Cool Products Wednesday, August 3, 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.

	NyanType Sep 2011 The latest issue of NyanType is packed with fold-out extra large A3 size bishoujo anime posters that you'll love!...plus an amazing omake gift for fans in the form of a real oppai mouse pad! How awesome is that? View products »
	Dengeki G's Magazine Sep 2011 Fans of moe-tastic girls all agree that Festival Comic never disappoints. Loaded with great ero but kawaii content!
	Comic Alive Aug 2011 Another great issue of Comic Alive is here at last. Get great information on all your favorite manga, including Highschool of the Dead!
	egg Aug 2011 The very popular egg magazine is well known as the "go to guide" for the kogals (Japanese Valley Girls) that often hang around Shibuya.
	Otona no Kagaku ~ Theo Jansen Mini Rhinoceros Inspire learning in your child or in yourself with this cool kit, allowing you to make your own wind powered rhinoceros. We love science!
	Various Cosplay Items Restocked Enjoy authentic school swimsuits in navy blue and white, great for anime cosplay or whatever, plus other popular cosplay items.
	Kawaii Fashion We are always surprised by the all the great fashion styles we get into J-List, especially this one. Mecha mecha kawaii!
	Puella Magi Madoka Magica Strap Set This full collection of Madoka Magica straps in special gashapon capsules. They'll look great on anything and will be sure to protect you from witches. All five girls included in the set. View products »
	Kaomoji Portable Fan Uchiwa See fresh stock of the popular ASCII kaomoji (face-character) fans for summer, great for keeping cool and being nerdy. Several styles in stock.
	Takehito Harada Art Works 1 ~ Oshigoto Note Fans of the Disgaea game series already know the talents of Takehito Harada. This collection shows-off his amazing artwork in grand fashion.
	Amazing Artbooks Restocked, Too Before Steins;Gate there was Chaos;Head, and this artbook/game guide is fantastic. Also see the new Quarterly Pixiv artbook.
	Sheena iPhone 4 Covers When the legendary Tony Taka makes iPhone cases, J-List customers sit up and take note. Click to see the gorgeous new cases we have in stock (for now...).
	Figma & Nendoroid Action Figures Several popular figures are in stock too, incl. Black Rock Shooter Nendoroid and Figma toys, plus that gorgeous Bakemonogatari figure set.
	Reina First Photobook ~ Reina Fujie At J-List it's our mission to reflect Japan and its popular culture, and if that means carrying the gorgeous glossy photobooks filled with pictures of Japan's most beautiful women, like Reina-chan, then so be it! View products »
	Queen's Gate ~ Spiral Chaos  The impressive tactical strategy needed to conquer this game is overshadowed by the ability to inflict damage that removes clothes. ( ^o^ )0~punch)))
	Touhou Project Games Restocked, Too The Touhou "bullet curtain" games are so popular, we have trouble keeping them in stock. Click to see the official games restocked today.
	Ponyo & Totoro Products Every day we get new Ghibli products in stock is a good day. Click to see Ponyo playing cards, Totoro music box keychains and other wonderful items.
	Mushiro Sandal w/ Black Straps It's great to walk with your bare feet on grass... inside your home. These traditional sandals are great summer wear. Very cool (literally).
	Mos Burger Senbei Snacks We [heart] MOS Burger, and love their teriyaki burger since it tastes better than the McDonald's version. Check out these awesome rice crackers!
	Other Snacks from Japan Also, see delicious Pizza-LA (a famous pizza chain) with Mayonnaise & Shrimp chips, plus Pinky Tablet candies and other good items.
	Fun Snacks Restocked, Too Traditional Bontan Ame candy, more Takoyaki snacks (??), Pokemon Gummies, Edamame and Gyoza Pretz, plus fun Sushi Gummi!
	Morning Rescue is Restocked By popular demand, the drink that saves you when you have a hangover, or when you get attacked by evil witches from Madoka Magika!
	Modern Slim Bento Box When you want to show off your lunch to your co-workers or friends, do it with a box that will equally awe and impress. It sparkles with style.
	Red Rabbit x Moon Bento Box Set Red With this extremely adorable bento your children will be saying Okasan, oishii yo! (Mom, it's delicious!) Many others available too.
	Restocked Bento Accessories Restocked bento items too, including the Vegetable Shaper for Bento (make sakura-shaped vegetables!), onigiri shapers, plus Easy Boiled Egg Shapers.
	Traditional Chopsticks from Japan The best material for making chopsticks is bamboo, and we've restocked the popular long-length chopsticks for you. Highly recommended!
	Piko Piko Hammer J-List loves strange things you can only find in Japan, and today we've restocked that Piko Piko Hammer which Beat Takeshi hits guests on the head with.
	Other Wacky Things Also: we have authentic harisen, which are those giant fans you hit people on the head with. Click to see this and other wacky things from Japan.
	Japanese Study Products There are only 124 days until the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, will you be ready? Restocking some great study and back-to-school items.
	Awesome New Sci-Fi Revoltech Figures *Preorder* Enjoy the gorgeous War Machine from the Iron Man films, plus the wonderful Revoltech Muv-Luv Alternative, so much fun to pose and play with.
	Taiga Aisaka Nendoroid Figure ~ Tora Dora! *Preorder* We're no small Toradora fans at J-List, and now we can finally (!) get the Taiga Nendoroid we deserve. I'll display mine in a place of honor.
	Akiko Fudou 1/8 Cast off Figures *Preorder* Finally, we've got some cute "cast off" figures from Kaitendoh, a warrior called Akiko with clothes that can be reconfigured.
	Amazing Photobook: Peeping Girls Life This photobook takes a look at the daily life of typical Japanese girls, photographed from some interesting angles. The photography is interesting and excellent, and the girls are, well, they're pretty awesome too. View products »
	Bachelor Sep 2011 Have a *thing* for kyonyu, we've got exactly the right magazine for you -- Bachelor, the top publication for large oppai lovers.
	Restocked Ecchi Artbooks We're huge fans of 2D art and artbooks, and we've restocked some great ones for you to drool over. Click to see them all now.
	A Certain Onanie Hole ~ Yuki Nagato Parody Toy Here's a great item for fans of everyone's favorite Humanoid Interface, Yuki Nagato. Whether she's observing human behavior through the Godmind of Haruhi Suzumiya or experiencing it directly with Kyon (all for the purpose of understanding humans better, of course), this is a great fantasy toy. View products »
	Amazing Vibrators from Japan See several popular personal massager products restocked, including the classic Pink Rotar and e-Rotar eggs, Nipple Papillon and more.
	Also: Fera Zoma and other Amazing Stress Toys That mouth-shaped love hole is back in stock for you to enjoy, AKETEMITE! and the amazing Eri Himekawa doll toy, wow.
	Restocked Visual Novels We love visual novels from Japan, and carry dozens of the best important games. Click to see our most popular game titles today!
	J-List Recommends YUME MIRU KUSURI A modern fairytale of dreams and adversity in school life that seems both glamorous and all too familiar, meet three girls that will change your life.

