Cool Products Wednesday, September 21, 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.

	Animedia Deluxe vol. 2 The amazing anime magazine from Japan, which is filled with red-hot anime and free stuff. Known for bringing exclusive scoops from the artists and designers behind all your favorite anime series, get the inside scoop on current new shows from Japan with this great issue! View products »
	S Cawaii Aug 2011 S Cawaii is one of the leading magazines in the fashion industry, always showing off the best stuff that Japan has to offer.
	Kawaii T-Shirt One Piece, Other New Fashions Enjoy some great new fashion items from Japan today, including a one piece/t-shirt combo plus many others in stock.
	Popular Cosplay Products Restocked See fun anime cosplay and fashion products restocked, including our Eva-style Japanese Eye Patch or "Socks Glue" for holding up awesome Japanese socks.
	Puella Magi Madoka Magica Metal Charms These charms are perfect for the Madoka Magica fan in your life. You can grab the whole set, or a random individual one. Very cool.
	Gold Jewelry Making Sticker Pen With the help of this awesome pen, you too can create your own original accessories. This style of originality is mega popular in Shibuya.
	Strike Witches Figure Set of 2 This set of Sanya V. Litvyak & Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen is the deal you've been waiting for -- great detail, nice posing, excellent figures.
	Kuro Neko & Kirino Kosaka Figures You can't go wrong with figures of the cute characters from Ore no Imouto. Great stuff you should check out.
	Amagami SS Visual Fan Book Fans of the series Amagami will want to get their hands on this fan book that shows off all the great art from the game and anime.
	Moe Moe Encyclopedia Books Restocked These gorgeous artbooks are wonderful references for aspiring mangaka, but anyone who loves the Japanese manga art form will enjoy.
	Stair Girls ~ Kaidan Shojo There's something special about a pretty girl in a skirt walking up stairs. A fun new photobook from Japan that's only slightly ecchi.
	Restocked Photobooks Then see some other great restocked photobooks that capture the beauty and grace of Japan's most beautiful idols for all eternity. Kawaii!
	Gorgeous Idol & Actress Calendars You'll find calendars of nearly all the top JPOP and TV stars of Japan in our 2012 calendar section.
	Restocked Japanese Calligraphy Pens, More We love the fude pens we've sold for years, but this honestly might be the coolest set of colored brush pens we've ever had in stock.
	Aselia The Eternal *Preorder* Remember, the upcoming Aselia the ETERNAL is one of the most awesome JRPGs ever, and we'll be releasing the all-ages game soon. 23 tactical missions! 99 character levels! 21 playable characters, and 38 villages and town to visit! Preorder now. View products »
	Hello Kitty Sandwich Case, More A fun way to bring your sandwich, with a little help from Hello Kitty, is restocked, along with other Japan-only Sanrio items.
	Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea Pen Pouch Ponyo Ponyo Ponyo, Sakananoko This cute princess now has her own cute pen case, which we've restocked today.
	Microwave Ramen Bowl, Miso Soup Bowls The #1 item university students love to buy from J-List is our Ramen Microwave Bowl. See this and other fun dorm-friendly items restocked today.
	Wood Stick Cotton Swabs ~ 50pcs  Because they are made of natural wood, you will have a new feeling of premium whenever your ears are cleaned.
	New Snacks from Japan Enjoy an awesome new "boned meat" snack in BBQ flavor, fabulous Coffee Caramels from Morinaga, plus toast that does great with beer. View products »
	Lotte Blueberry & Ume Gum J-List also carries delicious flavors of gum from Japan, and today we've restocked blueberry and awesome ume flavor, so delicious!
	Restocked Snacks Fun Pokemon candies, awesome new Morinaga Hi-Chew flavors, FritoLay Japan-only Doritos flavors that go great with alcohol, plus Ramune Bottle Candy.
	Sakura Bento Box With Chopsticks We carry a complete bento sets which come with everything you need including chopsticks. See these traditional bento boxes, restocked today.
	Hello Kitty Sakura 2-Tier Bento Box Wow, this is a really outstanding Hello Kitty bento box that manages to be both kawaii and also traditional and awesome. Great for sakura lovers.
	Other Anime & Character Bento Also, fresh stock of those One Piece stacking bento boxes, so much fun to eat out of. Several types in stock.
	Awesome 'Furikake' Restocked Furikake is any dry food you sprinkle over rice, and we've restocked several types today, incl. "Deco Bento Furikake." Fun!
	'WA' DECO Bento Sets Also, we have many items to help you create beautiful bento, including shapers that cut sakura-petal shaped objects. We love bento!
	Can Erasers Be 'Art?' We love to find interesting erasers from Japan for our customers, and today we've restocked more Make Your Own Eraser crafts.
	Hanafuda ~ Japanese Traditional Playing Cards Hanafuda is a Japanese card game with beautiful flowers printed on the cards. It's been played in Kyoto for, oh, 1300 years or so, and you can play it too.
	Sake Cups, Sushi Mug, and More These sake cups feature traditional-style ukiyoe art, common before and doing the Meiji period. Other neat traditional items are also back in stock.
	R2-D2 Home Star Home Planetarium Putting the "star" in Star Wars, we love this crazy cool R2-D2, which is cool by itself, but the unit also doubles as a real planetarium.
	Even More Preorder Figures Nice, the Kirino Figma from OreImo was so popular, they're releasing it again. An awesome second chance to snag the most excellent imouto ever.
	Steins;Gate Products for Preorder Pour a can of Dr. Pepper into these official Steins;Gate mug cups w/ lids, or display an awesome figure of Christina in your room or office! We love Steins;Gate and are happy to bring so many awesome products for you. View products »
	Spray for Love Body ~ Sweat Scent of Woman This fragrant spray is the essential add-on for those who love adult toys, making your fantasies feel even more real. Japan never lets us down.
	Love Body Aki, More Restocked Love Body Aki is a blow-up doll you can dress and accessorize to meet your own personal preferences and wants. Many awesome items restocked.
	Products for K-On! Fans See some great ero toys for K-On! fans, with the ultimate Yui "first time" deluxe toy, plus the official personal lotion of Azu-nyan.
	Miku Hatsune, Vocaloid Parody Stress Toys For fans of Vocaloid Miku Hatsune, enjoy these popular parody toys which have all been restocked. We have both Miku and Luka!
	Princess Knight Olivia An epic new import eroge release, welcome to the world of Princess Knight Olivia, which combines amazing fantasy art with great characters.
	Restocked H-Games, Doujin Soft See great H-games like Miss Pig Princess, Hatsujo Exorcist, Strip Fighter IV, plus Madoka Magika doujin soft releases.
	'Yuri' Eroge in English We love yuri games about girls who love other girls, and recommend Yukkuri Panic: Escalation to all fans! It's two games in one.
	Awesome Games from MangaGamer Remember you can get great eroge in English from MangaGamer through J-List, like the popular Da Capo, Da Capo 2 and Guilty series.

