japanese men are fond of urinating outdoors. When driving around Japan, it's not at all uncommon to happen on an older man relieving himself by the side of the road -- even walking from my home to J-List, a mere 100 meters or so, I sometimes see one of our neighbors peeing in the ditch. It's partially a rural thing -- with a population of 140,000, our city is not large, and there's a lot of agriculture -- but I've seen friends from Tokyo and Yokohama do it when the need took them. It can get so bad that people occasionally put signs that say "It is forbidden to urinate here" (tachi-shon kinshi) in front of their homes. This bizarre and uniquely Japanese message is captured on one of our wacky T-shirts, too - a little piece of Japan for everyone.
Do you love the anime films of Hayao Miyazaki? Remember that J-List stocks all the excellent region 2 DVD releases for Studio Ghibli movies like Spirited Away, The Cat Returns, My Neighbor Totoro, Castle in the Sky Laputa, Princess Mononoke and his Lupin the 3rd classic, The Castle of Caliostro (a favorite of mine). These DVDs are released in Japan directly by the studio and include many features that make them great for collectors. All discs feature English subtitles and/or dubbed tracks and are great for fans who want the definitive versions of these anime classics overseen by Mr. Miyazaki himself. The only catch is, they're Japanese releases (region 2), so you need a region free DVD player to watch them -- and J-List humbly recommends the three excellent units we currently sell.
Like Cherry Blossoms in the Spring, words are fleeting things, and it can be surprising how their meanings change when they're imported into other languages. Many of the English words the Japanese use don't match up perfectly with their Japanese counterparts. When I had to replace a cooling fan in one of our Macs the other day, I went to the local computer store ("Power Up Computing Life") and asked for a fan, using the English word. Other concepts that we use the word "fan" for go by very different names in Japanese, such as senpuuki (an electric fan), uchiwa (a fan you use to fan yourself, non-folding) and sensu (a traditional folding Chinese fan). There are some other English words that the Japanese use, but only in limited ways. If there's a girl you're secretly in love with, a Japanese might advise you to "attack" her (meaning, go and win her love). The English word "camouflage" often refers to a gay man and woman marrying to hide this fact from others. And the English word "propose" is used in Japan only to mean a proposal of marriage, which certainly presents the potential for confusion in international work settings.
For whatever reason, Japanese men are fond of urinating outdoors. When driving around Japan, it's not at all uncommon to happen on an older man relieving himself by the side of the road -- even walking from my home to J-List, a mere 100 meters or so, I sometimes see one of our neighbors peeing in the ditch. It's partially a rural thing -- with a population of 140,000, our city is not large, and there's a lot of agriculture -- but I've seen friends from Tokyo and Yokohama do it when the need took them. It can get so bad that people occasionally put signs that say "It is forbidden to urinate here" (tachi-shon kinshi) in front of their homes. This bizarre and uniquely Japanese message is captured on one of our wacky T-shirts, too - a little piece of Japan for everyone.
Do you love the anime films of Hayao Miyazaki? Remember that J-List stocks all the excellent region 2 DVD releases for Studio Ghibli movies like Spirited Away, The Cat Returns, My Neighbor Totoro, Castle in the Sky Laputa, Princess Mononoke and his Lupin the 3rd classic, The Castle of Caliostro (a favorite of mine). These DVDs are released in Japan directly by the studio and include many features that make them great for collectors. All discs feature English subtitles and/or dubbed tracks and are great for fans who want the definitive versions of these anime classics overseen by Mr. Miyazaki himself. The only catch is, they're Japanese releases (region 2), so you need a region free DVD player to watch them -- and J-List humbly recommends the three excellent units we currently sell.
Monday, December 13, 2004
Greetings from J-List 12/13/04
Before I started J-List I was an English teacher, and taught ESL to a wide range of Japanese students, from kids to the elderly and everyone in between. Although my students tried hard to learn, the sad reality is that most of them won't become really good at the language in their lifetimes. There are dozens of reasons why Japanese usually don't attain proficiency at English despite six years of education (more if they study English in college), but some major ones stand out. First, the Japanese draw a line between "English" (grammar and vocabulary) and "English conversation" (an ethereal thing which can't be defined), and since only the former can be measured in tests, students tend to be more concerned with demonstrable English skills rather than communication. Second, Japan's system of education is very rigid, and most teachers in the system aren't that capable at speaking themselves, which creates resistance to reform. Finally, just as a computer needs a "killer app" to justify its existence, Japanese need a consuming reason to study English if they're to attain real fluency. If you're in the U.S., you probably don't need German to get through your day, and it's the same for most Japanese -- there's little actual need to use English in their daily life. Currently, Japan's Ministry of Education, which decides the curriculum from for the entire nation, is trying to promote English and "internationalization" (an buzzword that gets thrown around a lot in official circles) by having kids start learning English from the third grade. However, I'm not hopeful that this will have any meaningful effect on English education in Japan.
When I was growing up, I remember thinking that they had arranged marriages in Japan, probably something I got from watching the episode of Happy Days where Arnold gets married in a traditional Shinto wedding ceremony. In reality, they have "arranged meetings" called omiai, a kind of formal meeting between prospective partners, usually organized by busybody aunts who can't leave well enough alone. At an omiai, both parties talk about their interests and background and if they hit it off, they go out on more conventional dates to see where things lead. Before my wife met me, she had had omiai meetings with a few men, for example the son of a sake distributor that our liquor shop buys from, hence she couldn't refuse -- fortunately for me she didn't hit it off with any of them. As time marches on, the old-style formal omiai meeting is giving way to more modern methods, with companies that organize "omiai parties" (gatherings of marriage-minded people who interact with each other in a fixed space) and services that are like online dating but with a Japanese twist.
Like most gaijin, I had a fixation with Japanese vending machines when I came to live here, and took many silly pictures of them. Vending machines are quite advanced here, and often accept 10,000 yen notes (the equivalent of a $100 bill) and give change, verbally thanking you for your purchase. In Tokyo, where land is scarce, there are vending machines that are incredibly slim, so you can fit them in small spaces. You can buy just about anything from vending machines here, including canned coffee (hot in the winter, cold in the summer), canned corn soup, and cigarettes. Eggs and rice are sold in areas where there are no shops around, and I've seen machines that sell frozen meals and microwave it for you. Beer has been sold in vending machines for decades, and I have many fond memories of sitting in front of the local vending machine with friends, throwing a few back and talking with people who came by on their way to the station. Beer vending machines are being phased out, though, due to concerns about minors buying alcohol -- although the machine we have at our liquor store features a slot which reads your drivers' license for verification. Adult products are sometimes sold in vending machines, too, since customers like the privacy a machine affords.
We couldn't be happier with how popular the Japanese 2005 calendars have been this year. We've moved tons of these unique and beautifully printed calendars to people all over the world. Every day, a few more calendars sell out forever. We still have 80+ different items in stock, including the really cool Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service desktop calendars, other gorgeous anime items, popular swimsuit and JPOP idol calendars, and cool traditional offerings like kimono idols, sushi and bento. Remember, buy 4 or more and get 15% off automatically.
Remember that J-List carries dozens of amazing Domo-kun products for you, more than any other company in the world, we're pretty sure. Domo-kun is the ultra-cute spokesmonster for the "BS" (broadcast satellite) TV network operated by NHK, the BBC of Japan, and he's as cute a monster as you could ever hope to see. We've got tons of amazing Domo-kun toys on the site, from the famous classic plush toys to the limited-edition Shinsengumi Domo-kun toy and much more.
When I was growing up, I remember thinking that they had arranged marriages in Japan, probably something I got from watching the episode of Happy Days where Arnold gets married in a traditional Shinto wedding ceremony. In reality, they have "arranged meetings" called omiai, a kind of formal meeting between prospective partners, usually organized by busybody aunts who can't leave well enough alone. At an omiai, both parties talk about their interests and background and if they hit it off, they go out on more conventional dates to see where things lead. Before my wife met me, she had had omiai meetings with a few men, for example the son of a sake distributor that our liquor shop buys from, hence she couldn't refuse -- fortunately for me she didn't hit it off with any of them. As time marches on, the old-style formal omiai meeting is giving way to more modern methods, with companies that organize "omiai parties" (gatherings of marriage-minded people who interact with each other in a fixed space) and services that are like online dating but with a Japanese twist.
Like most gaijin, I had a fixation with Japanese vending machines when I came to live here, and took many silly pictures of them. Vending machines are quite advanced here, and often accept 10,000 yen notes (the equivalent of a $100 bill) and give change, verbally thanking you for your purchase. In Tokyo, where land is scarce, there are vending machines that are incredibly slim, so you can fit them in small spaces. You can buy just about anything from vending machines here, including canned coffee (hot in the winter, cold in the summer), canned corn soup, and cigarettes. Eggs and rice are sold in areas where there are no shops around, and I've seen machines that sell frozen meals and microwave it for you. Beer has been sold in vending machines for decades, and I have many fond memories of sitting in front of the local vending machine with friends, throwing a few back and talking with people who came by on their way to the station. Beer vending machines are being phased out, though, due to concerns about minors buying alcohol -- although the machine we have at our liquor store features a slot which reads your drivers' license for verification. Adult products are sometimes sold in vending machines, too, since customers like the privacy a machine affords.
We couldn't be happier with how popular the Japanese 2005 calendars have been this year. We've moved tons of these unique and beautifully printed calendars to people all over the world. Every day, a few more calendars sell out forever. We still have 80+ different items in stock, including the really cool Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service desktop calendars, other gorgeous anime items, popular swimsuit and JPOP idol calendars, and cool traditional offerings like kimono idols, sushi and bento. Remember, buy 4 or more and get 15% off automatically.
Remember that J-List carries dozens of amazing Domo-kun products for you, more than any other company in the world, we're pretty sure. Domo-kun is the ultra-cute spokesmonster for the "BS" (broadcast satellite) TV network operated by NHK, the BBC of Japan, and he's as cute a monster as you could ever hope to see. We've got tons of amazing Domo-kun toys on the site, from the famous classic plush toys to the limited-edition Shinsengumi Domo-kun toy and much more.
Friday, December 10, 2004
Greetings from J-List 12/10/04
Pachinko is a popular past-time in Japan, especially with men. It's basically a vertical pinball-style machine, with the object being to shoot metal balls at just the right angle needed to make them go into certain holes inside the machine, which makes more balls come out, so that you end up with more balls than you started out with. Although gambling is illegal, you can exchange the balls for "prizes" which you turn into "sell" back to the pachinko parlor. Gunma prefecture, where we live, happens to be the Detroit of the pachinko world -- virtually all major manufacturers are based here, and there are more pachinko parlors than in other parts of Japan. As with all industries, pachinko companies must work hard to come up with ways of attracting customers, and it's common for new machines to sport LCD screens and slot machine displays and innovative cabinet designs. Recently pachinko parlors are turning to famous anime shows to attract customers. Leiji Matsumoto has redesigned his famous anime Space Cruiser Yamato (aka Star Blazers) as Great Yamato II, a line of pachinko machines designed to capture the hearts of a new generation of players. I've posted some scans from a recent newspaper flyer advertising some new pachinko establishments in our area -- the art is pretty cool. See them here: http://www.jlist.com/pachinko/
Transliteration is the act of moving a word from one writing system into another, and with languages like Chinese and Japanese, there are always different approaches to this problem. This is why you get variations like Peking and Beijing for the capital of China or an alternate spelling of "Leon" for photo idol Reon Kadena's first name. Japanese is a syllable-based language, and has a system of syllabary sounds built into its structure. For example, you can express the sounds ka, ki, ku, ke, and ko in Japanese, but not "k" all by itself. One point of contention is how to Romanize three syllables that don't fit easily into this pattern, pronounced "shi" "tsu" and "chi." Should they be written as they're pronounced (called the Hepburn method), or should the "consonant + verb" pattern be preserved even if it results in written words that foreigners can't pronounce correctly (called the Nihon method), e.g. writing the word pronounced "tsuchi," meaning earth or ground, as "tuti." As with computer platforms, students of Japanese are usually willing to fight over the system of Romanization they think is best (whichever one they happened to learn first).
Among the many interesting products from Japan we carry, J-List also stocks all English-language dating-sim games in print, which allow you to interact with cute anime characters in interesting and uniquely Japanese stories. While most of the titles we carry are for those 18 and older, we do sell a line of non-adult "H games without the H," which allow everyone to you play through exciting the multi-ending stories on any DVD player, Playstation, Xbox or Mac or PC with a DVD-ROM drive. The newest interactive DVD game we have for you is Ishika & Honori, a great new game in which you must assist a cute-but-bumbling pair of Paranormal Defense Force investigators as they try to unlock a terrible mystery. Enjoy this great new game, in stock now!
Remember, J-List has hundreds of great gifts for your loved ones (or you!) this season. If you run out of time or want to add something cool at the last minute, consider a J-List Gift Certificate, which makes it easy to give the gift of wacky Japanese pop culture to anyone. Because you can choose either a physical gift certificate in gift box (mailed from San Diego) or an email-only gift certificate which is delivered instantly, these gift certificates are great for anyone looking for the perfect gift for the Japanophile on your list.