Our Summer Trip: Pt. 2

Well, that was quite a trip. Over five days my son and I managed to hit some of the more interesting spots in the American Southwest, experiencing the scorching temperatures of Death Valley, the thrill of posing for photos outside the Area 51 gate, driving old stretches of Route 66 and the awesomeness of Penn & Teller, two of my favorite magicians. We managed to put 1500 miles (2400 km) on my mother's 2002 Miata convertible, and had a blast.

During the trip, my son learned a lot about the U.S. He was surprised that the majority of the other tourists we encountered in our travels were from other countries, mostly from Europe but also plenty from China, Japan, Russia etc. (There was one group of old dudes from Switzerland that were touring the U.S. on rented Harleys, how awesome is that?) I explained to him that people around the world have a fascination with America and like visiting famous places, just as many gaijin visitors to Japan feel awe when making that first pilgrimage to Kyoto, Akihabara or whatever places are special to them. ("Like Obi Wan said, it all depends on your point of view," was his reply.) Another observation he made was that you could tell you'd crossed a state line by subtle differences in the roads or on the signs, and he was right. Going from California to Nevada or Arizona, you immediately feel that a different set of rules has been applied to the roads, like the grooves along the road in Arizona (but nowhere else), or the proud "Grand Canyon State" signs. In contrast, Japanese prefectures are boringly uniform, with road surfaces, signs, traffic signals and pretty much everything else standardized by the national government in Tokyo, with very little variation from place to place. (One exception are traffic signals, which hang horizontally in most Japanese cities but vertically in the colder regions to the north, to keep snow from piling on top.)

