Greetings from J-List May 14, 2003

First of all, we had some server problems for the past days, which made the product images fail to appear on the site for around eight minutes or so on several different occasions. The problem was caused by a bad router which is being replaced. Also, there was some confusion about the "three day link" posted last time, which caused the PG and R pages to not display properly. Everything is fixed now, though -- sorry for any inconvenience.

Japanese people do love to bathe, and bathing is a big part of Japanese culture. In Japanese homes, the actual bathroom is a bath and a separate tiled area outside the bath, with a drain for water to escape. You always wash your body thoroughly before getting into the bath, and never use soap or shampoo inside the bath itself, as the water will be reused by other family members, and saved for several days. All baths here have heaters to allow you to re-heat the old water, and ours has a one-touch computer that will fill the bath to the pre-set temperature and level. If you're a parent, you always take your kids in the bath with you and wash them. This warm concept of mother or father taking a bath with their children is known as "skinship" to the Japanese. Japanese are great fans of public baths (sento) and hot springs (onsen), too. Since the water at these public baths is "everyone's water," everyone must wash thoroughly before getting into the baths. Taking baths at a public facility like this obviously means getting naked in front of dozens of strangers, which can be troubling to Westerners; but Japanese do it from birth, and no one really thinks anything of it. Men and women bathing together (called "kon'yoku" or "mixed bathing") is famous all over the world, but it's actually very rare, although "family baths" that a family can reserve ahead of time are growing in popularity. For more information on the culture of bathing in Japan, we humbly recommend Peach Princess's excellent love-sim game Tokimeki Check in!, which is based in a traditional Japanese hot springs inn.

With all that's different between Japan and the West, you can bet that there are some toilet-related differences, too. When Japanese women use a public toilet, they're very nervous about others hearing the sound of their tinkling, so some Japanese public restrooms have machines to make white noise that drowns out the sound. My daughter went into one of these restrooms and was too afraid of the sound to do what she had gone in there to do. Similarly, Japanese women don't want others smelling the toilet after they've used it, so they often carry portable cans of air freshener to spray the area and make it fresh and clear. Conveniently, we happen to have gotten some of these in stock for you today...

J-List loves to bring you things you never knew existed, including the bizarre late-night TV shows that are being released on DVD with English subtitles. One of our favorite series is OH! Mikey, a "mannequin drama" about an American family that has moved to Japan. It's hilarious, as it's all acted out with fashion mannequins. For more information on OH! Mikey, see the unofficial homepage of the Fuccon family at http://www.fuccon.com/

We're happy to see many people preordering the upcoming Kango Shicyzuzo 2, the sequel to the popular game of sexy goings-on at a Catholic school for nurses. It will ship in June, so preorder now for free shipping when it comes in stock. We're happy to announce another great bishoujo game for preorders, a very bold SF-anime game entitled Gun Shield Warrior SAKIGAKE. A great game that combines the best SF anime themes with an super bishoujo story, you must command the battleship SAKIGAKE and the advanced mechs known as "Justice" to defeat the invading enemy from space, the Seekers. It's divided into 11 chapters, complete with "next episode" trailers and more, with both actual mecha combat and great bishoujo love scenes. Preorder it now for free shipping when it ships (US/Canada only; international orders receive half price on shipping).

For the new update, we've got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:

• First, for Japanese snack lovers, we've got some great additions, including tea candies, tasty green tea chocolate cakes, fresh miso soup with wakame in it, from stock of my favorite brand of ochazuke, and more
  
• We carry delicious gum from Japan, too, and have a new flavor for you, delicious pineapple gum from Bourbon
  
• Also, look for fresh stock of one of the most popular items in J-List history, Lotte's Black Black spicy caffeine gum
  
• We've got a great die-cast toy bus with rubber tires and doors that open, featuring the McDonald's characters
  
• We love carrying Japanese swimsuit idol photobooks, and have great new offerings today, with Yuko Ogura's sweet new photobook and a hardcover release from Hiroko Anzai
  
• For Kitty fans, a really cute item: a Rubick's Cube puzzle that you can display anywhere, as well as various cute Kitty items for your kitchen
  
• Also, we've got some really cute "Usako and friends" character goods, complete with funny English. "Being seen makes us happy, and dressing up is fun!"
  
• Also for fans of the very cute, two new plush Japanese treats from the Nyanko Restaurant series, featuring food with cute plush cats baked right in -- wow!
  
• For Totoro lovers, we've got fresh stock of the Laputa robot and Totoro "gift in the rain" music boxes, popular items for collectors
  
• We've restocked several popular "shokugan" (food + toy) items, value-priced toys that feature ramune candy inside -- see fresh stock of the Japanese dessert and train station bento full sets, in stock
  
• We carry chopsticks from Japan, including adult-sized ones that have rough patches at the ends, to make it easier to grip your food
  
• For Hamtaro fans, a cute train pass case, which you can use to hold cards, money and other things
  
• The plush pet that feature soft chamois bottoms, perfect for wiping your computer monitor when it's dirty, have been restocked -- look for fresh stock of all the cute plush dogs and cats in the Groomy series from Elecom
  
• We've got some interesting and innovative covers for keys, which make it easy to see which key goes with which door -- some of the designs the Japanese have come up with a really out there though
  
• At Japanese stores, they have a little raffle machine that spits out a colored ball, and you get a prize based on the color of the ball -- we've got the raffle machines in stock, for anyone who wants to use them at a local event
  
• For DVD fans, we've got fresh stock of the popular Japanese film Versus, directed by Ryuhei Kitamura
  
• For Chobits lovers, various Chobits related items including fresh stock of the excellent bilingual manga for those who want to read both the English and the Japanese
  
• Finally, find super stylish coin purses in different colors, a great way to shave your eyebrows into the shape you want them to be, items with funny English on them, portable toilet freshener, and more!
  

For our adult customers, we've got many new 18+ products. They include:

• For fans of Japan's delightful AV stars, we've got a new issue of Karami, the magazine that's really a photobook, this time dedicated to the beautiful and erotic Hitomi Hayasaka
  
• If you love Japan's unique Race Queens, enjoy the erotic sex of Hikari Kisugi and many others as they perform great sex for you
  
• We love Japan's erotic photobooks, and have some great new ones for you, including a superb new Mai Hagiwara nude photobook that features some of the best-ever shots of this lovely girl -- comes in a protective box, too
  
• Also, Shino Isshiki's super erotic offering and a sweet and erotic photobook featuring Megumi Osawa
  
• Jun Matsuda is a lovely swimsuit idol who has been popular over the years -- see her new seminude photobook release featuring her most erotic photos yet
  
• For fans of erotic manga from Japan, we've got another great update for you, with several new books including a fabulous collection of erotic short stories by Musashimaru and Hinako Yui's erotic "Charm Juice," along with many restocked books -- don't forget our manga sale, too!
  
• Also, we've got fresh stock of the excellent collection of "shunga" (erotic ukiyoe illustrations), the first hentai manga of Japan
  
• For yaoi collectors, find a great new erotic yaoi comic by BBC comics, as well as a few restocked volumes of past yaoi comics
  
• We've gotten in a major restocking of the G-Taste erotic art books, beautiful books of erotic color illustrations by Hiroki Yagami
  
• For DVD lovers, we've got another great volley of titles for you, starting with the lovely 3-hour "No Cut!!" release of Yuri Kamome, which includes her debut into the world of JAV (region free)
  
• Japan's ninjas are famous all over the world -- now see erotic female ninjas having erotic sex in a new release from Fearest (region free)
  
• Two sisters experience lesbian sex and the joy of bukkake in a new release from SOD's Martian Devil label (region free)
  
• Then from IEnergy, explore a world of breast fetishism, with sex scenes featuring Japan's famous AV idols filmed so that their breasts are always in frame (region free)
  
• From Moodyz, a new CFNM ("clothed female, nude male") DVD featuring girls who love to see penises -- great for fans of the Japanese fetish known as "penis study" (region 2)
  
• Yinling's dynamite Russian film "VOPREKI" is a real treat to see -- we've got fresh stock of this popular item (region 2)
  
• Also from Moodyz, a great re-release of a popular Madoka Ozawa indies DVD featuring the "real sex" of the incredibly popular AV star (region 2)
  
• Finally, see some great newly restocked DVDs, including Ran Asakawa's Onanie Paranoia, Kurumi Morishita and Sayaka Hijiri in black funeral kimonos, fresh stock of Anna Ohura's "I love H" DVD, and more excellent sex by Akira Watase.
  

