Greetings from J-List September 9, 2000

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Greetings from J-List September 4, 2000

Hello again from Japan, the country where toilets wash and dry your butt for you -- we have one of these in our house, actually.

To Japanese singers, America is the "holy land, and every musician dreams of succeeding there. Dozens have tried and failed -- Matsuda Seiko being the most famous -- but except for Pink Lady, who's single Kiss In The Dark spent three weeks on the top 40 in 1979, no Japanese singers have ever made much of a splash. Denpa Shonen, the Japanese TV show that followed comedians as they hitchhiked from the bottom of Africa to the top of Europe, is trying to change that: they want to help to make Kahala Tomomi a star in America. The former girlfriend of master Japanese music producer Tetsuya Komuro (who gave us such great lyrics as get chance and luck" and "Body feels EXIT") and best-selling singer in her own right, she fell on hard times emotionally and professionally when she broke up with TK. Her new plan: to debut in America. Each week on Denpa Shonen, the camera follows her around as she goes to record companies in Los Angeles, asking in terrible English if she could please talk to a producer about a recording contract. She sings her own songs at Japanese karaoke boxes to make demo tapes, or outside record companies with a portable karaoke set. If you're in the Los Angeles area, keep your eyes out for her and tell her we said "ganbatte kudasai" (do your best).

There was an interesting drama on TV last week, which got one of the highest viewer ratings of any drama in history -- 29%. Called "Tale of One Hundred Years, it told the story of three generations of women, in the Taisho (prewar), World War II and modern eras. Each character was played by popular Japanese actress Matsushima Nanako (see a profile of her at http://www.topidols.com/nanako_matsushima/profile.htm), so that the grandmother, mother and daughter were all portrayed by the same woman. The drama played close attention to how the lives of Japanese women have changed in the last century -- in the Taisho era, for example, it was illegal for a woman to cheat on her husband, but not illegal of the husband did the same thing. The third part of the drama was filmed almost entirely in the U.S.

We've got loads of cool new items for you this evening, including:

• First, some killer back from the dead" photobooks, including two copies of Ikegami Misa's wonderful 3rd photobook, Yoshioka Chihiro's dynamite nude photobook, Picasso's great "Costume Viper, and more
  
• Also for photobook fans, the lovely hardcover photobook of idol Kawamura Risa, age 15
  
• For magazine fans, we've got even more popular classic backissues of Urecco from as far back as 1993 -- cool
  
• We have some supremely lovely videos in stock, including four dynamite classic AV videos by the dynamite Fubuki Akira and the sizzling Yoshino Sally -- see them on the Videos (Classics) page
  
• For DVD fans, we have not one, but TWO super Miura Aika erotic DVDs in stock: Aika Loves You 3, a super collection of some of her best previous AV performances, and an all *new* production, the 120 minute Destruction by Lewdness"!
  
• Manga fans will love the new offerings we've posted, with some absolutely fantastic new erotic manga that are destined to become popular at J-List
  
• For JPOP fans, we have some great new singles and albums, including some hard to find items -- and check below for a great announcement about our JPOP CDs
  
• We've got more "wacky items from Japan" for you -- plug extenders which fold neatly out of the way (in brilliant iMac "skeleton" colors!)
  
• By popular demand, we have 10 more units of the popular "ashi-fumi board, which presses the pressure points on the bottom of your feet for a wonderful massage feeling
  
• How do Japanese high school girls keep those outrageously tall socks from falling down? With socks glue, of course! Now you can buy your very own socks glue, on the Fun Stuff page
  
• Finally, dumb cornball joke broken finger" and "nail through the finger" gags to amuse your friends.
  

Announcing J-List's *FINAL* JPOP sale! We want to say thanks to J-List's loyal JPOP fans for your continued interest in our selection of bargain-priced JPOP CDs. JPOP CDs typically cost $12 and up for singles, $30 and up for albums, so our low-priced selection has always been popular. We're going to treat you to one, massive final sale on our JPOP singles and albums. For the rest of the month, buy any TWO Japanese music CDs and get the third free. Help us clear out all our stock of already ridiculously cheap JPOP CDs!

Greetings from J-List September 1, 2000

Greetings again from Japan, the original home of the Bongo Friendy, a fairly cool camp-car from Mazda.

Translating a word from one writing system to another is known as transliterating. Most of the the time it's an easy thing to transliterate Japanese into English, as Japanese is made up of easy syllables that consist of either a vowel (a i u e o) or a consonant and a vowel (ka ki ku ke ko, ra ri ru re ro, etc.). There are three syllables that don't fit neatly into this system though -- shi, chi, and tsu -- which, because of the way they're pronounced, can't be written with the convenient consonant+vowel system (i.e., si, ti and tu). As always

For this weekend's update, we have an especially large selection of cool stuff for you, including:

• First, we have super new magazines, including a wonderful new Gal's Dee (gotta love Kajiwara Mayu as the busty young wife) and Do-Up!, a super new all-amateur magazine
  
• The new issue of Wonderful is in, and it's a hot one, featuring sixteen different lovely AV stars, including Kusanagi Jun and Hoshino Marin
  
• We have some killer one-shot magazines from 1995, on the magazine "backissues" page -- including some extremely cool premium issues which have to be seen to be believed
  
• We have a great volley of new photobooks, including two of the *extremely* beautiful Tennyo series by master photographer Miyazawa Masaaki -- featuring lovely angels Morishita Kurumi and Hagiwara Mai
  
• As usual, we've got additional copies of very special photobooks that have sold out in the past -- including the lovely Genji Shana's "Mezame" photobook
  
• We have some groovy new videos posted on the SOD page ((36 Naked Girls in Private Interview") and on the Japan AV Today page (several great new in-stock titles)
  
• A real value item is the DVD & Video CD Soft Catalog, which provide 2 full VCDs of great sampler footage, nearly 2 hours, along with a full color magazine. See the new item on the MPEG CD ROMs page (in the VCD and DVD master category)
  
• For fans of Takara's "anti-Barbie, the demure and cute fashion doll Licca-chan, we have a selection of circa-1970 Licca-chan stationary items that are very cool, on the Anime (fashion dolls) page
  
• In an entire new product category for J-List, we now sell everything you need to take up classic Japanese calligraphy (Shodo) -- brushes, ink, stone ink dish, paper, and more. Find these cool items on the Fun Stuff" page
  
• We have more stock of some of our most popular items, including some great wacky headbands, new stock of the "Plus Cord" Magic Extender, fresh stock of the surprisingly popular Buddhist beads, and new Japanese congratulations envelopes
  
• For the ladies, something only Japan could invent -- Japanese facial oil wipes, which soak excess oil from your face and leave you feeling clean and refreshed
  
• If you're part of the Yamato generation, we have more stock of the die-cast Yamato completed models on the Anime Toys page
  
• Finally, something for the hobby fan in everyone -- Uchusen, the quarterly magazine of hobby, Godzilla and Ultraman, and the Garage Kit Catalog 2000, a super color book filled with pictures of the current leading edge in these cool PVC models.
  