J-List carries many delicious snack items from Japan. Japan is famous for delicious chocolate-covered stick snacks like Pocky and Fran, and this year's flavors are really amazing. In addition to a larger package of original Pocky, our favorites this winter are Cocoa-Powder Rich Pocky and Strawberry and Chocolate Pocky Decorer ("the Pocky that's like eating a decorated cake").
Transliteration is the act of moving a word from one writing system into another, and with languages like Chinese and Japanese, there are always different approaches to this problem. This is why you get variations like Peking and Beijing for the capital of China or an alternate spelling of "Leon" for photo idol Reon Kadena's first name. Japanese is a syllable-based language, and has a system of syllabary sounds built into its structure. For example, you can express the sounds ka, ki, ku, ke, and ko in Japanese, but not "k" all by itself. One point of contention is how to Romanize three syllables that don't fit easily into this pattern, pronounced "shi" "tsu" and "chi." Should they be written as they're pronounced (called the Hepburn method), or should the "consonant + verb" pattern be preserved even if it results in written words that foreigners can't pronounce correctly (called the Nihon method), e.g. writing the word pronounced "tsuchi," meaning earth or ground, as "tuti." As with computer platforms, students of Japanese are usually willing to fight over the system of Romanization they think is best (whichever one they happened to learn first).
Among the many interesting products from Japan we carry, J-List also stocks all English-language dating-sim games in print, which allow you to interact with cute anime characters in interesting and uniquely Japanese stories. While most of the titles we carry are for those 18 and older, we do sell a line of non-adult "H games without the H," which allow everyone to you play through exciting the multi-ending stories on any DVD player, Playstation, Xbox or Mac or PC with a DVD-ROM drive. The newest interactive DVD game we have for you is Ishika & Honori, a great new game in which you must assist a cute-but-bumbling pair of Paranormal Defense Force investigators as they try to unlock a terrible mystery. Enjoy this great new game, in stock now!
Remember, J-List has hundreds of great gifts for your loved ones (or you!) this season. If you run out of time or want to add something cool at the last minute, consider a J-List Gift Certificate, which makes it easy to give the gift of wacky Japanese pop culture to anyone. Because you can choose either a physical gift certificate in gift box (mailed from San Diego) or an email-only gift certificate which is delivered instantly, these gift certificates are great for anyone looking for the perfect gift for the Japanophile on your list.
J-List carries many delicious snack items from Japan. Japan is famous for delicious chocolate-covered stick snacks like Pocky and Fran, and this year's flavors are really amazing. In addition to a larger package of original Pocky, our favorites this winter are Cocoa-Powder Rich Pocky and Strawberry and Chocolate Pocky Decorer ("the Pocky that's like eating a decorated cake").
Wednesday, December 08, 2004
Greetings from J-List 12/8/04
Japan is very technically advanced, and no where is this more evident than in the market for portable phones, called "keitai" in Japanese. Japan's keitai market has really matured, with the various companies that compete for market share each claiming different niches for themselves as they try to survive and flourish. The Microsoft of Japan is NTT, and their Docomo line is the top-selling cell phone, although they're expensive and don't really work any better or worse than their competitors. Next is "au by KDDI," the phone service run by NTT's main competitor. They've chosen phones with GPS, cameras that take beautiful pictures, and Bluetooth as their primary areas to compete in. J-Phone, which was renamed Vodafone after the European company bought them, has staked out cheap per-packet charges as its main battleground, for users who surf the web and send and receive lots of email on their keitai phones. And Tu-ka has built a name for themselves around the concept of "simple," making phones that have only bare-bones features, including a phone for elderly people that's as easy to use as a household cordless phone.
Yes, there seems to be no end to the features they won't think of to put into these things. Yesterday we went shopping for new phones for our entire family, including our nine year old son, who will be commuting to his new school next year. I was bowled over by the number of handsets I was presented with -- at least 200 different models and colors. Would I like 2G or 3G? How about the karaoke option for the phone? A phone with an extra-wide screen and Opera web browser built into it? A 3.2 megapixel camera with mini-SD slot? Of course they play MP3s. One phone had an interesting feature: a reflective mirror body, so ladies could check their makeup while they read their email. We finally went with the au phones, since we like the GPS feature that allows us to see where our son is via the web in case we can't find him for some reason. My phone came with songs and pictures of lovely South Korean pop star Boa, who is very much in demand in Japan these days. See a TV commercial for the phone I bought, here: http://www.jlist.com/phones
Japan is a great place, with friendly people, beautiful sights and a strength of culture that is really amazing. And while it's true that the Japanese revere the beauty to be found in the passing of the seasons or in the sight of Mt. Fuji in the morning, it can't really be said that Japan is at harmony with its environment. When I first came to Japan, I was surprised at the stagging amount of concrete and asphalt there was, even in the small rural city I live in (pop. 140,000). Signs of Japan's mastery over nature can be seen everywhere. In most every river, there are concrete breakwaters and graded slopes to guard against flooding, and when you take a drive in the mountains, be prepared to see heavily landscaped roads, often with chain link fences embedded in the sides of mountains to protect against falling rocks. Parks often feature concrete walkways, with concrete going right up against the trees. I have a theory on why this is: because Japan didn't have a cold war to fight, they invested massive sums in WPA-style public works rather than a huge base of military technology like the U.S. did. A silly law that requires that 100% of gasoline taxes be spent on roads whether they're needed or not is another part of the problem, and the reason drivers know they're going to be stuck in traffic from January to March, as municipal governments try to use up their budgets as quickly as they can. Some differences in how Japan manages its natural resources are to be expected, considering that Japan has to fit half the population of the U.S. into an area just 1/25 as large, but it's still surprising to the uninitiated.
Remember that almost all of the DVDs that J-List carries are zoned for "all" regions, meaning that you can view them on any DVD player in North America, or on any computer with a DVD drive in it. The exceptions to these are anime DVDs issued in Japan (such as the Studio Ghibli DVDs like Totoro), Japanese films released in Japan, and most "indies" DVD titles by companies like Moodyz and Wanz Factory. If you wish to view Japanese region 2 DVDs in the U.S., including European region 2 PAL titles, we humbly suggest the feature-packed region free DVD players we carry in San Diego. Our most reliable ever model is in stock and costs just $78!
Yes, there seems to be no end to the features they won't think of to put into these things. Yesterday we went shopping for new phones for our entire family, including our nine year old son, who will be commuting to his new school next year. I was bowled over by the number of handsets I was presented with -- at least 200 different models and colors. Would I like 2G or 3G? How about the karaoke option for the phone? A phone with an extra-wide screen and Opera web browser built into it? A 3.2 megapixel camera with mini-SD slot? Of course they play MP3s. One phone had an interesting feature: a reflective mirror body, so ladies could check their makeup while they read their email. We finally went with the au phones, since we like the GPS feature that allows us to see where our son is via the web in case we can't find him for some reason. My phone came with songs and pictures of lovely South Korean pop star Boa, who is very much in demand in Japan these days. See a TV commercial for the phone I bought, here: http://www.jlist.com/phones
Japan is a great place, with friendly people, beautiful sights and a strength of culture that is really amazing. And while it's true that the Japanese revere the beauty to be found in the passing of the seasons or in the sight of Mt. Fuji in the morning, it can't really be said that Japan is at harmony with its environment. When I first came to Japan, I was surprised at the stagging amount of concrete and asphalt there was, even in the small rural city I live in (pop. 140,000). Signs of Japan's mastery over nature can be seen everywhere. In most every river, there are concrete breakwaters and graded slopes to guard against flooding, and when you take a drive in the mountains, be prepared to see heavily landscaped roads, often with chain link fences embedded in the sides of mountains to protect against falling rocks. Parks often feature concrete walkways, with concrete going right up against the trees. I have a theory on why this is: because Japan didn't have a cold war to fight, they invested massive sums in WPA-style public works rather than a huge base of military technology like the U.S. did. A silly law that requires that 100% of gasoline taxes be spent on roads whether they're needed or not is another part of the problem, and the reason drivers know they're going to be stuck in traffic from January to March, as municipal governments try to use up their budgets as quickly as they can. Some differences in how Japan manages its natural resources are to be expected, considering that Japan has to fit half the population of the U.S. into an area just 1/25 as large, but it's still surprising to the uninitiated.
Remember that almost all of the DVDs that J-List carries are zoned for "all" regions, meaning that you can view them on any DVD player in North America, or on any computer with a DVD drive in it. The exceptions to these are anime DVDs issued in Japan (such as the Studio Ghibli DVDs like Totoro), Japanese films released in Japan, and most "indies" DVD titles by companies like Moodyz and Wanz Factory. If you wish to view Japanese region 2 DVDs in the U.S., including European region 2 PAL titles, we humbly suggest the feature-packed region free DVD players we carry in San Diego. Our most reliable ever model is in stock and costs just $78!
Monday, December 06, 2004
Greetings from J-List 12/6/04
It's funny how a language reflects the people who speak it, and vice versa. Much of famously nuance-filled indirectness of the Japanese people has its roots in the language itself, although it's kind of a chicken-or-the-egg question of which came first. For starters, Japanese speakers often leave off the subject when speaking, since it's almost always clear from the overall sentence. If I ask Yasu if he's posted the latest manga to the website, I'd just say, Atarashii manga wo dashimashita ka? (lit. "New manga [object marker] put out [question marker]") without adding a subject ("you") since I'm obviously asking about something Yasu did. Sentences can get even shorter -- if the rest of my meaning is clear from the context, maybe because I'm holding the manga in question in my hand at the time, I might just say "Dashimashita?" and he'd know what I was asking about. Also, Japanese makes use of passive forms of verbs to express concepts without specifying who did the action, with sentences like "it has been decided" rather than "my boss decided it," which serves to soften statements and smooth the creation of consent in groups. Passive voice is usually not used that much in English, but in Japanese, making a statement while leaving the subject unspecified is quite common.
Another interesting grammatical tidbit which reflects the character of the Japanese people is the verb ending "masho" which corresponds to "let's..." as in "let's eat" (tabemasho), "let's go" (ikimasho) or "let's not smoke" (tobacco wo yamemasho). In situations where verbal or written warnings would be worded in a command form in English (don't smoke, don't ride on the escalator backwards), it's common for Japanese to express the same message with this softer "let's..." verb form, making statements like "let's put our telephones into vibration mode" (manner mode ni shimasho) or "when a pregnant woman or elderly person gets on the train, let's give our seat to them" (seki wo yuzurimasho). These statements subtly create a warm and fuzzy "let's all cooperate" atmosphere that make people want to do their part for the good of everyone. Every year, the Japanese tax office sponsors commercials featuring famous TV personalities walking to their post office to mail their income tax forms -- "Let's fill out our tax forms accurately and honestly," is the verbalized message. It's quite different from the way things are usually done in the U.S.
Many aspects of life in Japan can be different from America and Europe, and marriage is one of them. For centuries, Japan's entire population has been recorded in "family registers" which are kept on file at city offices throughout the country. When a woman marries a man and goes to live in his house (called yome ni iku or "go as a bride"), she is completely erased from her father's register and joins her husband's, taking his last name, and when she dies, being buried in her husband's family grave. This system works both ways: males often join their wife's families households, too, called muko ni iku or "go as a son-in-law"), legally taking their wife's last name. Males sometimes join their wife's households but keep their own last names, a rarity called "Masuo-san" (MAH-soo-oh-san), named after the husband of Sazae-san in Japan's most popular and longest-running anime -- if you ever want to floor Japanese people with your knowledge of Japan, pull this term out and watch their eyes go wide. Since I keep my own last name even though I've joined my wife's household, I am a Masuo-san as well.
Japanese calendar season continues, and once again I'm amazed at the speed with which our unique 2005 calendars are selling out. A week ago we had 180+ different anime, JPOP, traditional, swimsuit idol and other great calendars, and now we're down to 130 or so. We still have lots of these excellent calendars, which are beautifully printed on large sheets of paper and sold in the Japanese market only. Check out our still-amazing selection of calendars before the ones you want disappear forever.
J-List is really humming, both in Japan and our San Diego office, as we ship hundreds of packages a day to everyone. We've got 24 hour turnover on shipping EMS orders, and the San Diego office is also working very hard to get all DVD player, bishoujo game and T-shirt orders out the next day. We hope we can serve you in some way!
Remember that you can see dozens of great gift ideas by clicking the "Looking for gift recommendations?" link on the right side of the site. We've gone through the entire site and selected some excellent items you might want to consider giving to others this year. And everything in the list is in stock and ready to be shipped out right away!
Another interesting grammatical tidbit which reflects the character of the Japanese people is the verb ending "masho" which corresponds to "let's..." as in "let's eat" (tabemasho), "let's go" (ikimasho) or "let's not smoke" (tobacco wo yamemasho). In situations where verbal or written warnings would be worded in a command form in English (don't smoke, don't ride on the escalator backwards), it's common for Japanese to express the same message with this softer "let's..." verb form, making statements like "let's put our telephones into vibration mode" (manner mode ni shimasho) or "when a pregnant woman or elderly person gets on the train, let's give our seat to them" (seki wo yuzurimasho). These statements subtly create a warm and fuzzy "let's all cooperate" atmosphere that make people want to do their part for the good of everyone. Every year, the Japanese tax office sponsors commercials featuring famous TV personalities walking to their post office to mail their income tax forms -- "Let's fill out our tax forms accurately and honestly," is the verbalized message. It's quite different from the way things are usually done in the U.S.
