Cool Products Friday, October 22, 2010

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.

	Goth Loli vol. 15 ~ Handmade Goth-Loli Fashion The awesome gothic lolita fashion boom continues strong in Japan, and this is just the magazine to plug you hands-on into the scene.
	Gothic Lolita Race Frill 2 Piece Dress Speaking of which, we've got a great new gothic lolita dress up for you today, a great piece to add to your fashion lineup!
	Dengeki G's Festival vol. 18 Also: the new Dengeki G's Festival issue will sell out soon, which is always a festival of great omake free stuff for you.
	Ultra Jump Sep 2010 The Tenjou Tenge manga is finally coming to an end after more than a decade, and this issue of Ultra Jump has the final chapter.
	Poddities iPhone4 Strap Adapter This is great! A new Poddities clamp that adds a phone strap to your iPhone 4, allowing you to attach any cool netsuke strap you like.
	Electric Coro Coro Mini Takoyaki Maker ~ White Mmm, bite-sized takoyaki octopus balls pipin' hot and fresh from the griddle. Now they can be yours with this great mini-maker.
	Totoro & Jiji Calendars In Stock! Alright! The new Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service calendars for 2011 are in, and we've got them. Images updated, too.
	Kodama Ball Chain Strap The cute and mysterious Kodama nature spirits from Princess Mononoke come alive in this cute accessory strap.
	2011 Idol Calendars Neat! We got a great bunch of calendars in stock, with a focus on beautiful J-POP stars like AKB48. Who would you like to spend 2011 with?
	Updated Photos for 2011 Calendars The J-List staff has been hard at work adding photographs to the calendars that have come in, and they look great. Click to see them all!
	Rare Onsen Bath Salt from Famous Hot Springs Enjoy the feel of taking a real onsen (OWN-sen) hot springs bath in Japan with the bath salts we've posted to our new Health -> Bath Related page.
	iTunes Japan Prepaid Cards Spotted at iTunes Japan: Ookami and Seven Companions, the full Cowboy Bebop OST and more!
	New Japanese Kit Kat, Gum Don't look now, but there are two awesome large bags of Japan Kit Kat in Halloween Caramel Pudding and Black Sugar Kinako. Also, Astro Boy gum!
	K-on! Manju Gift Box A delicious way to say "thank you" or give the gift of K-On! to yourself, these sweets are individually wrapped for an authentic Japanese treat.
	Colorful Ribbon Clip Durable pastel plastic clips made to seal off bags for freshness or just an extra festive touch! Works great with bread or chips.
	UME Chopstick Rest ~ Japanese Plum The plum is a traditional icon of Japanese beauty, and this rich color will compliment your mealtime with this great reusable chopsticks rest.
	Cute Sandwiches Mold ~ Heart & Fish, etc. Four new shapes to make lunch more exciting and spice up your sandwiches in a whimsical way -- tulip and bird too!
	Warai ~ Airi Nakajima A super-cute idol on the gravure scene, Airi now graces the pages of this sexy photobook with her stunning smile and gorgeous good looks.
	Kud Wafter Keyboards, Coin Case *Preorder* Kudryavka Noumi is an uber-kawaii heroine of Little Busters and Kud Wafter. Now have her on your keyboard and more!
	Anime Towels *Preorder* Rei and Asuka from Eva on a pair of hand towels, and an extra-large towel of Sunako from the manga Shiki -- all preorders open today.
	Hitman Reborn, Panty & Stocking Products Two new character goods from Katekyo Hitman Reborn, and the new Gainax anime Panty & Stocking & Garterbelt.
	Comics Girls Designed by Shunya Y. *Preorder* Miss Marvel and Wonder Woman are the two latest in the lineup from Kotobukiya's Shunya Yamashita designed bishoujo comics figurines!
	Today's Restocked Bento Boxes Today's restocked bento boxes include the really great Hello Kitty Wagara ("Japanese visual style") bento box, plus the MOTTAINAI Natural Leaf Eco Bento Box.
	Various Bento Accessories There's nothing like opening a bento to see your name spelled out, or "LOVE" or "STUDY HARD." You can write these messages with the popular Alphabet Bento Shapers we've restocked today.
	Itazura Cat Coin Bank Restocked The most popular kawaii item on J-List these days is the Itazura Cat Coin Bank, featuring a little cat who comes out of a mikan box to steal your money. Several models restocked today.
	Huge Restocking of Totoro Products See the Totoro Wooden Music Box that opens up so prettily plus several ceramic music boxes, the My Neighbor Totoro Doll Set, and more. Don't forget the 2011 calendars, either -- they are great this year!
	Portable Paper Soap ~ Take anywhere! Washing your hands in public restrooms is no fun if there's no soap. Never run into this problem, thanks to the portable "paper soap" we've restocked today -- the thin sheets turn into strawberry or apple scented soap when you wash.
	Authentic 'Socks Glue' From Japan For all those who love "Zettai Ryoiki," which is the space between the top of the a girl's over-knee socks and where her skirt begins, we've restocked the Japanese "socks glue" to hold up tall socks.
	Random Products Restocked J-List to be your Wacky Things from Japan Headquarters, and today we're restocking the Generic Vinyl Clear Umbrella, fun nori cutters for bento (they also cut paper) and more.
	Restocked Traditional Items See some fun items back on the site, including an authentic wooden kokeshi doll for celebrating the coming winter season, traditional omamori charms, Fuku-chan Lucky Owl Pair Netsuke, Samurai Sword keychain and Lucky Cat with Seven Gods display.
	Cotton Candy Maker Restocked The most amazing invention we've seen from Japan in awhile, this cotton candy maker will create spun sugar confections from any hard candy placed inside. Kompeito cotton candy, anyone?
	Restocked Japanese Pens & More Today's awesome Japanese stationery items include the Naruto DX Evolution and Tyrant HABANERO pencil cases, the SUPPLIO aroma mechanical pencils + refills, and One Piece Fragrant Double Markers.
	Restocked Japanese Snacks Finally, we've restocked some awesome restocked gifts, including the Lucky Star Strawberry Cake and Chocolate Cornet Cookies in the gift box sets, plus Akihabara Bunny Shrine Green Tea Cakes, Glico Pretz in Bacon flavor, Black Mint Candy for men and March of Koala.
	Queen's Blade, Queen's Gate, Other Artbooks Some of our most popular artbooks are back in stock today, including our popular Queen's Blade and Queen's Gate combat artbooks, and more.