J-List carries the excellent high-end computer mice by Elecom, designed by Shirow Masamune, creator of Ghost in the Shell, and Katoki Hajime, the mechanical designer for the Gundam universe. Both of these beautiful mice are extremely well made, and feel great in your hand. They're compatible with English-language Mac and PC computers right out of the box, and come in colors that will complement your computer and revolutionize your computing experience -- I love my silver Katoki mouse, which matches my Powerbook perfectly.

Want to see Japan, but can't afford the plane ticket? Visit our good friends at SushiCam.com, who document many aspects of life in Japan with vivid pictures. It's a great way to see Japan without leaving your computer. Tell them we sent you!

Greetings from J-List May 12, 2003

Hello again from all your friends in Japan!

The Japanese do love their alcohol, and in generally consume a large amount of it each year. Although Japanese rice wine, called sake (SAH-keh; remember to avoid saying "saki" since it's wrong), is famous all over the world, the national alcoholic beverage of choice is beer. Japan's big four beer companies -- Kirin, Asahi, Sapporo and Suntory -- control nearly all distribution of beer and related products in Japan. The biggest two are Kirin and Asahi, and they keep slugging it out, trying to steal the coveted top spot from each other (Asahi's Super Dry brand currently holds it). The Japanese beer market is divided into two groups: "beer" and "happoshu," the latter being beer made with less malt, which allows beer makers to pay less tax, making for a low-priced product. If you read the labels on Japanese beer bottles, you'll notice something interesting: almost all of them contain rice as an ingredient, even the Budweiser sold here, which is bottled by Kirin.

There are some interesting rules about drinking in Japan. First of all, when beer in bottles (as opposed to mugs) with friends, you pour beer into each other's glasses, saying "sumimasen" (excuse me) when your own glass is filled. Never pour your own beer; doing this is called "tejaku," and it's bad manners. Since everyone is usually pouring everyone else's beer, you may have trouble politely declining another topping off, and in that case, you can just touch the full glass to your lips without drinking any, and they'll get the message that you don't want any more. Just for the record, you can get a cup of beer at most large movie theatres in Japan ("I'm talking about a glass of beer"), although they don't serve beer in McDonald like they do in Europe.

If you ever need to communicate with Japanese people but don't know any Japanese, just remember this word: "Domo." Domo basically means "very" and is found in such phrases as "Domo arigatou gozaimasu" (thank you very much), "Domo sumimasen" (excuse me), and even "Domo otsukaresama deshita" (thank you for working so hard), said at the end of the day when you leave work. If you can't memorize these phrases, just remember the word "Domo," since Japanese people use this word all the time, leaving the rest of the words unsaid (since they're picked up from the context anyway). So if you're ever greeting a Japanese person after a long time away, meeting someone for the first time, saying goodbye, etc. you can usually get along with just "Domo."

We're very happy with the success of the "Groomy" plush pets we posted on Friday. They are very soft, well-made beanbag toys that feature soft chamois bottoms, for wiping your computer monitor when it gets dirty. They've proved so popular, we've sold out of several of them already. Rest assured that more are on the way -- you can order them from the J-List site and we'll hold the Groomy plush toys until they come in again.

For the new update, we've got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:

• First, we've been pleased with the response to our Japanese traditional footwear, and we've got more for you -- really cool wooden geta sandals that are super for summer
  
• For fans of Lupin III, now on TV in the U.S., we've got some cool "handcuff phone straps" that are real handcuffs, with a leather strap -- use them as a camera strap, phone strap or a keychain
  
• For fans of our Japanese snacks, we've got delicious items for you, including soy sauce and butter flavored popcorn (yum!), tasty Hayashi Rice, and a unique treat that goes well with beer
  
• Freshly restocked snacks include soybean pretz (Edamame), miso soup, Fujiya's delicious Milky Chocolate, and more
  
• From the "really fun" department, we've got a cute "Soft Cream Shop" where you or your little one can have fun making soft cream (that is, soft-serve ice cream) in little cones. Everything you need is included!
  
• Enjoy the cute cosplay of Moe Kirimura in a cute photobook that's filled with great costume photographs
  
• J-List carries Japanese films on DVD, complete with English subtitles -- enjoy Another Heaven, a fascinating story about grizzly murders in Tokyo, starring many famous faces
  
• For fans of collectible items from Japan, we've added various sets of the popular "Dinosaur Retro bottlecap collection," which are really cool to display
  
• For Macross lovers, we've gotten stock of the brand-new YF-21, a great toy that actually transforms -- really cool
  
• For those trying to combat airborne germs in style, we've got stock of the rumored Hello Kitty masks -- they're so cute!
  
• Also for Kitty lovers, we've also added stock of the cute Kitty fishing game, the Kitty message magnets, and an incredibly cute Usako Friends character eraser set that will really wow you
  
• Look for new onsen powder, so you can experience a Japanese hot springs bath at home (note: if these sell out we'll add more soon)
  
• Nintendo fans, we've posted fresh stock of the Zelda Box, containing a limited edition art book, full game soundtrack and figures, a really cool item for Zelda players -- but stock is limited to what we've got on hand
  
• The cute mouse character of Bou from Spirited Away has attained a cult following, and we've gotten in two different Bou plush toys for you -- they are really incredibly well made, by Sun Arrow
  
• Also for Hayao Miyazaki fans, enjoy fresh stock of the Spirited Away and Kiki's Delivery Service music boxes, which are so nice to collect
  
• We've also added fresh stock of popular Japan Hot Wheels, sold only in the Japanese market, including the Delorean from Back to the Future and Airwolf helicopter
  
• Finally, see maps of Japan, more authentic chopsticks, more Japanese study aids including cool vocabulary notebooks from Japan, funny Japanese signs, a "bag in a bag," and more!
  

For our adult customers, we've got many new 18+ products. They include:

• First, we're happy to announce the opening of preorders for Kango Shicyauzo 2 ~ Is The Sorority House Burning?, the newest game from G-Collections. It will be shipping in about a week or so -- preorder it now for free shipping when it comes in! Also, J-List has the last stock of the great first release, Kango Shicyauzo - I'm Gonna Nurse You, which is out of print with the publisher -- order it before we run out too!
  
