Greetings from J-List August 14, 1997

Hello from J-List. We have a big, big update for you, which we've been working on all day. New items include magazines, shashinshus, adult manga, dojinshi, and more. Some of the items are extremely rare -- fans of Tohno Natsuko, Hosokawa Fumie, and Iijima Ai should take note. Since the new items include many "one-shot" items, the competition will be fierce

Dojinshi fans should prepare themselves for the big rush of dojinshi that will flood J-List's pages on Monday. This weekend is the summer Comic Market, the Holy Shrine of Japanese amateur comics. Held at Tokyo Big Sight, this is a three-day orgasmic flurry of dojinshi artists and fans, buying comics left and right as fast as they can. I'll have a full report on Monday, including digital pics, for anyone interested in this wacky underground sub-culture.

The email mill will be slowing down around here over the weekend. This is due to me going off to the Comic Market on Saturday and Sunday, but also because Kaori has been out of the office because it's "O-bon, a sort of Buddhist holy week (when, my wife informs, the ghosts of your ancestors return home for a vacation, or something like that). All of Japan grinds to a half, more or less,during O-bon. I've been doing her work, but I've gotten behind in mine.

Anyway, please enjoy the new items we worked so hard to add to the page. I'll have an update on Monday.

Greetings from J-List August 11, 1997

Hello from Japan. As I write these words on my Newton Messagepad 2000, I am sitting in the middle of "happening" Shibuya, one of the self-styled "playgrounds for the young" here in Tokyo. I am seated on the cobblestones right in front of the station, about 10 meters from the famous dog statue. (This is from story about a dog named Hachiko that was so faithful, it came to meet its master at Shibuya Station everyday when he came home from work, Å@and when he died, the dog waited for 10 years before dying himself). I am listening to three talented street musicians playing r&b in Japanese. The girl playing Rolling Stones with the accordion is damn good.

I had an interesting test of my mettle as a generation X-er today. I was standing in Shinjuku, waiting for a business contact to show up, reading through the latest Tokyo Walker (the lovely Japanese actress Tokiwa Takako is on the cover). I found the listings for The Empire Strikes Back, and saw to my horror that that day was the last day that any theaters would show the movie -- they were all switching over to Jedi the next day. What was worse, the last showing anywhere -- to the best of my knowledge, the last showing of the film on the Planet Earth, since Japan was next in line after the United Arab Emirates to get the special releases of the Star Wars movies -- started at the same time as my important business meeting. What did I do? Of course I ditched the guy and went and saw the movie. Now my four-month complex that I would be the only member of the Star Wars Generation to miss this great movie in the theaters is put to rest.

We have a nice weekend update for you. The biggest lump of new items is on the adult mangas page, where you will find *20* new adult books, which are quite nice. There are some excellent new magazines on the magazine page, including the April issue of Beppin School, which is an absolute must for Akira Fubuki fans. Although we still remain unable to get a bunch of new stock, we have gone through and made even more massive price cuts on our JPOP and anime selection. Coupled with our "buy 4, get one free" promotion, this is your chance to cart off a lot of our JPOP stuff at a great price. As I have said to some in private email, we do remain dedicated to JPOP, and will be returning with a selection of JPOP when we get a supplier

Well, that's all for now. See you on the J-List homepage.

Greetings from J-List August 3, 1997

Greetings from J-List! We're back in Japan, after our incredible travel ordeal. It took us a total of 20 hours from door to door, but it's over now, so we can let it slide back into the past.

It's so nice to be back in Japan, even though it's hotter and more humid than perhaps the entire USA except for Washington DC. San Diego has many things on this place, such as lower cost of living and great weather all year round, but being here in Japan, with its heat, its $2.80 cans of beer, and its lack of California-style transportation to zip you around town, but there are things about living in Japan that America can't touch. In a few days the Isesaki Matsuri (Festival) will start, and everyone will walk around town in their yukata (cotton kimonos) and enjoy the sights and sounds of the festival. There will be fireworks and everyone will drink "mugi-cha" (a tea made from barley) and Chinese oolong tea. The pizzas might cost $15 for a large with cheese only and $28 fully decked out (this is for one, and "large" here isn't what you would expect if you're coming here from the U.S.)

Great update for you, partially as our thank-you for being so patient while we got back on-line here. There are new magazines (Beppin School and a few others), great new CD ROMs (CD ROM Choice, Windows 100%, Mac 100%, and more), Video CDs (a hot new Aida Momo VCD, some panst items, and more), and of course about 20 newly released videos. There is something for everyone on the page now

We will be updating the site over the next month, trying to make it work faster. I am always interested in input from people about how the loading speed is, etc. Thanks, and see you later.

Thanks for reading this. If you're waiting for an email reply from me, it will be along soon.

Greetings from J-List June 26, 1997

Hello from J-List!

Contrary to some people's assumptions, the J-List staff and I have not crashed into the sea, although it might have seemed like it since we haven't replied to email or processed orders in a week. We have been in techno-hell, mostly thanks to a crashed hard drive in my portable, which took with it 4 days of database information and made sending and receiving email impossible as as of last Saturday. We are back on-line now, however, and replies to email messages sent to us are streaming out of my computer even as I type these words.

I find to my horror, however, that about 100 email messages including the content of order forms, from around Monday, June 23 up to the present, apparently caused by an overloaded mailbox. If you have email sent to us and do not get a reply, or if you made an order and did not get your "auto reply, could we trouble you to re-send your order? If you are not sure, you might want to email us again just to be on the safe side.

I want everyone to know how bad we feel about the delays in getting replies out, and how hard we have worked, and will continue to work, in order to catch up. It is not the policy of J-List to wait days to reply to email queries, and I, for one, think it sucks.

We have enjoyed, for the most part, our little week-long visit to Annapolis, Maryland, where I am now, but look forward to getting back to San Diego on the 28th. We hope you are all well, and that whatever part of the world you are in is not as hot as the Washington, DC area. Thanks for your patience, and for your understanding.

Peter & co.