Greetings from J-List 10/15/2004

Hello from the J-List crew, this time in beautiful Guam, a small island three hours from Japan, and a U.S. possession that bills itself as "where America starts her day" (since it's on the other side of the international date line from the rest of the U.S.). So far the J-List staff has had a lot of fun, eating at Hard Rock and riding in submarines and doing plenty of shopping, generally enjoying our time as tourists here. To be honest, the weather's been less than cooperative, with sudden squalls interrupting our company vacation, but we're having fun nevertheless.

Reality TV has been around for a few years in the U.S., but the idea has been a popular facet of Japanese television for some time. The genre was perfected by the popular show Denpa Shonen (lit. "radio wave boy"), which creates weekly serials such as following two commedians as they hitchhike from the bottom of Africa to the top of Scandanavia, or showing the adventures of two other Japanese men determined to pedal a swan boat around the Japanese islands. A Japanese entertainer named Nasubi spent more than a year in a tiny apartment in Tokyo completely in the buff, trying to prove if a man could live only on things he won in contests. Of course it's Japan, so it's assumed that everything shown is "yarase" or scripted TV, a big problem here -- but if the producers didn't arrange for Nasubi to win something this week, he'd starve and die, and ratings would plunge. The most recent reality television in Japan pits thrifty individuals against each other, trying to see who can live for one month on $100 or less. You'd be surprised how cheaply these people can eat, when they set their minds to it.

One popular Japanese show that's above using faked stories is the venerable TV Champion, which features talented contestants competing to make outrageously beautiful works of art, folding extravagant origami creations, crafting beautiful cakes that resemble famous cathedrals around the world, or renovating old houses on ridiculously low budgets. It's always a joy to see what the creators of this show will bring us next. Japanese chefs making amazing works of art out of bread? 1001 creations involving strawberries? Testing archaic knowledge of kanji or Japanese history?

We've got tons of amazing items on the site for you now, from useful things for your kitchen to our amazing 2005 Japanese calendars to delicious snacks, DVDs, manga and more. We have so many amazing items on J-List, it can be hard to take it all in. In order to just view items updated in the last 3 days, you can use our handy "three day link", here: http://www.jbox.com/UPDATES/3

Greetings from J-List 10/13/2004

Hello again from Japan, where one of the most popular flavors of yogurt is aloe (but it's really good, trust me).

Japan can be a very complex place, presenting many conflicting faces at the same time. While it's true that Japan is a peaceful, wealthy nation with lots to offer anyone who lives here, the other side of the coin is that many Japanese can't handle the more oppressive elements of Japan's buttoned-up society, and opt out of their lives. There are around 30,000 suicides a year in Japan, the same number as in the U.S. despite the fact that Japan has half America's population. Tokyoites know when the trains stop due to an "injury accident," it really means that someone decided to end it all by jumping in front of an oncoming train. Those who take their own lives in Japan fall into several broad groups, such as middle-aged salarymen who face the embarrassment of "risutora" (layoffs, from the English word "restructure"), young students who can't endure the social pressures of Japanese school life, and business owners drowning in debt. Most recently, young people are forming "suicide pacts" and doing away with their precious lives in groups, presumably because they're too scared to die alone. Part of the problem is that counseling and use of drugs to help people in distress are all but non-existent in Japan, and when someone has a problem, they don't know where to turn for help.

The most famous Italian in Japan is Gioramo, an Italian man who speaks Japanese fluently and appears on variety shows as a sort of informal ambassador between Japan and Italy. Whenever there's a quiz show about the Roman Empire, Gioramo's on hand to offer his insights, and he also hosts the late-night Italian language show on NHK's educational channel. Japan has a tightly-knit pantheon of entertainers (aka "talents") who appear on TV, and it's interesting to observe how the entertainment world works here. It seems that as long as you're in a category all by yourself, you can be on Japanese TV. There's only room for one cross-dressing enka singer (the venerable Kennichi Mikawa), so no others need apply; American Daniel Kahl holds the monopoly on foreigners who speak Japanese with an accent from Yamagata Prefecture; and if you're looking for a very intelligent Japanese bilingual from Sri Lanka, Wikki-san will fit the bill, but he's the only one. In the 1990s, Ai Iiijima was the #1 adult film star in Japan, equivalent to Mimi Miyagi in the States. Through hard work, she was able to beat the odds and re-cast herself as a mainstream entertainer, and appears regularly on a variety of reputable shows, despite her infamous background. Since she occupies this unique niche on Japanese TV, it's doubtful that any other JAV idols will be able to jump into mainstream television.

We've got a great announcement for fans of Yulia Nova: the next two DVD releases are available for preordering. These fabulous discs feature two hours of dynamite footage of Russia's loveliest angel, who is incredibly popular both in Japan and throughout the Internet. Fully remastered for perfect video quality, both discs feature optional English subtitles and are free of pesky mosaics. There's a lot of good stuff for Yulia fans to look forward to!

For fans of our amazing 2005 Japanese calendars, we've got good news: we got in a whole bunch of calendars yesterday, and have posted all these items on the site, complete with new digital pictures so you can see how good the illustrations are. This year's Japanese calendars are really special, with beautiful illustrations printed on large sheets of glossy coated poster stock. Preorders for calendars we haven't gotten in stock yet will be closed very soon, by the end of the end of October or so. These amazing calendars, which are printedexclusively for the Japanese market, are really something to treasure, and we hope you'll look through our updated calendar pages. It goes without saying that these calendars make excellent Christmas gifts, too, but you should order soon, to make sure your calendar doesn't get away!