• For fans of quality adult magazines from Japan, we've got the new Celeb Girls, filled with fantastic famous Japanese stars and superb erotic photography
  
• Enjoy the sex of "young madams" (that is, sexually experienced girls aged 22-28) in a new amateur magazine we've got for you
  
• Go on a "Shorts Hunt" (an odd way of saying hunting for girls who will give you their panties) in a new magazine + DVD combination that gives you a 120 minute DVD and a full color magazine
  
• For hardcover photobook fans, see many nice items, including the lovely nude of Maria Takagi
  
• Also, the very sexy erotic photos of Sayuri Anzu, with some of the boldest and most amazing photography we've seen yet, followed by the super sexy low-angle photography of Moe Yoshizawa
  
• We've added fresh stock of some great photobooks, too, including Maiko Kazano's erotic "Love Come" and the busty Marina Matsushima's "Fetish" offerings
  
• We've got unique bondage photobooks from Japan, including very erotic works that capture the spirit of Japanese bondage photography
  
• Our "buy 5 or more, get 20% off" hentai manga sale is going strong, and many customers are taking advantage of the chance to save money -- to help you, we've added another great volley of all-new adult manga, including Rough and Ready by Toh Moriyaka, aka Naoki Yamamoto of "Dance Til Tomorrow" and a half-dozen other new books
  
• Also, look for a massive restocking of hentai manga, including the popular Paradise Lost (hentai Evangelion parody) and Blue Eyes books, as well as other popular books
  
• For DVD lovers, we've got a bunch of superb titles for you, starting with Wakana Itsuki's "Masterpiece Concentration" release, 120 minutes of her sweet sex for a great price! (region free)
  
• Then, enjoy super Adult Video Wrestling, as Ai Nagase joins the ranks of Japan's best erotic wrestlers -- it's really an amazing great for professional wrestling fans, and very well done! (region free)
  
• From Deep's, enjoy the beautiful face and sex of Asuka Sawaguchi, who is a super high-class lesbian soap girl who will fulfill all your fantasies (region free)
  
• From Soft on Demand, a great new concept in which couples go into a studio together -- the girl must look at various penises pushed through a cloth and guess which one belongs to her boyfriend (region free)
  
• From Wanz, enjoy the supremely sexy Mirai Hoshizaki, in a new bondage-themed release that's innovative and erotic (region 2)
  
• Then enjoy the fellatio and sex of the sultry Ran Asakawa, delightful bad girl of the Japanese adult video world (region 2)
  
• Finally, look various restocked DVD titles, including Momo Sakura's sexy performance, the Holed Panty Best Selection, and more!
  

J-List carries AG, the excellent manga magazine of "art, sex and CG culture," bringing superb English-translated hentai manga and more to adult readers. We love the format of the excellent magazine, which comes out every 2-3 months, and we offer reserve subscriptions for fans who want to make sure they don't miss an issue. We hope you'll support this great magazine by picking up all the issues. For your ordering convenience, it's stocked in our San Diego warehouse.

Like Star Trek or the Lord of the Rings? Then logic dictates that you see the video of Mr. Spock singing the Ballad of Bilbo Baggins if you haven't yet. I found a link here: http://www.game-revolution.com/download/trickyl/goodies/Video/baggins.mov (not sure if it will stay up when everyone on the list accesses it, but search Google if it stops working). Quicktime required.

Greetings from J-List May 9, 2003

Hello from Japan, where the restaurant chain Coco's bills itself as "The California Restaurant."

There's a famous face game that Japanese kids play, making Japanese foods with their faces. They foods are gyoza (which you may know by its American name "pot stickers"), made by bending the ear downwards; tako-yaki ("octopus balls," a ball of batter with a piece of octopus meat inside), made by pinching your cheek into a round ball; ume-boshi (dried, tart plum), made by making bumps on your chin stand up; and tarako (codfish roe), made by shaping your tongue like a slab of fish eggs. These are interesting faces that all Japanese know and recognize instantly. To see what they look like in action, we got unwilling J-List staff members to show us the faces. You can see them here: http://www.jlist.com/c3/faces.jpg

The Japanese do love tests. In addition to their world-famous college entrance exams, the Japanese have standardized tests for just about everything, with levels that are similar to the belt colors in karate and judo. Just about every subject, from abacus to waapro (word processing) to accounting have national tests that students and adults are encouraged to study for and take. The most famous standardized test in Japan is Eiken, also known as the Step Test, a series of tests that Japanese students take over the course of their lives -- level 3 while in junior high school, level 2 while in high school, and level 1 if they really want to try a challenging test after college. There are standardized tests for Japanese brush writing, penmanship, and even a test for calculating rapidly and accurately with a calculator. All sports have their own various standardized tests, including skiing -- my son, who started skiing this past winter, will be taking his first tests next year. For gaijin like you or me, there's a test for learning Japanese called the Nihongo Noryoku Shiken or the Japanese Ability Test, taken each December at various cities around the world. Level 4 tests basic kana and kanji, levels 3 and 2 are progressively harder, and level 1 is a really difficult test required for all students who want to enter a Japanese university. Japan's test mania may seem odd, but it is a good way to motivate people to study and better themselves.

Summer is fast approaching, and that means it's time for delicious suika bar ice cream, a fun to eat watermelon-shaped stick of ice cream sold in Japan by Lotte. It's a very realistic looking triangle of watermelon-flavored ice cream, with an edible green rine at the bottom, and "seeds" made out of chocolate. My own pet project is to get the company to make "ice tako-yaki" which would be balls of vanilla ice cream covered with chocolate -- they'd contain a piece of gummi "octopus" inside to complete the illusion of eating the real thing. It would be so cool...

We love to find rare things that you can only find in Japan and make them available to people all over the world. For anyone with a computer -- that is, anyone reading this -- we've got a great new series of plush pets sold in Japan, called Groomy. Not only are they really cute, their undersides are made of soft chamois, which you can use to clean your computer monitor when it gets dirty. Innovative and fun to pet and hold, these are a huge hit in Japan, and we're happy to gotten some for you!

For the new update, we've got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:

• First, the zori sandals we posted on Wednesday were a big hit -- and we've got more cool traditional footwear from Japan for you, this time a series of wooden sandals for women, really well made and carved out of a single block of wood -- check them out
  
• We carry many nice Japanese swimsuit idol and Race Queen items at J-List, and have the charming new photobook of Yui Ichikawa for you now
  
• Fans of Blythe and highly collectible dolls of the 1970's, we have a treat -- Dolly Bird, featuring fabulous collectible doll culture from Japan, the U.S. and the U.K.
  
• Enjoy great snacks from Japan, including more Calpis gummi treats, creamy milk butterscotch candies, an odd snack named Collon and traditional Japanese sweets called youkan
  
• Plus, fresh stock of the popular chocolate covered sunflower seeds, shredded ika for you to eat (if you don't know what ika is, don't ask), miso soup and more
  
• We've got some cool Hello Kitty goods for you, for fans of Sanrio goods you can't get out of Japan -- included are a rubber "kigurumi" Kitty mask that you wear on your head, a fun Kitty notepad, Kitty cake mix, and more
  
• For fans of the traditional, enjoy a deluxe set you can eat Japanese soba noodles with, including dish, cup, chopsticks and more
  
• For those with kids, how about a wacky "Kids on board" sign in Japanese? We've got some for you
  
• If you ever loved Micronauts (as I did), we've got a special treat: a Takara SF collection of miniature toys based on the original Micronauts -- so cool, but we've only got a dozen in stock
  
• We've restocked many of the popular "shokugan" (lit. "food and toy") items, miniature toys that come with ramune candy for you to eat -- we've restocked the popular sushi miniatures, Chinese food, and more
  
• Also, we've been able to get one more batch of the really cool *full sets* of the Star Wars Kubrick bounty hunter series, including all the cool bounty hunters from the Empire Strikes Back -- please don't miss out on them!
  
• For Totoro fans, we've restocked the really cool all-wood Totoro alarm clock, truly a god among alarm clocks if we ever saw one
  
• Also, we've got fresh stock of the very cute Nyanko Restaurant series, which are little plush cats baked into food, if you can believe that -- but they're darned cute
  
• We love things with funny English on them, and we've restocked the Japanese notebooks we've got that bear the enigmatic message "Times simply too very important to afford to be forgotten are true substance of our memories..."
  
• Finally, see authentic Japanese resume forms (only J-List would carry something as wacky as this), more "please take off your shoes" signs, chopsticks from Japan, and more!
  

For our adult customers, we've got many new 18+ products. They include:

• For fans of the talented erotic photography of Million Publishing, we've got the new Urecco Gal, which features fabulous erotic Japanese kogal and fun sexy idols
  
• Then enjoy the new MPEG World, featuring Ran Asakawa and many other lovely gals -- and a killer Video CD of sampler movies, as well
  
• J-List sells monthly magazines, including manga, hobby, fashion and adult magazines -- we've added a new "reserve subscription" magazine by customer request, the fantastic Young Hip!
  