Can you translate from Japanese to English? We're looking for J-E translators who can help us bring out the next generation of excellent bishojo games. If you're interested, please drop us a line -- thanks!

Greetings from J-List August 30, 2000

Hello again from your friend in Japan!

Summer is always fun in Japan. It's a time of memory-making and trips to Wild Blue Yokohama where you can swim and beat the heat. The hotter is gets, the less clothes the girls in Tokyo wear, which always makes my business trips more interesting, too.

Summer is also a time for "booms, and it's always interesting to see what will be popular. This year the word that was on everyone's lips has been -- Vietnam. Vietnam has stealthily invaded Japan's fashion and shopping world, bringing everything from interesting furniture and jewelry to Vietnamese traditional clothing (think of a China dress with pants), and it seems all the women in Tokyo are interested in Vietnam. Vietnamese style coffee and Vietnamese restaurants are booming, and airline ticket sales to the country are at an all-time high.

For tonight's update, we've got a fresh selection of fun items for you, including:

• Cool new magazines, including Pine, a wonderful all-color magazine featuring 14 of your favorite AV idols -- like the cover says, girls are so fresh in Pine"
  
• New backissues of older magazines, including a very special premium issue of The Best featuring Fubuki Akira (!)
  
• If you love Japanese lovely ladies showing their sexy, stylish legs, the very special new issue of Mini-Suka Deluxe is in, and it is really a great issue
  
• The wonderful sexy model trio Mini-Suka Police are wonderful to behold in the new photobook on the photobooks and idols pages -- Asakura Megumi is just lovely in the great photos in this book
  
• Our buy-3-get-1-free sale on gouka-bon books ends tomorrow, but just for you, we've got a nice new addition -- Piss Freak, featuring 73 Japanese girls in a unique Japanese fetish book
  
• Do you like "Polygon girls"? See the interesting all-polygon CG and hentai magazine & CD ROM, on the CD ROMS page
  
• On the erotic manga pages, we've got a great new erotic title, Tsuyudaku, as well as fresh stock of many of our most popular titles, like Alice First, Love Doll, and more -- see the new releases and best-seller manga pages
  
• If you're a fan of Japan AV videos, there are a dozen or so new titles, mostly "one shots, on the discounted videos page
  
• For our loyal DVD fans, we have fresh stock of some of our best-selling titles, including the Kuki 20th Anniversary DVD (Black), Aika Loves You 2, Kawashima Azumi's dynamite Memories" and "Excellent Double Bomb" -- all in stock, and completely zone free!
  
• Also for DVD fans, the fantastic Kuki 20th Anniversary DVD (White), with 15 of the most popular and lovely AV idols and *200* minutes of great action! (please note, however, that this title is zoned for region 2, unlike all of our other DVD titles)
  
• Just when you think J-List has run out of wacky new things to bring you, we've got classic Japanese "emergency exit" sign-plates, suitable for placement in any room
  
• Finally, our traditional wooden Japanese chime sold so well, we're out of them. We've got a wonderful replacement, though -- a classical Japanese metal wind-chime, which makes a lovely sound when wind blows through it. See it on the Fun Stuff page!
  

Remember that you can find great discounted prices on higher-numbered pages, like Magazine page 3, Photobooks page 2, and so on.

Greetings from J-List August 28, 2000

Greetings once again from your favorite volcanic nation, Japan.

Japanese people love little gadgets, and no gadget in recent years has attained as much popularity as the cellular phone. The Japanese cellular market is dominated by NTT"s DoCoMo subsidiary, with other players competing on price and features as best they can. One of the features in NTT's crown is iMode, an Internet-like system that allows you to access many convenient features through your phone. AU, a new company formed by cellular provider Ido, and long distance companies KDD and DDI, will bring a new feature: phones based on Qualcomm's CDMA standard, allowing a traveler to use his normal phone in Japan, America, Hong Kong

One thing that's hard to get used to is seeing Japanese people rapidly typing emails on their phone's keypad. Based on a code that's quite easy to learn (if you're used to Japan's system of 46 syllable-based sounds) -- 11 through 15 is the A line, 21 through 25 is the KA line, etc. -- Japanese seem to get along fine without a full keyboard. With the popularity of mail-enabled cell phones, the image of the tired commuting salaryman or board young people listening to music while on the train have been smashed. Now everyone's playing with their "keitai, sending email.

For tonight's update, we've got a ton of great nice items, including:

• First, new magazines, including two popular items, Cho Very Good!! and OK, the magazine for beautiful Rapeman life"
  
• If you love sexy Japanese women in silky stockings, high high heels, and short skirts, the new Super Legs is up, too
  
• We have some wonderful new photobooks, including the "commercial film special" photobook of the wonderful Yuka, Tamura Ayumi's lovely "girl of summer" hardcover photobook, and more
  
• Also, we have more copies of a dozen or so great photobooks that had gone out of stock, including the popular "Nude Grand Prix" by Aida Garo
  
• There's a great new erotic wide manga on the manga (new offerings) page, Cosplay Heaven
  
• On the Dojin Soft page, we've got several really excellent new one-shot DVDs, with fabulous dojin erotic works on CD ROM
  
• We've got three dynamite and very classy new videos for you: Japan AV's "good girl" Kawashima Azumi's "Promise, busty dream Yumeno Mariya's H cup Explosion, and a super *90 minute* Contrary Soap Heaven" special
  
• For our DVD lovers, another great long-playing featuring *16* lovely AV idols and *120 minutes* of super erotic performance -- see Obscene Venus Ecstasy Collection on the DVD (Gallery) page
  
• If you're a member of the Macross Otaku Generation, there's a great new "Macross Perfect Collection" card series, on the Anime Cards & Puzzles page
  
• Want the ultimate Bruce Lee phone strap/key holder? We've got a cool one on the Anime Toys page
  
• For our loyal JPOP fans, we've got a dozen or so new CD singles and maxi-singles, including new music from Uehara Takako, T&C Bomber, and Da Pump
  
• On the "Trendy Stuff" page, we've got another slew of wacky, fun stuff -- today we've posted Japanese study cards, the little cards held together on a removable plastic loop. Use them to study Japanese vocabulary!
  
