Greetings from J-List May 15, 1998

Hello, and Happy Friday everyone. It's been very quiet around here all afternoon, mainly because Kaori took the afternoon off to get her teeth worked on. I took some time off myself to take the kids for a long bicycle ride. Now that the rain has stopped, it's been nice every day.

The famous sumo wrestler Konishiki, the first Hawaiian wrestler to reach the level of ozeki (the second highest level in the sport), has retired. He's starring in a line of whisky commercials by Suntory in which he uses his great body (upwards of 450 pounds) to imitate bottles of Suntory whisky.

We've got a ton of great items for you today, starting with the February issue of Urecco, which features the beautiful and luscious Asami Narua, who has a 92 cm bust yet a tiny 52 cm waist. The latest issues of Milky Tsushin and Sakuranbo Ekisu are on the list now, as are many more copies of the popular Jo Mag January 1998 issue, featuring the beautiful catlike Andoh Aya. Finally, the new MPEG CD Soft Catalog (without almost two hours of AV on two CD ROMs) is in -- grab it before they sell out, as last month's did so quickly. Finally, more price reductions in our video and magazine pages for you -- enjoy, and have a nice weekend!

Greetings from J-List May 10, 1998

Hello, all. Chiharu and I are enjoying a Saturday evening of Japanese television. First was "Hit Parade!, a cool show that has top Japanese singers singing songs of other singers, which causes some interesting combinations. Then we watched Much Ado about Love, in which famous Japanese comedian Samba has funny conversations about love and sex with pretty women. And now we're watching old episodes of 90210 that NHK keeps on the air. It's great to meet other ex-pat Americans living in Japan who wouldn't admit to watching the show before coming to live here.

The sudden suicide death of Hide, of the popular Japanese rock band X Japan, is current in the news right now. His death has shocked and galvanized his fans, including my wife, who has been a fan of this group ever since she happened to meet Toshi, the lead singer, in a karaoke bar in Los Angeles.

We have a small update tonight, mainly more magazines and photobooks. Especially recommended are the Asami Mao the Nagai Madoka shashinshus. Also, we've knocked down even more prices on magazines and videos that we have too many of, so please check out those pages if you have time -- thanks.

Greetings from J-List May 8, 1998

Hi. I'm going off to Tokyo tomorrow, so Kaori and I worked today to get a nice update out today. We've got a ton of great stuff for you, on the magazine, shashinshu, and manga pages: wonderful magazines such as Mini & Mini Ska, Nippon Mini-Skirt, Body Body, Jo Mag, and more.

Japan is huming along today. Lots of news about the earthquake off the coast of Okinawa. Miura Kazuyoshi ("Kaz"), the most famous Japanese soccer player, turned 30 today. Alien 4 and Starship Troopers have finally wandered into movie theatres here, so I've got some movies to take in on the weekend.

Well, that's all for now -- have a nice Friday.

Greetings from J-List May 6, 1998

Well, Golden Week is finally at an end. Kaori had a nice week off, which means that I was, er, rather busy make sure the emails got out on time. It's funny how your perception of holidays changes when you run a business. ^_^

I have a new virtual pet. It's called Teku Teku Angel, and it's essentially a simple electronic device for recording the number of steps you take during the day, to encourage you to walk more. But it's got a Teku Teku Angel virtual pet living inside it, and if you don't get enough exercise, your pet will eventually wither and die. Hopefully this will get me away from the computer a little more. Is this the next wave of trendy things from Asia?

We have some great new items for everyone today. First, there are about 50 new JPOP CDs, with some great albums (Matsuda Seiko, Akina Nakamori, Nakayama Miho) as well as excellent recent CD singles by such bands as My Little Lover, Globe, Amuro Namie, and more. Then, we've got a few excellent magazines and photobooks for fans of these items, including great items for fans of Nagai Madoka

Greetings from J-List April 30, 1998

Well, Golden Week has started here in Japan. Golden Week is a bunch of Japanese holidays (Green Day, the former Showa Emperor's birthday, Constitution Celebration Day, Boy's Day, and so on) that usually fall very close to each other. All of Japan goes wild trying to experience leisure, which means that anywhere you go in Japan during this time, you find crowds of people. Chiharu and I are going t hunker down, maybe take in a movie at our favorite American-style movie theater in Ota (home of the Subaru Corporation), and relax.