We're taking a trip! The entire staff of J-List is packing its suitcases and going to the island of Guam for a weekend of fun in the sun. Located just three hours from Japan, Guam is a kind of miniature version of Hawaii. While we're gone, the part-time staff will continue preparing all orders. We'll obviously be a little slow to reply to email over the weekend, but we'll get everything caught up when we get back. Itte kimasu! (lit. "I'll go and come back later").

October is just about half over, but some people still haven't taken advantage of our $1 shipping sale for all English-translated dating-sim games, which allows you to load up on some of the best recent game releases and pay just $1 for shipping per game (US/Can., international customers get half price on shipping). Also, in time for Halloween we've got some cool "goth" versions of our Domo-kun shirts, but these are limited edition shirts that won't be available forever. If you like these wacky designs, make sure you pick your shirt up ASAP!

Greetings from J-List October 11, 2004

One of the biggest problems the Japanese face today is it's anemic birth rate of just 1.38 children born per couple. There are many reasons why Japanese are having less children: increasingly complex lifestyles, women wanting to do more with their lives before having children, and the high costs of raising a child in Japan. Unlike the U.S., Japan doesn't have a large inflow of immigrants to take up the slack, which is why there are more Japanese over age 60 than under age 18. A big part of the birthrate problem seems related to the lack of sex drive in married couples, who find themselves perfectly happy to forgo sex in their married lives, causing the coining of the term "sekkusuresu" (sexless) in the Japanese language. Evidence of this can be seen in the high number of homes being built with separate main bedrooms, so that married couples can sleep in separate rooms. My wife reports that most of her female married friends have very infrequent conjugal encounters with their husbands, although they might be otherwise happy with the relationship in general.

The dynamics of money are quite different in Japan compared with the U.S. First of all, Japan is a very cash-based society, and it's quite common for monthly salaries to be handed out in bulging envelopes of cash (although many companies opt for the safer method of direct-deposit into employee's bank accounts). Personal checks don't exist here, and the concept of giving someone a signed slip of paper then walking off with merchandise is quite alien to the Japanese. Credit cards are slowly gaining acceptance, but it's more common for people who need to buy something on credit to use one of the high-interest "personal loan" companies that advertise on television so much. It's well known that the Japanese have a high rate of savings -- although it's been dropping in recent years, the average household still has US$120,000 saved, mostly in cash bearing extremely low interest. Just how low? I happened to pick up a bank statement my wife had on her desk, which reported a whopping 87 cents earned on a $10,000 CD over the course of a year. Although she knows this is lower than she could get in the U.S., she insists on doing at least half of her saving in Japan because it gives her peace of mind.

The word for foreigner in Japanese is "gaijin," written using the characters for "outside" and "person." While it simply refers to foreigners, the word is kind of harsh and can sound derogatory depending on how it's used. For this reason, the new official word for foreigners in Japanese is "gaikokujin" or "outside country person," a word that sounds much softer to the ear. If you watch the news on NHK, Japan's version of the BBC, you'll only hear this word used. One thing about foreigners living in Japan: while they usually don't appreciate Japanese calling out to them by saying "Hey, gaijin!" they're more than likely to use the term amongst themselves openly, without a second thought. We're rather odd that way...

Remember that J-List carries the famous Japanese gum Black Black, a caffeine-laced gum that will wake up you and keep you awake. Enjoyed by everyone from college students to truck drivers, Black Black has been mentioned in novels by William Gibson. And as with most of our gum and snack items, if you buy 10 or more you get a 15% discount at checkout.

Greetings from J-List October 8, 2004

Hello and Happy Friday from all of us in Japan!

Japan is truly the home of the "boom" -- every year, it seems, something new appears out of nowhere and catches everyone's interest. One year it's bleeping electronic pets, the next it's sneakers with 8 inch heels and horn-rimmed glasses worn by young girls. The latest craze in Akihabara, Tokyo's electronics and video game mecca, are maid cafes, where you can go to be served coffee and cake by a beautiful girl dressed in a maid's uniform. Having a quiet place where you can talk to a girl in a costume is supposed to be very healing, and this year, businesses that appeal to "otaku" customers are really doing well. The idea builds on the success of Anna Miller's, the restaurant chain that employs women dressed in sexy waitress uniforms, making the Anna Miller's waitress as famous an image in Japan as the Playboy Bunny in America. Mandarake, a chain of used bookstores in Tokyo and Osaka, also sells cosplay imagery to its customers, allowing those purchasing $10 or more to vote for their favorite costumed employee, who gets a cash bonus if they win the most votes.

Although Japan is a modern, safe country, and Japanese are usually kind and helpful to foreigners, there are some things you have to get used to if you're going to ever live here. Seafood pizza, crowded trains, drunk men on those same crowded trains, bank cash machines that close at 7 pm, having a picture of a naked girl sandwiched between articles in a news magazine -- they're all part of life in Japan, for better or for worse. One minor frustration I always had was getting used to the habit of Japanese shops and restaurants closing on a set day of the week, their "teikyubi" or regular weekly holiday. Whether I go to the local department store or to my favorite ramen shop, chances are I'll screw up and go there on the one day it's closed, and have to make other plans. Japanese never make this mistake -- they have some latent knowledge about which stores are closed on which days, and plan ahead.

What a year we're all having. While hurricanes in Florida and rumblings under Mt. St. Helens in Washington have been grabbing headlines in the U.S., Japan has had it rough, too. In addition to the largest number of typhoons in recorded history -- we're currently being drenched by the 22nd storm of the season -- the eruption of Mt. Asama and a big 5.8 magnitude earthquake centered near here have been giving Northern Kanto the jitters. Wherever you are in the world, please take an extra moment to think about safety for you and your loved ones.