• Enjoy the pure nude of Mimi Mizuhara in a beautiful photobook that combines beautiful photography and glossy printing with the sex of Mimi and her lover
  
• Also, Harumi Nemoto is an incredibly sexy swimsuit idol with a 103 cm bust -- trust us, that's a lot. Find her new photobook in stock, as well as fresh stock of her popular release from last month
  
• Our May Manga sale is going strong, and Yasu has been working hard to make sure lots of great manga are stocked for you -- see great new erotic comics today, including fourteen sexual stories of "one night stands" by Wani Comics and a wonderful boxed set of hentai manga by artist Hitoshi Kino
  
• We've also added fresh stock of several popular hentai manga, including dick girl manga, hentai works from Azuki Kurenai, and the bizarre comic "Tag"
  
• Also for yaoi fans, a collection of erotic stories by Kaoruko Mayu, as well as fresh stock of other yaoi works
  
• For doujinshi lovers, several new works have been posted to the site, including some really nice erotic amateur comics released recently in Japan
  
• For DVD collectors, we've got some great items for you -- starting with "super concentrated bukkake" by Ai Nagase, at a superb price, too (region free)
  
• Then enjoy a remix of erotic sex by Ayami Sakurai, the busty pretty girl who has made a name for herself in the Japanese adult video world -- a whopping 180 minutes on this DVD! (region free)
  
• We love the World Wide Fuck series from Idea Pocket, and now there's a new title -- enjoy the sex of girls from Hungary, performing with Japanese actors and filmed with Japanese AV standards and sensibilities (region free)
  
• Enjoy the best "Zenra Sports" (all-nude sports) from Japan with Deep's new Zenra Volleyball, featuring 24 positively beautiful Japanese girls who will spike your heart (region free)
  
• A popular fetish in Japan right now is "Tamakeri" (ball-kicking), the fetish of having a pretty girl kick you in the balls -- see a great new DVD from SOD (region free)
  
• From Moodyz, a great 2-DVD "Actress Collection" featuring the best sex of 20 top AV stars from Japan, a superb item for you to check out (region 2)
  
• Finally, look for fresh stock of popular items, including Akira Watase's erotic Wet Set, Ran Monbu's erotic parody of famous idol singer Ayaya, Hitomi Hayasaka's erotic Other Side, and the Lesbian Heaven 4 Hours Special!
  

J-List carries the extremely popular small toys with snacks in them, known as "shokugan" in Japanese ("food with toy"). From miniature sushi and school desk sets from the Showa era to the excellent Star Wars dioramas, these a very affordable toys that are great to display in your home or office. They're also only sold in Japan, so when you buy some you know you've got something unique. Also, J-List goes the extra distance for you, making full sets of most items available, so you can buy a complete set without wasting your money buying duplicates.

The J-Mate site has been updated with new reviews of great adult DVDs, including a great hardcore DVD by Ruri Ayase and "Innocent Girls Make a Study of Female Genital Organs" -- both with plenty of screenshots. You can always read cool English interviews with AV stars from Japan, too. The URL is http://www.jmate.com/

Greetings from J-List May 7, 2003

Hi again from Japan, where you bow to drivers when they give you the right of way (and I do it to).

Concepts such as what defines cleanliness can vary from country to country. In Japan, shoes are dirty, so they're always taken off before you enter a house, to keep the dirt on the shoes from making the house dirty. They're left in a special recessed area by the front door called a "genkan" (we built one of these into our house in San Diego). Americans might wash shoes in the washing machine when they get really dirty, but doing this would be unthinkable here -- it would contaminate all your clothes, and you'd have to buy a new washing machine. Americans tend to dislike the Japanese-style toilets they have here, which you must squat over to use, but the Japanese point out that with a seatless toilet, you avoid getting other people's germs on any delicate areas, which is more sanitary. Despite this, the Japanese seem to be fans of the concept of a "communal cup" -- there's usually a plastic cup in public restrooms, presumably for everyone to use to get a drink of water, something which doesn't seem very sanitary to me, at least.

Now that it's gotten warmer, the boso-zoku can be heard riding noisily around at night more and more. An odd bit of counter-culture in Japan, the boso-zoku (lit. "tribe of those who run wildly") are street gangs that dress in very right-wing clothes and ride on motorcycles modified to be extra loud. The motorcycle gangs from Katsuhiro Otomo film Akira are based on the boso-zoku, but the real bike gangs aren't nearly as interesting as in the movie: they're mostly bored kids who dropped out of high school because they fell in with the wrong crowd and thought it was cool to make a lot of noise on a bike. You could call them "yakuza scouts" because Japan's famous mafia usually use boso-zoku members to transport and sell drugs for them. While it's probably dangerous to get on the wrong side of these loud kids, they're usually nothing more than an annoyance, especially when you're driving somewhere and get caught in a traffic jam caused by a group riding slowly through the town, ignoring stoplights and honking their horns.

You may be familiar with the Japanese word "otaku." A formal word which really means "you" or "your family," it's come to describe people who go all-out in pursuit of their hobbies. The most famous otaku are the anime otaku, aficionados of Japanese animation, but there are many other kinds of otaku, from military otaku to perfume otaku to train otaku, and so on. There seems to be something about the Japanese psyche that opens them up becomming obsessive when it comes to their hobbies. Unfortunately, while foreigners are often happy to use the word otaku to describe themselves as a lover of Japan, I really have to advise against referring to yourself as an otaku front of Japanese people. In Japan, the concept of people getting carried away collecting doujinshi, Zippo lighters, and Disney plush toys is cute, but the idea of being an otaku is really not a positive one to the Japanese mind -- just as you might not know what to think about a person who boasted about what a "Trekkie" he was. If you're an otaku, my advice is to hide your otakuism from Japanese people until they know you better, and not show it right away.

We're always happy to see our wacky Japanese T-shirts selling well, and we thank you for your support. In order to make room for new designs, we're always closing out some of our current shirts. Shirts that we won't be making any more of include Hiragana Man (a famous Japanese doodle), Men Over Women, and Your Mother has a Protuding Belly Button. If you'd like to get one of these shirts before they're gone, we suggest you hurry while we have your size in stock. Invariably, we always get requests for shirts when they're sold out, so please plan ahead.

Mac users, we've got a treat for you. The cute shooting game that comes with the Viper Limited Edition CD-ROM is now Mac compatible, too, in both OS 9 and X, so you can get in on this great item, too. Viper LE is a compilation of uncensored artwork, wallpaper, screen savers and other goodies for fans of Sogna's Hyper Animation Viper series, a popular animated hentai game line from Japan.

For the new update, we've got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:

• First, we're happy to announce a new category of product at J-List -- traditional Japanese shoes, including Japanese "zori" sandals that are made from the same material tatami mats are made of
  
• Show your love for your family with a cute heart-shaped pancake maker -- they'll know you love them
  
• For fans of Japanese snacks, enjoy tasty Calpis orange gummi treats, Beyblade rice snacks, dried shiitake mushrooms, fresh stock of Sakura Drops (the "Grave of the Fireflies" candy), miso soup, and more
  
• Also, a treat I hope everyone will try: salmon ochazuke, which you pour on white rice and then pour boiling water over it all to make a hearty meal
  
• Ear cleaners in Japan are a little difference from what you may be used to -- we've got in stock of traditional ear cleaners made from bamboo which you use to remove ear wax just like the Japanese do
  
• For Kitty fans, we've got many cute items, like a Kitty "dental care set," gift bag set, the really cool Kitty Pachinko machine and Astro Ball, and the popular Kitty document shreader
  
• We love anything with outrageous English on it, and we've got a cool series of "fancy aroma sheets" for you that fit the bill
  
• Also, we've got a cool new Japanese sign for you -- don't let your dog poop here
  