Many aspects of life in Japan can be different from America and Europe, and marriage is one of them. For centuries, Japan's entire population has been recorded in "family registers" which are kept on file at city offices throughout the country. When a woman marries a man and goes to live in his house (called yome ni iku or "go as a bride"), she is completely erased from her father's register and joins her husband's, taking his last name, and when she dies, being buried in her husband's family grave. This system works both ways: males often join their wife's families households, too, called muko ni iku or "go as a son-in-law"), legally taking their wife's last name. Males sometimes join their wife's households but keep their own last names, a rarity called "Masuo-san" (MAH-soo-oh-san), named after the husband of Sazae-san in Japan's most popular and longest-running anime -- if you ever want to floor Japanese people with your knowledge of Japan, pull this term out and watch their eyes go wide. Since I keep my own last name even though I've joined my wife's household, I am a Masuo-san as well.
Japanese calendar season continues, and once again I'm amazed at the speed with which our unique 2005 calendars are selling out. A week ago we had 180+ different anime, JPOP, traditional, swimsuit idol and other great calendars, and now we're down to 130 or so. We still have lots of these excellent calendars, which are beautifully printed on large sheets of paper and sold in the Japanese market only. Check out our still-amazing selection of calendars before the ones you want disappear forever.
J-List is really humming, both in Japan and our San Diego office, as we ship hundreds of packages a day to everyone. We've got 24 hour turnover on shipping EMS orders, and the San Diego office is also working very hard to get all DVD player, bishoujo game and T-shirt orders out the next day. We hope we can serve you in some way!
Remember that you can see dozens of great gift ideas by clicking the "Looking for gift recommendations?" link on the right side of the site. We've gone through the entire site and selected some excellent items you might want to consider giving to others this year. And everything in the list is in stock and ready to be shipped out right away!
Sunday, December 05, 2004
Friday, December 03, 2004
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Greetings from J-List 12/1/04
You've been in Japan too long when you pronounce the word "warehouse" as "wah-rey house." Japanese pronunciation is extremely easy, once you get the hang of it and break it down into simple rules. First of all, Japanese is written with the two kana syllabaries (hiragana for Japanese words, katakana for foreign loan words), not an alphabet like English. There are just five vowels, the exact sounds found in languages like Spanish and Italian: A (ah), I (ee), U (oo), E (eh) and O (oh). Japanese words are expressed in consonant + vowel syllables (ka, ki, ku, ke, ko/sa, shi, su, se, so); vowels and the consonant 'n' can also be expressed alone. English grammar rules like silent e (or "magic e" as the Japanese call it) don't exist: hence a name like Tomoe is pronounced TOH-MOH-eh and the family name Inoue is just EE + NO + OO + EH. There are long and short vowels, so that the short "o" in a word like "okane" (o-kah-nay, meaning money) sounds different from the longer "oh" sound in Osaka. Since there's only one way to verbalize any syllable, there's no need to debate how a word should be pronounced (as with, say, British and American pronunciations of the word "tomato"). Happily, Japanese uses almost no inflection when speaking, which makes it much easier for English speakers than some other Asian languages.
I've lived in Japan since 1991, and every time I return home, I feel a little like Rip Van Winkle, the man who went to sleep as a British colonist and woke up twenty years later, after the American Revolution had taken place. Back in the old days of the 80s, anime was something you watched once a month at an anime club on a university campus. You watched everything in Japanese, with a xeroxed sheet of paper that explained what was happening in the episodes, if you were lucky -- almost nothing was available in English. The idea of going to a store and buying anime goods was also laughable, since no stores sold anime, except for a few comic shops that were ahead of the curve. Now, the level of acceptance of Japanese anime and manga is incredible, as people all over the world have come to embrace this fascinating alternative world culture. The wacky trivia show Fountain of Trivia that we watch every week is even being brought out in English, as Hey! Spring of Trivia, on Spike TV, so you can follow the adventures of cute model Megumi, Chairman Tamori and everyone else. Here's some info on the show, including broadcast times: http://www.spiketv.com/shows/series/hey/
Well, our little Thanksgiving was a big success. Using a combination of American and Japanese methods, we managed to bake our turkey and prepare all the other fixings, although we had some confusion from our Japanese oven, which had various "fuzzy" settings intended to make food preparation easier for us but which only got in our way. We had fun blending tried-and-true American traditions with Japanese ones -- our Japanese friends brought along sushi, and my kids asked for soy sauce while they ate their turkey with chopsticks. One thing about being an expat in Japan: it will make you appreciate your mother like nothing else. Thanks for everything you do, Mom.
Is there anything we can do for you for the holidays this year? J-List has a mind-boggling number of cool things from Japan, with something for everyone. Looking for a really unique gift? Browse our anime, snack and "wacky things from Japan" pages for a huge number of ideas. Want to keep it simple? Why not give our wacky Japanese T-shirts or hoodies, which stocked in San Diego for your shipping convenience. Don't forget are incredible selection of 2005 anime, JPOP, swimsuit idol and other calendars, which are only available from Japan and are already starting to sell out
Remember that J-List sells hundreds of cool things from Japan, including the popular "Mononofu" detailed miniature weapons that are made of real die-cast metal and exactly replicate the armor, shields and weapons used in Japan and Europe in centuries past. They're amazing miniature weapons that are great for displaying -- each piece comes with a stand and information on the weapon or armor. We go out of our way to make full sets of these great toys available for you, so there's no need to buy duplicates and throw them away.
I've lived in Japan since 1991, and every time I return home, I feel a little like Rip Van Winkle, the man who went to sleep as a British colonist and woke up twenty years later, after the American Revolution had taken place. Back in the old days of the 80s, anime was something you watched once a month at an anime club on a university campus. You watched everything in Japanese, with a xeroxed sheet of paper that explained what was happening in the episodes, if you were lucky -- almost nothing was available in English. The idea of going to a store and buying anime goods was also laughable, since no stores sold anime, except for a few comic shops that were ahead of the curve. Now, the level of acceptance of Japanese anime and manga is incredible, as people all over the world have come to embrace this fascinating alternative world culture. The wacky trivia show Fountain of Trivia that we watch every week is even being brought out in English, as Hey! Spring of Trivia, on Spike TV, so you can follow the adventures of cute model Megumi, Chairman Tamori and everyone else. Here's some info on the show, including broadcast times: http://www.spiketv.com/shows/series/hey/
Well, our little Thanksgiving was a big success. Using a combination of American and Japanese methods, we managed to bake our turkey and prepare all the other fixings, although we had some confusion from our Japanese oven, which had various "fuzzy" settings intended to make food preparation easier for us but which only got in our way. We had fun blending tried-and-true American traditions with Japanese ones -- our Japanese friends brought along sushi, and my kids asked for soy sauce while they ate their turkey with chopsticks. One thing about being an expat in Japan: it will make you appreciate your mother like nothing else. Thanks for everything you do, Mom.
Is there anything we can do for you for the holidays this year? J-List has a mind-boggling number of cool things from Japan, with something for everyone. Looking for a really unique gift? Browse our anime, snack and "wacky things from Japan" pages for a huge number of ideas. Want to keep it simple? Why not give our wacky Japanese T-shirts or hoodies, which stocked in San Diego for your shipping convenience. Don't forget are incredible selection of 2005 anime, JPOP, swimsuit idol and other calendars, which are only available from Japan and are already starting to sell out
Remember that J-List sells hundreds of cool things from Japan, including the popular "Mononofu" detailed miniature weapons that are made of real die-cast metal and exactly replicate the armor, shields and weapons used in Japan and Europe in centuries past. They're amazing miniature weapons that are great for displaying -- each piece comes with a stand and information on the weapon or armor. We go out of our way to make full sets of these great toys available for you, so there's no need to buy duplicates and throw them away.
Monday, November 29, 2004
Greetings from J-List 11/29/04
You've been in Japan too long when you pronounce the word "warehouse" as "wah-rey house." Japanese pronunciation is extremely easy, once you get the hang of it and break it down into simple rules. First of all, Japanese is written with the two kana syllabaries (hiragana for Japanese words, katakana for foreign loan words), not an alphabet like English. There are just five vowels, the exact sounds found in languages like Spanish and Italian: A (ah), I (ee), U (oo), E (eh) and O (oh). Japanese words are expressed in consonant + vowel syllables (ka, ki, ku, ke, ko/sa, shi, su, se, so); vowels and the consonant 'n' can also be expressed alone. English grammar rules like silent e (or "magic e" as the Japanese call it) don't exist: hence a name like Tomoe is pronounced TOH-MOH-eh and the family name Inoue is just EE + NO + OO + EH. There are long and short vowels, so that the short "o" in a word like "okane" (o-kah-nay, meaning money) sounds different from the longer "oh" sound in Osaka. Since there's only one way to verbalize any syllable, there's no need to debate how a word should be pronounced (as with, say, British and American pronunciations of the word "tomato"). Happily, Japanese uses almost no inflection when speaking, which makes it much easier for English speakers than some other Asian languages.
I've lived in Japan since 1991, and every time I return home, I feel a little like Rip Van Winkle, the man who went to sleep as a British colonist and woke up twenty years later, after the American Revolution had taken place. Back in the old days of the 80s, anime was something you watched once a month at an anime club on a university campus. You watched everything in Japanese, with a xeroxed sheet of paper that explained what was happening in the episodes, if you were lucky -- almost nothing was available in English. The idea of going to a store and buying anime goods was also laughable, since no stores sold anime, except for a few comic shops that were ahead of the curve. Now, the level of acceptance of Japanese anime and manga is incredible, as people all over the world have come to embrace this fascinating alternative world culture. The wacky trivia show Fountain of Trivia that we watch every week is even being brought out in English, as Hey! Spring of Trivia, on Spike TV, so you can follow the adventures of cute model Megumi, Chairman Tamori and everyone else. Here's some info on the show, including broadcast times: http://www.spiketv.com/shows/series/hey/
Well, our little Thanksgiving was a big success. Using a combination of American and Japanese methods, we managed to bake our turkey and prepare all the other fixings, although we had some confusion from our Japanese oven, which had various "fuzzy" settings intended to make food preparation easier for us but which only got in our way. We had fun blending tried-and-true American traditions with Japanese ones -- our Japanese friends brought along sushi, and my kids asked for soy sauce while they ate their turkey with chopsticks. One thing about being an expat in Japan: it will make you appreciate your mother like nothing else. Thanks for everything you do, Mom.
Is there anything we can do for you for the holidays this year? J-List has a mind-boggling number of cool things from Japan, with something for everyone. Looking for a really unique gift? Browse our anime, snack and "wacky things from Japan" pages for a huge number of ideas. Want to keep it simple? Why not give our wacky Japanese T-shirts or hoodies, which stocked in San Diego for your shipping convenience. Don't forget are incredible selection of 2005 anime, JPOP, swimsuit idol and other calendars, which are only available from Japan and are already starting to sell out
Remember that J-List sells hundreds of cool things from Japan, including the popular "Mononofu" detailed miniature weapons that are made of real die-cast metal and exactly replicate the armor, shields and weapons used in Japan and Europe in centuries past. They're amazing miniature weapons that are great for displaying -- each piece comes with a stand and information on the weapon or armor. We go out of our way to make full sets of these great toys available for you, so there's no need to buy duplicates and throw them away.
I've lived in Japan since 1991, and every time I return home, I feel a little like Rip Van Winkle, the man who went to sleep as a British colonist and woke up twenty years later, after the American Revolution had taken place. Back in the old days of the 80s, anime was something you watched once a month at an anime club on a university campus. You watched everything in Japanese, with a xeroxed sheet of paper that explained what was happening in the episodes, if you were lucky -- almost nothing was available in English. The idea of going to a store and buying anime goods was also laughable, since no stores sold anime, except for a few comic shops that were ahead of the curve. Now, the level of acceptance of Japanese anime and manga is incredible, as people all over the world have come to embrace this fascinating alternative world culture. The wacky trivia show Fountain of Trivia that we watch every week is even being brought out in English, as Hey! Spring of Trivia, on Spike TV, so you can follow the adventures of cute model Megumi, Chairman Tamori and everyone else. Here's some info on the show, including broadcast times: http://www.spiketv.com/shows/series/hey/
Well, our little Thanksgiving was a big success. Using a combination of American and Japanese methods, we managed to bake our turkey and prepare all the other fixings, although we had some confusion from our Japanese oven, which had various "fuzzy" settings intended to make food preparation easier for us but which only got in our way. We had fun blending tried-and-true American traditions with Japanese ones -- our Japanese friends brought along sushi, and my kids asked for soy sauce while they ate their turkey with chopsticks. One thing about being an expat in Japan: it will make you appreciate your mother like nothing else. Thanks for everything you do, Mom.