In recent months, J-List has run some ads in magazines such as Starlog, Import Tuner (a magazine for Japanese car enthusiasts), and Newtype USA. If you've come to J-List by seeing one of our ads, please shoot us an email so we know that our ads are working for us. Thanks!

Greetings from J-List October 6, 2004

The problem of how to pay for retirement for aging populations is plaguing
many nations today, and Japan is no exception. In order to make retirement
savings stretch further, some Japanese have come up with a solution: "long
stay," a new term which refers to retiring for many years outside of Japan.
More and more, Japanese couples are choosing to spend their twilight years
in countries like New Zealand, Canada and Malaysia, where the cost of
living is low yet access to good hospitals is available. The Philippines
has been encouraging Japanese to come and form expat communities there,
too, building modern hospitals with Japanese-speaking staff. My wife and I
really fell in love with Spain when we went there a few years ago, and are
planning on spending our "silver years" there when the time comes.

We've got a new part-time girl at J-List, helping out with our rush of
calendar orders. I hadn't met her yet, so I went to her today to introduce
myself -- and gave her quite a shock, as she wasn't expecting an American
to suddenly appear and start talking to her in Japanese. Although gaijin
are a tiny portion of Japan -- the official number of registered foreigners
is around 1% of Japan's population of 120 million -- the number of
foreigners who master Japanese is even lower, especially outside of cities
like Tokyo. The Japanese do like foreigners who speak Japanese, and there's
quite a long list of famous gaijin "talents" (a catch-all term meaning any
kind of television personality) who appear on news and variety shows to
give their opinions in Japanese (most gaijin hate these guys because they
speak better than us). The Japanese are fascinated with "gaijin" Japanese
accents, and radio announcers regularly read scripts in Japanese with
hammed-up "American" accents because it sounds cute to listeners. Pepsi did
a series of commercials featuring a bald American who yelled at the screen
in heavily-accented Japanese about how good Pepsi was.

One of the biggest changes to come to Japan in the past decade or so is the
birth of actual competition. In the "old Japan" of the bubble years,
Japanese businesses engaged in "cooperative competition" with each other,
basically offering exactly the same service at the same price as their
competitors. In those days, getting your hair cut was an extravagant,
two-hour long affair, which included a cut, massage, aloe facial treatment,
and a complete shave of your face, neck and (I am not kidding) ear lobes.
At around $35, it wasn't cheap, but it sure felt good. No matter where you
went, though, Japanese barbers gave pretty much the same excellent service
at the same price, with very little variation in what they would offer.
Banks were another area of cooperative competition. They always provided
pretty much the same services, and no bank did anything the others wouldn't
be willing to do -- in short, competing by trying to act as much like their
competitors as possible. Now, however, things have changed. There is a lot
more choice when it comes to getting a haircut, with discount hair stylists
and various variations in-between. I now get my hair cut for $10, and
although it's not quite as satisfying as the old $35 deluxe treatment, I
can take the money I save and go to a sento (public bath) and feel almost
as rejuvenated. Banks have also seen big changes, with the advent of
Internet-based banks, foreign banks that offer accounts in dollars or
euros, and so on.

J-List has tons of 2005 calendars available right now, both in stock as
well as preorder calendars that haven't started to come in yet. Japanese
calendars are really special, with large poster-sized pages and beautiful
glossy printing. J-List goes out of our way to make a huge selection of
these calendars available to everyone, offering anime, JPOP/JROCK, swimsuit
idol and other calendars for order -- including esoteric calendars which
might not appeal to everyone, but which might be just what you're looking
for this year. We humbly suggest that these Japanese import calendars make
great gifts this Christmas. Get your calendar order in quickly!

Remember that J-List sells our world-famous Japanese T-shirts and hoodies,
with original designs and messages like "I'm looking for a Japanese
Girlfriend" and Domo-kun's face. Our shirts are printed in the USA on 100%
cotton 6.1 lb T-shirts that are of very high quality, and the shirts are
printed with the highest possible quality printing for extra-long life,
even when run regularly through clothes dryers. Also, we make sure to offer
a wide selection of sizes, from small (and even XS) all the way up to XXL
and XXXL, depending on items and colors. Buy 3 of our T-shirts or hoodies
and get 15% off!

Greetings from J-List October 4, 2004

Japan is ecstatic about the achievement of Ichiro, Japan's current favorite son, who beat the record for most hits in a season set back in 1920. The Japanese like nothing more than having one of their own gain recognition around the world, and names like writers Yukio Mishima and Kenzaburo Oe and directors Akira Kurosawa and Hayao Miyazaki have a special place in the hearts of people here because they raised Japan's image internationally. The Japanese are great fans of baseball, and to have one of their own distinguish himself in the Big Leagues like that makes everyone very proud here.

As always, it's interesting to watch the unfolding of American politics from outside the U.S. I can really get a bird's-eye view of my own country, looking in from the outside, and I've had interesting discussions with British, Canadian and Australian expats about various aspects of American politics. As the U.S. election approaches, Japanese newscasters regularly follow the campaign, giving commentary on every facet of the battle for president, which is often a tall order since there are so many differences between America's electoral system and the Parliamentary system that Japan uses. Gaijin like me are able to vote in the election too, thanks to the absentee ballot system, which Japanese are always amazed at -- they don't have anything like that for Japanese living outside of Japan. While I've voted for candidates from both parties in my life, I am personally concerned about one party -- GOP or Democrat -- controlling both houses of Congress as well as the Presidency. I believe it's fundamentally healthier for America when power is shared between both parties, which forces them to struggle and reach compromises that are good for all of us.