• Finally, for fans of fun Japanese snacks, we've got a new "charcoal roasted" traditional coffee candy, on the Japanese snacks page. It's delicious!
  

Do you read Pulp, by Viz? If so, please shoot us an email -- we'd like to ask you're opinion on this publication. Thanks!

Greetings from J-List August 26, 2000

Hello again from J-List, your #1 source for cool stuff from Japan!

The Japanese language is awash with loan words, most of which come from English -- words like "situation" and "category" and "industrial designer" are used in Japanese pretty much as-is. The more cosmopolitan the speaker is, the more English they'll pepper their Japanese speech with, just as English speakers sometimes use French terms while they speak. Sometimes a "stylish" word such as "necklace" will be imported, with the original Japanese word ("kubiwa") changing in meaning (now it refers to a dog's collar).

Japanese didn't always import a lot of English words, however. Before and during World War II, Japan had close relations with Germany, and as a result, many of the loan words Japanese use in their daily speech, such as arbeit (a part-time job, which often gets shortened to "baito" in Japanese), karte (a medical chart) and anket (a questionnaire) are not English at all. (Disclaimer to our German customers: we may be wrong about the spelling and/or actual origin of these words, sorry if so.) This doesn't stop students of English from using these words in English, of course

For this weekend's update, we've got some very nice items for you, as always, including:

• New magazines, including the very nice new issue of Men's Master, featuring lovely nude features by Asato Yuka, Kouda Hitomi and Yoshikawa Minami
  
• A large number of new photobooks, including vol. 1-5 of the nice "Privacy" series, a line of hardcover photobooks documenting the lovely "private room" nudes of five wonderful Japanese ladies
  
• As always, we've got some popular back-in-stock items for you too, among them the very nice So Long photobook by Fubuki Akira (another 8 copies in stock, since last week's sold out so quickly), and Ozawa Madoka's lovely hardcover photobook
  
• On our magazine backissues page, we've got several premium issues which will likely go quickly, including a very rare issue of Penthouse with a certain Taiwanese lady on the cover
  We have two new killer hentai artbooks on the Artbooks (Hentai) page (on the manga & dojinshi master category)
  
• For those who love Soft on Demand's creative approach to AV making, a new installment in the excellent "Fuckin' On" series with Okazaki Mio
  
• Also from SOD, the end-all in leg-fetish videos: a super 90 minute video covering all the bases, including silky stockings, sexy high-heels and up-skirt shots, leotard fetish, and more --quoth the English on this cover, The fetish heaven has been full of legs
  
• In addition to fresh stock of the endlessly cute Morning Musume collectible cards, our stock of the busty idol group "Pirates" collectible cards is down to $1 a pack -- see them on the Anime Cards & Puzzles page
  
• Since the world can never be too wacky, we have several interesting new items on the Trendy Goods page -- including more interesting wooden signs to decorate your room with, even more of our wacky Japanese reflective stickers, a new "Buddhist bead" item suitable for use as a bracelet in case you're not Buddhist, and a lovely stationary set made from traditional Japanese "washi" paper.
  

Remember J-List's sale on our lovely S&M and fetish "gouka-bon" format books. These are great "interest books" for fans of some of Japan's unique fetish categories, and our "buy 3 get 1 free" sale ends Sept 1.

Greetings from J-List August 24, 2000

Greetings from Japan, where it's not polite to stick your chopsticks straight up in your rice.

It sure is hot in Japan this summer! In fact, it's a full 2 degrees centigrade hotter this year than in past years, something which has pushed sales of air conditioners up more than 50%. The heat has caused many would-be guests at Tokyo Disneyland to opt for the "after 6" late-night ticket and skip the hot afternoon. When it gets hot, the Japanese tend to eat spicy food to give them stamina, which has pushed sales of kimchee up as well.

Every afternoon at around 4:30, the kids walk over to J-List, and we all stop what we're doing and ask them about their day. Rina, it seems, has finally gotten over her fear of the "scary Furby" (really a plush doll of Mohawk, from Gremlins 2 which we had sitting in the hall) and can use the J-List bathroom all by herself. In sadder news, the official J-List Cat, who Kaori nicknamed Nyan-ko Sensei (Dr. Meow), has unfortunately given birth to stillborn kittens. The father, a sandy white cat who comes to visit every once in a while

Our Wacky Japanese T-shirts are selling well, and it's always fun to see which will be the most popular. We weren't surprised to see the "Japanese flag" version of "Looking for a Japanese Girlfriend" take the #1 spot right away, but "Hen na gaijin" (I'm a strange foreigner) pulled quickly into the #2 position, especially with American customers, who seem to like the red, white and blue motif. The enigmatic "Philosophy of Hentai" remains firmly in place at #3.

For tonight's update, we've all been working hard to bring you some cool new items. They include:

• New magazines, including not one, but two different issues of MPEG King, a magazine + two video CD combo item that give you 140+ minutes of AV enjoyment for a low price
  
• We have several nice photobook items, including a really excellent First Photobook by the lovely Morishita Kurumi, and more copies of Vivian Hsu's soon-to-go-out-of-print "Venus"
  
• For Japan AV video fans, we've got some truly excellent new videos in stock, including hot, new idols like the busty nurse Fukada Miho and the sizzling Yumeno Maria (on the New Offerings page) as well as fresh stock of dynamite videos by Miura Aika and Kanazawa Bunko (on the "Classics" videos page)
  
• we've got another dozen of "special order" video offerings on the Video Catalog (New Releases) page. There are great new Reserve you copies now!
  