• Cute stationary and erasers are something we sell a lot of here, and we've got some cool items: Japanese PET bottle erases that parody famous drinks, sushi erasers, and more
  
• Sakura Taisen (Sakura Wars) is a great anime about an alternate 19th century Japan, with steam-powered mecha walking around -- we've got a great figure + ramune candy set in stock, with full sets of these cool figures available for a limited time
  
• A favorite dessert in Japan is an upside-down caramel pudding called "purin" (aka caramel flan), and now you can put together an attractive 3D puzzle and display it in your room -- very Japanese
  
• For Evangelion fans, a fabulous new large-size Eva toy from Kaiyodo
  
• Also, if you love Totoro and the movies of Hayao Miyazaki, we've got a major restocking of high-quality Sun Arrow plushes for you, including the Fox Squirrel from Laputa/Nausica and Soot Sprite, Laputa music boxes, and more
  
• We love to stock unique gift ideas, and have a new page with suggestions for gift-giving -- one item we think would make a nice gift for someone is the Cup Noodle coffee cup, that looks like a real cup of ramen
  
• Finally, look for a cute way to drink loose tea including the Japanese teas we sell, a great way for women to avoid sweat stains on their clothes, cute magnets of fruits an vegetables, and more!
  

For our adult customers, we've got many new 18+ products. They include:

• For fans of lovely Japanese magazines from Japan, we've got the bold new issue of Gokuh, featuring the lovely nudes of Mai Hagiwara, Hikari Kisugi
  
• We've also got a treat for Race Queen fans -- a super photobook and 120 min. DVD for Race Queen fans, but the lovely idols in this photobook show you everything
  
• Back in print after many years, we've got the dynamite nude photobook of Vivian Hsu, Angel, a super item for collectors
  
• Enjoy the busty swimsuit loveliness of Yoko Matsugane in a new Million Mook that is not to be missed
  
• For photobook fans, enjoy the erotic nude of Miku Matsumoto, expertly photographed for you in her new hardcover photobook, as well as other great items
  
• To help you help us make our May Manga Sale a success, we've added another half dozen all-new hentai mangas for you to check out, including a new "Excellent" series anthology and an erotic tale of lust from AV Comics
  
• Also, look for a general restocking of several popular comics, posted near the top of the page if you're viewing the "three days update" link
  
• We've got some new doujinshi in stock for you, for fans of the popular underground comics -- stock is limited to one of each though, so hurry
  
• Also, another great "doujin" photobook featuring famous erotic girls on a rare CD-ROM
  
• For DVD collectors, we've got the third and final volume in the U&K Les Best Collection series, a must-own item for lesbian aficionados (region free)
  
• From Dogma and Tohjiro, enjoy a new "Trance" series DVD featuring the erotic "restraining chair" -- great for bondage fans (region free)
  
• Female teacher Reiko Mizuno becomes the erotic pet of Mai Tamura in a new fetish DVD release from Soft on Demand (region free)
  
• Japanese fans want to learn everything they can about their favorite idols -- see your favorite AV stars behind the scenes, talking and eating bento in between AV shoots, in an interesting new DVD (region free)
  
• Then, enjoy another great "Wild Replay" value-priced re-release, Yukari Kanou's super erotic Black Semen in LA, in which she takes on a huge number of large black men (region 2)
  
• Then, enjoy the light bondage sex of Chika Kawamura, the busty indies idol, in a new release from Wanz Factory (region 2)
  
• Finally, fresh stock of many popular DVDs, including the Magic Mirror Box Car special box set, the First Kisses of Nude Amateur Girls, the popular lesbian "My First Experience" and the ever-popular 108 Girls All-Nude Zenra Sports -- check them all out!
  

Remember that J-List carries that great symbol of Japanese wacky pop culture, the Hello Kitty Vibrating Shoulder Massager, which is of course intended as massager for your neck and shoulders, although some would call it a Hello Kitty vibrator. A licensed Sanrio item sold only in Japan, the unit features high and low massage modes, and a beautiful image of Kitty and her rabbit friend. It looks just great, in or out of case -- display it as the objet d'art that it is. Why not get a few, and give them out as gifts? If you get 3 or more you get 15% off automatically. Production has totally stopped on this item, and we expect that they're going to start to get very rare in the near future.

Interested in JPOP and Japanese music? Please visit our friends at JPOP.com (http://www.jpop.com), a great site that's filled with information on Japanese pop music, cute swimsuit idols, and Japanese pop culture in general. They also have a great BBS for chatting about what's popular in Japan right now.

Greetings from J-List May 3, 2003

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Greetings from J-List May 1, 2003

Hello from Japan, where the turn signal on a car is called a "winker."

First of all, the J-List site was down for an hour or so in the morning, due to a MySQL process that had gone to sleep, which meant you could surf the pages but not search or add items to your cart. Sorry for the inconvenience if you were trying to view the site during that time. As always, you can use the secure email form in the upper left hand corner of the site to send a secure email to us, so you can send order information that way if you need to for some reason (problems with the site, etc.).

Japan is a very different place from the U.S. in many ways. For one thing, it's still largely a cash-based society -- cash is used for everything, and there is no concept of a personal or business check for payment of funds. When we need to pay a supplier, it's done with a direct cash deposit (called "furikomi") rather than with any kind of paper, which is a little inconvenience since we have to physically go to the bank to pay, and we're charged a fee of around $6 by the bank. Although we recently switched to a direct-bank deposit system, for years the J-List staff was paid each month with a big envelope full of cash, still the norm in Japan. Credit card use among Japanese consumers is on the rise, especially ones that allow payments to be broken up over several months, but by and large, Japanese are in love with cash.

Part of the reason why Japan can look so strange to outsiders is its tendency for them to do things as a group, something that's rarely done in America, a country that places importance on individuality rather than everyone working in harmony. One example of Japan's moving as a group is "koromo-gae" (koh-roh-moGA-eh, lit. "changing clothes), when you put away your winter clothes and bring out the summer clothes you've got in storage. For Japanese school students, koromo-gae means the day you change from your winter uniform to the cooler summer uniform, or vice-versa in the autumn. For virtually every student in the country, the changeover takes place on June 1 and November 1 -- on those days and only those days, regardless of the actual weather or what part of Japan you live in. The prospect of millions of students changing from warm-weather to cooler-weather clothing on the exact same morning of the same day is vaguely unsettling to Westerners. Because Americans don't have a set day to switch from summer mode to winter mode, we tend to wear short-sleeve shirts fairly deep into autumn, and it's common for Japanese to ask "Aren't you cold?" to us even though it might still be a balmy October day outside.

When I came to Japan, one thing I was surprised to see were the cotton masks, which Japanese often wear when they feel a cold coming on -- they keep their germs from infecting others, and also protect themselves at the same time. I'd never seen anything like the masks before I came to Japan, and bought some to take home with me as interesting gifts. With SARS fears in many parts of the world right now, these masks are not uncommon at all, and you see them on TV reports from Hong Kong and other countries. If you're interested in these masks but don't know where to buy them, never fear -- J-List has a variety in stock for you today. And since Japanese are so into style, we've got some very colorful and stylish ones, too!

Announcing the May Manga sale! We love Japan's extremely talented artists and love to carry a variety of great hentai and other mangas direct from Japan. As a way of saying thanks for your support of J-List, we're offering a "buy 5 or more mangas, get 20% off" sale, and all the Japanese manga we carry are included. It's a great chance to really pick up some fantastic books for yourself from Japan's top artists and manga publishers. We're not sure how fast some of our more popular books will start to sell out, so we recommend you look at them soon.

For the new update, we've got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:

• First, by popular demand, J-List now sells great "snack packs" (which we're naming "spacks") containing excellent sampler packs of famous Japanese snacks. These snack packs are a great way to try a variety of delicious Japanese snack foods, and they make great gifts as well!
  