Aselia the Eternal "Master Up"!

Great news! The upcoming all-ages JRPG Aselia the Eternal has gone "Master Up" (or as we call it in English, "Golden Master") and is now being duplicated. This is one of the best Japanese RPG titles ever to be translated into English, and the story is a perfect blending of awesome Japanese visual novel, advanced map-based scrolling and real combat. It's a great title we hope all fans will order. More than 50 hours of game play, with 99 character levels, 21 playable characters, 38 towns to visit, and 9 unique endings. You can still preorder it for free shipping when the game is ready -- go do it now!

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More 2012 Japanese Calendars

While J-List is happy to stock hugely popular Japanese calendars like the 2012 Studio Ghibli Calendar, the Tiger and Bunny anime calendar or our always-popular Lucky Cat traditional art calendar, we make sure to add many other calendars that capture the image of Japan. We've got esoteric but awesome 2012 calendars posted to the site including Remember, a tribute to the classic Japanese cars of bygone eras, or Night Views of Japan. We have many outstanding kanji calendars this year, including the calligraphic poetry of Mitsuo Aida, and also traditional photo calendars showing Japan in all its seasons.

Is Your Shadow Pale? Is Your Lower Back Low and Near the Ground?

Recently I wrote a post on the importance the Japanese place on humility as a personality trait, which you can see both in real life in people like Japanese professional athletes and as a personality type in anime, and how the Japanese phrase for someone who is modest and self-effacing is koshi ga hikui, lit. "his lower back is low to the ground." There's a whole slew of these odd idioms that describe someone's personality using parts of the body, like hana ga takai (nose is high), which means proud or haughty, or kao ga hiroi (face is wide), meaning a person known by many. One running joke in anime is a character who is so boring, he fails to make an impression on others, and in fact they often don't notice he's even there. In Japanese this is called kage ga usui (ka-gay ga oo-SOO-ee), lit. "one's shadow is pale."