Is there anything we can do for you for the holidays this year? J-List has a mind-boggling number of cool things from Japan, with something for everyone. Looking for a really unique gift? Browse our anime, snack and "wacky things from Japan" pages for a huge number of ideas. Want to keep it simple? Why not give our wacky Japanese T-shirts or hoodies, which stocked in San Diego for your shipping convenience. Don't forget are incredible selection of 2005 anime, JPOP, swimsuit idol and other calendars, which are only available from Japan and are already starting to sell out
Remember that J-List sells hundreds of cool things from Japan, including the popular "Mononofu" detailed miniature weapons that are made of real die-cast metal and exactly replicate the armor, shields and weapons used in Japan and Europe in centuries past. They're amazing miniature weapons that are great for displaying -- each piece comes with a stand and information on the weapon or armor. We go out of our way to make full sets of these great toys available for you, so there's no need to buy duplicates and throw them away.
Friday, November 26, 2004
Greetings from J-List 11/26/04
First of all, happy day after Thanksgiving, if you're in the U.S. -- we hope everyone had a warm and wonderful holiday with friends and family. It's usually quite hard for American expats here to get into the spirit of that particular holiday, since the Japanese don't have anything like it, and usually we go to KFC and get a bucket of chicken. However, this year we actually managed to find real frozen turkey at a supermarket that sells various import foods. It was even on sale, since most Japanese don't have large enough ovens to cook a turkey in (but we do). So for the first time in my life, we're going to have a traditional Thanksgiving in Japan - wow!
While the various cultural gulfs that separate Japan from the West can feel vast at times, it's also amazing how close we can be, too. I like to go to karaoke, and once I was asked to sing September by Earth, Wind and Fire by a student of mine, who wanted more than anything to hear it sung by a "nama no gaijin" (a foreigner in the flesh). I obliged, amazed that the Japanese would have an affinity for pop music from the 70's. My wife has always surprised me with knowledge of obscure American television that was shown in Japan, like "My Wife is a Witch" (Okusama wa Majo, aka Bewitched), Charlie's Angels, Knight Rider and Wacky Racers (Muttley's Japanese name is Ken-Ken). My experience with Chinese living in Japan has been quite different. An American friend of mine married a Chinese exchange student from Beijing, and once I took them out to the Hard Rock Cafe in Roppongi. Virtually all of myriad cultural references that surrounded us were totally lost on the poor girl -- she wasn't even sure who the Beatles were or what they'd been famous for.
It's time for more wacky tidbits from the Fountain of Trivia, our favorite Japanese TV show, which amuses us every week with off-the-wall trivia that you never dreamed of. On Thai Airlines, there's a section that's even nicer than First Class reserved for Buddhist priests. There are 48 official ways to defeat your opponent in sumo wrestling (called "shiju hatte" or the 48 hands) -- and also arm wrestling. One of Nintendo's first products was a "love meter" which measured the amount of love between two people when they held hands. There's a national competition for supermarket clerks, who compete on speed, efficiency and friendliness. There's a record featuring the howling of Hachiko, the famous dog that waited years for his master to return home to Shibuya station in Tokyo, not knowing that his master had died -- they played the record into a Bowlingual dog translator to try to decode what he was saying. When you clip your fingernails, the pieces fly away from you at an average speed of 39 kph (24 mph). Manekin Pis, the famous Belgian statue that Japan is utterly fixated with, commemorates a brave boy who, when he found a bomb with a lit fuse, thought of a unique way to put out the fuse and save the town. Finally, Charlie Chaplin's manager...was Japanese.
A useful word to know in Japanese is kakko ii (KAH-koe EE), which literally means "good style" and corresponds the slang word "cool." The Japanese can be very style-oriented, and like to surround themselves with cool things -- incredibly advanced cell phones, fashionable clothes, and products with English written on the package, since English is always cool. The opposite of kakko ii is kakko warui, which describes anything that is uncool or out of fashion. Things that are not popular in Japan these days include drinking martinis (made uncool by too many scenes of actors drinking them in "trendy dramas" on TV), jeans bleached with "chemical wash" (to make them appear old), and taking leave of someone by saying "Bye Bye Kin" (BAI BAI KEEN), which was made famous by Listerine commercials here (baikin is Japanese for bacteria, so you're saying goodbye to the germs in your mouth). Another word that means uncool in the Tokyo area is dasai (da-SAI), which supposedly is a reference to Saitama Prefecture, the somewhat-urban, somewhat-rural area north of Tokyo that's not unlike Orange County near Los Angeles. Dasai is supposed to be short for dame na Satmama (stupid Saitama), but is used in the Kanto area to refer to anything that's generally dorky.
Announcing J-List gift certificates! Our customers told us that they wanted the convenience of giving the gift of cool things from Japan to their friends and family, and we've listened. Now you can buy gift certificates in several different amounts, choosing several options, like a message for your recipient and whether you want the certificate to be from J-List or JBOX.com. You can also opt for electronic delivery via email, or have us send your recipient a physical gift certificate that they can use online. Gift certificates will be redeemable after Dec 10.
Remember that J-List carries a full line of Japanese snack foods, with many rare cult favorites in stock for you, like Pocky, Black Black caffeine gum, and also the delicious and popular Felix the Cat bubble gum, which is famous all the world over (we're not sure why this is, but we don't mind). Why not make someone a unique gift basket of treats from Japan this year?
While the various cultural gulfs that separate Japan from the West can feel vast at times, it's also amazing how close we can be, too. I like to go to karaoke, and once I was asked to sing September by Earth, Wind and Fire by a student of mine, who wanted more than anything to hear it sung by a "nama no gaijin" (a foreigner in the flesh). I obliged, amazed that the Japanese would have an affinity for pop music from the 70's. My wife has always surprised me with knowledge of obscure American television that was shown in Japan, like "My Wife is a Witch" (Okusama wa Majo, aka Bewitched), Charlie's Angels, Knight Rider and Wacky Racers (Muttley's Japanese name is Ken-Ken). My experience with Chinese living in Japan has been quite different. An American friend of mine married a Chinese exchange student from Beijing, and once I took them out to the Hard Rock Cafe in Roppongi. Virtually all of myriad cultural references that surrounded us were totally lost on the poor girl -- she wasn't even sure who the Beatles were or what they'd been famous for.
It's time for more wacky tidbits from the Fountain of Trivia, our favorite Japanese TV show, which amuses us every week with off-the-wall trivia that you never dreamed of. On Thai Airlines, there's a section that's even nicer than First Class reserved for Buddhist priests. There are 48 official ways to defeat your opponent in sumo wrestling (called "shiju hatte" or the 48 hands) -- and also arm wrestling. One of Nintendo's first products was a "love meter" which measured the amount of love between two people when they held hands. There's a national competition for supermarket clerks, who compete on speed, efficiency and friendliness. There's a record featuring the howling of Hachiko, the famous dog that waited years for his master to return home to Shibuya station in Tokyo, not knowing that his master had died -- they played the record into a Bowlingual dog translator to try to decode what he was saying. When you clip your fingernails, the pieces fly away from you at an average speed of 39 kph (24 mph). Manekin Pis, the famous Belgian statue that Japan is utterly fixated with, commemorates a brave boy who, when he found a bomb with a lit fuse, thought of a unique way to put out the fuse and save the town. Finally, Charlie Chaplin's manager...was Japanese.
A useful word to know in Japanese is kakko ii (KAH-koe EE), which literally means "good style" and corresponds the slang word "cool." The Japanese can be very style-oriented, and like to surround themselves with cool things -- incredibly advanced cell phones, fashionable clothes, and products with English written on the package, since English is always cool. The opposite of kakko ii is kakko warui, which describes anything that is uncool or out of fashion. Things that are not popular in Japan these days include drinking martinis (made uncool by too many scenes of actors drinking them in "trendy dramas" on TV), jeans bleached with "chemical wash" (to make them appear old), and taking leave of someone by saying "Bye Bye Kin" (BAI BAI KEEN), which was made famous by Listerine commercials here (baikin is Japanese for bacteria, so you're saying goodbye to the germs in your mouth). Another word that means uncool in the Tokyo area is dasai (da-SAI), which supposedly is a reference to Saitama Prefecture, the somewhat-urban, somewhat-rural area north of Tokyo that's not unlike Orange County near Los Angeles. Dasai is supposed to be short for dame na Satmama (stupid Saitama), but is used in the Kanto area to refer to anything that's generally dorky.
Announcing J-List gift certificates! Our customers told us that they wanted the convenience of giving the gift of cool things from Japan to their friends and family, and we've listened. Now you can buy gift certificates in several different amounts, choosing several options, like a message for your recipient and whether you want the certificate to be from J-List or JBOX.com. You can also opt for electronic delivery via email, or have us send your recipient a physical gift certificate that they can use online. Gift certificates will be redeemable after Dec 10.
Remember that J-List carries a full line of Japanese snack foods, with many rare cult favorites in stock for you, like Pocky, Black Black caffeine gum, and also the delicious and popular Felix the Cat bubble gum, which is famous all the world over (we're not sure why this is, but we don't mind). Why not make someone a unique gift basket of treats from Japan this year?
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Greetings from J-List 11/24/04
The Japanese import many words from other languages for use in their daily lives. Usually the words are from English, but every once in a while words from other languages sneak in, like randoseru (school backpack, from the German raenzel), ankeeto (questionnaire, from the French enquete), and pan (bread, from the Portuguese). This doesn't stop the Japanese from assuming that every word written in the katakana syllabary is English and trying to use the terms with English speakers. A source of confusion for Yanks is that the Japanese have imported many British words, such as bonnet (hood of a car), water closet (bathroom), dust bin (trash can) and pants (which refers to underwear everywhere but the U.S.). Some traditions the Japanese have embraced, such as the penchant for eating Christmas Cake around 25th December, also seemed odd to me at first, but of course, Christmas Cake is a concept the Japanese picked up from the British. Living in Japan can help you learn a lot about the world!
The largest group of foreigners in Japan aren't American or Australians or Brits. They're Koreans, an interesting group because many of them were born and raised right here, and often don't even speak Korean unless they attended one of the Korean-only schools that pepper the country. To an American like me, it's odd that these people would not be considered Japanese, as all children born in the U.S. get to be American citizens automatically. But the relationship of Korea and Japan is a very complex one, somewhat akin to that of Britain and Ireland, and more or less by mutual agreement of both sides Koreans often live for generations inside Japan, never allowing themselves to become culturally assimilated. Or is it the Japanese who keep the Korean population from truly becoming part of their society? I couldn't possibly say for sure. On the one hand, it's not difficult for anyone (even white-boy gaijin me) to get Japanese citizenship as long as he meets certain reasonable requirements. Japan is always very sensitive to possible accusations of racism, so there are no groups that aren't "allowed" to become Japanese citizens. Many Koreans object to the Japanese requirement that all persons wanting to become naturalized must take a Japanese name, e.g. Taro Yamada, as well as requiring that many jobs, including teaching at public schools, be done only by persons with full Japanese citizenship. Koreans living in Japan make sure they only hang out with other similar-minded Koreans (e.g., South with South, North with North), lest questions arise about their loyalties. There is, unfortunately, a lot of organized crime related to North Koreans, everything from making North Koreans born in Japan pay protection money to "support" relatives back home to mass-production of high-grade cocaine. Gunma, the prefecture we live in, has many companies that make pachinko machines, and for some reason, pachinko, North Korea and crime always seem to go hand-in-hand around here.
We're extremely happy to announce that Little My Maid has gone "golden master" and is on its way to the CD-ROM duplicators now. This is an amazing game, one of the most popular interactive dating-sims ever released in Japan. You are a Japanese youth who is depressed about failing your college entrance exams and the subsequent loss of your girlfriend, Yukari. You meet a strangely-dressed maid on a beach, and the next thing you know, you've been invited to a mysterious mansion where beautiful maids serve you every whim. Can they heal your pain and allow you to find eternal happiness? A fantastic game that features full facial animation, 100% mosaic-free graphics and a game story of unsurpassed depth, we hope everyone will preorder the game for free shipping when it's ready. (You also get cool Little My Maid cards, keychains and other stuff with every preordered copy.)
Whenever we get new candy toy items, so-called because you usually get some kind of candy inside with the toy, we think to ourselves how cool it'd be if the Japanese would make miniature toys based on the Battlestar Galactica series, one of my own favorites as a boy. Well, the Konami toy company has heard our pleas, and an amazing series of miniature toys based on the original series is coming in March 2005. Preorder this incredible set now!
We'll be moving our mailing lists to a new mail server that will have lots of new features. If Friday's mail fails to reach you for some reason, or if you notice any other problems with our update emails, please contact us and let us know about the problem. Thanks in advance!
Are you interested in finding a Japanese girlfriend? If so then we've got just the right item for you, our best-selling "Looking for a Japanese Girlfriend" T-shirt, one of our most popular products in our history. Featuring a bold message in easy-to-read kanji and "rising sun of Japan" circle, it's available in a hooded sweatshirt, too, as well as a cool "flowing calligraphy" alternate version. We also have shirts for females looking for males of the Japanese persuasion, too.