We've got a ton of new items for you, mostly on the magazine, shashinshu, and video warehouse pages. We've got a bunch of Photoshot and NoWon "shashinshu type" magazines, about 50 new videos, several older and rare magazines, and more. We've got some cool shojo manga on the anime page. There are also about 7 "new" dojinshi on the dojinshi page -- although they are repeats of items that had been posted in the past. Thanks, and have a nice Golden Week!

Greetings from J-List April 28, 1998

Another Monday has come to Japan. The weather is still rather dreary, but I managed to get a little bit of work in on the sun deck we're building on our verandah.

Kazuki and I enjoyed the trip to Shizuoka Prefecture. We went to a wonderful onsen (hot springs) hotel near Lake Hamanako, and bathed in the hot springs while looking out over the lake. Kazuki was thrilled to be able to ride a Shinkansen for the first time. He has memorized all the names of the various Shinkansen (Hikari, Nozomi, Tsubasa, etc.) that run in the Kanto region of Japan -- not bad for the age of three.

The two-man team "Yan-pai" (a Japanese comedian and a man from Hong Kong who are hitchhiking from the Cape of Good Hope up to the top of Europe, on the Japanese television show Denpa Shonen) are in Zimbabwe right now (they couldn't cross through Angola because of civil war there), and working their way north. Great television like Denpa Shonen is part of what makes living in Japan fun.

We've got some nice new items for you today, including about 75 new in-stock videos (Matsukawa Ayumi and Fubuki Akira fans take note). We've also got a small mound of new JPOP and anime CDs, including some of the most popular CD singles in Japan right now. Check out the new items if you have time.

Greetings from J-List April 28, 1998

Another Monday has come to Japan. The weather is still rather dreary, but I managed to get a little bit of work in on the sun deck we're building on our verandah.

Kazuki and I enjoyed the trip to Shizuoka Prefecture. We went to a wonderful onsen (hot springs) hotel near Lake Hamanako, and bathed in the hot springs while looking out over the lake. Kazuki was thrilled to be able to ride a Shinkansen for the first time. He has memorized all the names of the various Shinkansen (Hikari, Nozomi, Tsubasa, etc.) that run in the Kanto region of Japan -- not bad for the age of three.

The two-man team "Yan-pai" (a Japanese comedian and a man from Hong Kong who are hitchhiking from the Cape of Good Hope up to the top of Europe, on the Japanese television show Denpa Shonen) are in Zimbabwe right now (they couldn't cross through Angola because of civil war there), and working their way north. Great television like Denpa Shonen is part of what makes living in Japan fun.

We've got some nice new items for you today, including about 75 new in-stock videos (Matsukawa Ayumi and Fubuki Akira fans take note). We've also got a small mound of new JPOP and anime CDs, including some of the most popular CD singles in Japan right now. Check out the new items if you have time.

Greetings from J-List April 24, 1998

Hello, everyone. The weekend is here, and Kazuki and I are preparing to head down to Shizuoka Prefecture tomorrow to visit a friend of mine. Kazuki is so happy to be able to ride his first Shinkansen (Bullet Train) and go to a hot springs hotel. Unfortunately we both have come down with freak colds -- I hope we're not too miserable tomorrow.

I'm very happy to announce that the latest JAST USA title, Runaway City, is finally shipping, along with RCY America's premier release, Nocturnal Illusion. It was a long battle, and we ended up many months behind schedule, but they are finally out the door. If you don't know about the interactive anime role-playing game for adults category of game software from Japan, I recommend that you check out one of the new titles.

Well, have a good weekend. See you when we get back from Mt. Fuji!

Greetings from J-List April 7, 1998

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Greetings from J-List April 2, 1998

Hi! The J-List homepage is now being served on my Newton Messagepad 2100. We apologize if there is any slowness from the new system. (Okay, happy April, everyone...)