• If you love DVDs, we've got some killer ones for you: Sexy Lingerie Fuck Collection and Nurse Fuck Collection, each featuring *dozens* of lovely AV idols from present and past for your enjoyment -- find these
  
• There's a new series of the popular Crystal Video nude AV idol cards, on the photobook and magazine pages -- -very nice
  
• There's a cache of new artbooks and photobooks on the Anime Artbooks page, including the new Final Fantasy IX book, the Gundam Manual 3, and a super magazine for 1/700 scale model fans
  
• We have fresh stock of some items that have proven surprisingly popular, including various reflective stickers with funny slogans, the "Do not urinate here" wooden signs, and one of the most popular items, Hello Kitty chopsticks
  
• For your kids, or the kid in you, in-stock issues of Yochien, a great magazine for kids which features tons of pictures of current anime and special effect shows, as well as giving you tons of stickers and put-together toys in each issue -- recommend for Rika-chan and Pokemon fans
  
• For lovers of fine Japanese snacks, we have fresh stock of Pocky, Coconut Pocky, Tomato Pretz, our popular sake candy (with real sake inside!) and more
  
• Finally, a great item I've wanted to see in the US for many years, little plug extenders that keep those big, fat AC adapters you sometimes get from taking up too much space on your power bar. Find them on the Trendy Goods page.
  

Greetings from J-List August 22, 2000

Hello again from Japan, your personal friend in Japan!

The Japanese have some interesting superstitions about names, and generally labor over the choice of a name for a baby quite a lot, even seeking the advice of Shinto priests as they try to choose a name that will bring happiness to the family. Chinese characters are always written with an exact number of strokes, and one form of prediction is concerned with the number of strokes in the first name and last name combined -- some combinations will bring happiness, others bad luck. Also, some kanji combinations carry bad connotations. Our son Kazuki (peace + tree) was originally going to be named Kazuma (peace + horse), but the Shinto priest steered us away from using the character for horse because it would bring bad luck.

We went to Germany! Well, sort of. In rural Japan, there's a recreation of a German village, called Kronenberg, or more familiarly, Doitsu-mura (German Village), here. A kind of theme park, it's a place where you can see recreations of German architecture, drink German beer, eat sausage

For tonight's update, we have some really cool products for you, including:

• For Japanese magazine fans, the new Dela Beppin, which features some of the most lovely Japanese gals around (we especially loved Morishita Kurumi dressed as an erotic Indian Princess)
  
• We have more of our popular "one shot" backissues of Japanese magazines from 1995-1997, including some great new copies of The Best
  
• For fans of photobooks, both volumes of Miyazawa Masaki's excellent "Nude" hardcover photobooks, which feature dozens of lovely hard-to-find AV idols shot by the extremely talented photographer
  
• Also quite cool, the Best Video Special Ranking Gourmet 2000, and Love Dream, a wonderful "photographic of 18 girls' hair nude" (including Miura Aika and more), as well as several new leg fetish books
  
• We have some very cool hentai art books, including the Perfect Collection Series for Kakyusei, Hiyoko Voice, and how to draw cute girls in uniforms (see the hentai art books pages)
  
• We have some excellent dojinshi on the dojinshi page, with 30+ new items, including many brand new dojinshi from the past Comic Market
  
• Also from the Comic Market, we have new dojin-soft (with some very nice adult CG collections) and cool yaoi books, too -- yes, we have Gundam Wing
  
• There are several brand new manga volumes on the Manga (new releases) page, including some really cool new works -- also, more copies of the popular all-color Climax Collection
  
• On the Videos (discount) page, overstocked items for you by Ariga Ryo and Kawashima Azumi and more
  
• Finally, some great new videos SOD -- Get Panty and Peroman, two offerings which explore the immorality of Japanese young women in Shibuya.
  

Remember that J-List carries wacky snack and gum items from Japan, which aren't available overseas. In addition to Pocky and other pretzle-stick-type snacks, we have the full line of Lotte's delicious gum, including the best-selling gum at J-List, the spicy, caffeine-enriched Black Black. We also carry really cool toy & snack combination items, which are only available in convenience stores here in Japan, including the very cool "Hyper Gundam" series (which my own son loves) -- available in perfect sets.

Well, that's all for now -- until next time, thanks for being a part of J-List!

Greetings from J-List August 19, 2000

Hello again, on this fine Saturday afternoon (Japan time). I'm putting the finishing touches on today's update, and then I'm going to do some Saturday-type things, like go shopping and wash the Saturn. (Yes, we live in rural Japan yet drive a Saturn, the first sold in the prefecture...)

It's often said that Japan is anywhere from 10 to 25 years behind the U.S., socially. Looking at the delayed adoption of child carseat laws, it seems to hold true most of the time. It was just about ten years ago that the concept of "political correctness" entered the English mindset, and sure enough, I see slow signs of it taking root here. First, it's become slightly taboo for the teachers at my kids' school to say "mother" or "father, since some of the kids come from single-parent families. Instead, the generic word hogosha" (care-giver) is the new term. Also, the Japanese have finally figured out that "skin-color" (hada-iro) is not really a suitable name for a crayon.

Still, Japan remains a pretty stable place, where 90% of the people pretty much agree on the way to raise kids and get things done from day to day -- this is "joshiki" (common sense). Babies are born in hospitals, all kids go to school, and the father in a family is the "daikoku-bashira" or the large, black pillar that holds the house up -- i.e., he is the central provider for the family. Ideas that are seen as radical, such as homeschooling, just don't take root here. Another concept that just never got a foothold in Japan is American-style feminism. My wife recently watched a Japanese show about Gloria Steinem, which detailed the views and positions of the American movement. To say that she

• We've been lucky to get some additional copies of the wonderful Fubuki Akira last photobook, So Long -- a very special item that will not last long. See it on photobooks page 1
  
• Also on the photobooks pages, several back-in-stock items, including more copies of Miura Aika's Last Song, and a great item for leg fans
  
• For dojin fans, we've got a slew of excellent new dojinshi, but they'll go fast, so check them out soon -- be sure and check the "dojin soft" game and CG collections on the dojin-soft page, too
  
• If you love Japan's unique erotic manga, check out the new volumes on the Manga (new releases) page
  