The largest group of foreigners in Japan aren't American or Australians or Brits. They're Koreans, an interesting group because many of them were born and raised right here, and often don't even speak Korean unless they attended one of the Korean-only schools that pepper the country. To an American like me, it's odd that these people would not be considered Japanese, as all children born in the U.S. get to be American citizens automatically. But the relationship of Korea and Japan is a very complex one, somewhat akin to that of Britain and Ireland, and more or less by mutual agreement of both sides Koreans often live for generations inside Japan, never allowing themselves to become culturally assimilated. Or is it the Japanese who keep the Korean population from truly becoming part of their society? I couldn't possibly say for sure. On the one hand, it's not difficult for anyone (even white-boy gaijin me) to get Japanese citizenship as long as he meets certain reasonable requirements. Japan is always very sensitive to possible accusations of racism, so there are no groups that aren't "allowed" to become Japanese citizens. Many Koreans object to the Japanese requirement that all persons wanting to become naturalized must take a Japanese name, e.g. Taro Yamada, as well as requiring that many jobs, including teaching at public schools, be done only by persons with full Japanese citizenship. Koreans living in Japan make sure they only hang out with other similar-minded Koreans (e.g., South with South, North with North), lest questions arise about their loyalties. There is, unfortunately, a lot of organized crime related to North Koreans, everything from making North Koreans born in Japan pay protection money to "support" relatives back home to mass-production of high-grade cocaine. Gunma, the prefecture we live in, has many companies that make pachinko machines, and for some reason, pachinko, North Korea and crime always seem to go hand-in-hand around here.
We're extremely happy to announce that Little My Maid has gone "golden master" and is on its way to the CD-ROM duplicators now. This is an amazing game, one of the most popular interactive dating-sims ever released in Japan. You are a Japanese youth who is depressed about failing your college entrance exams and the subsequent loss of your girlfriend, Yukari. You meet a strangely-dressed maid on a beach, and the next thing you know, you've been invited to a mysterious mansion where beautiful maids serve you every whim. Can they heal your pain and allow you to find eternal happiness? A fantastic game that features full facial animation, 100% mosaic-free graphics and a game story of unsurpassed depth, we hope everyone will preorder the game for free shipping when it's ready. (You also get cool Little My Maid cards, keychains and other stuff with every preordered copy.)
Whenever we get new candy toy items, so-called because you usually get some kind of candy inside with the toy, we think to ourselves how cool it'd be if the Japanese would make miniature toys based on the Battlestar Galactica series, one of my own favorites as a boy. Well, the Konami toy company has heard our pleas, and an amazing series of miniature toys based on the original series is coming in March 2005. Preorder this incredible set now!
We'll be moving our mailing lists to a new mail server that will have lots of new features. If Friday's mail fails to reach you for some reason, or if you notice any other problems with our update emails, please contact us and let us know about the problem. Thanks in advance!
Are you interested in finding a Japanese girlfriend? If so then we've got just the right item for you, our best-selling "Looking for a Japanese Girlfriend" T-shirt, one of our most popular products in our history. Featuring a bold message in easy-to-read kanji and "rising sun of Japan" circle, it's available in a hooded sweatshirt, too, as well as a cool "flowing calligraphy" alternate version. We also have shirts for females looking for males of the Japanese persuasion, too.
Monday, November 22, 2004
Greetings from J-List 11/22/04
Hello again from Japan, where the law that governs private ownership of weapons is known as the Swords and Firearms Control Law.
I do love the food here in Japan. But while sushi, sashimi and udon noodles may be what you think of when you think of Japanese food, people here eat many different things. First of all, many Chinese dishes have been folded into Japanese food life for so long it's impossible to separate the two, with items like fried rice (chahan) and chow mein noodles (yakisoba, really good with kim chee in it) being the staples. The Japanese eat a lot more meat these days than they used to, although a steak here is often really a "hamburg steak" or steak made from hamburger meat. In addition to steak, the Japanese have a fun dish called Shabu Shabu, thinly-sliced meat which you boil in a pot in front of you, then eat. Yakiniku, or Korean-style barbecue, is also very popular. Ramen is a Japanese twist on noodle dishes eaten in China, and each corner of Japan is famous for a different type of ramen. The batter-fried shrimp and vegetables known as Tempura is heavenly, although it it's not really Japanese -- it originated in Portugal. The Japanese also adapt Western foods and come up with something original. One of my favorite dishes is Omurice, fried rice with ketchup with a thin omelette over it -- it's especially delicious tasty when my wife draws a heart shape with ketchup for me.
What's your hobby? My hobby is studying English. When you come to Japan to teach ESL, or English as a Second Language, you have to be prepared to be immersed in a society where complex linguistic concepts aren't expressed very often, and it can take actually take a toll on your language skills. When I first got here, I was confused by the other English teachers I met, who seemed to be speaking far too slowly and clearly, pronouncing letters in words that are usually reduced, like the "t" sounds in "party" or "button." When I was a teacher, I'd go for months speaking almost no English except to my Japanese students, and after a while, my speech patterns would get pretty weird. It's possible to lose the ability to recall difficult words, too -- I once racked my brain for an hour to come up that word that means "something you can't live without" (the word was "irreplaceable"). When you're teaching English to kids or low-level adults in Japan, you end up doing a lot of "jiko shokai" (self-introductions), teaching them how to talk about themselves. Before long you're saying things like "My hobby is anime" about yourself.
Have you gained some weight? If you're a big person and come to Japan, be prepared to hear light-hearted comments about your weight, especially if you gain weight. Although it's usually taboo to make mention of a person's girth in the U.S., in Japan it's quite common to start a conversation with a friend by asking him if he's gained weight recently. It's not fun, but you get used to it quickly enough, and the Japanese mean no harm in it -- it's just a kind of small talk, like talking about the weather.
We love to bring you cool things from Japan each and every day. Many of the delicious chocolate and snacks that we sell are only available in the cooler months, since they melt like nobody's business in Japan's humid summer. One of our favorite snacks is Melty Kiss, a yummy fudge square that, in addition to having one of the most bizarre names in Japan, tastes great. This year we're overjoyed to announce that in addition to classic "Precious Cocoa" flavor, we've got Matcha Melty Kiss this year -- a cube of velvety green tea wrapped with chocolate fudge. Yum!
Remember that 2005 calendar season is going on RIGHT NOW. Every day more and more of our unique calendars sells out and is removed from the J-List site automatically. We still have 180 amazingly rare anime, JPOP, traditional, swimsuit model or other calendar in stock for you, but the longer you wait, the greater the chance that the calendar you want will disappear before you can pick it up. These amazing large-format calendars are great because they're only sold in Japan around the end of the year. When you've got one of these great items on your wall, you know you've got something special. Get 4 calendars and save 15% off, and get your mailing tubes free, too. Browse our selection right now by searching for the term "calendar."
I do love the food here in Japan. But while sushi, sashimi and udon noodles may be what you think of when you think of Japanese food, people here eat many different things. First of all, many Chinese dishes have been folded into Japanese food life for so long it's impossible to separate the two, with items like fried rice (chahan) and chow mein noodles (yakisoba, really good with kim chee in it) being the staples. The Japanese eat a lot more meat these days than they used to, although a steak here is often really a "hamburg steak" or steak made from hamburger meat. In addition to steak, the Japanese have a fun dish called Shabu Shabu, thinly-sliced meat which you boil in a pot in front of you, then eat. Yakiniku, or Korean-style barbecue, is also very popular. Ramen is a Japanese twist on noodle dishes eaten in China, and each corner of Japan is famous for a different type of ramen. The batter-fried shrimp and vegetables known as Tempura is heavenly, although it it's not really Japanese -- it originated in Portugal. The Japanese also adapt Western foods and come up with something original. One of my favorite dishes is Omurice, fried rice with ketchup with a thin omelette over it -- it's especially delicious tasty when my wife draws a heart shape with ketchup for me.
What's your hobby? My hobby is studying English. When you come to Japan to teach ESL, or English as a Second Language, you have to be prepared to be immersed in a society where complex linguistic concepts aren't expressed very often, and it can take actually take a toll on your language skills. When I first got here, I was confused by the other English teachers I met, who seemed to be speaking far too slowly and clearly, pronouncing letters in words that are usually reduced, like the "t" sounds in "party" or "button." When I was a teacher, I'd go for months speaking almost no English except to my Japanese students, and after a while, my speech patterns would get pretty weird. It's possible to lose the ability to recall difficult words, too -- I once racked my brain for an hour to come up that word that means "something you can't live without" (the word was "irreplaceable"). When you're teaching English to kids or low-level adults in Japan, you end up doing a lot of "jiko shokai" (self-introductions), teaching them how to talk about themselves. Before long you're saying things like "My hobby is anime" about yourself.
Have you gained some weight? If you're a big person and come to Japan, be prepared to hear light-hearted comments about your weight, especially if you gain weight. Although it's usually taboo to make mention of a person's girth in the U.S., in Japan it's quite common to start a conversation with a friend by asking him if he's gained weight recently. It's not fun, but you get used to it quickly enough, and the Japanese mean no harm in it -- it's just a kind of small talk, like talking about the weather.
We love to bring you cool things from Japan each and every day. Many of the delicious chocolate and snacks that we sell are only available in the cooler months, since they melt like nobody's business in Japan's humid summer. One of our favorite snacks is Melty Kiss, a yummy fudge square that, in addition to having one of the most bizarre names in Japan, tastes great. This year we're overjoyed to announce that in addition to classic "Precious Cocoa" flavor, we've got Matcha Melty Kiss this year -- a cube of velvety green tea wrapped with chocolate fudge. Yum!
Remember that 2005 calendar season is going on RIGHT NOW. Every day more and more of our unique calendars sells out and is removed from the J-List site automatically. We still have 180 amazingly rare anime, JPOP, traditional, swimsuit model or other calendar in stock for you, but the longer you wait, the greater the chance that the calendar you want will disappear before you can pick it up. These amazing large-format calendars are great because they're only sold in Japan around the end of the year. When you've got one of these great items on your wall, you know you've got something special. Get 4 calendars and save 15% off, and get your mailing tubes free, too. Browse our selection right now by searching for the term "calendar."
Friday, November 19, 2004
Greetings from J-List 11/19/2004
During my time here in Japan, I've had the pleasure of meeting a wide range of Japanese people, from children to an 88 year old barber who used to tell me what our city was like after World War II and the GI's were here. I've encountered smart young people who loved literature and an unexceptional middle-aged salaryman who surprised me by showing me pictures of the trip he took on the Siberian Express. But the one type of people I've met all too often are the bored, personality-less Japanese who seem to have no interests, hobbies or dreams whatsoever. Although there are middle-aged men and unfulfilled housewives who fall into this category, most of the people who fit this description have been teenagers, seemingly so bored with their lives that all they can think of to do is baito (part time job, from the German word arbeit) and video games, even as the springtime days of their youth pass them by. I know part of the problem is that I'm an over-stimulated American, but I've got tons of hobbies, hundreds of fun things I like to do alone or with my family, so it's especially shocking to meet someone who, when asked what their interests are, truthfully answers "nothing." We've racked our brains coming up for a word that describes this uninspired segment of Japanese society, but have come up empty, so I'll dub them shumi-nashi (translatable as "the Hobbyless") and see if the term sticks.
Japan is a complex place, and sadly, more than a few people choose to opt out of the rest of their lives through suicide. All too often, they choose as their final resting place a forest at the foot of Mt. Fuji with the dubious honor of being Japan's most popular suicide spot. It's called Aokigahara Jukai, a "sea of trees" that lies near the various picturesque lakes that dot the Fuji area. Every year police and firefighters do a sweep of the forest to find anywhere from 50-100 bodies inside, a number which acts as a bellweather for the general emotional health of Japan as a nation. Part of the problem is news coverage -- as reporting on the number of suicides in the area increases, more and more people are drawn there. Aokigahara Forest is dangerous for other reasons too: mineral deposits in the ground cause magnetic compasses to stop working, which can trap hikers inside, and strange air currents have caused plane crashes, too. My Buddhist wife, who is quite in touch with the spiritual world, has declared that we won't be taking any family vacations in the Mt. Fuji area in the near future.
The most popular way for students of the Japanese language to find what level they're at is the Japanese Ability Test (Nihongo Noryoku Shiken), held every December at cities throughout Japan and around the world. There are four levels to the test: level four requires you to read hiragana, katakana and about 100 kanji (it sounds like a lot, but it's easy, trust me), while the highest level, level 1, requires the ability to read the 1945 joyo or "common use" kanji, a requirement for entering a Japanese university. But there's an even higher level for gaijin aiming for mastery of the language: giving a speech in Japanese. On Sunday, J-List's own Daisuke will be tying the knot with his fiancee, and according to the United Nations Convention on Japanese Weddings, as the boss of the groom I must give the opening speech in Japanese. Wish me luck!
As if we didn't have enough incredible 2005 calendars in stock for you, we've got two new items in today that you'll just love. First is a larger, deluxe Totoro 3-D desktop calendar which features Hayao Miyazaki's most popular creation enjoying some corn after a day's harvest. Then, we have a great Kiki's Delivery Service 3-D calendar which features Kiki preparing to depart on her great adventure with her black cat Jiji. Both are made of extremely detailed pre-painted resin and both can be used as unique photo stands when the calendar pages when 2005 is over.