U.S. states each have a unique "feel" to them, unlike Japanese prefectures.

How to Say "No" in Japanese

Japanese is a very subtle language, and I thought it'd be interesting to examine the many ways you can express the word "no." The Japanese word for "no" is iie, pronounced "ee-EH," but it's considered too direct for most everyday uses. A more common way to reply negatively to a question might be to use the word chigau (lit. "wrong") or iya (pronounced "ya"), a fairly common general negating word that sounds softer to the ear. One phrase that will also get the job done is dame (dah-meh) or dame desu, but this often carries a strong nuance of "it's no good" or "it's not allowed," so it's easy to use it wrong and cause offense. The Japanese are very good at answering a delicate question in the negative using words so subtle, poor gaijin like us might not know what's being said. If asked whether a piece of cake was delicious, you could delicately reply chotto... (which just means "a little..."), and the overall meaning would be understood without anything being said openly. One good way to get a feel for the subtleties of Japanese is to read a lot of manga. Since 90% of the text in manga consists of dialogue being spoken by characters, it's a good way to expose yourself to "real" (thought somewhat stylized) Japanese. Best of all, many manga volumes we sell feature furigana (hiragana written above or beside the kanji characters), making them easier to read.

Many ways to express "no" in Japanese.

Cool Products Monday, August 1, 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 Sep 2011 The always amazing Megami magazine is back with the September issue, with all the information you want to know about the Madoka Magika movie, Idol Master for the PS3, Steins;Gate and tons more. Always bursting with great posters and extra omake (Japanese for "free stuff"). View products »
	Monthly Anime Style vol.4 *Preorder* The wildly popular Monthly Anime Style, which gives you a great original figure with each issue, is coming soon. Get the Ruri Hoshino Nendoroid!
	Kuro Neko Figma Action Figure Seldom has an anime character won the hearts of fans like Ruri, aka Kuroneko, from Oreimo. Here's her Figma, but it won't be in stock for long.
	Maya Kumashiro 1/8 Figure Excellent Model An eerily cool figure of Maya Kumashiro from Seikimatsu Occult Academy! Unfortunately our customers bought most of our stock, I hope she's available for you.
	Dancer Marryan 1/8 Figure *Preorder* It's the cute Marryan-senpai from the game ToHeart2 Dungeon Traveler, and she's kawaii as usual! And only slightly psycho!
	Kuroko Shirai 1/6 Figure Maid ver. Surveys show that Kuroko is the favorite yuri character of 76% of fans. And anime bloggers make up 97% of statistics. New figure hotness is in stock.
	Touhou Ibarakasen ~ Wild and Horned Hermit Check out the newest addition to the world of Touhou, Ibarakasen. With great artwork by Azuma Aya, we're sure you'l enjoy it.
	Green, Blue, Orange, and Pink Shimapan J-List wouldn't be J-List without these fun shimapan (horizontally striped underwear), and we're happy to announce several new styles and colors. We've got Mio Blue, cute pink, orange, Miku Hatsune green, plus sizes for, er, otokonoko. View products »
	Restocked Fashion & Cosplay Products Great Japanese fashion and cosplay items, like our striped "over knee" socks and flowery one piece dress, plus many more.
	Pokemon Open Ball Mascot BW Set of 6 Celebrate your love of Pokemon (aka Pocket Monsters), with these great gashapon Pokeball straps with cute mini characters. We love these!
	Monster Hunter Smart Phone/MP3 Case Wow, these cool Monster Hunter cases for your smartphone are weatherpoof and have great style. A very cool product, even for non-monhan fans.
	Today's Preorder Figures Check out Nymph from Sora no Otoshimono (Heaven's Lost Property) which is a fun show. This is a gorgeous prepainted figure for you.
	Restocked PSP Games The PSP has blossomed into the perfect platform for anime gaming. See Queen's Blade, ToraDora, ToHeart2, Hetalia, and more.
	How to Draw Manga Restocked To become a famous mangaka, first you must learn how to draw life-like characters and luscious, expansive landscapes. Great books restocked.