Time for some trivia. In case you were wondering what the Japanese use to estimate the size of a person's privates, well, we'll tell you, and then you'll know. Unlike in the U.S., where the size of the hand often indicates male size, here the size of a man's nose in relation to his face supposedly indicates whether or not he is well endowed. So if you've got a large nose and come to Japan, you may find yourself surprisingly popular with girls (although your mileage may vary). In similar silly Japanese fashion, the area inside a woman's ear (the little cavity formed by the bottom of the "S" shape) supposedly indicates the general size of her womanhood.

If you use a XML news reader, you can follow updated J-List products easily with our RSS feed, which lets you easily check your favorite blogs and news sites (the link to our "R" feed is http://www.jlist.com/feed.xml). We'd had some problems with our feed which might have caused errors to appear in some readers, but we believe we've fixed them now. Feedback on our RSS feed is always appreciated.

We have a wonderful update for you today, with many great items. First of all, the first batch of 2005 calendars has come in, and we've posted them to the site post haste -- no waiting! We'll be getting more and more calendars in over the next few weeks, so if the item you want to get still says "preorder" it means those calendars haven't come in yet, but will be in soon, so feel free to order it. We've also gotten our stock of the Otaku Catalog, the collection of essays on otaku culture released at the international symposium on architecture and culture in Venice, Italy. It's very interesting reading for anyone interested in Japan's unique sub-culture.

Remember that J-List carries authentic Japanese "loose socks" in two different sizes, and also carries "socks glue" which you can use to glue your socks to your legs to hold them up. Worn by virtually all Japanese high school girls (except those who go to strict schools where they are forbidden), they look great when bunched up just so. Enjoy a little slice of Japanese fashion culture courtesy of J-List -- they also go great with the authentic high school uniforms we sell, too! Great for cosplay, too.

Greetings from J-List October 1, 2004

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Greetings from J-List September 30, 2004

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Greetings from J-List September 29, 2004

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Greetings from J-List September 27, 2004

Sunday was the centennial of the death of Lafcadio Hearn, one of the first gaijin to "turn Japanese" and live in Japan permanently, writing about all that he saw here. Born on a Greek island in 1850 and raised in Dublin, Ireland, he emigrated to the U.S. and worked for a time in newspapers. In 1890, he came to Japan to teach at Tokyo University and was immediately taken with the beauty of everything he saw here. He wrote many books, including Glimpses of an Unfamiliar Japan, and was a major bridge between Japan and the West during these years. He married the daughter of a samurai and became a naturalized Japanese citizen, taking the name of Yakumo Koizumi and converting to Buddhism. A lot of the impressions of Japan we have today came through Hearn's writings, and the character of Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai was based partially on him.

Fall is here, and in Japan that means it's time for Fall Traffic Safety Week, a special time when Japanese police go out of their way to promote traffic safety, enforce seatbelt laws, and check for drunk drivers. The goal is to make everyone aware of their own driving and help reduce accidents. Traffic accidents are the 5th leading cause of death in Japan; there were 8,000 deaths in 2003, compared with 42,000 in the U.S. The Japanese do many things to promote what they call "safety driving," including carrying traffic safety good luck charms (omamori) and posting safety slogans on overpasses on the freeway to remind drivers to drive slowly and give the right-of-way to the cars in front of you. On the other hand, Japan didn't enact a child carseat law until 1999, and up til that time it was quite common to see housewives driving with their kids standing up in the car -- very dangerous.

For a country that loves English enough to make cars named Mazda Bongo Friendy and Mitsubishi Bravo Exceed, you'd think there'd be a lot of English in use here. Well, outside of people who happen to work alongside foreigners in special jobs (like the hardworking Japanese staff of J-List), there isn't any more English in daily use in Japan than there is French use in the U.S. Although every can of beer and canned coffee has a decorative English description on it -- "Sapporo beer is made from the finest hops for a delicious taste and refinement" -- you'd be surprised how easy it is to find yourself standing on a train platform with not a single sign in English telling you which train to get on. Since I read Japanese, I tend not to notice it that much, but whenever I've got friends from the U.S. out for a visit, I realize how difficult little things like getting around the country can be. The Japanese do their best to promote "internationalization" but it can be difficult with so few native English speakers in the country.

Just when you thought we couldn't have a better selection of 2005 Japanese calendars: announcing even more soon-to-be-released anime calendars from Kodansha, including Tenjo Tenge, One Piece, Naruto, Prince of Tennis, Tsubasa and Holic, Magic Teacher Negima, Samurai Deeper Kyo, G-Taste, and more. These anime calendars are extra-large, with thick glossy card-stock for pages and spiral-type bindings (so you can keep the calendars for years without removing the pages). They're shipped flat, not rolled, and no mailing tubes are needed. Preorder these very special calendars today, as our stock will be limited!

J-List carries virtually all the English-translated dating-sim games available from Japan, and now we've got a new offering for you: Idols Galore!, a new title in which you manage the careers of Japan's top pop stars. The pop idol world is very competitive though, and sometimes the girls have to give some special attention to their manager to stay in his good graces. A wacky new game from G-Collections, in stock and shipping now. Unlike the Japanese version, this game is fully uncensored.

