Cool Products Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Here are today's "really cool products" that I've picked out for you, out of the 30+ new items we've added to the J-List and JBOX.com sites today. Note that some products may be "not safe for work" but that all links will allow you to redirect yourself either to the J-List or JBOX.com websites. To see all the J-List products, check out J-List or the JBOX.com updated products link.

	Young Ace June 2011 The magazine that includes dozens of the top manga is here, including Evangelion and spinoffs, other Gainax manga like Panty & Stocking and Gunbuster, Fate/Zero by Madoka creator Urobuchi Gen, and much more. Plus a great extra in the form of a new Asuka plug suit figure! View products »
	Dengeki G's Magazine June 2011 Enjoy this latest issue of Dengeki G's magazine, the 'media mix' magazine packed with everything bishoujo anime, manga, and games.
	Comic Coro Coro Feb 2011 Comics for the lovers of Japan's mascot characters are packed into this issue of Coro Coro! See Duel Masters, Beyblade, Kirby, Pokemon inside.
	Fullmetal Alchemist 3 illustrations The Full Metal Alchemist manga keeps on with the brilliant art of Hiromu Arakawa, and the latest collection of gorgeous imagery is right here.
	Restocked Haruhi, Other Artbooks Noiji Ito is the amazing artist who created the character designs for Haruhi Suzumiya (and Shana of the Blazing Eyes). See her great artbook, and more.
	Puella Magi Madoka Magica 1 (Blu-ray Disc) The definitive release of Madoka Magica is here, in pristine HD and packed with extras. Features upgraded footage from the broadcast version!
	Figure King No. 159 Check out the new issue of Figure King, the magazine that represents with all the giant robot and 'plamo' goodness you can handle.
	Revoltech Evangelion Figure See fresh stock of some of our favorite Revoltech toys from Evangelion, plus the epic Zone of the Enders mecha. You'll love the superb detail.
	Awesome Figures In Stock Check out this epic bikini/apron Asuka from Evangelion, the sultry Hitagi from Bakemonogatari, and more!
	Sexy Ribbon One Piece ~ White This new item in the Japanese fashion lineup we're able to bring to you really hits one out of the park, with a great casually sexy look that we think will look great in your wardrobe. Another awesome fashion offering from J-List and Y's Enterprise. View products »
	Hello Kitty Face Die Cut Vinyl Bags The latest chic Kitty items are these cute vinyl bags, ready to carry and 'kittify' anything you want to take with you! Genuine Sanrio product.
	Hello Kitty iPhone 4 Cover She's black, she's chic, and she looks great on an iPhone case -- it's Hello Kitty sleekly in the prowl! An official Sanrio licensed product.
	Last Promise Story for PSP Check out this gorgeous new RPG for your PSP in this first release from the ambitious Image Epoch JRPG project. Nice desu!
	Portable Paper Soap Also see fresh stock of the innovative Portable Paper Soap, thin sheets of fragrant soap that you can use to wash your hands anywhere.
	Japan Underground IV The amazing series of photobooks continues, showing you mind-bending pictures from the underbelly of Tokyo. I love these books.
	Popin' Cookin' Oekaki Gummy Land Enjoy the "do it yourself" fun of creating with the Popin' Cookin' series of candy crafts, this one letting you create your own art with delicious "gummy" snacks! You can feel your creativity flow along with the delicious creations you can eat afterwards. Awesome! View products »
	Awesome New Japanese Snacks Today's new snacks include a less-spicy Habanero potato snack, 100% juice "fruit in" gummy and awesome Japanese pudding in "black sesame" flavor.