Remember that J-List's wacky Japanese T-shirts are a fun way to wrap yourself in an esoteric Japanese message and broadcast your love of Japan to others. Our shirts are all 6.1 lb weight 100% cotton and printed with the highest quality silkscreening method that will last for many years. J-List goes the extra distance for you too, offering sizes from small all the way up to 3XL for most shirts. Order 3 or more shirts and get 15% off, too! These unique shirts make great gifts, too.
Japan is a complex place, and sadly, more than a few people choose to opt out of the rest of their lives through suicide. All too often, they choose as their final resting place a forest at the foot of Mt. Fuji with the dubious honor of being Japan's most popular suicide spot. It's called Aokigahara Jukai, a "sea of trees" that lies near the various picturesque lakes that dot the Fuji area. Every year police and firefighters do a sweep of the forest to find anywhere from 50-100 bodies inside, a number which acts as a bellweather for the general emotional health of Japan as a nation. Part of the problem is news coverage -- as reporting on the number of suicides in the area increases, more and more people are drawn there. Aokigahara Forest is dangerous for other reasons too: mineral deposits in the ground cause magnetic compasses to stop working, which can trap hikers inside, and strange air currents have caused plane crashes, too. My Buddhist wife, who is quite in touch with the spiritual world, has declared that we won't be taking any family vacations in the Mt. Fuji area in the near future.
The most popular way for students of the Japanese language to find what level they're at is the Japanese Ability Test (Nihongo Noryoku Shiken), held every December at cities throughout Japan and around the world. There are four levels to the test: level four requires you to read hiragana, katakana and about 100 kanji (it sounds like a lot, but it's easy, trust me), while the highest level, level 1, requires the ability to read the 1945 joyo or "common use" kanji, a requirement for entering a Japanese university. But there's an even higher level for gaijin aiming for mastery of the language: giving a speech in Japanese. On Sunday, J-List's own Daisuke will be tying the knot with his fiancee, and according to the United Nations Convention on Japanese Weddings, as the boss of the groom I must give the opening speech in Japanese. Wish me luck!
As if we didn't have enough incredible 2005 calendars in stock for you, we've got two new items in today that you'll just love. First is a larger, deluxe Totoro 3-D desktop calendar which features Hayao Miyazaki's most popular creation enjoying some corn after a day's harvest. Then, we have a great Kiki's Delivery Service 3-D calendar which features Kiki preparing to depart on her great adventure with her black cat Jiji. Both are made of extremely detailed pre-painted resin and both can be used as unique photo stands when the calendar pages when 2005 is over.
Remember that J-List's wacky Japanese T-shirts are a fun way to wrap yourself in an esoteric Japanese message and broadcast your love of Japan to others. Our shirts are all 6.1 lb weight 100% cotton and printed with the highest quality silkscreening method that will last for many years. J-List goes the extra distance for you too, offering sizes from small all the way up to 3XL for most shirts. Order 3 or more shirts and get 15% off, too! These unique shirts make great gifts, too.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Greetings from J-List 11/17/04
There are always interesting ways to gain an understanding of a society through its language. One word that speaks to Japan's rule-oriented approach to behavior are the words chanto ("properly") and chanto shita ("proper"), which are used to grant a higher status to "the way things should be done." Once, when I went to pick up my daughter from school, I watched the teacher showing the kids a kami-shibai (a story told to kids using sheets of cardboard with pictures on them) about the proper way to brush your teeth, the proper way to greet others, and so on. The word chanto was thrown around a lot. Of course teaching kids is one thing, but it's interesting to note that the concept of there being "one" correct way to do things comes up in a variety of situations. Almost without fail, those who don't do what's expected of them -- young people who drop out of school and play guitar in front of the train station, couples who live together without getting married, even crazy gaijin like me who quite their English teaching jobs to start companies selling interesting things from Japan to people around the world -- are seen in a negative light by society at large. Some examples of the word chanto in Japanese sentences are, Chanto benkyo shite kudasai (Please study properly) or, Kare wa chanto shita sarariiman desu (He is a respectable company employee).
Another word that comes up a lot is futsuu, which just means normal or average. Most Americans I know might be mildly insulted if you implied that they were the same as everyone else, but in Japan being futsuu is not a bad thing for most people. When I was in college, I strove to be as different from everyone else as I could be, reading manga and learning as much as I could about Japan, but most of my Japanese friends were actually offended if I said they were a little "kawatteru," a word which means "different" or "odd" -- they wanted others to see them as average and normal, or at least that's the face they showed to me. At one of the Japanese bishoujo game companies we work with, there's a slightly odd programmer who has legally changed his name to Reije Abe, or in Japanese name order, Abe Reiji (ah-BEH REI-ji), because he wanted his name to have the same pronunciation as the English word "average" in Japanese. As an "individual" American, sometimes I am hard pressed to understand Japan, even though I've lived here for 14 years.
J-List is happy to be able to bring you hundreds of import calendars from Japan, unique poster-sized calendars that are printed for the Japanese market but available to you through us. Every year, it's fun to see which calendars prove to be the most popular with our customers. As usual, anime calendars are leading the pack, with the beautiful Studio Ghibli in the top spot, followed closely by the Totoro desktop calendar for this year. Other popular anime shows like Inuyasha and Naruto have also done very well, with Full Metal Alchemist a close third. Calendars by famous artists like Vampire Hunter D creator Yoshitaka Amano and Haruyo Morita have done well this year, as have traditional art and photography calendars. Sexy calendars like Mai Hagiwara and Yoko Matsugane have also done very well, too. Every year some calendar manages to totally surprise us by beating all our sales estimated -- this year's surprise has been the Hokusai art calendar, featuring illustrations of the famous ukiyoe artist who also coined the term manga, meaning "whimsical pictures".
We're excited to officially announce X-Change 3, now posted to the site for preorder. The X-Change series is a popular dating-sim game trilogy in which you play Takuya Aihara, a normal Japanese boy who gets changed into a girl through bizarre chemistry accidents. Each time, he has many interesting adventures in his female body, as he desperately looks for a way to return to normal before the changes becomes permanent. Preorder this great new game for free shipping when it's ready. (X-Change 1 and 2 are in stock on the site.)
Remember that J-List carries photobooks, DVDs and currently, 2005 calendars, featuring Japanese ultra-cute bikini idols, who represent an interesting sub-culture in Japan as a whole. These cute-as-a-button girls generally fall into two camps: cute girl "sister you always wish you had" girls like Yuko Ogura, and the gorgeous girls like Yoko Matsugane, who are called "gravure idols" in Japan (from the French photogravure, an old kind of plate-based photography, although I never did understand the connection). Feel free to browse the excellent selection of beautiful Japanese women we have for you.
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Another word that comes up a lot is futsuu, which just means normal or average. Most Americans I know might be mildly insulted if you implied that they were the same as everyone else, but in Japan being futsuu is not a bad thing for most people. When I was in college, I strove to be as different from everyone else as I could be, reading manga and learning as much as I could about Japan, but most of my Japanese friends were actually offended if I said they were a little "kawatteru," a word which means "different" or "odd" -- they wanted others to see them as average and normal, or at least that's the face they showed to me. At one of the Japanese bishoujo game companies we work with, there's a slightly odd programmer who has legally changed his name to Reije Abe, or in Japanese name order, Abe Reiji (ah-BEH REI-ji), because he wanted his name to have the same pronunciation as the English word "average" in Japanese. As an "individual" American, sometimes I am hard pressed to understand Japan, even though I've lived here for 14 years.
J-List is happy to be able to bring you hundreds of import calendars from Japan, unique poster-sized calendars that are printed for the Japanese market but available to you through us. Every year, it's fun to see which calendars prove to be the most popular with our customers. As usual, anime calendars are leading the pack, with the beautiful Studio Ghibli in the top spot, followed closely by the Totoro desktop calendar for this year. Other popular anime shows like Inuyasha and Naruto have also done very well, with Full Metal Alchemist a close third. Calendars by famous artists like Vampire Hunter D creator Yoshitaka Amano and Haruyo Morita have done well this year, as have traditional art and photography calendars. Sexy calendars like Mai Hagiwara and Yoko Matsugane have also done very well, too. Every year some calendar manages to totally surprise us by beating all our sales estimated -- this year's surprise has been the Hokusai art calendar, featuring illustrations of the famous ukiyoe artist who also coined the term manga, meaning "whimsical pictures".
We're excited to officially announce X-Change 3, now posted to the site for preorder. The X-Change series is a popular dating-sim game trilogy in which you play Takuya Aihara, a normal Japanese boy who gets changed into a girl through bizarre chemistry accidents. Each time, he has many interesting adventures in his female body, as he desperately looks for a way to return to normal before the changes becomes permanent. Preorder this great new game for free shipping when it's ready. (X-Change 1 and 2 are in stock on the site.)
Remember that J-List carries photobooks, DVDs and currently, 2005 calendars, featuring Japanese ultra-cute bikini idols, who represent an interesting sub-culture in Japan as a whole. These cute-as-a-button girls generally fall into two camps: cute girl "sister you always wish you had" girls like Yuko Ogura, and the gorgeous girls like Yoko Matsugane, who are called "gravure idols" in Japan (from the French photogravure, an old kind of plate-based photography, although I never did understand the connection). Feel free to browse the excellent selection of beautiful Japanese women we have for you.
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Friday, November 12, 2004
Greetings from J-List 11/12/04
The Japanese like to drink, and beer is usually the drink of choice. Whenever you have a frosty one, it's customary to eat "otsumami" (OH-tsu-mah-mee), a word which means any snack food you munch on with alcohol. There are many of these foods sold alongside alcohol in liquor and convenience stores, some of which might look quite odd to Westerners. First there's "kakipea," spicy rice crackers with peanuts, a favorite of the J-List staff. I am also partial to "chee-kama" or little sausages of steamed fish (kamaboko) with cheese inside. Another treat that goes well with beer are fried okra, which taste like potato chips but are healthier. Spicy beef jerky is often eaten with beer, as is saki-ika, or dried, shredded squid, which seems to taste better the longer I live in Japan. If you don't like the idea of eating squid, think of it using its other name, cuttlefish, but trust me, it's really good.
It goes without saying, but the dynamics at work between the sexes in Japan are quite different from the West, with men and women filling roles that might seem incredibly sexist and outdated to outsiders. Often, it's interesting to analyze the words Japanese people use every day for clues about the relationships between men and women. Two popular words for a person's wife are oku-san and kanai, which mean "Mrs. Interior" and "In-The-House" and are an echo from an era when women really did stay home all day. (My wife gets a big kick out of these words.) Words for husband include shujin and danna, which basically mean "master" when you look at the original kanji characters. Of course, Japanese aren't aware of the meanings of these words on a conscious level, any more than we reflect on the Greek or Latin origins of the words we use in English, but it is still interesting to pick apart the words nevertheless. I recommend Womensword by Kittredge Cherry for more information on understanding women through language.
Japanese companies are very good at coming up with special events to promote their products. The meat industry pushes February 9th as "meat day" because 2 and 9 ("ni" and "ku" in Japanese) make up the word for meat in Japanese ("niku"). On February 14th, women show their feelings for men by giving them chocolate. The commercial powers-that-be have established White Day, March 14, as the day when men must return the favor, giving white chocolate or other doilies back to women. Japan's optometrists designate October 10 as "Eye Day" (Me no Hi) because "10 10" looks like two eyes with eyebrows if you look sideways. And the Glico Confectionery Company has proclaimed that November 11 is "Pocky Day" because the "11/11" looks like little Pocky sticks. In commemoration of Pocky Day tomorrow, we've stocked lots of different flavors of Japan's delicious chocolate pretzel snacks for you, including traditional Chocolate Pocky and the amazing new Cocoa Powder Pocky!
At J-List, we carry some truly amazing items from Japan. Since we love sushi, we're happy to offer many sushi-related items, from the 2005 Joy of Sushi calendar to Sushi Gummi, delicious fruit-flavored gummy fish on marshmallow rice, a popular product J-List has been bringing the world for years. We also sell an item I personally love, sushi clocks made with real hand-made wax sushi, with chopsticks for minute and hour hands and a toothpick for the second hand. The detail of the wax sushi is incredible, good enough to eat. To make it easier for you to give these amazing clocks as gifts this year, we've lowered the prices of all clocks. Don't delay, as our stock is limited to what we have on hand.
Remember that J-List carries the ultra-cute "Groomy" plush pet line from Elecom, cute plush toys designed with soft chamois bottoms to wipe away dust and fingerprints from your computer screen. We stock both the normal sized Groomy pets as well as the small-sized Chibi Groomy, which include a phone strap/keychain so you can take it with you anywhere.