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

• First, for fans of the incredibly detailed Mononofu series, which features historical swords and weapons out of history rendered in incredible die-cast metal (wow), we have the super 4th series, featuring armor from Japan and Europe
  
• The Japanese are masters at engineering things to be small and precise -- we have some excellent small pen-keychains that enable you to carry a great pen with you anywhere you go
  
• For fans of Japanese snacks, enjoy delicious pickled plums, tasty rice crackers, and delicious milk candies, made with "Jersey Milk" (although New Jersey is a bit far from Japan)
  
• Also a favorite of mine: yummy raisin cookies from Bourbon, as well as a general restocking of Japanese chewing gum
  
• For Miyazaki and Lupin the 3rd fans, a treat -- a set of heroines from the Lupin series, including the classic female characters created by Hayao Miyazaki for the series
  
• If you love Japan's cute culture, we have an amazing PostPet figure that moves when you clap or make noise
  
• For JPOP fans, enjoy a new photobook featuring the lovely Ai Takahashi, of Morning Musume, an incredibly charming and beautiful face
  
• Star Wars fans, we have fresh stock of the cool Star Wars Lego vehicles, sold only in the Japanese market
  
• For your kitchen: some really cool chopsticks with classic ukiyoe images on them
  
• If you're a fan of the Sailor Moon live-action series, which features super-cute live-action actresses playing the Sailor Senshi, we have the new DVD in stock (region 2)
  
• We have some nifty "practice chopsticks" that make it easy to eat like a pro -- they come with little fish you can practice picking up
  
• Next, we have more wacky "pin badges" (funny pins with cute characters on them)
  
• Also, an all-purpose carrying case for anything from an iPod to important personal documents
  
• Studying Japanese? We've restocked our very affordable mini dictionaries for you
  
• Finally, find a cute spoon for Hello Kitty fans, more delicious petit pizza snacks, and more!
  

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

• For fans of extremely built Japanese gals, we have the new issue of Gal's Dee, which has renamed itself Poroon (pronounced "poh-rohn"), which is the sound of, er, something bouncing
  
• Next, the new issue of Nuichauzo, translated as "I'm Gonna Get You Off," featuring deliciously evil Japanese girls in love hotels
  
• For fans of Japan's gorgeous hardcover photobooks, enjoy the elegant hardcover offering of Takako Yamada, a fabulously beautiful Japanese model
  
• We have another volley of great doujinshi for you, with new just-released books that feature beautiful artwork
  
• For our H manga collectors, we have three excellent new books for you, including Radical Girl by Sakura Mitono, the elegant Chikan Play by Tsukasa Comics, and a fascinating shoujo crossover H comic
  
• For our yaoi customers, be sure to pick up the new issue of Muscle Men before it sells out
  
• DVD collectors, enjoy some great new DVDs for you, starting with Sakura Shiratori's debut as an ultra high-class soap girl (region free)
  
• Then enjoy 3 hours of excellent performances in a new Blue File offering by Anna Suzukaze, a pure and lovely star from Japan (region free)
  
• Then lovely Tokyo girls engage in a "sweat endurance contest" to see who can endure being in a hot room in the middle of summer, a bizarre indies concept from SOD (region free)
  
• Next, we have a dynamite "wet" offering from Waap, featuring nine gorgeous JAV starlets getting spewn on big time (region 2)
  
• Then, from Moodyz, the super debut of a dynamite star, Hikari Kisugi, stars in her first indies production, a treat for everyone! (region 2)
  
• We've restocked several DVD titles, including several by Aoi Sora, and added new "free shipping DVDs" for you too!
  

Remember that J-List carries a wide variety of snacks from Japan, with about 150 different items in stock at all times, with everything from Pocky (all flavors) to Japan's famous caffeine gum, Black Black. Because J-List is based at the source, right there in the heart of Japan, we've got hundreds of cool and fun items that have never made it out of Japan, which you can order. We are always adding to our snack section too, so check back often!

Greetings from J-List September 24, 2004

Hello again from Japan, where staplers are known as "hotchkiss," after a company that made them back in the 19th century.

There are many differences between Japan and the U.S. Once I went to buy canned coffee from a vending machine, and noticed they had two sizes of the same coffee, with a choice of 200 or 350 ml sized cans (or 7 and 12 oz, for our American readers) for the same price. This struck me as very odd -- who wouldn't choose the larger can? I went for the bigger size, while the Japanese people I was with all chose the smaller can. Turns out they knew something I didn't, though. The amount of coffee in both cans was the same; the larger can contained more water, and didn't taste as good as the smaller can. Often, Americans are conditioned to perceive value based on size or quantity rather than taste, something I would never have noticed without coming to Japan.

Sadly, one of the major economic themes of Japan today is the triumph of inefficiency. When you drive past road construction, there are sure to be several men whose job it is to stand by the road with orange flashlights, ostensibly directing traffic even though everyone ignores them. Then there are the ever-present "parking old men" who do nothing more than stand in parking lots and direct you to a parking spot that you could have easily found yourself. NHK is Japan's public television network, funded by households paying $20 every month to NHK representatives who visit each house door-to-door to collect the money -- no one has ever considered doing direct deposit from people's bank accounts? Japan is a very cash-centric country, and personal checks (or cheques, for our European readers) don't exist here at all. When individuals or businesses need to send money to someone, they usually go to the bank and execute a manual bank transfer (furikomi), paying a $6 fee to the bank for this privilege.

Another bastion of inefficiency is the Japanese post office, but this might be changing soon, as Prime Minister Koizumi pushes for privatizing Japan's behemoth postal system. The Japanese post office does more than just deliver mail and sell stamps: they also operate as the worlds largest bank, holding $3.2 trillion in cash deposits for individuals at a whopping 0.02 rate of return and also selling government-backed insurance. The post office operates 25,000 branches of branches throughout the country, offering various local services and providing a place for elderly people to gather and talk, but it's terribly wasteful. There's a lot of opposition to the reform plans from Japan's 1 million postal employees, who fear losing jobs, and from rural areas which depend on postal services.

Now that summer is over, it will start getting cooler very soon. By customer request. we've got a great item for Domo-kun fans: a soft hoodie pullover featuring our popular Domo-kun face design. Extremely warm and well-made by Hanes, this new Domo-kun hoodie is a super way to stand out in a crowd and keep warm at the same time.