	Restocked Japanese Snack Gift Sets We've restocked our awesome boxed gift snacks, incl. Tokyo Strawberry Daifuku, Akihabara Bunny Shrine Chocolate Daifuku, plus K-On! And Monster Hunter.
	Restocked Snacks & Gum, Too Enjoy the "official" milk caramels of the Totoro universe, plus Lotte "No Time" gum, Grape Mochi candy, plus a big restocking of popular instant ramen.
	Japanese Food Drops Restocked We have even more fun Japanese "Food Drops" in stock, including Yaki Curry, Tokyo Noodle, Potato Chips, Sasebo Burger and "Shochu" (Soju).
	WAON Traditional-Modern Bento Box Set Big restocking of several bento boxes today, including the Blue Rabbit x Moon, WAON traditional + modern bento and beautiful FU-BI bento set. View products »
	Kawaii Items for your Kitchen Enjoy random cute items like the Heart and Rabbit/Bird Cooking Shaper Sets, a way to make cute pudding and gelatin, plus cute ribbon clips.
	Awesome Egg Shapers from Japan Also: the epic Dream Land Egg Shaper is joined by Niko Niko Nori Punch which makes smiling rice balls, and more. Always something fun at J-List.
	The Ultimate Kanji Study Item The ultimate took to help keep you motivated for studying Japanese, this is an awesome poster with every kanji you'll ever need to learn.
	Lacquered Paulownia Woman's Geta / Red Peony Pattern Strap  Get a pair of beautiful, sturdy geta just in time for summer with this pair of authentic Japanese sandals, great for any casual outfit.
	Awesome Kokeshi Dolls Restocked I just love the traditional wooden dolls, called kokeshi ningyo, and am glad we're able to carry them on J-List. Enjoy today's restocked items.
	J-List T-Shirts from San Diego J-List has a famous line of anime and kanji T-shirts, from our tribute to tsundere voice actress Rie Kugimiya to K-On! and more. Click to see.
	QB Marshmallows! Become a Magical Girl! Will you sign a contract and eat one of these to become a magical girl? One of the most delicious and chilling items we've seen in awhile.
	OreImo Trading Figure Full Set 8 *Preorder* Enjoy the super-kawaii female cast of Oreimo in this adorable figure set! My chibi-Kirino can't be this cute. Now available in preorder. Do want!
	Yuri Seijin Naoko-san & Misuzu Figure *Preorder* Journey to the "planet of yuri" with this figure set from the comedy gag manga Yuri Seijin Naoko-san! Preorders open today.
	Restocked 'Ero' Photobooks See several delicious glossy photobooks, including Rinko and Mai Nishida's well-named "My Pudding."
	New Ero Doujinshi Today's new doujinshi include an extra ecchi celebration of the virtues (or lack thereof) of K-On!'s Mio, as well as an epic full color Oreimo book that shows off a three way encounter potential that any doujin fan will enjoy. Enjoy the new offerings. View products »
	Queen's Blade Artbooks Restocked See fantastic artbooks from Japan, including several Queen's Blade Bitoshi Gaiden (outside story) books. Quite ecchi and awesome.
	Restocked Tenga Flip Hole The most popular Tenga stress toys have been restocked, including the Tenga Flip Hole, one of the most advanced products ever.
	Anime-themed Onahole Toys One area of otaku fandom that's seen a lot of growth, and which we're happy to be able to support here at J-List is the genre of anime-themed stress relief toys and novelty items that help you think of your favorite character in their intimate moments. See entries from Bible Black plus the epic elf-themed Angelica series! View products »
	Great H-Games by Internet Download, Package J-List has tons of outstanding English-language eroge too. Download and packaged shipments from San Diego will not be delayed.
	Restocked Imported Eroge from Japan In addition to our English eroge, we stock import Japanese games. See Sharin no Kuni, Tears to Tiara, Pastel Chime Continue and Clannad: Tomoyo After today.