It goes without saying, but the dynamics at work between the sexes in Japan are quite different from the West, with men and women filling roles that might seem incredibly sexist and outdated to outsiders. Often, it's interesting to analyze the words Japanese people use every day for clues about the relationships between men and women. Two popular words for a person's wife are oku-san and kanai, which mean "Mrs. Interior" and "In-The-House" and are an echo from an era when women really did stay home all day. (My wife gets a big kick out of these words.) Words for husband include shujin and danna, which basically mean "master" when you look at the original kanji characters. Of course, Japanese aren't aware of the meanings of these words on a conscious level, any more than we reflect on the Greek or Latin origins of the words we use in English, but it is still interesting to pick apart the words nevertheless. I recommend Womensword by Kittredge Cherry for more information on understanding women through language.
Japanese companies are very good at coming up with special events to promote their products. The meat industry pushes February 9th as "meat day" because 2 and 9 ("ni" and "ku" in Japanese) make up the word for meat in Japanese ("niku"). On February 14th, women show their feelings for men by giving them chocolate. The commercial powers-that-be have established White Day, March 14, as the day when men must return the favor, giving white chocolate or other doilies back to women. Japan's optometrists designate October 10 as "Eye Day" (Me no Hi) because "10 10" looks like two eyes with eyebrows if you look sideways. And the Glico Confectionery Company has proclaimed that November 11 is "Pocky Day" because the "11/11" looks like little Pocky sticks. In commemoration of Pocky Day tomorrow, we've stocked lots of different flavors of Japan's delicious chocolate pretzel snacks for you, including traditional Chocolate Pocky and the amazing new Cocoa Powder Pocky!
At J-List, we carry some truly amazing items from Japan. Since we love sushi, we're happy to offer many sushi-related items, from the 2005 Joy of Sushi calendar to Sushi Gummi, delicious fruit-flavored gummy fish on marshmallow rice, a popular product J-List has been bringing the world for years. We also sell an item I personally love, sushi clocks made with real hand-made wax sushi, with chopsticks for minute and hour hands and a toothpick for the second hand. The detail of the wax sushi is incredible, good enough to eat. To make it easier for you to give these amazing clocks as gifts this year, we've lowered the prices of all clocks. Don't delay, as our stock is limited to what we have on hand.
Remember that J-List carries the ultra-cute "Groomy" plush pet line from Elecom, cute plush toys designed with soft chamois bottoms to wipe away dust and fingerprints from your computer screen. We stock both the normal sized Groomy pets as well as the small-sized Chibi Groomy, which include a phone strap/keychain so you can take it with you anywhere.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Greetings from J-List 11/10/04
The Japanese like to drink, and beer is usually the drink of choice. Whenever you have a frosty one, it's customary to eat "otsumami" (OH-tsu-mah-mee), a word which means any snack food you munch on with alcohol. There are many of these foods sold alongside alcohol in liquor and convenience stores, some of which might look quite odd to Westerners. First there's "kakipea," spicy rice crackers with peanuts, a favorite of the J-List staff. I am also partial to "chee-kama" or little sausages of steamed fish (kamaboko) with cheese inside. Another treat that goes well with beer are fried okra, which taste like potato chips but are healthier. Spicy beef jerky is often eaten with beer, as is saki-ika, or dried, shredded squid, which seems to taste better the longer I live in Japan. If you don't like the idea of eating squid, think of it using its other name, cuttlefish, but trust me, it's really good.
It goes without saying, but the dynamics at work between the sexes in Japan are quite different from the West, with men and women filling roles that might seem incredibly sexist and outdated to outsiders. Often, it's interesting to analyze the words Japanese people use every day for clues about the relationships between men and women. Two popular words for a person's wife are oku-san and kanai, which mean "Mrs. Interior" and "In-The-House" and are an echo from an era when women really did stay home all day. (My wife gets a big kick out of these words.) Words for husband include shujin and danna, which basically mean "master" when you look at the original kanji characters. Of course, Japanese aren't aware of the meanings of these words on a conscious level, any more than we reflect on the Greek or Latin origins of the words we use in English, but it is still interesting to pick apart the words nevertheless. I recommend Womensword by Kittredge Cherry for more information on understanding women through language.
Japanese companies are very good at coming up with special events to promote their products. The meat industry pushes February 9th as "meat day" because 2 and 9 ("ni" and "ku" in Japanese) make up the word for meat in Japanese ("niku"). On February 14th, women show their feelings for men by giving them chocolate. The commercial powers-that-be have established White Day, March 14, as the day when men must return the favor, giving white chocolate or other doilies back to women. Japan's optometrists designate October 10 as "Eye Day" (Me no Hi) because "10 10" looks like two eyes with eyebrows if you look sideways. And the Glico Confectionery Company has proclaimed that November 11 is "Pocky Day" because the "11/11" looks like little Pocky sticks. In commemoration of Pocky Day tomorrow, we've stocked lots of different flavors of Japan's delicious chocolate pretzel snacks for you, including traditional Chocolate Pocky and the amazing new Cocoa Powder Pocky!
At J-List, we carry some truly amazing items from Japan. Since we love sushi, we're happy to offer many sushi-related items, from the 2005 Joy of Sushi calendar to Sushi Gummi, delicious fruit-flavored gummy fish on marshmallow rice, a popular product J-List has been bringing the world for years. We also sell an item I personally love, sushi clocks made with real hand-made wax sushi, with chopsticks for minute and hour hands and a toothpick for the second hand. The detail of the wax sushi is incredible, good enough to eat. To make it easier for you to give these amazing clocks as gifts this year, we've lowered the prices of all clocks. Don't delay, as our stock is limited to what we have on hand.
Remember that J-List carries the ultra-cute "Groomy" plush pet line from Elecom, cute plush toys designed with soft chamois bottoms to wipe away dust and fingerprints from your computer screen. We stock both the normal sized Groomy pets as well as the small-sized Chibi Groomy, which include a phone strap/keychain so you can take it with you anywhere.
It goes without saying, but the dynamics at work between the sexes in Japan are quite different from the West, with men and women filling roles that might seem incredibly sexist and outdated to outsiders. Often, it's interesting to analyze the words Japanese people use every day for clues about the relationships between men and women. Two popular words for a person's wife are oku-san and kanai, which mean "Mrs. Interior" and "In-The-House" and are an echo from an era when women really did stay home all day. (My wife gets a big kick out of these words.) Words for husband include shujin and danna, which basically mean "master" when you look at the original kanji characters. Of course, Japanese aren't aware of the meanings of these words on a conscious level, any more than we reflect on the Greek or Latin origins of the words we use in English, but it is still interesting to pick apart the words nevertheless. I recommend Womensword by Kittredge Cherry for more information on understanding women through language.
Japanese companies are very good at coming up with special events to promote their products. The meat industry pushes February 9th as "meat day" because 2 and 9 ("ni" and "ku" in Japanese) make up the word for meat in Japanese ("niku"). On February 14th, women show their feelings for men by giving them chocolate. The commercial powers-that-be have established White Day, March 14, as the day when men must return the favor, giving white chocolate or other doilies back to women. Japan's optometrists designate October 10 as "Eye Day" (Me no Hi) because "10 10" looks like two eyes with eyebrows if you look sideways. And the Glico Confectionery Company has proclaimed that November 11 is "Pocky Day" because the "11/11" looks like little Pocky sticks. In commemoration of Pocky Day tomorrow, we've stocked lots of different flavors of Japan's delicious chocolate pretzel snacks for you, including traditional Chocolate Pocky and the amazing new Cocoa Powder Pocky!
At J-List, we carry some truly amazing items from Japan. Since we love sushi, we're happy to offer many sushi-related items, from the 2005 Joy of Sushi calendar to Sushi Gummi, delicious fruit-flavored gummy fish on marshmallow rice, a popular product J-List has been bringing the world for years. We also sell an item I personally love, sushi clocks made with real hand-made wax sushi, with chopsticks for minute and hour hands and a toothpick for the second hand. The detail of the wax sushi is incredible, good enough to eat. To make it easier for you to give these amazing clocks as gifts this year, we've lowered the prices of all clocks. Don't delay, as our stock is limited to what we have on hand.
Remember that J-List carries the ultra-cute "Groomy" plush pet line from Elecom, cute plush toys designed with soft chamois bottoms to wipe away dust and fingerprints from your computer screen. We stock both the normal sized Groomy pets as well as the small-sized Chibi Groomy, which include a phone strap/keychain so you can take it with you anywhere.
Monday, November 08, 2004
Greetings from J-List 11/8/04
When I came to Japan, I had my share of culture shock. Women in kimonos riding an ultramodern Shinkansen. Vending machines everywhere. Old men wearing "Osamu Tezuka" caps. Between steep wooden stairs in houses and the lack of infant carseats and child-safety caps on medicine bottles, I also thought that Japan must be a dangerous place to be a baby. I was also surprised to see Japanese walking around with interesting hair colors, from copper to brown to the full blonde Japanese soccer player Inamoto sported at the 2002 World Cup. A long time ago, the only Japanese to dye their hair were bozo-zoku, the rebellious youths that ride motorcycles modified to be extra loud, who are also known as yankii, possibly from the English word "yankee" because of their light-colored hair. Sometime in the late 80s, though, hair dying caught on as a universal fashion, and women and men with auburn or brown hair are not rare at all anymore (although the current fashion for kogals seems to be tending back towards black this year). While coloring hair in anime colors like blue and green never caught on with young people, I have noticed that elderly Japanese women sometimes choose colors like purple and blue for their hair. Yet another unsolved mystery for Japan!
Like people everywhere, Japanese are very health conscious, and are always keeping one eye on health trends. It seems every time I watch daytime variety shows on TV, some new traditional Japanese food that enables people to live to the age of 102 is being talked about. In recent years, we've seen several "health booms" such as energy drinks with amino acids added, green tea with fat-busting elements called katekin, eating onions to make your blood "sara sara" (smooth-flowing) instead of "doro doro" (syrupy), and putting tape around your fingers as a dieting aid. The current trend in health in Japan? Kurozu, a black rice vinegar which is supposed to help turn an acidic body into an alkaline one, or something to that effect. After every meal my wife hands me a glass of diluted black vinegar to drink.
Do you know what year it is? I often don't. In addition to the standard Western calendar, the Japanese have a unique system of counting years based on the reign of the current emperor. It's currently the 16th year of the Heisei era (Heisei means "accomplishment of peace"), which began when Emperor Hirohito died and was succeeded by his son, Akihito, so this year is Heisei 16. Before Heisei was the Showa era (from 1925 to 1988), before that was Taisho, and Meiji, and so on -- Japanese students have to memorize them all. When you live in Japan, you quickly learn your own birth year according to the Japanese system, since you need it to fill out various forms (I was born in Showa 43, e.g. 1968). Incidentally, the current Emperor of Japan is 125th in an unbroken line of emperors going back 2000 years. His name is Akihito, but since he's always called "Emperor Heisei" in Japan, it's quite common for Japanese to not know the name of their own emperor.
J-List sells hundreds of great DVDs from Japan, most of which are "region free" (meaning you can play them on any standard DVD player). For people who want to watch DVDs from all over the world, including anime and indies JAV region 2 discs from Japan, we've restocked our popular region free DVD players in San Diego. We have the highly functional small-footprint DVD-800 in stock again, as well as the popular half-height DVD-7890 and full-featured DVD-7880K (which includes a karaoke feature). These players are made in Taiwan for the U.S. market and are fully compatible with North American power, and carry one year warranties. And these amazing players start at just $78.
Remember that J-List carries authentic Japanese "loose socks" in two different sizes, and also carries "socks glue" which you can use to glue your socks to your legs to hold them up. Enjoy a little slice of Japanese fashion culture courtesy of J-List -- they also go great with the authentic high school uniforms we sell, too! Great for cosplay at anime cons or as normal socks that help keep you warm in the cooler months.
J-List customers tell us that the #1 way they hear about J-List is through word-of-mouth. We're very glad to hear this, and we're always happy to have you recommend J-List to your friends! If you've got a friend who might be interested in our unique brand of Japanese pop culture, why not tell them about J-List, or ask them to sign up to our J-List updates? Thanks!
Like people everywhere, Japanese are very health conscious, and are always keeping one eye on health trends. It seems every time I watch daytime variety shows on TV, some new traditional Japanese food that enables people to live to the age of 102 is being talked about. In recent years, we've seen several "health booms" such as energy drinks with amino acids added, green tea with fat-busting elements called katekin, eating onions to make your blood "sara sara" (smooth-flowing) instead of "doro doro" (syrupy), and putting tape around your fingers as a dieting aid. The current trend in health in Japan? Kurozu, a black rice vinegar which is supposed to help turn an acidic body into an alkaline one, or something to that effect. After every meal my wife hands me a glass of diluted black vinegar to drink.
Do you know what year it is? I often don't. In addition to the standard Western calendar, the Japanese have a unique system of counting years based on the reign of the current emperor. It's currently the 16th year of the Heisei era (Heisei means "accomplishment of peace"), which began when Emperor Hirohito died and was succeeded by his son, Akihito, so this year is Heisei 16. Before Heisei was the Showa era (from 1925 to 1988), before that was Taisho, and Meiji, and so on -- Japanese students have to memorize them all. When you live in Japan, you quickly learn your own birth year according to the Japanese system, since you need it to fill out various forms (I was born in Showa 43, e.g. 1968). Incidentally, the current Emperor of Japan is 125th in an unbroken line of emperors going back 2000 years. His name is Akihito, but since he's always called "Emperor Heisei" in Japan, it's quite common for Japanese to not know the name of their own emperor.
