Cool Products Friday, February 25, 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 Mar 2011 My Little Sister Can't Be This Animedia?! The Oreimo craze rolls on in this month's issue of the fun anime magazine that focuses on the fans and everything they love about all the current anime in Japan. Stay current with this new issue, plus great bonus posters! View products »
	Evangelion Motorcycle Gloves, 'Itasha' Car Stickers If you're like us and you can never have enough Eva in your life, check out these sleek NERV-themed gloves and Eva girl car decals!
	Oreimo 2011 School Calendar, Mug Cup "My Little Sister Can't Be This Cute," but she can be on your desktop through the Japanese school year - also on a comfy cushion, preorders open now!
	Mini Mar 2011 The magazine that brings all the hot fashion trends to the fore and shows off the merits of each, packed with news on clothes and accessories!
	Momoeri Romantic Panties (G-Magic) While we're on the topic of fashion, check out these amazingly cute and ero lace panties from Momoeri.
	Hiragana Times 293 March 2011 The magazine that both enlightens about Japan and teaches you Japanese with an intuitive phonetic approach combined with kanji, another great issue!
	iTunes Japan Prepaid Music Cards Find awesome anime or JPOP songs, or Japan-only anime games like the free Moe Capsule Toy Game.
	Restocked Totoro Bento Boxes Do you like Totoro? We love our friendly neighbor from Studio Ghibli, and try to keep great products like these bento in stock for you at all times.
	Fox Squirrel, Totoro Plush Toys Other adorable items from Studio Ghibli are back in stock today, from the Nausicaa fox-squirrel to plush Totoros that you'll love.
	Happy Maneki Neko Display ~ Lucky Cat The 'lucky cat' is an icon of traditional Japanese culture that is sure to bring good fortune and prosperity, an adorable new version here today!
	Daruma Bell Key Chain  Lucky cats aren't the only traditional symbols of good fortune, with cute daruma heads serving the same function. Keychains, too!
	New SAND de PANDA ~ Clover ~ Push Style Easy Sandwich Maker No, this isn't sand made of pandas - "sand" is "sandwich" and "panda" is "pan da!" meaning "it's bread!" These great bento tools will get your meals looking more fun than ever, with clover-shaped crust removers as well as heart sandwich sealers to bring out your most creative lunchmaking style. View products »
	Super Anime & Otaku T-Shirts Overheard on Twitter: "I ran into someone wearing J-List's 'Looking for a Japanese Girlfriend' shirt, and I was wearing my 'Yukkuri' shirt."
	Awesome T-Shirts for Girls, Too In addition to our standard shirts, we have a line of popular girl's fitted tees, like, "I Like What I Like So Get Off My Back" (which we got from a BL game).
	Amazing Snacks from Japan Got a great lineup of new snacks today. First enjoy "gourmet" Doritos from FritoLay Japan, in Soy Sauce & Mayonnaise flavor. Then we have Suntory Sparkling Soda in...chocolate flavor. Plus awesome Mango Chocolate, Samurai Cookies in the shapes of famous warrior families from Japan's history. View products »
	Restocked Japanese Snacks 'Real Gold' energy drink, Lotte Strawberry Chocolate, Bourbon Fruit Candy, Crunky Strawberry, and much more, back in stock today!
	First Kiss, Green Tea, 'Moe Melon' Food Drops "Food drops" in the classic tin inspired by Grave of the Fireflies are all the rage, in the most amazing flavors imaginable. "Moe melon"? Heck yes!
	Elegant Traditional Bento Boxes Restocked We've got some of our best bento boxes back in stock today, with fine traditional designs to bring a touch of class to your lunch presentation.
	Deco Bento Furikake 5 Colors Furikake is any dry food you sprinkle over rice, and we've restocked several types today, incl. "Deco Bento Furikake." Fun!
	Shaped Rice Balls Onigiri are the rice balls the Japanese eat like sandwiches, considered the "soul food" of Japan. See fresh stock of the Pikachu rice ball shaper!
	Hello Kitty Bento Accessories &More We also carry fun Hello Kitty bento items, since nothing is more fun than combining those two things.
	Simple Brown B5 Notebook ~ 6mm ruled 30sheets Fans of Japanese stationery will enjoy the simple, functional appeal of the notebooks we carry like this one, great for home or school writing needs.
	StitchLock Paper Stitchers, Scissor Pens, More J-List stocks epic pens, erasers and more from Japan. See our StitchLock Zn which "stitches" sheets of paper together for you, our Pen Type Scissors + more.
	The Manga Cook Book, Manga Sisters See fresh stock of the popular Manga Cook Book loaded with information on Japanese food and bento, plus Manga Sisters and Manga Moods.
	Restocked Traditional Products Hello Kitty omamori charms, traditional miso soup bowls, chopsticks, and much more are among the traditional items back in stock today!
	Raquel Gothic Figures by Vispo *Preorder* Wow, words don't describe how awesome this new Vispo-sculpted figure is - just look at those wings. An epic preorder figure that's sure to be popular!
	Final Fantasy Action Figures *Preorder* Cloud and the other Dissidia Final Fantasy characters star in this great new Play Arts action figure collection, up for preorder today!
	Anime Car Sunshades *Preorder* There's no way my car sunshade could.... you know the rest. Oreimo and Index fans will love these sun shades. which will make your car the most awesome one in the lot at the summer anime conventions. View products »
	Dengeki Moeoh April 2011 The definitive collector's artbook magazine of all things moe and cute in Japan, you'll love this brand new issue of Dengeki Moeoh stuffed full of cute bishoujo illustrations from the best artists in the industry, and great extras too! View products »
	My Lovely J Cup ~ Yui Serizawa The amazing Yui Serizawa shows off her impressive assets in this full nude photobook that shows us every angle we'd want to see.
	Yulia Nova Photobooks Restocked Also enjoy fresh stock of the gorgeous photobooks of Yulia Nova, Russia's most beautiful woman, or at least that's how the Japanese see it.
	irenka ~ Kagami Visual Works One of the most popular eroge artists around, Kagami presents well over 300 pages spanning 2 artbooks of dripping ecchi goodness!
	Tony Taka Artbooks Restocked Master illustrator Tony Taka's epic artbooks are back in stock, among the best hentai works Japan has ever seen.
	TENGA FLIP LITE US The master engineers at SOD know how to sculpt a stress relief device. The "U.S." in the name means it's larger, for "gaijin size."
	TENGA FLIP LITE LOTION ~ White or Black And here the lotion to go along with it, in an equally stylish presentation. Tenga knows what they're doing when it comes to keeping things fluid!
	Classic Pink Rotar, DENMA Restocked The classic pink "Rotar" [sic] massager is restocked, plus the legendary DENMA series, for our female customers who need to let off some steam.
	Also: Fera Zoma, Pepee Lotion A mouth-shaped love hole is back in stock for you to enjoy, along with restocks of Pepee lotion in a robust volume for multiple uses.
	Tears to Tiara The epic RPG from Leaf, makers of To Heart 2, and inspired by Welsh Legend! Play as the demon Arawn and romance the game's moe heroines.
	Import Eroge Restocked, Too Enjoy the elegant Fortune Arterial, the great BALDR SKY Dive 1, Princess Hunting Dungeon Master, plus the very popular Sky Beach ZERO 3D game.