• The new DVD & Video CD Soft Catalog is in stock -- this is a great all-color magazine which includes two full Video CDs of Japan AV sampler "quickies." It's nearly 2 hours of footage for a very cool price
  
• Since we love the cool videos and attitude of Soft on Demand, we've got some new ones for you: Go! Go! Magic Mirror Box Car vol. 1 & 2 (three lovely girls take men into a special truck outfitted with one-way mirrors then have sex with them in seeming full view of everyone), the new installment of First Les, starring Makino Saori, and a wonderful "tekoki assistance" video with Okazaki Mio
  
• We have more stock of the surprisingly popular "Japanese congratulations envelopes" (which are used in Japan when giving money but can be used for any ornate purpose) and the reflective "it is forbidden to urinate here" stickers (torri version)
  
• Finally, a new item: a Japanese long-necked shoe-horn, which allows you to put on your shoes without handing way down, as with normal shoe-horns. This item has been requested by J-List customers, so we've obliged. Find this item on Wacky Japanese Stuff-> Fun Stuff.
  

That's all for now -- thanks for being a part of J-List, and we'll see you on the web!

Greetings from J-List August 14, 2000

Greetings from J-List August 10, 2000

Hello again from Japan, the country that brought you "Creap, a coffee creamer (the name is short for creaming powder").

Well, we've got good news all around here. First, the large air conditioner here at J-List is back on-line, to the joyous rapture of everyone here. We were afraid the whole unit would need to be replaced, but it was only one circuit board. Kaori also got good news this week: both her car and her Strawberry iMac both came back, repaired. So things are looking up for us here.

Part of the fun of having kids is reliving your own childhood through their eyes. My son Kazuki became a fan of Gundam Wing while in the U.S., so I decided to break out my LD's of Zeta Gundam and watch them with all with my son. It's really "natsukashii" (er, nostalgic) to enjoy Zeta Gundam, one of the "formative" anime series that shaped my early Japanese Childhood -- that is, the childlike period of wonder and exploration a person goes through when they learn a second language. Now Kazuki and I have converted our Brio wooden train layout into a city for Gundams to battle in -- it's great for my Peter Pan syndrome.

For today's update, we've got some excellent items, including:

• First, great new magazines -- including the new issues of Penthouse and Penthouse Special. Penthouse is a wonderful Japanese magazine made completely with Japanese models and photographers, with excellent quality throughout.
  
• For fans of our single-issue Japanese backissues of popular magazines, we've got more copies of Urecco and some great issues of The Best, on the Magazine (backissues) page)
  
• By popular demand, we now carry the excellent Colorful Pure Girl, the "digital cute girl magazine, as a monthly reserve subscription" item -- see the magazine subscriptions pages for this item
  
• We've got several excellent photobooks, including the lovely Horikoshi Nori's first photobook, Cotton
  
• On the other side of the "tasteful eros" spectrum, we've got the new issue of BD Junkies, a great 160 page all color gouka-bon format book for fans of bondage & discipline
  
• We have three wonderful new videos from Soft on Demand, including two excellent "chin chin kenkyu" (study of penis by inexperienced young women) videos, as well as the excellent new Deep Kiss vol. 11, another great 90 minute special
  
• I'm a big fan of Japanese onsen (hot spring baths), and so I'm very happy to announce that J-List now sells three varieties of onsen bath powder for your bath. Based on famous hot springs in Japan, including Atami Onsen (near Mt. Fuji) and Kusatsu Onsen (right here in Gunma, where J-List is based), you can find these on the Trendy Goods page (on the anime master category)
  
• Finally, we've got another wacky, fun item -- a wooden plaque version of the "It is forbidden to urinate here" sticker that has sold so well. Hang it in your room and impress your future Japanese in-laws! (also on the Trendy Goods page)
  

J-List advertises in several anime and manga magazines, including Protoculture Addicts and Viz's Pulp. It's hard to know if our ads are effective, though. If you saw J-List as a result of ads in one of these magazines, will you shoot us an email and let us know? Thanks.

Greetings from J-List August 8, 2000

Happy Monday from a very hot J-List!

We're still working without our main aircon, during one of the hottest summers in recent memory in Japan. It's hot and humid -- makes me remember growing up in Maryland/Virginia as a child -- but made even worse by J-List's windows. When we built the J-List office, I insisted that we install double-pane glass (called "pair glass" in Japanese), to keep the heat in the winter. Unfortunately, with the air conditioner broken, the glass is doing its job, and the effect is that the interior of J-List is at least 10 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than it is outside. The repairman is coming on Tuesday -- our fingers are crossed that he can fix it quickly.

The Japanese are known for doing many things well, but I'm fast becoming aware of the "electric fan gap" between Japan and the West. Japan has some wonderfully complex electric fans, from tricked-out fans that have remote controls, timers so they turn off after a set number of hours, and selectable rotation settings to wall-mountable units and more. One thing they haven't invented, however, is the slim, square fan that sits on a windowsill and blows air in directly from outside, which are quite common in the U.S. We've got several nice Japanese electric fans with many great features, which cost us anywhere from $30 to $60 each. The windowsill fan I got at Walmart and brought back with me was around $7.

Despite the lack of air conditioning, we've got a nice selection of excellent new products for you this evening, including:

• Great new magazines, including the new Panst Dream, Bloom, Natural Amateur Gal, and a super item for bathing suit fetishists -- as always, new magazines can be found on magazine page 1
  More of our popular back-issues of older magazines, including issues of Urecco from 1996, 1997 and 1998 (see the magazine backissues page)
  
• We've got several back-in-stock photobooks, including the excellent Cosplay Cuties, which sold out in record time (see the photobooks pages)
  
• Speaking of cosplay and cuties, we've got the absolutely fabulous new photobook by Matsuoka Yuki, of past Cream fame, a wonderful new work by photographer Aida Garo -- see it on Photobooks page 1
  
• For our manga fans, there are several excellent new erotic manga offerings on the adult manga page, including "Onnanoko." Seraphim's answer to eros told from a female point of view
  
• If you like J-List's selection of Japan AV videos, we have several new offerings, including a new "Violent Lips" video featuring Aoi Minori, the new "Neo Uniform Collection" with Sakurai Fuuka (both on the Japan AV Today page), a great classic "Fuck de Paradise" video from Yuki Maiko (the "Classics" page) and a new offering from SOD -- "Tsukasa Loves Vibrator"
  
• For fans of Japanese "kawaii" stuff, we've got two new items: Hello Kitty chopsticks, and an extremely cute wooden door sign so you can let people know if you're at home or "out of door"
  
• More stock of items on our popular Japanese snacks page, including Sake candy, Pocky and Japanese traditional "kuro-ame" (Black hard candy) that is just delicious
  
• Finally, by popular demand, more of our wacky reflective Japanese stickers, including "it is forbidden to urinate here" (both versions) -- see Wacky Japanese Stuff->Wacky Japanese Headbands for these items.
  