• Master illustrator and manga-ka Shirow Masamune has outdone himself in his fantastic new Intron Depot book we've got for you, capturing all his great works from 1992-2002. This brand new art book is hot off the presses (it's still warm) and is such a beautiful collection of artwork we just can't believe it. And this book is fully bilingual, with all notes by the artist in English and Japanese!
  
• For fans of the undying Final Fantasy games, a treat: the Final Fantasy Heroines figure series from Bandai, and we've got full sets in stock so you don't have to waste your time buying duplicate figures!
  
• Also, we've gotten in stock of the very cool MyClone figures, super deformed parodies of the Micronauts (known as Micro Man in Japan)
  
• We've restocked the very cool Star Wars Kubrick figures from Medicom Toy -- don't miss out on these, though, as we won't be able to get any more
  
• Also on the very cool list, we've restocked the hugely popular miniature sushi toys, extremely realistic plastic such that come with plates, cups of tea and tiny little chopsticks
  
• For Totoro fans, we've added new varieties of the very cool Totoro picture frames with music boxes built into them -- a really special way to display photos of your loved ones!
  
• And one more Totoro item, the super deluxe Totoro cuckoo clock -- you have to see this thing to believe how great it is!
  
• Hello Kitty fans know that J-List loves to stock wacky and fun items that you can't outside of Japan -- now we've added a cute plush tissue box cover featuring lovely plush figures of Kitty and her cute rabbit friend
  
• Also, some cute Kitty ballpoint pens for your desk, more Kitty hotcake mix, and more
  
• In this era of fear of airborne germs, the high-quality masks used by the Japanese are just the ticket for staying healthy -- we've got several varieties in stock for you
  
• We've got a cool traditional Japanese items, including a "geta" wooden shoe that is a money bank for you to save your coins and decorate your room in Japanese style and a great miso soup bowl that's even microwavable
  
• Fans of Japanese tonkatsu sauce, the delicious food flavoring that the Japanese call "sauce," is back, in larger containers for you now
  
• Fans of other fun snack and food products can enjoy "red miso" soup mix, green apple candy, and fresh stock of authentic Japanese and Chinese teas for you
  
• We've got some handy kitchen items, including a non-stick rice scoop, a cute bento box with Japan's #1 anime character, and new Japanese chopsticks that are easy to hold and eat with
  
• For students of Japanese, we've restocked the popular Wordtank IDF-4100 and IDF-2100, both highly recommended for anyone trying to learn the language
  
• Finally, learn the Japanese prefectures with a fun map puzzle we've got in stock for you, pass your test with Japanese headbands, and amaze your friends with the Bonny Boy "peeing" drink dispenser based on the Japanese Dakara commercials!
  

For our adult customers, we've got many new 18+ products. They include:

• For fans of Japan's high-quality adult magazines, enjoy the new issue of Bejean, which we've got in stock for you -- features all the top stars in Japan, including the ultra-sexy Yuko Ogura
  
• We love Japan's beautiful, glossy photobooks, and have some nice ones in stock for you, including Kirari Koizumi's fresh nude and the charming and sexy photobook of Manami Fuku
  
• Also, for leg and stocking fetishists, we've got a new Leg Idol photobook featuring incredibly lovely "low angle" photography
  
• Also, check out some excellent amateur nudes in a new photobook that shows you "fuck mania"
  
• We've restocked several hardcover photobooks for you, including Kaoru Private Garden (the most popular Aida Garo photobook ever), the delightful European Fairy Tale, and Sora Aoi's wonderful nude photobook "Blue"
  
• If you love Shirow's incredibly detailed artwork, don't hesitate to pick up his new Intron Depot art book, described above
  
• For hentai manga fans we have some excellent new items for you, including the erotic and stylized "Noble Illusionist" from Angel Comics, an interesting bondage-themed comic from Mujin Comics and stories about cosplay love and sex by Young Comics
  
• We've also got a great Japanese parody fan that shows the 48 classic sexual positions -- a wacky and fun item
  
• For DVD enthusiasts, we've got some great new releases, starting with a Large Breast 4 Hours Special from Yellow Box, a great selection of busty sex with 9 AV idols (region free)
  
• Then, we've got a new series from Idea Pocket, World Wide Fuck, featuring sex with lovely girls from Hungary (region free)
  
• From Soft on Demand, a great "Actress Directory of Special Choice" which gives you 4 hours of superb sex, with 30 lovely AV idol -- enjoy this great sample of excellent works from SOD! (region free)
  
• For stocking fans, a "Beautiful Leg Fetish" DVD from SOD's IEnergy label, very lovely to see (region free)
  
• U&K is famous for offering some of the best lesbian sex of any company in Japan -- now you can enjoy a great compilation DVD featuring 2 full hours of the best performances (region free)
  
• Then, for fans of the sly and sexy Mirai Hoshizaki, a great treat from Wanz Factory: 3 hours of her super best, featuring loads of bukkake, pussy-angle, car and outdoor sex, and more (region 2)
  
• Finally, look for fresh stock of many titles, including Hitomi Hasegawa's super-detailed "Digital Mosaic," Ami Hinata's erotic "Semen Club" and the excellent lesbian "Stairway to Heaven and Highway to Hell."
  

J-List carries every English-language bishoujo game made, so you can always find a great selection whatever your tastes are. We also are the only company to carry all the classic love-sim games by Himeya Soft (aka C's Ware). Since many of these titles have been in print for years, some of them are unfortunately going out of print soon. If you're interested in any of the great games by Himeya, we hope you'll get them before they're gone.

Remember that J-List carries three different region free DVD players, a great way to enjoy DVDs from around the world, including the region 2 discs that J-List carries. All three of the player we currently carry come with great features like international power supplies, the ability to view PAL discs from Europe, compatibility with DVD-R/RW, CD-R/RW, MP3 playback, and more. The players all come with manufacturers warranties, and the prices are great. We ship daily from our San Diego warehouse, so order one today and you can get it in a few days!

Greetings from J-List April 28, 2003

Hello from Japan, the home to the famous "cream powder" for your coffee called Creap.

When learning Japanese, it's always fun to learn the "gitaigo," a group of words similar to onomatopoeia in English, very descriptive words that describe the state of objects or actions. Because they consist of repetitions of words, they are very cute and fun to use. If you're really hungry, the Japanese would say that you're "peko peko," a word which describes the way you feel when your stomach is very empty. Alternately, "kara kara" describes your throat when you're thirsty. If you get soaking wet in the rain, you're "bisho bisho," and if you get indigestion, your stomach is "muka muka." If your skin is especially smooth and clean, someone might say it's "sube sube" (a word which comes from suberu "to glide"). And if you're a little on the plump side, you might be described as "puyo puyo," a word which sounds cute to the Japanese. Some other fun repeating words are "zaa zaa" (the sound of rain falling loudly, to denote the concept of "pouring with rain"), "paku paku" (the sound of someone eating quickly -- this is where Pac Man got his name from), and "shiiin" (the sound of no sound -- i.e., of perfect silence). Some other repeating words are "bishi bishi" (doing things quickly and efficiently, without delay), "dara dara" (doing things slowly, being lazy), "pika pika" (being sparking brand-new), "boro boro" (being old and dilapidated), "pera pera" (being fluent in a language) and "giri giri" (a word that means "barely" or "just in time," as in, "we made onto the train in the nick of time"). There is an endless supply of these highly descriptive words, and they're quite fun to use.

The Japanese are proud of having four distinctive seasons in Japan, and some seem to think that America isn't blessed in the same way just because it doesn't get really cold in Los Angeles in the winter. I enjoy all the seasons in Japan, but it seems to me that Spring and Fall, my two favorites, could be just a tad longer. We're just a few weeks into Spring, and already we've had several hot and humid days, giving us a taste of the unpleasantness to come this year. When it gets hot in Japan, virtually all Japanese drink cold, refreshing mugi cha, or barley tea, a delicious cold tea that's made from barley and has no caffeine. Like all the Asian teas that the Japanese drink (green tea, oolong tea, jasmine tea and many more), it's always drank as-is, without milk or sweetener. As part of our mission to bring you a little bit of Japan every day, we've got deluxe packages of these mugi cha tea bags that you can make easily -- just add one tea bag per liter of water and refrigerate for a few hours.