Are Zombies Animate or Inanimate?

In addition to updating J-List three times a week with slice-of-life news and observations from Japan and posting updates to our Facebook Page, I maintain a Twitter feed, posting site updates and random things that occur to me. I like Twitter because I can talk with customers directly, asking questions and getting feedback. The other day, one of my Twitter followers tweeted: "I've been meaning to ask, do you use iru or aru for the zombies in the impending corpse-ridden apocalypse?" This is one of the first puzzling areas of Japanese grammar students encounter, the rule that you express "to be (in a place)" with the verb iru / imasu if the object is living and moving, like a person or a dog, and aru / arimasu for inanimate objects like a house, a plant, or a car. I remember tormenting my Japanese teacher with similar questions. How about a freshly killed corpse? A plant that moves like a Venus Fly Trap? Robots like C3P0 and R2D2? (For the record, the Japanese staff of J-List reports that zombies and robots would use iru since you can interact with them, but all plants would use aru.)

Zombies present a challenge to Japanese grammar.

Bar Code Hair

Do you have a cat's tongue? If so, it means that you can't eat hot food or drink hot drinks, just like a cat. The Japanese say that anyone who avoids hot food has a cat's tongue (neko jita), and whenever my wife makes hot food for dinner she gives a few ice cubes to our son in a cup, since he doesn't like hot things. There are other interesting observations the Japanese make about things. If you have a bit of a lazy eye problem the Japanese might say you are ron-pari which is Japanese for "London, Paris" -- i.e. one eye is looking at London and the other is looking at Paris. And men with only a little hair on the tops of their heads have what the Japanese call "bar code hair." I love the creative expressions of the Japanese.