A MAD from Yuru Yuri, the current anime about a character whose "shadow is pale."

Can you guess what these Japanese idioms might mean? (Select the text with your mouse to display)

mimi ga tooi | ears are far away   |   hard of hearing

kuchi ga omoi | mouth is heavy | tight-lipped, can keep a secret

atama ga ii | head is good  | smart, clever

shippo wo dasu | to show one's tail | to show one's true colors (like a wolf wearing a sheep suit)

shiri ga omoi | butt is heavy | lazy, slothlike

shiri ga karui | butt is light | a woman who is promiscuous

Autumn in Japan

Fall my favorite time of year, and it's coming to Japan soon. Before long, the leaves will start to change to beautiful shades of red, yellow and brown in a beautiful display of colors called koyo (lit. "crimson leaves"), which are especially nice in the mountainous area of the country J-List is located in. Just as the sakura are the image of spring in Japan, the momiji-no-ki or Japanese maple, with their small, delicate leaves, represent Autumn. The changing of the seasons is a chance for advertisers to sell products themed for the season, such as Kirin's season-limited Aki-Aji ("Taste of Autumn") beer, a nice darker brew, or the Tsukimi ("moon viewing") Burger from McDonald's, essentially a teriyaki burger with fried egg on top.

Autumn is my favorite time of year in Japan.

Respect for the Aged Day 2012

Today is a holiday in Japan: Keiro no Hi, or Respect for the Aged Day. Celebrated nationally since 1966 -- originally on September 15th, but recently moved to the following Monday under the "Happy Monday" initiative, which bumps holidays in the middle of the week to create more three-day weekends -- it's a day to honor and show respect for the older people in our lives. It's a good idea for Japan, the country with the highest percentage of people aged 65 or older in the world, currently 23.5% (in case you were curious, Florida has 17.6%). Today there will be TV specials highlighting the lives and accomplishments of older Japanese, and they'll no doubt be asked what their secret for staying so genki (healthy, full of pep) is -- and the answer will probably be something like, a daily serving of pickled fish intestines over rice. Respect for the Aged Day is a day for children to give gifts to their grandmothers and grandfathers, and popular presents include flowers, cards or train tickets to relaxing resorts.

Today is Respect for the Aged Day in Japan.

J-List Anime Glasses Photo Contest Results

Since 2011 is the 15th anniversary of J-List, we decided to do something special for our awesome customers, printing up "Anime Glasses" that allow you to transform yourself into a kawaii anime character. We've tallied the results of the J-List Anime Glasses Photo Contest, and have posted the winning pictures here. Thanks to everyone who entered -- we've given you some free J-List points to use when making your next purchase. Thanks again, and congratulations to the lucky winners! We have the best customers in the world.

Cool Products Monday, September 19, 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.