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

• First, for fans of Kill Bill's character GoGo Yubari, we've got a special treat: Chiaki Kuriyama's sexy image DVD (region free)
  
• For fans of elegant Japanese women, we have a great photobook of the lovely Akane Sakura, a truly beautiful thing
  
• Next, see stock of the long-lost vol. 3 of Gothic & Lolita Bible, for fans of the goth lifestyle -- filled with gorgeous photos and a pattern you can use to make a gothic outfit!
  
• We have a great new Frog Style item in stock for you, with cute frog "omikuji" (notes which tell you if you're going to have good luck today or not), so cute and very Japanese!
  
• For fans of our Japanese snacks, we have a tasty new flavor of Pocky for you: Royal Milk Tea, which tastes just like a rich, creamy cup of tea!
  
• Also, tasty sesame + brown sugar treats, delicious "Healthy Club" food bars, and "shake shake gummy" treats that are really tasty
  
• Restocked snack items include Pizza Pretz, Baked Apple Pretz, traditional Okinawan "black candy," and Japanese chewing gum, including Blue Citrus (my personal favorite)
  
• Pingu is very popular in Japan -- we've got some cute pens of Pingu and his girlfriend, Pinga, very fun to write with
  
• From the famous toy maker Kaiyodo, we have a fabulous pre-painted "She-Devil" figure that will really look great on display in your room or office
  
• Light your way in style with new varieties of sushi lights, cool keychains featuring incredibly realistic sushi pieces that are useful little flashlights when you squeeze them
  
• For Totoro fans, a very special item: Totoro and Cat Bus stamps with cool messages in Japanese (they are really cool to keep on your desk)
  
• Also, fresh stock of the popular Totoro Catbus keychain and Nausicaa on Meve figure, both very cool
  
• Next, enjoy some authentic Japanese bamboo chopsticks that are very traditional and look cool
  
• For fans of the classic anime by Tezuka Osamu, the creator of manga and anime in its present form, we've added his 2005 calendar to our site for preordering
  
• Happy faces are popular in Japan (a friend once told me they are "very American") -- we have a cute new pencil case with happy faces on now
  
• Then, we have a handy item for your bathroom or kitchen for hanging hand towels
  
• Finally, look for more wacky Japanese notebooks with funny English on them, more shogi boards, fresh stock of Felix the Cat bubble gum, and more!
  

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

• For fans of sexy Japanese girls, enjoy the new issue of Aishite Ageru, aka I'll Love You, featuring real couples in love hotels and beyond
  
• Then we've got the new issue of Bachelor, filled with hot girls from around the world, including Eastern Europe
  
• Then enjoy the dynamite hardcover photobook of Akane Sakura, a delightful Japanese sexy idol
  
• For H manga fans, we have some excellent comics for you, including a great work of first love by Tenma Comics, a compilation of "elevator girl" works, and more
  
• Also, a deluxe oversized manga with superb artwork and H story by Tsukasa Midoh's Mysterious Mind
  
• Doujinshi fans, we've added more excellent collectable books to our site for you, with some great new books by Japan's popular doujinshi circles
  
• Also, a special item: vol. 4 & 5 of the popular Dulce Report, by the famous "chicks with..." circle Behind Moon
  
• For our DVD customers, enjoy a parody of English conversation teachers in Japan -- but instead of studying English, the lovely Brazilian Victoria teaches something much more fun (region free)
  
• Next, we have a new concept by SOD: gorgeous girls who photograph themselves while you watch (region free)
  
• From Moodyz and director Kenshiro, enjoy a very sexy "private dance" by 15 different gorgeous JAV idols, including top names such as Akira Watase, Shuri Himesaki, Yuria, and Ran Asakawa (region 2)
  
• Then enjoy a special 4 hour Dream Woman Best offering featuring the most memorable performances of Moodyz Dream Woman series (region 2)
  
• Finally, look for fresh stock of various DVD titles, including "hitozuma" and race queen titles, and more DVDs with free shipping!
  

Interested in learning more about Japan? We recommend trying some of our "reserve subscription" magazines, a great way to get the current magazines from Japan sent to you every month. You can get regular subscriptions to anime magazines like Animage, Newtype Japan and the excellent Megami Magazine, hobby magazines like Figure Maniacs and Hobby Japan, alternative fashion magazines like Kera and SMART, and other great items.

Greetings from J-List September 22, 2004

Japan can be a very uniform place: because things like education and transportation policy tend to get decided on a national level, it can be surprising how similar different parts of the country might look to an outsider. In Japan, a traffic light is a traffic light -- they're all exactly the same color and shape, horizontally oriented, except in northern Honshu and Hokkaido, where they hang them vertically to keep the snow off in the winter. In the U.S., there is quite a lot of variation in how schools are structured, with traditional, charter and year-round schools, schools in large, easy-to-heat buildings on the East Coast but spread-out multi-structure schools in warmer parts of the country. In Japan, however, a school is a school, with drab concrete buildings that look like they came out of some Communist country, uniforms, and textbooks that are the same from one end of the country to the other. And while there are big differences between Japanese cities, from overdeveloped Tokyo to the gritty charm of Osaka to Hiroshima with its street cars and solemn park around the A-Bomb Dome, there is uniformity here, too. No city seems complete without a tower (Tokyo Tower, Yokohama Marine Tower, etc.), a Tanabata festival in July, and in August, a huge fireworks show.