And here's the video Meg Whitman supporters saw

The Otaku Nation

The word otaku has come to represent the culture both in Japan and around the world of embracing awesomely nerdy things, from anime to manga to video games and those wonderful prepainted anime figures. The word otaku is just a polite word literally meaning "you" or "your family" -- an example of how it's used might be a housewife talking to her neighbor and saying, otaku no ko wa yoku benkyo shimasu ne, meaning "Your child really studies really hard." The word possibly acquired its unique secondary meaning through the local dialect of Tottori Prefecture, home of several of the Gainax founders, where otaku is commonly used as a general second person pronoun, or maybe it's just because anime fans are overly aloof and polite when they talk. Although being a member of the worldwide nation of otaku-zoku (lit. "otaku tribe") is kind of cool, not everyone in Japan is keen on us a group, which is kind of silly since everyone has a strong emotional connection to something, even if it's so-called normal stuff like perfume or shoes or sports. In Apple's "Got a Mac?" ads there was one featuring a Japanese woman who represented "the latest digital camera from Japan." She looks at John Hodgman and says, "Who is this person? He kind of looks like an otaku, doesn't he?" I'd happy be counted with John any day of the week.

Speaking of otakus, our little corner of the Internet got some unexpected attention when Meg Whitman's campaign for governor of California accidentally sent a tweet with a typo which caused readers to go to a different link entirely: a YouTube video of a "Japanese" man wearing a tutu and playing rock music, which caused more than a little confusion. In reality it was H.J. Freaks, a Korean bassist who dresses up in (female) anime costumes and plays along anime songs for the enjoyment of YouTubers and whatever the hip slang word for users of the Japanese video site Nico Douga is. He's a damned good musician whose goal is "to be the world's greatest stupid idiot bass player."

The "otaku tribe" embraces nerdy things but are sometimes mocked by "normals."

My Son's Standard Deviation Value (Hensachi)

My son continues his juken studies, preparing for the difficult high school entrance exams he'll be taking early next year. Watching my fifteen-year-old son study in his room for hours then attend evening classes at a juku school until 10 pm fills me with pride as a father, and I wonder if the Japan-obsessed teenagers I meet at anime conventions would want to live here if they had to study like that. (Of course he doesn't have to work so hard, as there are easy-to-enter municipal and private high schools available to him -- he's just pushing himself to get into a high school with an excellent science program since that's what he's interested in.) Truth be told, we've told him he's going to the U.S. for college so Japanese high school doesn't matter that much, yet he wants to go to a good high school even though it means way more work and also leaving all his friends and his girlfriend forever. (Could you make such a grown-up decision age age 15?)