Men (and dogs) with thinning hair on top have "bar code hair."

Would You Wait In Line for a Hot Pretzel?

I recently saw a news article about U.S.-based Auntie Anne's Pretzels, which had opened its first location in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. The new location had become a hit with Tokyoites, drawing lines of several hours. This made me think of two things, the first being that it's about time we get some American-style soft pretzel goodness in this country. I love Pocky and Pretz as much as the next person, but the ongoing lack of delicious Western-style pretzels has been inexplicable in a country that manages to produce Wasabi Cheetos and Grilled Steak Doritos for us. My second thought was to smile at the image of dozens of Japanese queuing for hours to buy hot pretzels. There's something about the psyche of the Japanese that makes them very happy to stand in line for hours for something delicious, and J-List's Yasu reports, "If I don't have to wait before eating it, I don't want it." I can attest that food does seem to taste better when you have to wait for it. Once my son and I were in Tokyo where we happened across a ramen shop with a long line of universitatis students waiting to eat. Betting that there was no way the ramen could be anything other than incredible, we took a chance and got in line, and it was the best thing we'd ever eaten.

You have to wait to buy Krispy Kreme in Tokyo.

Cool Products Wednesday, February 23, 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.

	Bomb Mar 2011 The rebuilt, expanded version of Bomb magazine continues with a brand new issue packed full of all the great gravure and bikini models we love.
	Many New Figures in Stock Haruhi "Disappearance" school uniform version, Black Rock Shooter Nendoroid, that delicious Tsumugi by Kotobuki, and other awesome items in stock.
	Totoro Annual Plate 2011 Limited Edition Be one of the few to own this rare commemorative plate celebrating the legacy of Studio Ghibli's landmark creation of Totoro, and the warm feelings he's brought to fans around the world. Genuine Noritake china, made in Japan. View products »
	Totoro Blankets, Pillows, Plush Toys Also, the last stock of the season of our Totoro blankets, plus awesome Totoro pillows, and an "anatomically correct" Cat Bus plush for your car?
	Epic Hello Kitty Products Everything from waffle irons to silicon cake molds to berry scent dispensers and much more, the universe of Kitty will add kawaii to your life!
	Border Break Modeling Works ~ Hobby Japan Special The world of the Border Break arcade game and model series is celebrated in this Hobby Japan exclusive, complete with extra parts!
	Gakken Otona no Kagaku Science Kits Recreate the amazing kinetic sculpture Strandbeest with the new Otona no Kagaku science magazine + kit. Instructions now in English!
	Moe Moe Encyclopedia ~ Armor The latest volume of Moe Encyclopedia showcases the world of traditional armor from around the world, as worn by beautiful 2D girls.
	Restocked Artbooks & More Whether you're looking for traditional shunga, girls in school uniforms, K-on! artbooks, or Masamune Shirow, it's restocked today!
	Rilakkuma Dock Connector Neck Strap Keep your phone or Apple music player secure and in reach with this cute strap. Works with all dockable iPods and iPhone.
	Rilakkuma Silicon Cooking Mold, Plush Toys Japan's "relax bear" may not bring zen enlightenment, but he will make you slow down and enjoy life more. Cooking ring and plush speaker restocked.
	Geisha Sexy Yukata, Gymnastics Uniforms We've got all your cosplay and sexy Japanese outfit needs taken care of at J-List, from kimono and yukata to those anime gym uniforms. Cosplay is fun!
	The Pose Book of Girls in Pretty School Uniforms Whether you're an aspiring artist or a fan of school uniforms this book is the perfect resource for deeper investigation of the genre.
	Genki I (Second Edition) New Edition for 2011 The tried and true solution for Japanese learners for years, the Genki Japanese textbook series has been updated for 2011 and this is the brand new flagship edition of the first volume - the perfect introduction to the Japanese language for any serious or casual student. View products »
	More DS Japanese Study  Learn hiragana and katakana with Doraemon and Anpanman, test your kanji skills, and make your kanji more beautiful.