Remember that J-List has a great selection of English-language adult anime RPGs, including JAST USA, Milky House, Hobibox Japan, Otaku Publishing, and more. If you're interested in these great romance simulations, translated into English and with no mosaic censorship, please browse our Hentai Games category and see what you like.

Greetings from J-List August 4, 2000

Good evening from all of us at J-List.

What a day we've had. A freak electrical storm rained lightning and thunder on us, all while the sun was shining. The rain eventually caught up, and doused the J-List office with bizarre hail and fat "plum sized" raindrops (as the Japanese say). The lightening caused multiple power outages, stopping all work and temporarily corrupting our database. For a finale, lightning struck either the J-List office's lightning rod or else very nearby -- and took with it both our cable radio hookup (which allows us to hear radio stations in New York and Los Angeles if we choose to), as well as our prized possession, our large 4-hp air conditioner. Without our lovely aircon, all we can do is open the windows and sweat. We'll get it fixed as soon as we can.

There's another fun game Japanese kids play, called Fruits Basket. It's called Fruits Basket, rather than Fruit Basket, because for phonetic reasons, it's easier for Japanese to put the "s" sound on some English words when they use them in Japanese. (Words like suit and suitcase get used in Japanese as "suits" and "suitscase, regardless of plural/singular, for the same reason.) To play, make a circle of chairs, one for each person, minus one chair. One person is it, and stands in the center. When I was teaching English to kids and high school students, we'd take the grammatical rule or function we were working on for the day, then base the game on that. For example, if we were working on yes/no questions, the person who was it" would ask a question to the group -- "Do you like sushi?" for example -- and students who answered "yes" would have to jump up and change seats, avoiding the seat next to them of course. If all the seats were taken, they would be "it" and would have to ask a question to the rest of the class.

Just in time for the weekend, we've got some excellent new items for you on the J-List site, including:

• First, new magazines, including the truly excellent new issue of Pink Gold, one of my favorite new magazines from Japan
  
• For fans of older issues of magazines, which feature girls who are hard to find or retired now, we've got some classic Urecco issues from 1998, including the super-cool Suzuki Fumika Urecco cover, on the magazine back-issues page
  
• We always have great photobooks at J-List, and we've got a bunch of new ones, including the excellent "Pheromone" photobook, featuring some of the most popular AV idols in bizarre and erotic photos, as well as the excellent brand-new hardcover erotic photobook by the lovely and popular Hirosue Nao
  
• For leg fans, there's a totally new concept -- a "see through" fetish photobook, for people who love see-through clothing, panty lines, transparent silk stockings, and more
  
• Race queen fans, see the additional copies of the "Angel Kiss" photobooks on the photobook pages
  
• There are new erotic wide manga on the manga pages, including The Pink Purgatory by Peace Comics, and the new issue of Electronic Fighting Daughter's, the excellent parody of game girls manga
  
• There are a bunch 'o' new videos on the in-stock video pages (new releases), including new performances by Yumeno Maria, Sakurai Fuuka, and one of my favorites, the contemporary Japanese cutie Mitsui Eri
  
• Also new from SOD, a great new video in which a man is molested by four lovely women, who perform everything from "fella" to "tekoki" on him. If he can keep from coming for 60 minutes, he wins 300, 000 yen. Great for fans of SOD's wacky style.
  
• Two great long-playing DVD items are in stock -- the excellent Seven Vol. 3 (featuring seven new lovely AV angels) and the new Hall of Cosplay, with 130 minutes of excellent costume play for you -- on the DVD (Gallery) page
  
• For fans of the lighter side of Japanese pop culture, we've got stock of the popular "Digimon Wars" toy & snack combos, little toy sets that reinact battles in the Digimon universe. See these only-from-Japan items on the anime snacks page (on the snacks master category).
  We have more stock of our popular T-Dog 2000 (the Japanese robotic dog toy), the Giant Robo "miracle fiture, the really cool Blair Witch" Kubrick toys, and "Hair Color Change Aki-chan" (see them on the anime toys and fashion doll pages)
  
• Finally, a new item -- "Shiatsu Flower, a set of small, bumpy PVC massage balls" that allow you to massage tired hands and feet with Japanese shiatsu.
  

Remember that there are both adult and non-adult versions of this mailing list. If you're under the age of 18, or are not interested in hearing about the adult products J-List carries but still want our wacky updates from Japan, please reply to this email and ask us to switch you the general mailing list. If you're on the general list but want to hear about new 18+ products we carry, please ask to be added to that update list instead. Thanks!

Greetings from J-List August 2, 2000

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Greetings from J-List July 31, 2000

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Greetings from J-List July 24, 2000

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Greetings from J-List July 19, 2000

Hello again from J-List, your personal friend in Japan.

Economic news in Japan continues to be bad. The latest problems are with the large Sogo Department Store chain, who filed for protection from creditors a few days ago. The many trials retail and other firms have had to face during the past few years is sorely testing the long-held concept of the "corporation as social institution, the idea that corporations here in Japan exist not only to make profits but also to safeguard those working in the organization. For much of the last century, Japanese companies have used lifelong employment to attract employees and retain long-range loyalty. However, as Japan's happy internal economy has undergone changes in the past decade and during the current recession, companies trying to survive have had to turn to American-style layoffs (called risutora" in Japanese, after the English word "restructuring"). Let's hope things turn up soon.