J-List sells hundreds of great DVDs from Japan, most of which are "region free" (meaning you can play them on any standard DVD player). For people who want to watch DVDs from all over the world, including anime and indies JAV region 2 discs from Japan, we've restocked our popular region free DVD players in San Diego. We have the highly functional small-footprint DVD-800 in stock again, as well as the popular half-height DVD-7890 and full-featured DVD-7880K (which includes a karaoke feature). These players are made in Taiwan for the U.S. market and are fully compatible with North American power, and carry one year warranties. And these amazing players start at just $78.
Remember that J-List carries authentic Japanese "loose socks" in two different sizes, and also carries "socks glue" which you can use to glue your socks to your legs to hold them up. Enjoy a little slice of Japanese fashion culture courtesy of J-List -- they also go great with the authentic high school uniforms we sell, too! Great for cosplay at anime cons or as normal socks that help keep you warm in the cooler months.
J-List customers tell us that the #1 way they hear about J-List is through word-of-mouth. We're very glad to hear this, and we're always happy to have you recommend J-List to your friends! If you've got a friend who might be interested in our unique brand of Japanese pop culture, why not tell them about J-List, or ask them to sign up to our J-List updates? Thanks!
Friday, November 05, 2004
Greetings from J-List 11/5/04
When Icame to Japan, I had my share of culture shock. Women in kimonos riding an ultramodern Shinkansen. Vending machines everywhere. Old men wearing "Osamu Tezuka" caps. Between steep wooden stairs in houses and the lack of infant carseats and child-safety caps on medicine bottles, I also thought that Japan must be a dangerous place to be a baby. I was also surprised to see Japanese walking around with interesting hair colors, from copper to brown to the full blonde Japanese soccer player Inamoto sported at the 2002 World Cup. A long time ago, the only Japanese to dye their hair were bozo-zoku, the rebellious youths that ride motorcycles modified to be extra loud, who are also known as yankii, possibly from the English word "yankee" because of their light-colored hair. Sometime in the late 80s, though, hair dying caught on as a universal fashion, and women and men with auburn or brown hair are not rare at all anymore (although the current fashion for kogals seems to be tending back towards black this year). While coloring hair in anime colors like blue and green never caught on with young people, I have noticed that elderly Japanese women sometimes choose colors like purple and blue for their hair. Yet another unsolved mystery for Japan!
Like people everywhere, Japanese are very health conscious, and are always keeping one eye on health trends. It seems every time I watch daytime variety shows on TV, some new traditional Japanese food that enables people to live to the age of 102 is being talked about. In recent years, we've seen several "health booms" such as energy drinks with amino acids added, green tea with fat-busting elements called katekin, eating onions to make your blood "sara sara" (smooth-flowing) instead of "doro doro" (syrupy), and putting tape around your fingers as a dieting aid. The current trend in health in Japan? Kurozu, a black rice vinegar which is supposed to help turn an acidic body into an alkaline one, or something to that effect. After every meal my wife hands me a glass of diluted black vinegar to drink.
Do you know what year it is? I often don't. In addition to the standard Western calendar, the Japanese have a unique system of counting years based on the reign of the current emperor. It's currently the 16th year of the Heisei era (Heisei means "accomplishment of peace"), which began when Emperor Hirohito died and was succeeded by his son, Akihito, so this year is Heisei 16. Before Heisei was the Showa era (from 1925 to 1988), before that was Taisho, and Meiji, and so on -- Japanese students have to memorize them all. When you live in Japan, you quickly learn your own birth year according to the Japanese system, since you need it to fill out various forms (I was born in Showa 43, e.g. 1968). Incidentally, the current Emperor of Japan is 125th in an unbroken line of emperors going back 2000 years. His name is Akihito, but since he's always called "Emperor Heisei" in Japan, it's quite common for Japanese to not know the name of their own emperor.
J-List sells hundreds of great DVDs from Japan, most of which are "region free" (meaning you can play them on any standard DVD player). For people who want to watch DVDs from all over the world, including anime and indies JAV region 2 discs from Japan, we've restocked our popular region free DVD players in San Diego. We have the highly functional small-footprint DVD-800 in stock again, as well as the popular half-height DVD-7890 and full-featured DVD-7880K (which includes a karaoke feature). These players are made in Taiwan for the U.S. market and are fully compatible with North American power, and carry one year warranties. And these amazing players start at just $78.
Remember that J-List carries authentic Japanese "loose socks" in two different sizes, and also carries "socks glue" which you can use to glue your socks to your legs to hold them up. Enjoy a little slice of Japanese fashion culture courtesy of J-List -- they also go great with the authentic high school uniforms we sell, too! Great for cosplay at anime cons or as normal socks that help keep you warm in the cooler months.
J-List customers tell us that the #1 way they hear about J-List is through word-of-mouth. We're very glad to hear this, and we're always happy to have you recommend J-List to your friends! If you've got a friend who might be interested in our unique brand of Japanese pop culture, why not tell them about J-List, or ask them to sign up to our J-List updates? Thanks!
Like people everywhere, Japanese are very health conscious, and are always keeping one eye on health trends. It seems every time I watch daytime variety shows on TV, some new traditional Japanese food that enables people to live to the age of 102 is being talked about. In recent years, we've seen several "health booms" such as energy drinks with amino acids added, green tea with fat-busting elements called katekin, eating onions to make your blood "sara sara" (smooth-flowing) instead of "doro doro" (syrupy), and putting tape around your fingers as a dieting aid. The current trend in health in Japan? Kurozu, a black rice vinegar which is supposed to help turn an acidic body into an alkaline one, or something to that effect. After every meal my wife hands me a glass of diluted black vinegar to drink.
Do you know what year it is? I often don't. In addition to the standard Western calendar, the Japanese have a unique system of counting years based on the reign of the current emperor. It's currently the 16th year of the Heisei era (Heisei means "accomplishment of peace"), which began when Emperor Hirohito died and was succeeded by his son, Akihito, so this year is Heisei 16. Before Heisei was the Showa era (from 1925 to 1988), before that was Taisho, and Meiji, and so on -- Japanese students have to memorize them all. When you live in Japan, you quickly learn your own birth year according to the Japanese system, since you need it to fill out various forms (I was born in Showa 43, e.g. 1968). Incidentally, the current Emperor of Japan is 125th in an unbroken line of emperors going back 2000 years. His name is Akihito, but since he's always called "Emperor Heisei" in Japan, it's quite common for Japanese to not know the name of their own emperor.
J-List sells hundreds of great DVDs from Japan, most of which are "region free" (meaning you can play them on any standard DVD player). For people who want to watch DVDs from all over the world, including anime and indies JAV region 2 discs from Japan, we've restocked our popular region free DVD players in San Diego. We have the highly functional small-footprint DVD-800 in stock again, as well as the popular half-height DVD-7890 and full-featured DVD-7880K (which includes a karaoke feature). These players are made in Taiwan for the U.S. market and are fully compatible with North American power, and carry one year warranties. And these amazing players start at just $78.
Remember that J-List carries authentic Japanese "loose socks" in two different sizes, and also carries "socks glue" which you can use to glue your socks to your legs to hold them up. Enjoy a little slice of Japanese fashion culture courtesy of J-List -- they also go great with the authentic high school uniforms we sell, too! Great for cosplay at anime cons or as normal socks that help keep you warm in the cooler months.
J-List customers tell us that the #1 way they hear about J-List is through word-of-mouth. We're very glad to hear this, and we're always happy to have you recommend J-List to your friends! If you've got a friend who might be interested in our unique brand of Japanese pop culture, why not tell them about J-List, or ask them to sign up to our J-List updates? Thanks!
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Greetings from J-List 11/3/2004
One interesting social concept I see at work a lot in Japan is the idea of "gaman," which means to endure or to tolerate something that's difficult to bear. The idea that is that if there's something you don't like around you, it's better to endure it stoically in an act of self-sacrifice rather than than act immediately to change it. We see this every day: my wife and I will go to a restaurant that's much too cold, yet no one speaks up to ask the staff to turn the air conditioning down, preferring instead to tolerate the unpleasant situation. We don't subscribe to this notion, however, and will generally break the "wa" of the room by asking the staff to turn the air conditioning down. Once, the officers of a skiing club we belong to were reporting on the expenses incurred over the past year, but there were many large and small irregularities in the numbers. Other members had noticed these problems in the past, but refrained from openly questioning the suspicious expenses. Not so my wife: she stopped the meeting, making them explain all the sloppy accounting issues to her satisfaction. Gaman is something that parents strive to teach to their kids at an early age here, since there are many situations when children need these skills here. The idea of an employee sacrificing himself for the good of his company or of a wife looking the other way when her husband has an affair are linked to this concept. There's a phrase the Japanese use quite often which reflects this tendency to endure something rather than change it: sho ga nai (also shikata ga nai), which means "It can't be helped."
Like the HSBC bank advertisements say, never underestimate the importance of local knowledge. That's true when you're comparing the U.S. with Japan, too. To Americans, the basic idea of soup is Campbell's chicken noodle, but in Japan, it's creamy corn soup, sometimes with corn flakes sprinkled on top. When a child loses a tooth in the U.S., the Tooth Fairy takes it away, leaving money in its place; in Japan, you throw the tooth on the roof (if it was a lower tooth) or under your house (if it was a upper tooth). When you take delivery of a new car, you always do it on a lucky day (Taian) according to a Buddhist weekly calendar, to avoid having a traffic accident. And in the U.S., we sometimes count things by writing "chicken scratch" marks on a sheet of paper, with each completed set of lines equal to five, but in Japan, they write the character for honesty and correctness (tadashii). To see what the character looks like, as well as the stroke order for writing it, click here: http://www.jlist.com/tadashii/
You probably set your clock an hour back on Sunday. Most people grumble about having to remember to set their clocks forward and back in the spring and autumn, this isn't a problem in Japan, the only industrialized country that has not adopted the Daylight Savings Time system. Instead, we have to deal with the other extreme -- by the time I get up in the morning, the sun has been up for at least three hours. It's not that hard to get used to, but all things considered, having that daylight available when you're actually awake and using it is kind of convenient.
J-List is happy to bring you the amazing products of Yulia Nova, the beautiful Russian model who is very popular in Japan and throughout the Internet. We're happy to announce that the two new DVD releases that had been posted for preorder are in stock now, and they're really gorgeous. Both feature 30+ minutes of totally new footage, are completely remastered from the originals, and are mosaic-free. The DVDs also feature info on upcoming Yulia Nova releases.
Remember that it's 2005 calendar season right now! This means that for a limited time only, we've got a huge stock (over 250+) of unique anime, JPOP, swimsuit idol, sports and other calendars that are printed and sold in Japan. Why do we have so many calendars, instead of just carrying the most popular 20 or 30? Because we genuinely love Japan, we want to give you as wide a selection as possible, including items that might not be popular with everyone (but might be perfect for you).
Like the HSBC bank advertisements say, never underestimate the importance of local knowledge. That's true when you're comparing the U.S. with Japan, too. To Americans, the basic idea of soup is Campbell's chicken noodle, but in Japan, it's creamy corn soup, sometimes with corn flakes sprinkled on top. When a child loses a tooth in the U.S., the Tooth Fairy takes it away, leaving money in its place; in Japan, you throw the tooth on the roof (if it was a lower tooth) or under your house (if it was a upper tooth). When you take delivery of a new car, you always do it on a lucky day (Taian) according to a Buddhist weekly calendar, to avoid having a traffic accident. And in the U.S., we sometimes count things by writing "chicken scratch" marks on a sheet of paper, with each completed set of lines equal to five, but in Japan, they write the character for honesty and correctness (tadashii). To see what the character looks like, as well as the stroke order for writing it, click here: http://www.jlist.com/tadashii/
You probably set your clock an hour back on Sunday. Most people grumble about having to remember to set their clocks forward and back in the spring and autumn, this isn't a problem in Japan, the only industrialized country that has not adopted the Daylight Savings Time system. Instead, we have to deal with the other extreme -- by the time I get up in the morning, the sun has been up for at least three hours. It's not that hard to get used to, but all things considered, having that daylight available when you're actually awake and using it is kind of convenient.
J-List is happy to bring you the amazing products of Yulia Nova, the beautiful Russian model who is very popular in Japan and throughout the Internet. We're happy to announce that the two new DVD releases that had been posted for preorder are in stock now, and they're really gorgeous. Both feature 30+ minutes of totally new footage, are completely remastered from the originals, and are mosaic-free. The DVDs also feature info on upcoming Yulia Nova releases.
Remember that it's 2005 calendar season right now! This means that for a limited time only, we've got a huge stock (over 250+) of unique anime, JPOP, swimsuit idol, sports and other calendars that are printed and sold in Japan. Why do we have so many calendars, instead of just carrying the most popular 20 or 30? Because we genuinely love Japan, we want to give you as wide a selection as possible, including items that might not be popular with everyone (but might be perfect for you).
Monday, November 01, 2004
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