	JLPT Level Grammar Plus! (Internet Download) Another great way for students to improve is to study specifically for the JLPT test, and now you can learn with classical music in the background.
	Green Tea Kit Kat, Other Japanese Snacks Oh baby...it's time for Green Tea Kit Kat, finally announced and available in a nice large bag you can enjoy with the whole family. Also enjoy Meiji Tasty Cinnamon Chocolate (wow), and Hi-Chew "Golden Pine" (we're pretty sure this means pineapple). View products »
	Moe Food Drops from Okinawa Enjoy delicious Chura Moe Pineapple Milk "Food Drops" from Okinawa, Japan's exotic southernmost prefecture, plus Okinawa beer and Awamori sake.
	Hot Cake Drink, Various Snacks Restocked The Pancakes in a Cat drink is restocked, plus Steak Doritos, Akiba Green Tea Manju, Cool Berry and Fit's gum plus Potelong potato snacks. Om nom nom.
	Dragon Ball Lunch Box  A blast from the past with this nostalgic and awesome Dragon Ball themed bento 'ball,' with its own carrying bag!
	Pokemon Bento Restocked, Too Also: the legendary Pokeball Bento Box is restocked, too, one of our favorite anime-themed lunchboxes (lunchballs?) ever.
	Other Fun Bento Boxes Restocked Whether Japan's 'lucky cat' is your fancy, you like schoolbus bento or traditional kanji/kimono patterns, we've got the boxes in stock for you!
	TAMAGOYAKI Mini Square Pan, More Make perfect scrambled egg sushi with this perfectly shaped pan. Or try your hand at takoyaki with the delicious griddle perfect for it!
	Awesome and Stylish Computer Products from Elecom Power your electronic devices in style or accessorize your peripherals with the awesomely engineered lineup of tech enhancements from Elecom.
	Gradational Diary Notebook ~ 36 pages A "diary"-style notebook explicitly purposed for recording your memories and daily experiences in a one-of-a-kind way, great for journal keepers!
	Portable Ball Point Pen with Carabiner Clip Never lose your pen again with this handy carabiner-equipped writing utensil! Extra useful for anyone on the go. A great idea.
	Other Pens, Erasers, More The quirky and useful Japanese stationery and writing utensil industry never fails to delight, with 'ear' pens and 'endless corner' erasers and more!
	Basic SENKO / Buddhist Incense Stick Then, we've gotten in some elegant senko (incense) sticks which can be used either to bring a bit of Japanese atmosphere to your home.
	Restocked Traditional Products Squeeze your way through the 108 impure thoughts that humans are subject to with this fun stress toy, or enjoy Lucky Cat keychains & key covers.
	Other Awesome Preorder Figures *Preorder* Yui from K-On! by Max Factory, Nendoroid Lynette from Strike Witches, a new Hatsune Miku figure and more, all up for preorder today!
	Awesome Fate/stay night Figures *Preorder* Saber and Rin from Fate parade onto your desk or shelf in these gorgeous bikini versions! Preorders open today.
	Restocked Photobooks We've got tons of hot photobooks back in stock for you today, including A-Trip with Anri Okita, an extremely healthy, beautiful Japanese female.
	Dengeki G's Festival Comic vol. 16 If you like a stylish behind the way we do you'll love the hug pillow extra that comes with this issue of Dengeki G's Festival Comic. It's another super popular issue, so now's your chance! View products »
	Ignis, Tamaki Kousaka Cast Off Figures *Preorder* The beautiful Ignis from Jingai Makyou returns in castoff figure form, along with Tamaki Kousaka from To Heart 2. Preorder today!
	Gorgeous 'Cast Off' Figures In Stock, Too From the popular manga Hishoka Drop, comes the ultra lusty character Kyoko Kaneda in her "cast off" business suit. Also enjoy the Uncho Kanu suntan figure!
	Love Body Aki Costume, Ren Restocked Fresh stock of the popular Love Body Ren doll with matching onahole, plus a new costume for Love Body Aki to wear. Amazing...
	Realistic Onahole Toys for Stress Relief When realism is what you seek, check out the meiki hole based on Risa Kasumi's real body, or the Snow Moon Flower sisters.
	Demonbane Goes Golden Master   One of the most epic eroge ever is coming in English, the Cthulhu-mythos title Demonbane. A massive game that faithfully adds to world created by H.P. Lovecraft, the translation is beautiful and the game is great. The limited edition comes with an artbook! View products »

New J-List Email Format, Demonbane Golden Master

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