We're extremely proud to announce that X-Change 2, the long-awaited sequel to Peach Princess's very popular X-Change, has gone Golden Master and should be shipping out to preorder customers soon. This is a fabulous game of sex change comedy in which you play Takuya Aihara, an average Japanese boy, who gets changed into a girl through a bizarre chemistry experiment gone wrong. The game, which combines the depth of story and character of Tokimeki Check in! with the hilarious Ranma-like story, is one of the best we've ever seen, and has 23 unique game endings. We hope that everyone preorders it for free shipping when it's ready to go out.

You may have noticed that we've added links asking you to "vote for this T-shirt" to some of our wacky Japanese T-shirts. We wouldn't mind if you'd help us out and click the voting link if you have time. Oh, and don't forget -- the $1 shipping sale on all our world-famous Japanese T-shirts is coming to a close soon. Our shirts also make great gifts, so why not get several and save?

For the new update, we've got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:

• First, for Shirow Masamune fans, we've got the very rare Ghost in the Shell continuity script, showing all storyboards for the classic anime film -- but stock is limited
  
• Also, we've got volume 5 of the incredibly popular Ghost in the Shell TV series, a great item for Shirow fans who want this cutting-edge series on DVD (region 2), and fresh stock of the Ghost in the Shell bilingual manga
  
• A special item for Totoro fans, Sun Arrow has released a great new series of ceramic picture frames with music boxes inside them -- display your favorite family photographs in these incredibly rare and lovely collectors frames!
  
• Also, we've got a really high-quality Totoro money purse (for coins or paper money) that is really just too cute, as well as a general restocking of several popular Miyazaki music boxes and tin toys
  
• If you love Dragonball, there's a great all-new trading card series featuring the best Dragonball Z art and characters, released for the Japanese market
  
• For fans of Japanese snacks, enjoy many new treats from J-List, including tropical sour flavored Shige-Kix, an incredibly sour "hard gummi" that's really fun to eat, as well as famous Japanese "throat candy" and boil in bag curry
  
• Also, for those wanting to use miso in their cooking, including making delicious miso soup, we've got some great "white miso" (Tokyo style miso) for you to try
  
• For collectors of Ultraman and/or Japan Hot Wheels toys, we've got the really cool Machine Sherlock "Guts" car from Ultraman Tiga, a great item for you
  
• If you love authentic bento boxes from Japan, we've got some Shinkansen ones in stock for you, featuring one of the cutest characters for boys from Sanrio
  
• A fun parody item, we've got funny toilet paper with images printed on it that supposed to "encourage successful excrementing"
  
• For fans of Disney's Monsters, Inc there's a cool only-sold-in-Japan keychain figure series that's really well designed -- collect all the characters
  
• Also very cool, a Final Fantasy VIII "super real figure" of the lovely Riona
  
• And for Hello Kitty fans, a large robotic Kitty that plays a little Ukulele when you turn her on - great for collectors
  
• Also, look for other restocked Kitty items, including Kitty chopsticks, Kitty and Felix the Cat gum, and a cool Kitty business card holder
  
• If you love Japanese things, we've got a really unique air freshener for you -- it looks like a beautiful Japanese lantern
  
• We love to promote studying Japanese, and carry many helpful study items (mainly things I would have wanted back at college) -- see vocabulary word books, Japanese proverb dictionaries, and more
  
• Finally, find a fun Japanese pencil sharpener that's very different from those sold outside of Japan, a handy all-purpose canvas bag and wallet set, more funny Japanese signs and stickers, a very Japanese way to clean your ears, and more!
  

For our adult customers, we've got many new 18+ products. They include:

• For lovers of hardcore amateur magazines, we've got the double-thick Namadashi Acme Bijin, featuring all nakadashi-themed photographs
  
• Also, for fans of short girls, a big fetish in Japan, we've got the new issue of Micro Girls, featuring girls who are under 150 cm (4'10")
  
• We've also got the new issue of Young Hip, a great magazine that combines super hentai manga with lovely nude and sexy idol photography
  
• For photobook lovers, we've got the lovely last photobook of Noriko Hamada, an angelic nude model from Japan
  
• Japan's leg and stocking fetish photography is second to none, and we've restocked several popular leg fetish books for you today
  
• If you collect hentai manga, we've got some great items for you, starting with a great release by the busty illustrator Wataru Watanabe, a new "Excellent" series anthology manga, and the super-erotic "The Box of the Desire" by Mujin Comics
  
• Also, Yasu has updated the hentai manga pages, restocking many items, including the popular "What?" erotic manga by Fujimi Comics, the popular Pururun Princess, and Seduction ~ Yuwaku
  
• For yaoi fans, see several restocked b-Boy Zips anthology mangas, which give you 240+ pages of yaoi action in each book
  
• Also, fans know about doujinshi, the amateur comics that are incredibly popular in Japan -- we've got stock of two "doujin photobooks" featuring lovely photos of models in various costumes, released at the most recent Comic Market
  
• J-List carries many unique adult toys and other items for couples, that are sold only in Japan -- we've stocked a new variety of very-thin Japanese condoms that come in a box that looks like a pack of cigarettes, and has wacky English all over it
  
• For DVD collectors, we've got some excellent new offerings for you, starting with the incredibly lovely 4 hour sex special of Mai Haruna -- see her "keep on flesh pleasure for four hours" (region free)
  
• Hitomi Hasegawa is an elegant and erotic AV star from Japan, and you can enjoy 150 minutes of her great erotic work in a new release from Million (region free)
  
• Nanami Nanase is a red-hot AV star, and you can see her best works in Nanamix vol. 2, by Soft on Demand, a great sampler of her best performances (region free)
  
• Then, enjoy the lovely Megu Anrai and Miyoshino star in a new Waku Waku Chikan Land release from Deep's, portraying three dedicated police women who allow themselves to be groped on crowded trains so they can catch the perverts and bring them to justice (region free)
  
• Akira Watase is a sizzling lady with an incredibly sexual body -- see her super new "Bad Girl" release from Wanz Factory (region 2)
  
• From Moodyz, a chance to see the lovely Bunko Kanazawa like you've never seen her before, in a super release filmed from the viewpoint of her lovely lower half
  
• Finally, look for various restocked or overstocked DVDs on the site -- and of course, don't forget that you can get 15% off any 4 or more DVDs we sell (discount applied automatically at checkout).
  

Remember that J-List has a great offer -- get 20% off any four or more Japanese dating-sim games, also known as love-sim and hentai games. We pride ourselves on having the best selection on the planet, and we carry the games of every English love-sim game company in existence, with all items kept in stock so you can get your order right away. See the great items we've got for you!

Want to see many interesting sides of Japan? Drop by one of our favorite sites, Tokyo DV (http://www.tokyodv.com) and take in all that they have to see, including video of the insides of love hotels, highlights of the Tokyo robot show and a great interview series with hentai manga pioneer Toshi Maeda.

Oh, and a correction -- the suffix used for athletes is actually "senshu" -- I got it wrong. Sorry about that!

Greetings from J-List April 25, 2003

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Greetings from J-List April 23, 2003

Hello from Japan, the home of embarrassing car names like Mazda Bongo Friendee and Toyota ED.