As an outsider to Japanese culture, it's been interesting for me to observe the year-long process of high school entrance-exam preparation, which is a scaled down version of the "test hell" that high school students wanting to attend university must pass through. One aspect of the process that was strange to me was hensachi, a number determined through a complex calculation of students' test scores that gives their standard deviation value, essentially is a number indicating their absolute academic ranking. If a student wants to go to Waseda University he'll need a hensachi number of 72, while a junior high school student looking to attend the famous Ochanomizu University Attached Girl's High School would need a number of 67. It's amazing that a person's life can be determined by a simple number.

My son is studying hard, a lot hardre than I did at his age.

J-List Notes: New Features, New Calendars

There are a lot of awesome new features on the all-new J-List website, and I'll tell you two of my favorites. First, I like the new option to view products in a grid form rather than a vertical list, which is very convenient for scanning items you think look interesting and clicking the image to bring up the product page. The setting is "sticky" too, remembering your choice for all other pages. Then, I'm positively in love with the new ability to sort your view order, by "newest" (newly updated items on top of older ones), "best sellers" based on popularity, "most wishlisted" based on how often our customers added the items to their wishlists, or price. What do you like about the new J-List?

We are loaded to the gills with gorgeous anime, traditional photo, art and other 2011 calendars from Japan. In addition to posting a bunch of really nice calendars which just came in stock, the J-List staff is adding photos to the calendar product pages. We've got the new Japanese castles calendar in, printed on gorgeous film rather than paper, plus a new Lucky Cat traditional art calendar. Anime fans have plenty of great calendars to choose from, including Bleach and Katekyo Hitman Reborn! One of my favorite calendars every year is the official Pixiv offering, and we've posted inside photos for you to check out (warning, they're pretty awesome).

Cool Products Wednesday, October 20, 2010

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.