One minor thing I've noticed about Japanese restaurants and similar establishments: they love to trumpet how long they've been around by adding what year they were established. Our favorite Indian restaurant is Mahatma Net Delhi, which has been in business since 1978, according to their sign. They don't always wait before bragging about how long they've been in business, though. My wife and I went to a newly opened Italian restaurant that featured "Since 2004" on their sign. Another wacky one: a coffee shop I go to in Tokyo informs us they've been around "since A.D. 1987" (thanks for the clarification).

Every country has a list of things that are considered rude, and each country is different. In Japan, of course, you take your shoes off when you go into a house (and into some businesses -- J-List included). Never stick your chopsticks upright in your rice, since this is "only for dead people" (chopsticks are placed standing upright in rice as part of a last offering of rice to the departed at Japanese funerals). I've noticed that some Japanese, at least the ones I've encountered, are more open than Americans about discussing topics like menstruation or masturbation. Accidental flatulence is not nearly as rude in Japan as it is in the U.S. On the other hand, something that I personally consider very rude -- someone reading over my shoulder -- is not rude at all here. As a result, anything being read or written by a foreigner on a train is considered fair game, and it's not rare to have one or more Japanese straining their necks to see what this gaijin is writing on his Powerbook.

We're really happy to see how our wonderful 2005 Japanese wall calendars are selling so far -- thanks to everyone who has preordered. We've added a dozen more calendars which were not posted last week, including popular stars like Akiko Yada (one of my favorite TV commercial idols in Japan), the undying Morning Musume, Japanese pro wrestling calendars and more! Remember, order 4 or more calendars and get 15%, and your mailing tubes free, too. These wonderful calendars make thoughtful Christmas gifts for anyone who has a fascination with Japan!

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

• First, for Gundam fans, we have pretty much the coolest thing I've ever seen: Gundam throw pillows that feature Haro, the Gundam RX-78 and a Zak -- woah
  
• For lovers of classic 80s video games, a rare treat: series 2 of the miniature table-top video games which are real games that you can actually play!
  
• Shirow Masamune's incredibly rare Galgrease trading cards sold out in just one day, but we've managed to get more in stock, as well as his popular Intron Depot vol. 4 art book
  
• Japanese snack fans, we've got more items in stock for you: tasty Cocoa Waffles from Hokkaido, Japanese traditional orange jelly, white grape Hi-Chews and sea urchin flavored rice crackers -- yummy
  
• Also, a limited edition flavor of Pucca cream-filled fish shaped crackers, with yogurt cream inside
  
• We've restocked various items too, including Hi-Chew Grape, Pocari Sweat drink mix, Glico Honey Pretz, and Shigekix engineered to make you smarter
  
• Lupin the 3rd, two dynamite sets of Lupin figures, including Japan's most famous thief, his sidekick Jigen, and Inspector Zenigata
  
• Next, we have another cool traditional Japanese ashtray that's modeled after a famous Japanese symbol -- very cool, even if you don't smoke
  
• iPod owners, we've got a nifty item from Japan's Elecom electronics maker: a cool set of earphones that converts into a "box speaker" when you want to listen to music with friends
  
• For Sanrio collectors, we have a cute faux leather wallet featuring My Melody and strawberries
  
• JPOP fans, enjoy the lovely new photobook of Aya Matsuura, a super cute idol who will charm you with her cute photographs
  
• And for your kitchen, beautiful hand-painted ukiyoe chopsticks, very nice
  
• Fans of Japan's avante-garde artists, we've restocked several great art books, including Gothic Taste and Tsutomu Nihei's "Blame! and so on..."
  
• Interested in learning Japanese? We have a cute hiragana notebook that makes it fun to practice Japan's basic writing system
  
• Explore the world of shiatsu with a nifty Japanese massager, which allows you to stimulate your hands, neck, feet, anywhere
  
• We're fans of the super cute Pinky Street Japanese figures, and are announcing preorders of the new Pinky in Town photobook w/ figure set
  
• Fans of the #1 anime magazine we sell, Megami Magazine, we have restocked Megami Magazine Deluxe, which is loaded with fabulous art and stuff to pull out
  
• Another rare item for you, we've restocked the Microman Chronicle, a fabulous photographic documentary of the Microman toys by Takara, sold as the Micronauts in the U.S.
  
• If you love Japan's super-cute swimsuit idol Yuko Ogura, we can't recommend her new DVD enough: it's a 4-in-1 disc, compiling four of her previous sexy DVD releases into a 2-disc set (region 2)
  
• Tarantino fans, we've restocked the Japanese release of Kill Bill, which features all the scenes cut out from the U.S. release of the film (region2)
  
• Our Japanese eyedrops are very popular -- and we've restocked all varieties for you today (enjoy)
  
• Finally, a cute way to clean up crumbs from your tabletop, more traditional "tenugui" hand towels, more excellent "minus ion" relax pens, and more!
  

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

• For fans of Japan's amazing 18+ magazines, we've got a super new magazine for you showing a dozen hot Japanese JAV stars, including Ito Rei, Nao Oikawa, Cocolo, Kurumi Morishita and more
  
• Then enjoy the new issue of Shuffle, a super detailed Japanese magazine showcasing gorgeous Japanese women in love hotels
  
• Photobook collectors, we've got some great restocked photobooks for you, including Straddle by Miki Komori, Alice in Love Place, and more
  
• Collectors of H manga, we have a great lineup for you, starting with the super Battle Club vol 1 by Yuji Shiozaki, a superb manga by Tentyu-Maru, and an incredible expression of imagery from Femio Tenma
  
• We've also added fresh stock of several nice manga, including The Illustrated Maya vol. 1 & 2, Masochist Housewife, and more
  
• Doujinshi fans, we have dynamite new books in stock, including cool comics for Gundam fans
  
• Also for yaoi fans, enjoy a great new complete "yomi-kiri" (single-book complete story) by Chouko Kabutomaru
  
• We have a nifty new personal massager for you that's uniquely Japanese: a "heart egg" vibrating massager that looks like a gashapon capsule toy
  
• For our DVD customers, we have some great new offerings including an exploration of various toys and bizarre things you wouldn't normally use for that purpose (region free)
  
• Then witness the best Black Men vs Japanese women in a special release from Moodyz, featuring gorgeous stars who treated really nice by big black men from the U.S. (region 2)
  
• Next, see the most amazing mini-skirt, silk stocking and high heel performances from Waap Entertainment, with no less than ten amazing Japanese ladies (region 2)
  
• We've restocked several great DVD products, including the popular "Horse Riding" Concentration DVD release, more all-girl kissing DVDs, and the lovely Waap Special starring Nao.
  