	Cute One Piece Products Restocked Adorable, wacky and awesome One Piece stationary in stock today, incl. the Chopper Man Furry Pen Case and B5 Craft Notebook.
	Evangelion & Logos Stainless Mug Cup ~ Red Nerv  Also: enjoy your coffee the NERV way, with the stainless steel coffee mugs we restocked today. Do your Gendo pose while you drink.
	Takoyaki Cookers Restocked We've got everything you need to make delicious takoyaki (octopus balls), the official snack food of Osaka. Also makes pancake and sausage balls, yum.
	Japanese Shaving Ice Machines for Summer These official Japanese ice shavers are great tools for making traditional summer kakigoori, or Japanese shave ice. Click to see!
	Today's New Japanese Snacks We've got some crazy snacks today, with Umeboshi Tyrant Habanero, Pudding Cookies, and Tomato Chips. We're big fans of learning about Japan through its delicious snack culture, so click to browse our newest items. View products »
	Restocked Calorie Mate We love selling Calorie Mate, the balanced food that makes dieting easier (when's the last time you saw an overweight Japanese person?). All flavors restocked.
	Other Restocked J-Snacks Other snacks restocked too, including Popin' Cookin' Happy Kitchen Doughnuts and Cup Cake, plus Meiji Assortment, Frisk Black and Okonomiyaku sauce.
	Restocked Bento Boxes, Too We have other bento boxes restocked too, including the traditional Delicieux 2 Tone bento and the stylish Pink x Black SAKURA bento!
	Pink Cat Face Bento Bag Change any bento into a cat bento with this cute bag that is easy to use and clean. We like the kawaii ears especially.
	Reusable Silicon Cups and Other Bento Goods ECO is the word of the future, and these ECO cups make us feel like we are living in the future. These new silicon bento cups are great.
	Fun Traditional Items from Japan Fun traditional items restocked today, including our hachimaki Japanese headbands so you can show your ki-ai plus cat tea cups and more.
	Panty 1/7 Figure ~ *Preorder* Take home Panty from Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, in her sexy angel form. All you need now is the music and you can re-create your favorite scene from the TV series.
	Tiger & Bunny Stereo Headphones *Preorder* Speaking of music, Tiger and Bunny fans have a great reason to get their credit card out, cool headphones you can preorder now.
	Friday's Preorder Figures And in case you missed them, here are the (outstanding, if I may say it) preorder figures we posted over the weekend. Asuka in her "test" plugsuit, Mio Sakamoto from Strike Witches, two darling new Oreimo figures and more. View products »
	BJ ~ Bejean Sep 2011 The marvelous JAV magazine BJ is back with tons of great features and gorgeous girls waiting to take off everything for the camera. As usual, it's a real treat to have such quality magazines from Japan to post on the site. View products »
	Restocking of 'H' Photobooks See fresh stock of several of our naughtier photobook offerings, including Aya Kanei's gorgeous Anri plus H Cup Anna Natsuki, wow!
	And Other Photobooks From focusing on women's fashion and uniforms, to eroi Japanese idols, there are plenty here to check out and take home.
	Puru Puru Hearts Enjoy the erokawaii adventures of these girls in many different cosplay outfits, like bunnysuits, maid outfits, kimonos and more. Great new manga.
	Hanjuku Kanjuku Sisters This moe moe love comedy is filled with great art from Daiichi Chuni that we can't stop looking at again and again. Gorgeous and delicious.
	Loisirs Creatifs ~ Amane Soh illustrations Then, wow, a new artbook by the talented Amane Soh, featuring his female creations that are beautiful beyond belief.
	BAND GAL! Parody Stress Toys New anime stress toys in stock, including the popular K-On! parody toys, modeled after your favorite characters from the hit anime series.
	The Most Advanced Stress Toys from Japan Japan has invented some of the best ways to relax and work off stress. See the legendary R-1 and A10 Cyclone both restocked.
	Other Restocked Stress Toys Got fresh stock of several of our most popular products, too, including a fantastic "Meiki" hole and Miku Hatsune simulator.