	Animage Sep 2011 Check out the latest issue of Animage, the perfect-bound anime magazine with the most sleek presentation around. You'll get full color glossy images from all your favorite new shows, plus omake (extra) posters! View products »
	Little Devil Ageha ~ Koakuma Ageha May 2011 Keep up with the best and hottest fashion trends in Japan with Koakuma Ageha Magazine, the leader in Shibuya fashion. New issue in stock.
	More Japanese Calendars Posted for Preorder We've got great new Japanese Idol calendar posters ready for preorder for the coming new year. You won't want to miss them.
	2012 Kanji & Calligraphy Calendars Keep your Japanese reading skill in tip-top shape with these calendars for 2012 that will test your Kanji knowledge and vocabulary.
	2012 Anime Calendars J-List sells thousands of anime calendars from Japan every year. Click to see the top-selling anime calendar offerings so far this year.
	Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi 'Tameiki' This is cool: a two figure set for Haruhi fans that's perfect for summer. Features Haruhi and Nagato wearing summer short kimonos.
	Anime Figures In Stock Fans of the 'science novel' Steins;Gate and the now airing anime will love these cute new Nendoroid action figures! Preorders up today.
	Akihabara Nekomimi Club (Cat Ear and Cat Gloves set) We've got a soft spot for cat-girls, and an even softer spot for cat-girls who are maids in Akihabara. We're happy we found this cool nekomimi kit, so that all our J-List friends can dress up and become nyan-tastic! View products »
	Kitty Cat T-Shirt One Piece And you don't have to become a cat-girl to love cats. This super cute dress is perrrrfect for those days you want to just play like a kitty.
	Striped Socks, Other Fashion Items Great Japanese fashion and cosplay items, like our striped "over knee" socks and flowery one piece dress, plus many more.
	Black Rubber 2 Way Ear Pick A great product for keeping your ears clean, the Japanese way or the Western way, with this unique earpick made from Japanese innovation.
	Glowing Light Stick from Japan Just like the ones you would find at a concert for your favorite Vocaloid or JPOP idol group, there glow sticks are great fun.
	Awesome PSP Anime Games Restocked Enjoy the just-released Black Rock Shooter game, A Certain Magical Index, To Love-Ru, K-On! After School Live, plus the epic Queen's Gate ecchi anime game.
	Restocked Anime Artbooks If you love anime beyond entertainment, but as an art form, then we recommend you take a look at some of these amazing artbooks.
	Genki Plus: Kanji Look and Learn Series The Genki Plus series is publish by the some people who make the Japan Times, the Japanese newspaper that knows what foreigners want.
	Japanese Study Books Restocked Today we're restocking Catchy Japanese Phrases, which present a "situational" way to learn the language that's something, which I recommend a lot.
	Hello Kitty Stuff Restocked Say no to boring square-shaped sandwiches and yes to kawaii Hello Kitty shaped ones. This popular item is restocked today.
	Restocked Totoro Products We've got some super cute Ghibli and Totoro products back in stock that is sure to make any child (or adult) very happy.
	Japanese Parody Erasers Set ~ Onigiri & Soba & Sake If you are a foodie who loves Japanese cuisine, then you'll also love these crazy cool erasers. Great for back to school or just around the house.
	Sushi, It's What You Want And if you are a sushi lover, look no further. From sushi magnets to sushi origami, we've got tons of great times in stock.
	Electric Takoyaki Makers Restocked Our very popular Takoyaki maker is now back in stock, so you can satisfy your desire for Osaka-style octopus batter balls any time.
	Driving Beginner's Mark Show everyone you're into Japan with this cool Beginner's Mark, a magnetic sticker you stick to your car's metal surface or window.
	Today's New Japanese Snacks Delicious new Japanese snacks posted today, including Baby Star Tempura Ramen you can munch right out of the bag, new Japan-only Bublicious "Magical Mix" flavor, and Jagarico Spicy Chicken, yum. View products »
	Instant Ramen, Udon, Soba Japan is the land of instant foods, and if you've not tried them before then you'll be surprised at how good they taste! An easy way to experience Japan life.
	Huge Restocking of Japanese Snacks Bull-Dog Sauce (yay!), traditional Ramune Mochi candy (highly recommended), Kompeito, Oreo Stick cookies, Puccho Ball Ramune and more.
	ASCII Art Bento Boxes & More Collect all three parts to this ASCII Art Bento set before they sell out. We love these kind of Japanese kaomoji art, which is so popular online.
	Nice Restocking of Bento Accessories A bento just isn't complete without an accessory or two, like our always handy character picks, nori punchers, shapers, cutters, and more.
	Kawaii Animal Die-cut Bento Sauce Bottle  Then, fresh stock of those cute little bottles for carrying soy sauce in your lunch, which look like little animals or trains.
	Restocked Traditional Items from Japan Enjoy an authentic Natural Stone Magatama bead from Japan, plus cool products for ninjas, like our Retracting Parody Ninja Blade and more.
	Kyubey (Incubator) Preorders Want a talking Kyubey pen or figure, then Madoka Magica fans, listen up. These cool preorder items are definitely something you should check out.
	Other Preorder Figures Also, we've posted a gorgeous new Revoltech EVA Provisional Unit 05, an Evangelion unit like no other, plus a kawaii figure from Katanagatari.
	Gorgeous New 2012 Nude Calendars The coming year just won't be as bright or fun without at least one poster calendar of your favorite model, pinned-up just for you.
	R-1 U.F.O Adapter This alien device was made with the sole purpose of pleasuring the sensitive nerve endings around the human nipple.
	Bakujuu Musou Ikkitousen Parody Toys The Ikki Tousen stress toys are popular because they're large, realistic and based on our favorite H-anime characters. See fresh stock of the series today.
	ONA BEAT K-On! Parody Toys Fans of the K-On! girls will want to browse the onahole parody toys we've restocked today. Yui, Mio, and Azunyan are restocked today.
	Soft Oppai, Ramune Lotion See some popular soft oppai products, some we all need to touch something soft and warm sometimes. Also, more Ramune parody lotion.