It's said in Japan that the U.S. is a "horizontal society" and Japan is a "vertical society," supposedly due to the fact that life in the U.S. is merit-based (people get ahead in life through hard work) whereas progression up the social ladder in Japan is supposedly based on age and seniority. It's certainly true that relationships here are very up-down, with a clear idea that the older you are (or the longer you've been in a certain organization), the more "erai" (high-level) you are. This concept is all around you when you're in Japan, you can't get away from it -- it's even built into the language. When a younger person speaks to an older person, even if he's just one year older, he must use "keigo," or polite Japanese, which effectively organizes everyone in the room according to level in a way that is impossible to express in English. To not use the "right" language for your level (say, speaking informally to your boss) is disconcerting to others, especially in business or school settings, and makes you sound cheeky. The whole system of vertical relationships may sound odd, but it actually makes interaction work more smoothly, because everyone knows what to expect from everyone else -- it's almost like TCP/IP for humans.

One interesting concept in Japan is that of senpai and kouhai, which could be translated into English as senior or junior or upperclassman/underclassman. Basically, higher-level individuals (either because of age or seniority in that group) in a school or organization are senpai, and those who entered the school or organization after are kouhai. Senpai have various responsibilities to their kouhai, to teach and guide them, and pick up the tab in restaurants -- in return, the kouhai shows respect to the senpai and elevates his status. Senpai/kouhai works for gaijin, too: when I got to Japan, my foreign friends showed me the ropes, making it easier for me to get used living here. Later, I returned the favor when I met other gaijin who had newly arrived in Japan. One reason we like to promote the Japanese love-sim games that we sell is that they allow you to enter a very unique Japanese story complete with concepts like senpai/kouhai, Japanese name suffixes (-san, -chan), and more, all accurately translated into English with no changing of cultural elements or writing down of the story for English-speaking fans. One game that's especially full of these themes is the upcoming X-Change 2 (which ships very soon).

One thing I can say about Japan: I really love the food here. It would be quite difficult to live here for eleven years if I didn't. Just as Japan has taken elements from various other countries as it modernized itself over the past century, the Japanese palette has been influenced by many parts of the world. Some of the most common Japanese dishes, such as ramen and one of my favorite foods of all time, gyoza ("pot stickers"), are really from China. If the Japanese have a single staple food, it has to be "curry rice," a mild, thick curry based on British versions of Indian curries. Spaghetti from Italy is eaten regularly, of course, and yakiniku (Korean Barbecue) is another popular food. The Japanese also imported many dishes from Europe (since the Japanese secretly wish they were a part of that continent, that's why Europe and Japan have the same DVD region code), including doria, gratin, and hamburg steak (which we'd call Salisbury steak in the U.S.). Other foods, such as udon, sushi and sashimi, are completely "made in Japan."

For the new update, we've got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:

• First, we've got a very cool item for Star Wars fans -- the superb Star Wars Kubrick toys that just released by Medicom Toy. We've got the first series, the Bounty Hunters, all of which are extremely detailed and very, very cool. Full and partial sets available!
  
• For customers interested in a great region-free DVD player that won't take up a lot of room, we've added the Lasonic DVB-8092 to our site, a great player that will fill all your DVD viewing needs
  
• Also, we've restocked the popular and full-featured Cyberhome DVD CH-500 that has proved to be a very popular and reliable unit
  
• For fans of Totoro and Studio Ghibli toys, we've got some super cute Mei "kigirumi" plush toys by Sun Arrow, as well as fresh stock of several large and small plush items
  
• For fans of Japanese snacks, we've got some nice items for you, including cute PostPet strawberry snacks, tasty dried ika on a stick (don't ask what ika is if you don't already know), and delicious fresh miso soup with wakame (seaweed) in it
  
• Also, new flavors of healthy Japanese teas that lower blood pressure and are good for dieting
  
• For fans of parody goods, another fun toilet paper item, with fun pictures in which you must find the differences
  
• We love cute things from Japan, and have some cute erasers for you which let you play cake shop or hamburger stand -- so cool and unique
  
• We love to find cute Hello Kitty and other Sanrio products that you can't find outside of Japan -- we've got some cute Kitty prism stickers and really nice printed paper bags that are so cute to look at
  
• For customers who want to eat with traditional Japanese bowls, we've got another large bowl and tray set in stock for you
  
• For Japan Hot Wheels fans, we've got a great vehicle from Thunderbirds -- very cool
  
• Also fun, we've got a set of Pepsi Choro-Q toys that are fun to play with and collect
  
• Look for fresh stock of notebooks with funny English on them, a J-List best-seller
  
• For fans of Japanese bullet trains, we've restocked the very popular full sets of Star Train, featuring six excellent replicas of famous trains from Japan
  
• Finally, look for more wacky Japanese signs for your personal space, ukiyoe chopsticks, cute Hello Kitty bottles to hold any liquid, fresh stock of cute "Pop Animal" items for your kitchen, sushi makers, and more!
  

For our adult customers, we've got many new 18+ products. They include:

• For fans of Japanese adult magazines, we've got some nice ones in stock for you, starting with the new issues of Video Boy and Best Video, two great general adult video magazines that let you see all the popular actresses in Japan at once
  
• Then for fans of amateurs in love hotels, we've got the very nice SP Evolution, featuring lovely authentic Japanese girls with their boy friends in private places
  
• Also, up and coming AV stars perform real hardcore for the camera in a new magazine, Project H -- very nice
  
• Enjoy the excellent hardcover photobooks we've got for you, including the pure and lovely photographs of Sayaka Numajiri, age 18
  
• Also, we've got the sweet first nude of cutie Arimi Mizusaki, a "nude idol who sells dreams of Spring" according to the cover
  
• Harumi Nemoto is one of the top swimsuit idols (also known as "gravure idols," from the French word for "engraving"), and she really shines in her latest sexy hardcover photobook
  
• For manga fans, we've got more great hardcore hentai comics, including a great parody on Sailor Moon and sentai shows (Saint Sex) and a man for those who are curious about how women are curious about sex in Japan (My Sweet Plum) -- freshly restocked manga, too
  
• Also, a rare treat: a small book of very erotic "shunga" (spring-drawing) showing sex from the Edo Period in Japan, a great example of the very first hentai manga of Japan
  
• For fans of amateur comic art, we've got some great hentai doujinshi in stock for you, including some cool and rare Dragonball items
  
• We've got a great new brand of cute Japanese condoms, for all who are interested in the thinner, closer-fitting Japanese condoms -- and the box is really cute
  
• Also, we've gotten a new version of the vibrating "Rabbit Rotor" that's one of the most popular adult toy products we sell
  
• For DVD collectors, we've got more top-quality Japanese adult DVDs for you, starting with a super bukkake offering from the super cute Monbu Ran by Million (region free)
  
• Then enjoy a whopping 4 hours of lesbian sex with a new DVD from Yellow Box (region free)
  
• For fans of "penis study" fetish, we've got a new DVD in which naive and innocent girls study the male phallus for the first time -- it's great to watch their shy reactions (region free)
  
• See the first anal sex of Kokoro Amano in a new work from Soft on Demand -- great for fans of anal themes (region free)
  
• From the bold Indies maker Waap Entertainment, a sexual desire novel on DVD media about two women who discover a bizarre penis one day, and how it changes them (region 2)
  
• Then, enjoy a very satisfying large breast bukkake DVD, with the beautiful breasts of 10 stars and lots of bukkake action (region 2)
  
• Finally, look for fresh stock of various other items including the extremely popular Testicles Kick of Amateur Girls and more!
  

Remember that at J-List, we carry the whole line of unique Japanese chewing gum from companies like Lotte and Glico. Some of our most popular items are Lotte's "Black Black" (Japan's unique black gum, it will keep you awake!), delicious Sweetie (grapefruit) gum, and don't forget honeydew melon flavored gum. Check out all these items on our Japanese snack and gum pages!

Are you a Mac user trying to learn Japanese? We found a pretty cool freeware game that combines reading with Space Invaders. Check it out here (OS 8 or above supported, works in Classic mode in OS X)ÅF
http://www.sla.purdue.edu/fll/JapanProj/KanjiInvader/KanjiInvader.html

Greetings from J-List April 21, 2003

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.