One of the more interesting aspects to living in Japan are the people I get to meet. Not just Japanese people -- but other foreigners as well. Actually, Americans are not at all common here in Japan. Of course the main groups represented in Japan are people from Brazil, Peru, and Korea, there seem to be many more Canadians and Australians than Americans here -- possibly because they can come here on a "working holiday" (or waa-holi as the Japanese like to call it) visa. I have more non-American friends than American friends, and it's quite interesting to talk American politics and other subjects. I've ever learned how to tell a Canadian from an (United States) American -- listen for the shorter pronunciation of words like "out" or "about." I believe the Cigarette Smoking Man from the X-Files is Canadian because of his pronunciation of these two words.

We have many excellent and unique items for you this evening, including:

• A heap 'o excellent hentai manga, both on the New Manga and Manga Classics pages -- including great new copies of old bestsellers (Isane, Deep Friend, many more) as well as all-new manga items
  
• There are three lovely new hardcover photobooks on the photobook pages (new items always start on page 1), including a new Aida Garo photobook
  
• An excellent bunch of discounted videos, in stock and ready to go, including some very cute Japanese gals -- see the Discount Videos page
  
• For Japanese idol fans, we have not one but two great "secret and embarrassing" photo magazines of idols from early in their careers
  
• Speaking of idols, if you love Morning Musume, or even just like them a little, their new collector's cards are on the idol page
  
• Great new snack & gum items, including Lotte Toppo (baked pretzel sticks with chocolate inside), Super Long Himo-Q (a 1.2 meter length of delicious gummi) and the extremely popular Mangosteen gum
  
• We have more fun items on our catchall "trendy goods" page (on the Anime master page), including a new Japanese "pressure point" massage pad and a new variety of the surprisingly popular Japanese Congratulations Envelopes (for any time you need to give a give in a beautiful way).
  

Thanks for being a part of J-List!

Greetings from J-List July 15, 2000

Greetings again from Japan, land of raw fish and onion wine.

Japanese TV can be quite interesting. On one variety show, contestants compete with business plans, and the show awards the winners money to try their businesses out, all while filming their progress each week. One girl decided to start a tako-yaki (fried batter balls with octopus inside) stand in Barcelona, Spain. Each week, the show reports on what troubles or success she's had getting the Spanish to eat tako-yaki.

There's a fun game Japanese kids play, called Shiritori ("Take the End") Game. To play, someone things of a word -- say, chopsticks, which is "hashi" in Japanese. Then the next person takes the last syllable -- "shi" -- and thinks of a word that starts with this syllable, say, shiatsu (although a child wouldn't think of a word like that). The next person continues, with a word that start with "tsu" and so on. In Japanese phonetics, the only consonant that can appear by itself without a noun after it is the letter N, so in Shiritori Game

For tonight's update, we've got some very nice items, which everyone here has worked hard to bring you, including:

• First, many excellent new magazines, including the new Urecco (lovely as usual), the new issue of the popular Gal's Shower (kind of the anti-Urecco, if ever there was one)
  
• For fans of back-issues of popular Japanese magazines, we've got several premium older issues of Urecco and Dela Beppin, featuring such impossible-to-find gals as Fubuki Akira, Ariga Miho, Aonuma Chiasa and Tohno Natsuko -- see the Back Issues magazine page, before these items sell out
  
• A slew of wonderful hardcover photobooks, including Morishita Junna's lovely "Junnai" photobook, Sasaki You's sold-out "F Cup College Student" feature, and the excellent Nude Grand Prix 21 by Garo Aida, all on the photobooks pages
  
• For our high-quality S&M/fetish photobook fans, we've got the new "Bishojo Anal Senka" on the "gouka-bon" (gorgeous book) photobook page
  
• We have tons of great new stock of some of the most popular Soft on Demand videos, including the best-selling Morishita Kurumi Fan Thanks Day (a favorite of Tomo's and mine), the First Les series, and the very popular "tekoki" videos (hand job videos) -- see the SOD in-stock pages
  
• Also in stock, some fresh videos from the "golden age" of Japanese AV, including the "best of" performance video of the lovely Aonuma Chiasa
  
• Fresh stock of a dozen or so adult manga, including the popular Blue Eyes series
  
• Also, fresh stock of the really cool G-Taste hentai art books by the popular Yagami Hiroki
  
• A Gamilas (Gamilon) cruiser has been sighted on the Anime Toys page
  
• On the Anime Cards & Puzzles page, a really cool item for long-time anime fans: the Animage 20th Anniversary card series, featuring all the covers from the long-running anime magazine over the years. Very cool indeed...
  
• Finally, a bunch of cool new Wacky Japanese T-shirts for you, including several great new designs guaranteed to cause confusion and head-scratching among Japanese people who should see your shirt.
  

If you like J-List, why not tell a friend about us? J-List customers report that word of mouth is the #1 way they find out about us. If you know anyone who might be interested in J-List's unique approach to Japanese popular culture, please let them know about us. Thanks!

Greetings from J-List July 10, 2000

Greetings from Japan, the original home of "Pepsi Man."

I got some questions about insurance practices in Japan, so I thought I'd talk about the Japanese auto insurance system. All drivers are required to have minimal insurance that covers you if your car injures a pedestrian or passengers in another car; insurance that covers liability against damage done to other cars is optional, but a good idea. When an accident occurs, the police come and survey the situation. They assign responsibility for the accident based on predetermined criteria, at which time the two insurance companies talk it out -- traffic accidentally never end in lawsuits in Japan. When two moving vehicles are involved in an accident, blame is always shared by both parties, even if one driver is more at fault than the other (as in the case of Kaori's accident). It's a good system that seems to work well -- insurance payouts are kept small, which keeps insurance costs low as well, and there's little chance for fraud or dishonesty. The Japanese are consciously aware of the overly litigious nature of American society, and actively try to create structures that allow disputes to be settled without resorting to lawsuits. (If you want to see poor Kaori's damaged car

Following up my list of the wealthiest individuals in Japan, I found an article listing the current most valuable Japanese corporations, based on their capitalization. The top ten Japanese corporations are NTT Docomo (NTT's portable phone maker), NTT itself, Toyota, Sony, 7-11 Japan, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (the largest Japanese bank), Softbank (Pasocon shop), Hitachi

We've got another great update for you, with many new items, including:

• Not one, not two, not three, but four excellent videos by the lovely bad girl of Japan AV, Miura Aika -- on the newly christened "Classic AV Stars" page, or at the top of video catalog page 1, if the videos we have in stock sell out
  