The season of the sakura has come to Japan, but we have a cruel April Fool's present: snow. A freezing cold day has given way to a snowy night, and now the sound of snow falling off our roof is . We had been planning the J-List Flower Viewing Party for a few days from now. Hopefully we won't be thwarted.

Nice small update today. We have some nice items for you today, including about eight new Video CDs. Also, there have been a lot of price reductions on the videos and magazines pages. Please check out these new items. Thanks!

Greetings from J-List March 30, 1998

Monday is here again, and we've got another big update -- videos! No less than 10 great big boxes of videos showed up here at J-List over the weekend. Check out the Video Warehouse for some great new items.

As I write this, Chiharu and I are on the train to Tokyo to see the Elton John & Billy Joel concert. We're happy as clams. Before we go to Tokyo Dome, we're going to swing by Goa, a great Indian restaurant in Harajuku, and then grab a Frap at the newly-opened Starbucks.

In other news, an era has ended: Gilgamesh Night, a popular late-night "ero" television show that ran from 1991, has come to an end. Gilgamesh Night was responsible for the launching of the careers of Iijima Ai, Hosokawa Fumie, Hitomi Yuki, the CC girls, the Sexy Mates, and many other AV and softcore Japanese stars, but on Saturday night

Greetings from J-List March 28, 1998

Hello again. We've been busy all week, which is why there haven't been any updates. We have a big one for you now, though, with lots of nice items -- CD ROM Choice DX, Be Back, Super Mini-ska Deluxe, the new issues of Urecco, Best Video, Gal's Dee (and other magazines), more of the popular Japanese pop music singles

We forewent our customer Friday night movie tonight, and took in a video -- Seven -- at home. A truly fascinating movie, if you haven't seen it. Now Chiharu has gone to bed, and I'm finishing up the evening's uploading (since we're going to be moving into the J-List office in the summer, we still use a lowly 28.8 connection for everything here) with the help of more old Babylon 5 episodes.

Chiharu is happy -- we now are the owners of that great icon of American convenience, the clothes dryer. In Japan, dryers are about as common as central heating, but I finally broke down and bought her one as a wedding anniversary present (which was today).

Greetings from J-List March 19, 1998

Another update for you all, on this fine Thursday morning. We've got a bunch of new items, including more copies of Super Mini-suka Deluxe, the popular softcover photobooks Clover, Tsugumi, Sentimental, and more. Be sure to check out the Magazines and Photobooks page -- and see the cheaper close-out items on page 2 of the magazines page as well, as there are a lot of items we're closing out.

The JAST USA homepage has been totally redesigned and updated, with new information on all our games, character background and other information, a "Visual FAQ" that gives more information on the "look and feel" of interactive anime role-playing games, and more. Please stop by and see our new format.

Also, my grandmother, Virginia Larson, has published her popular book, How to Write a Winning Proposal in both digital and conventional formats. A proven book with information on business proposal writing that was "most likely to be stolen" from public libraries (because people were loath to return the book). The digital version of my grandmother's book is $10, and J-List will give $10 off anyone making a $100 or greater purchase if you pick up her book (i.e., you can get her book for free). See the Classic House homepage at here. My grandmother is 79 years old and just tickled to have her book on the Internet. Please see her homepage if you're interested in the field of business proposal writing.

Greetings from J-List March 3, 1998

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Greetings from J-List February 27, 1998

Well, Thursday is about to give way to Friday here in Japan. Friday in this case -- the 27th -- is Kaori's birthday (she'll be 23), and she's taking the day off to go somewhere with her "darling."

Lots of nice items in tonight's update. First, the new issue of the excellent dojinshi anthology Paradise Lost (vol. 6) is out, and its a nice one. Lots of nice stories for eva fans in it. Then, there are new dojinshi! We've got a bunch of off-the-beaten-track dojinshi for fans of Final Fantasy 7, Eva, and more, and in large supply this time. Also, we've cut our prices again as we try to get rid of a lot of our stock -- check out these great bargains. Finally, we've got a new offering from Otaku Publishing, their latest adult anime game release

Hot Oil Sumo Wrestling? Beelzebubsledding? The Men's 500, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 Meter Barefoot Speed Skating competition? They're all part of the "Top Five (sic) Olympics in Hell" list, one of the daily "Top 5" [sic] lists put out daily by the cool guys at Topfive.com (http://www.topfive.com). I find their mailing list quite fun to read, so I thought I'd pass the link along to J-List readers.