New J-List Blog is New

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No Daylight Savings Time for Japan -- Buu!

Japan is currently engaged in a debate about how best to rebuild the country after the massive destruction of the March 11 earthquake and tsunamis, and has budgeted the first $50 billion to start the restoration process. It seems everyone has an idea about how to go about rebuilding the damaged regions, which include whole towns that have been erased. Unfortunately one idea that won't be considered is daylight savings time (also known as "summer time"), which has been officially discarded for reasons of "cost and complexity." This comes to a blow to foreigners (like me) who hoped the crisis would spur Japan to join the rest of the world in "springing forward and falling back" so I don't have to go to bed at 3 am with the sun peeping in through my curtains. A big part of Japan's reluctance to embrace DST is no doubt due to the high number of elderly (21% of Japan is over the age of 65) who would have trouble adapting to the time changes.

No Daylight Savings Time for Japan. It must be Kyubeh's doing/

Training with Peter

I started going to a gym to try to get into shape. To be honest, I was kind of undecided about whether I wanted to join or not, but then I learned that they have a proper onsen hot springs bath and sauna for relaxing after a workout, including a roten-buro outdoor bath, which put it over the top for me. The gym is quite nice, with modern equipment for everyone to use, including TVs built into the machines so you can watch TV while you work out. As is often the case, I find myself the only foreigner in the place. It's not that other gaijin are that rare in Japan -- 3% of our city is made up of foreigners -- but it's more like the things I do ("normal" Japanese things like going to a gym, going to a Shinto shrine to pray for good luck on New Year's Day, taking part in school events with my kids) are less likely to be done by other foreigners living here -- it frankly takes force of will to be okay with being the only gaijin in the room. The Japanese are usually big on entering a new sport activity by kakko, or style, and my wife was livid when I suggested I could work out in normal shorts and a T-shirt. No, she insisted, I had to have proper workout clothes with Nike or Adidas logos on them. (Japanese are known for spending a fortune on high-end skiwear despite not knowing how to ski, too.)

I've started a new workout program at a Japanese gym.

Golden Week 2011

Japan is entering Golden Week, a semi-accidental clustering of holidays that received its unique name from movie theatre operators trying to promote the holiday week as a good time to go see a movie. The holidays are Showa Day on April 29, the birthday of the old Emperor; Constitution Day on May 3, commemorating Japan's postwar constitution; Green Day on May 4, a day to celebrate nature; and Children's Day on May 5, when parents will proudly fly those streaming carp kites. Most of the time Golden Week is nearly useless as a holiday, since the other 127,560,999 people in Japan also have the week off, so taking a trip up the pleasant town of Karuizawa in the mountains of Nagano Prefecture means sitting in your car for 10 hours because everyone in Tokyo decided to go there too. This year, however, people are supposedly exercising jishuku or "self-restraint" after the sad events of six weeks ago, and many people are staying home instead of planning a special family trip. I plan to do the opposite, taking my family on a trip and treating them to a great steak dinner somewhere, since Japan needs economic strength in order to recover.

Early May is when you see all those beautiful carp streamers.

Kawaii Anime Figures @ J-List

J-List carries thousands of fun products from Japan, from bento boxes to rare Japanese snacks to our famous "Looking for a Japanese Girlfriend" (and Boyfriend) T-shirts. We've also got quite a few awesome anime figures, from all the popular Nendoroid, Figma and Revoltech toys to prepainted figures for display and also a large selection of "cast off" figures (heh). Click here to browse our most popular anime figures from Japan!

Cool Products Monday, May 2, 2011

Here are today's "really cool products" that I've picked out for you, out of the 30+ new items we've added to the J-List and JBOX.com sites today. Note that some products may be "not safe for work" but that all links will allow you to redirect yourself either to the J-List or JBOX.com websites. To see all the J-List products, check out J-List or the JBOX.com updated products link.