• Response to our $5 magazine sale has been great, so we've added a dozen or more items, including great issues of Men's Master, Nippon Mini-Suka Club, and all the great magazines of Eichi Publishing. See magazine page 3 for the discounted items, before they are claimed
  
• Also newly posted on magazine pages 2 and 3, many great "one shot" magazines, including older issues of popular magazines, which always sell out very quickly
  
• For fans of the latest and greatest Japan's adult magazine world has to offer, the excellent new issues of Gokuh and Bejean are posted to magazine page 1
  
• We've got some excellent new photobooks, including some very wonderful erotic leg fetish offerings, a great Race Queen photobook, Midnight Gals (a wonderful non-nude photobook featuring the stylish ladies of Tokyo's cabaret clubs), and more
  
• Hentai manga fans haven't been forgotten, with a half dozen or more all-new erotic manga titles, including the new Sabaku (bondage manga anthology), and several excellent new hentai wide manga by Peace, Seraphim, AV Comics, and more
  
• Also for adult manga fans, we've got two great new volumes of the classic Bishojo Syndrome hentai manga anthology by Fusion Product. One volume deals exclusively with erotic game-girl parodies from popular video games, and the other covers the current crop of popular anime parodies!
  
• There are more excellent and very affordable JPOP CD singles on the JPOP page
  
• Last, but not least, even more wacky Japanese headbands, for when you want to announce that special feeling to everyone by tying a cloth message around your head.
  

Globalization is where the human race is headed, but DVD publishers fight this trend by publishing DVD titles with country code "lock-outs." J-List fights the evil trend by offering a huge selection of very high-quality Japanese adult DVD titles that are entirely code-free, so you can play them anywhere, on any DVD hardware. Check out the excellent titles J-List has collected for you -- we're quite proud of our selection!

I've been working on some pending upgrades to the J-List shopping cart system. If you were surfing the J-List site and experienced unpredictable behaivior, please forgive us. If you have problems with the shopping cart, feel free to order items via our secure email link, on the J-List main page.

Greetings from J-List July 8, 2000

Hello again from Japan. While traveling back from the States, I read an interesting article in Forbes listing the current most wealthy men in Japan. Below I list some of the more interesting individuals, what they own, and how much they're worth in US$.

Masayoshi Son; president of the pasocon shop and online phenomenon Softbank; $19.4 bil
Takei Yasui; owner of high-interest loan company Takefuji; $9.3 bil
Nobutada Saji; inherited the Suntory beer fortune, $7.1 bil
Ito Masatoshi; owns Ito-Yokado, Seven Eleven Japan and Denny's; $6.2
the Kinoshita family; another high-interest finance company, Acom; $5.0 bil
Fukuda Yoshitaka; yet another high-interest finance company, Aiful; $4.7 bil
Yamauchi Hiroshi; the principle owner of Nintendo; $2.5
Miyamoto Masafumil; Square Soft, makers of Final Fantasy 8; $2 bil
Fujita Den; owns half of McDonald's Japan; $1.4
Fukushima Yasuhiro; owns Enix, makers of Dragon Quest; $1.2 bil
Kozuki Kagemasa; Konami; $1.2

It's interesting to see how the list reflects changes in the Japanese economy over the last ten years. Three of the individuals have climbed the wealth ladder on the backs of the consumer debt trend that has grown so much during the current Japanese recession: these companies will loan money to anyone at an annual interest rate of 20-30%, and bombard late-night Japanese TV with cheesy commercials. Four others are fortunes made from the rise of Japanese video games during the last fifteen years. The areas which Japan was famous for during the 80's -- building quality cars and dumping steel -- are nowhere to be found.

Poor Kaori: no sooner did she get a dented fender in her car fixed, when a 77 year old man sideswiped her, doing about $4000 worth of damage. The police ruled that the man was 70% at fault, so he's got to pay most of the cost to repair her car. The dream of fixing her dropped Strawberry iMac is now delayed a little longer...

By request, we've cleaned up the in-stock video pages, reorganizing them so that you can find your favorite videos more easily. Instead of video pages 1-4, we now have four separate categories: AV Gals Today (featuring all newly released Japanese AV titles and videos by newer AV stars, such as Hirosue Nao and Aoi Minori), Classic AV Stars (the "classics" of Japan AV, videos by Fubuki Akira, Miura Aika, Kanazawa Bunko, etc.)

We have some truly unique items for tonight's update, including:

• First and foremost, a cache of excellent "back from the dead" videos, best-selling Japanese AV offerings by Fubuki Akira, Ozawa Madoka, Yuki Maiko and more that had been taken out of print. We've got a great new supplier for these excellent items, so check them out on the Classic AV Stars page
  
• Second, we're happy announce another one of our popular $5 magazine sales. Magazine page 3 has a great selection of dozens of excellent overstock and close-out magazines, almost all available for just $5. History has shown these items to be very popular, so please check out the items you want soon.
  
• In addition to our excellent low-price magazine items, we have several new items spread throughout all three magazine pages, including several great one-shot magazines, and the new issue of the popular Milkiss, the magazine of rape-play, and Otakara Wideshow, a magazine that presents early and embarrassing photos of Japan's hottest idols and actresses
  
• DVD and Video CD fans will enjoy the new one-shot items, and we have some interesting new CD ROM items, too, on the CD ROM page, including some cool Japanese games for Mac and PC
  
• There are new photobooks, including Minai Hiro's lovely "Horizon" hardcover offering, and Ichinose Megumi's "Canary"
  
• If you love erotic older women, check out the new item on the gouka-bon page
  
• For the Pokemon fan in your house, we've got *full sets* of the excellent Pokemon Friends stuffed animals & candy sets, on the Japanese snack page
  
• Last, but not least, we have fresh stock of the wacky Japanese headbands, on the T-shirt and costume page, including more stock of "looking for a girlfriend" "looking for a boyfriend" and "I'll do anything."
  

Incidentally, if you are a member of the Star Wars generation and haven't seen George Lucas in Love yet, run, don't walk, to http://www.mediatrip.com/ . The quality of the Real Movie they have posted there isn't very good, but it's a great way to see this excellent short film.