Greetings from J-List April 25, 1998

Hello, everyone. The weekend is here, and Kazuki and I are preparing to head down to Shizuoka Prefecture tomorrow to visit a friend of mine. Kazuki is so happy to be able to ride his first Shinkansen (Bullet Train) and go to a hot springs hotel. Unfortunately we both have come down with freak colds -- I hope we're not too miserable tomorrow.

I'm very happy to announce that the latest JAST USA title, Runaway City, is finally shipping, along with RCY America's premier release, Nocturnal Illusion. It was a long battle, and we ended up many months behind schedule, but they are finally out the door. If you don't know about the interactive anime role-playing game for adults category of game software from Japan, I recommend that you check out one of the new titles.

Did you know there was almost an anime based on Babylon 5? See http://home.pacbell.net/bchan/b5.anime.home.index.html for a very interesting view of what might have been.

Well, have a good weekend. See you when we get back from Mt. Fuji!

Greetings from J-List February 21, 1998

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Greetings from J-List February 19, 1998

Hello out there in The World. It's late Wednesday night as I write this, and a tall 500 ml Asahi Super Dry is keeping me company. Wife Chiharu is taking notes on what she has to go tomorrow. (Since we're a Japanese company, she gets to handle all the Japanese red tape.)

We're proceeding with our plans to build an office again. After a careful search of suitable companies, we were going to go with Toyota Home (yes, Toyota builds houses here -- what a wacky place). At the last minute, we found a small but reliable company that looks like they'll suit our needs better. Let's just hope they don't go belly up, too.

We've got some nice items for you tonight. First, the new Urecco is in, and it is lovely -- especially for fans of Fubuki Akira. New issues of Gal's Dee, Milky Tsushin, and Sakuranbo Ekisu are also in -- and all are great. Finally, there's a new Miura Aika Video CD on the VCD/DVD page, which presents clips of videos from various points in Aika's long career -- which makes for some interesting viewing. Check out the new items if you have time.

Also, be sure to check the CD ROMs page, page 2 of the magazines page, and the "in stock" video pages for special bargins, as we close out items we're trying to clear out. Thanks!

Greetings from J-List February 14, 1998

Just got back from seeing "The Game" at the Cinema World Ota, the American-style large movie theatre that my wife and I go to nearly every weekend. A great flick, truly -- I recommend it.

Saturday is Valentine's Day here in Japan -- as everyone who has played Season of the Sakura knows, it's a day when men can expect chocolate from their girlfriends, wives, daughters, etc. Kaori brought me chocolate versions of Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet (she's got a thing for Whinnie the Pooh). I hope you all get some chocolate, wherever you are.

Nice new items for the weekend include a bunch of new magazines, including Gokuh, Dela Beppin, Panst Love, and a new one, Lucky Crepe. Also, we have some new photobook-class items on the shashinshus page. All very nice, so take a look at the magazine and photobook pages. And don't forget to browse the new "in stock" videos recently added to the Video Warehouse.

Greetings from J-List February 11, 1998

Well, the flu still has us all down, but Kaori was able to crawl into work for the first time day this week. Unfortunately, the flu has slowed down the speed with which we get packages out the door. We'll do our best to get caught up by Friday -- sorry for any inconvenience.

The Nagano Olympics are progressing nicely. It was nice to see Shimizu take gold the men's speed skating. It means so much to the Japanese to have the world looking at them during this time. Since much of Japan's actions as a country over the last 150 years can be traced to wanting to be seen as an equal among other nations, getting this kind of attention really makes everyone here happy.

We've got some nice new items for you today -- tons of new "in stock" videos, which can be found on the Video Warehouse pages. Miura Aika, Uehara Ayaka, Wakana Sena, Kanabun and more -- all in stock now and ready to be ordered with no waiting. There are about 75 new video in all.

Well, that's all for now. I've got to get back to bed so I can finish getting over my own flu. Have a nice day!