	'Seeking a Certain Japanese Girlfriend' Shirt First, a message that's become a J-List standard over the years gets a fresh, fun look. We hope you'll love this new "girlfriend" design like we do!
	Miku Hatsune Anthology Comic 1 & 2 If you're a Miku fan you've come to the right place -- these two brand new anthology comics pack in all the Vocaloid manga you can handle.
	Dead Master Figma, Demonbane Figure The villain from the Black Rock Shooter anime is here in Figma! Also see moe Demonbane heroine Al, now in stock.
	Nozomi Akiyama, Mercedes Figures In Stock New figures as well from free-to-play eroge Se Kirara, and the fairy Mercedes from popular console game Odin Sphere.
	Nene Anegasaki Nendoroid Figure ~ Love Plus Nene is not only mai waifu, she's also a really cute Nendoroid that we have in stock now.
	Evangelion AT-Field Umbrella In Stock It may not protect you from the Third Impact, but this umbrella will keep harmful LCL (or rain) from getting you down. In stock now!
	Restocked 2011 Anime, Other Calendars Some of our 2011 calendars have already sold out in preorder, so we're happy to announce we've got restocks of Bleach, Osamu Tezuka, and more.
	Even More 2011 Calendars Also: we got some other new calendars in today, including Studio Gibli's Arietty, an amazing look at the castles of Japan, and much more!
	Bamboo Charcoal Shoe Deodorizer Remove unwanted smells the natural way with this traditional charcoal-bamboo insert for shoes or other pungent locations.
	Compact PenType Scissors ~ Black Is it a pen, or scissors? It looks like the former but actually these are a slim, sharp, classy pair of scissors, good for any crafts application.
	Rabbit Bunny Girl Headband A great classic cosplay item! You can count on these bunny ears to make you the life of the halloween party or anime convention.
	Kamakura Daibutsu Castanet Keychain These castanet statues modeled after the Great Buddha statue in Kamakura make a great, unique keychain in a traditional Japanese style.
	Meltykiss, Hello Kitty Candy and More! Super awesome Japanese snacks, including the new Meltykiss fudge chocolates for 2011, Watering Kiss Mint Gum and Hello Kitty "throat candy"!
	New Onigiri Flavor Mix / Furikake Spice up your onigiri rice balls with these great flavors of Japan -- mouth-wateringly good! Also, furikake restocked today.
	'NONBIRI ' Hiragana Lacquered Bento Box A great new bento box with a message of taking it easy at your own pace, sure to make a great companion at mealtimes for you with this classy look!
	Miso Soup Cup with Lid In the line of traditional, simple Japanese beauty and elegance comes this great miso soup bowl and lid set. Perfect for your table or display!
	Everyday Home Dishes ~ Mainichi Ouchi Teishoku An elegant, glossy cooking magazine that easily teaches you the basics of authentic Japanese cuisine. Great for helping with bento or any meal.
	Revoltech No.098 Jigen ~ Lupin *Preorder* Jigen is the master marksman of the Lupin the 3rd series, preorder now available for his high quality Revoltech action figure form!
	Revoltech Jack Skellington Santa *Preorder* The spooky Jack Skellington from Tim Burton's stop motion masterpiece comes alive in this Revoltech version -- preorders open now.
	3D Mousepads Angel Beats *Preorder* A new concept in mousepad technology, the image on this Angel Beats pad appears displayed in 3D (though not actually contoured).
	Rin Suzuki x Mousatsu Rin Suzuki's pouty good looks work great with the daring "page tear" reveals in this sexy gravure photobook. Check it out!
	YONE x SOD ~ momi ero The sounds of ecstasy fill this DVD to the brim with some of the most extreme erotic moments we've seen from SOD's creative division -- a must see!
	Bakumatsu Samurai Sword Umbrellas Back in stock for you today, the epic legends of the samurai come to life with these stylized sword-umbrellas themed after some of the most famous figures in Japanese history.
	Hard Case for iPhone 4 with Stand Finger Strap A great case for the iPhone 4 from Elecom! It comes with an attachable stand/finger strap which makes it easy to hold the phone. Also: the popular Scope Note mice are restocked!
	Sakura Tight Sealed Bento Box Set A delightful new "vertical style" bento box that comes with everything you need: two large sections for your rice and the rest of your lunch, plus bento bag, belt and more.
	Random Hello Kitty Bento Items In case you need any Hello Kitty shaped onigiri rice balls, J-List has your back, since we always carry fun and cute Sanrio bento products you can't find easily anywhere else.
	Shinkansen Chopsticks SAKURA Next we have Shinkansen chopsticks for you today, made in the image of Japan's most famous bullet trains. Restocked today!
	Gathers and Lace Gothic Lolita Dress From our new fashion pages, all you need to get started in the gothic lolita look with this stylish black and white dress. Also, super cool Popteen Shibuya 109 Happy Room Wear.
	Restocked Cosplay Outfits See a great restocking of fun cosplay items for Halloween, including the popular K-On! school uniforms, the Red Scarf High School Uniform, plus epic Japanese Gymnastics Uniform Red Bloomer Sets.
	'SHIMAPAN' Culture from Japan We also have...more of those delightful striped anime pantsu that add just the right amount of fan service, including size 5L. You can also carry your stuff around in the cute Shimapan themed bags we have.
	GATSBY ~ Men's Hair Wax Whether you're a "herbivore man" or just want to have that awesome Johnny's Agency-esque ikemen look, the hair wax products from Gatsby are the best in the world. Click to see the restocked items today.
	Fresh Stock of BUB Fizzing Bath Tablet On our new "bath and bathing" page, you can see the great items we have back in stock such as this super-fresh, pore-cleansing and awakening sour yuzu-scented bath tablet with scrubbing bubbles that wash up around you.
	Restocked Traditional Things from Japan J-List always stocks cool traditional items from Japan that you never expected to find, like the gorgeous sushi-themed chopsticks which come in an attractive box.
	More Epic Pens from Japan Super cute Japanese pens and related items today include the Mameshiba Mascot Ball Point Pen, the Deluxe Eraser W ("double"), Pentel Vicuna pen and more.
	Kyoto Candy, Other Snacks Restocked Many snacks are back with fresh stock today, including a selection of treats made and found historically in Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto. Taste the delicious sweet flavors of a Japanese tradition today!
	Various Restocked Artbooks See a big restocking of awesome anime artbooks from Japan, including the Nitroplus game Jingai Makyou, "Moe Moe" Encyclopedia, Girls Girls Girls! plus Student Council P.E. Limited Box. All quite awesome.