	Megami Magazine June 2011 Megami Magazine is the #1 magazine at J-List for one reason: the awesome moe art included inside, and the huge number of posters they shower on readers. This issue has an amazing 11 posters (22 sides), with all original art from the newest shows. In other words...you must buy it. ^_^ View products »
	Nyantype June 2011 The main competitor to Megami is NyanType, and it's also really awesome. We've got the new issue for you, loaded with cool sexy anime posters.
	Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Visual Collection  Here's a really special artbook, a massive collection of the best art from Nanoha The MOVIE 1st, with delightful illustrations of all your favorite characters.
	Hiragana Times May 2011 NO. 295 The magazine that both enlightens about Japan and teaches you Japanese with an intuitive phonetic approach combined with kanji, another great issue!
	HIRAGANA Learning Set Learn the Japanese hiragana writing set with these magnetic letters' which you can put on the fridge or any white board. Great idea!
	Queen's Gate Books In Stock Speaking of Samurai Girls, Yukimura Sanada is coming to Queen's Gate combat artbooks, and the art inside is gorgeous. Now in stock.
	CLANNAD PS3 Wow! Here's a great new release for Clannad fans, the complete game remastered for Sony PS3. With improved full HD art and 5.1 channel music, you will love it.
	High Waist Denim Pants Another fascinating style from Japan, here are some amazing jeans that are designed to go all the way up your body, in a style that will cause people to wonder where you got these awesome things. They look great! View products »
	Restocked 'Shimapan' Striped Pantsu We've got our striped pantsu back in stock as well today, great for fans of Mio from K-On! And Miku Hatsune.
	Authentic School Briefcase Also, want to carry an authentic Japanese school bag to school? We've restocked the fabulous bookbag from Matsukameya of Nagoya today.
	Japanese T-Shirt ~ Hipster Kitty (Fitted girl's Tee) Inspired by the legendary Hello Kitty glasses stand, J-List has created a parody T-shirt which we call Hipster Kitty. Featuring a kawaii version of Hello Kitty wearing glasses, we call the shirt meganeko, which combines megane (glasses) with neko (cat). Nerdy and awesome, we've been fans of Hipster Hello Kitty before she went mainstream. View products »
	I Can't Believe my iPhone Case is This Cute Got an iPhone 4? Love Oreimo? Why not combine the two with this cover case featuring Kuroneko and Kirino.
	Anime, JPOP Songs from iTunes Japan Spotted on the iTunes Japan app store: a fun "Tickle me Kanojo" game in which you tickle a cute moe girl, plus a Typing of the Gods Miko typing practice game.
	Persona 2 ~ Innocent Sin Here's a treat: the popular Persona 2 game is now available on the Sony PSP, so you can play this groundbreaking title on the best anime game platform.
	Otona no Kagaku Science Projects Restocked Big restocking of the science project kits from Gakken, including Theremin and the SX-150 Music Synthesizer that you build yourself. Amazing!
	Cool Totoro & Ghibli Stuff *Preorder* Today we've got those awesome Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service papercraft houses you can build, plus Totoro plush toys.
	Smart Ivory Clip Calculator This is a great idea: a high quality calculator that's very thin, allowing you to clip it to folders and documents and never be without it.
	Restocked Pens for Back to School Season Rilakkuma is one of the most popular characters in Japan, and we love him because he's so soothing to be around. The plush pencil case is restocked.
	SAMURAI KABUTO Display Another awesome traditional Japanese display item, this is a kabuto (helmet) that is used by fathers to celebrate their male children.
	Japanese Mint Flavored Picks ~100pcs This is handy: a box of Japanese toothpicks (in Japanese, youji) flavored with mint on one end.
	Fuwarinka Gum Rose Flavor New! Cracie, the company that brings us those awesome Popin' Cookin' Sushi Candy that you make yourself, has a new type of Fuwurinka rose essence gum. It makes your body smell better from the inside out with essence of rose! View products »
	UHA Seishun Shigekix ~ Ramune Flavor Got other new Japanese snacks too, including Meiji Copan Rich Cheese, delightful baked bread snacks, plus Seishun Shigekix in Ramune flavor -- wow!
	More Japanese Food Drops, Furikake Enjoy Okonomiyaki and "First Kiss" flavored "Food Drops" candies, plus miso noodle flavored furikake to sprinkle over rice.
	Delicious Traditional Candy from Kyoto A traditional treat from Japan's historical capital, a great way to sate your sweet tooth and experience a unique flavor of Japan!
	Restocked Japanese Snacks Enjoy Honda Corn Potage Rice Crackers (?) Meiji Mini Assortment candy, Puccho Ramune, Caplico Strawberry Ice Cream Chocolate and more.
	Gorgeous Lacquered Bento Boxes I love a well designed bento box, and the Onigiri Style Bento Box, which stores three rice balls above the other parts of your lunch, is outstanding!
	Gyoza Makers, Sushi Shapers Bento Stuff Wonderful bento/kitchen items restocked, including Gyoza Makers for making Chinese dumplings, sushi shapers for making awesome sushi, and more.
	Food Pencil, Nori Punch for Bento Write messages of love with the Bento Food Pencil, restocked, plus see the Nori Cutters for cutting seaweed sheets into cool shapes.
	Pan De Pack Mini The Japanese hate crusts on bread, and they love making interesting sandwiches like these. Try it and you'll be hooked.
	Japanese Textbooks for the JLPT There are only 216 days days til the Japanese Language Proficiency Test! Prepare with the outstanding textbooks we restocked today.
	The Best Pens from Japan We're big fans of the Sarasa ballpoint pen line from Zebra, and no one here will use any other pen. Click to see the current stock.
	Sci-fi Revoltech No.028 Monster's Inc.*Preorder* We love the Revoltech toys because they are so well made and imaginative. Enjoy Sully and Mike from Monster's Inc, with full motion!
	Exride GANTZ BIKE, Mega Man *Preorder* We have a slick motorcycle from GANTZ that any Figma can ride, plus a new Mega Man figure you will love.
	J Cup Honami ~ Honami Uehara Gorgeous Honami Uehara is only 19 years old and recently made her AV debut for the joy of her fans. Enjoy her fabulous photobook, which we like a lot.
	Masamune Shirow Artbooks Restocked Shirow is our favorite ecchi illustrator, and we've restocked some of his popular artbooks. Warning, they are nosebleed-inducing.
	DX Massager 'DENMA.' If you've watched a few JAV titles, you've probably seen, designed to bring maximum stimulation to certain parts. Restocked today.
	Miku Hatsune, Vocaloid Parody Stress Toys For fans of Vocaloid Miku Hatsune, enjoy these popular parody toys which have all been restocked. They will help you relax at the end of the day.
	Other Restocked Stress Toys Got fresh stock of several of our most popular products, too, including the "Meiki" hole toy that simulates a girl's first time.
	Awesome PSP 'H' Games Restocked Enjoy the legendary Kanojo x Kanojo series on your PSP, plus Tentacle Girl, How To Have More H and Sweet Time, and more. All NSFW.
	My Girlfriend is the President Preorder In addition to the upcoming Demonbane, the epic eroge My Girlfriend is the President is coming soon. Preorder now for free shipping!

My Life as an Otaku Dad

It must be strange, having a professional otaku for a dad. Just by living in Japan, my kids (daughter aged 14 and son aged 16) naturally consume a certain amount of anime, manga and related popular culture, playing games like Monster Hunter or reading the Haruhi Suzumiya light novels, and it's got to be odd for them to have a father that can follow their interests so closely. I regularly freak my daughter out by knowing the name of the artist of the manga she's reading, or by showing more knowledge of the individual Hetalia characters than most fathers probably should be able to, and when my son sends me a link to the newest Miku Hatsune song I've probably already got it ripped on my iPhone.

It's convenient having kids who are plugged into Japan's pop culture world, since I can find out what's happening in Japan's online world through them, and report it to you. For example, recently my daughter has been reading websites on her iPod touch (and reading, and reading -- if anyone at Apple is a fan of J-List, please add some parental control options to iOS, m'kay?) -- giggling to herself while she read. I asked her what was so interesting and she said, "I'm reading a yume shosetsu...a 'dream novel.'" This is an online phenomenon where a website will ask a reader their name and insert it into a story, allowing visitors to read a fascinating adventure story about themselves. The other day my son turned on the TV and sat down at his computer, telling me, "I'm going to do jikkyo on Nico Douga." This refers to the new trend of watching an anime on TV while typing live comments which are visible to other users of video sharing site Nico Douga, allowing you to bat comments around with other anonymous users, which adds a layer of fun to what you're watching.

My kids help me keep up with the latest trends in Japan.