Remember that J-List carries dozens of excellent English-language dating-sim games which allow you to interact with virtual anime girls in a unique Japanese story. These games are really great -- with long, developed stories, beautiful graphics and characters, and lots of replay value. J-List is the exclusive distributor of Casual Romance Club, an interesting love-sim game release in English, even though it was released here in Japan. It's the only game to offer not just game text in English, but also character voices too.

Greetings from J-List September 17, 2004

Hello again from Japan, home of cars with names like the Largo Wagonist and Suzuki Perky.

Back when I was single, I did a fair bit of traveling around Japan, hitchhiking or riding trains on "Youth 18" tickets, which allow you to go anywhere in Japan for around $25 a day, as long as you don't mind taking the slow local trains. (Poor gaijin like me who live in Japan don't get to buy the spiffy Japan Rail tickets that tourists from overseas have access to.) I've been from Hokkaido to Hiroshima and have really enjoyed getting out and seeing the country. During my travels, I've stayed at various places, including conventional "business" hotels, youth hostels, minshuku (a kind of Japanese bed & breakfast), and "saunas" (a public bath with a sauna; there's a central room where you can sleep on the floor for free). But perhaps the most unique overnight experiences I had were staying at capsule hotels, the miniature honeycomb-like hotel rooms found in larger Japanese cities. Inside your capsule you have everything you need: bed, blanket, pillow, a little TV, radio with alarm, and a curtain for privacy. Capsule hotels usually have large communal baths and saunas. They're cheap, too: you can stay in the heart of Tokyo's Shibuya district for around $40. Capsule hotels are usually for men only, although I went to one once that had a floor reserved for women.
One thing you have to get used to when studying Japanese is that a word from one language won't necessarily "match up" with a word from the other. English and Japanese are quite different structurally, and there are often subtle nuances you have to master when learning new vocabulary. In English, the idea of a brother is quite simple, but in Japanese, there are separate concepts for older brother (oniisan) and younger (otouto), which is hard to get used to at first. Cold water (mizu) and hot water (o-yu) are separate linguistic ideas, and if you use the wrong word accidentally, people will smile at how cute your Japanese is. In English, "funny" can mean either strange or amusing; the Japanese use "okashii" for strange and "omoshiroi" for amusing, but beware: the latter term also covers the English word "interesting." If you've ever known a Japanese person who seemed to over-use the word "delicious," it's because in Japanese, the word for good ("ii" pronounced like the English letter E) is a separate concept from the word for good-tasting food (which is "oishii"). Learning a foreign language is good because it makes you aware of your own language, too.

The 2005 calendars we posted on Wednesday are really proving popular with J-List customers, and we've already received preorders for over 200 calendars. To help you choose which of the great large-format Japanese calendars you'd like this year, we've gone through and updated the calendar pictures with better images. By the way, there was a temporary error in the shopping cart which caused the 15% discount for 4 or more calendars to fail to display. Never fear, it's been fixed now.

At J-List, we carry thousands of fun and rare items from Japan, including over 150 varieties of Japanese snacks -- rice crackers, Japanese sweets, "candy toys," you name it. During the hot summer months, we're forced to remove all chocolate products and Pocky because of the problem of melting. We're happy to announce, however, that fall Pocky season is here once again, and we've got great new flavors of Pocky in stock, ready for you to order! Enjoy the tasty Mild Chocolate Moose Pocky, extra thick and creamy, or the amazing new Pocky Decorer, "just like a decoration cake on a stick!"

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

• First, for fans of fabulous Japanese anime characters and posters, enjoy the new Megami Magazine Deluxe, a special once-a-year issue of the #1 selling anime magazine at J-List -- filled with fabulous anime character illustrations and pin-ups
  
• Next, we have the new issue of Gothic & Lolita Bible, the amazing handbook of all that's goth -- enjoy tons of glossy photos of costumes, a deck of gothic playing cards, and a cool pattern you can use to make your own outfits
  
• In addition to the newest issue, look for a massive restocking of all past issues of this remarkable fashion photobook series, simply amazing
  
• We have some excellent toy items today, including the new 50th anniversary Godzilla toy series featuring famous scenes from the past half-decade of the big G rendered in soft vinyl and PVC (full sets available)
  
• Also, a great miniature figure set of Panda Z character toys, featuring really cute plastic figures that you can display or use as finger puppets
  
• For fans of Cowboy Bebop, we have two really excellent PVC statues of the very sexy Faye Valentine and Julia
  
• Like sushi? We've got a cool coffee cup for you that teaches you the names of all types of Japanese sushi
  
• In addition to our new stock of delicious Pocky, we have other snack treats for you, including sweet potato chips (trust us, they're good), yummy rice crackers, and more
  
• Restocked snack and food items include tasty miso soup, Felix the Cat gum, Okinawa Black Caramel from Morinaga, and various flavors of Japanese gum
  
• Have fun cleaning hair and dirt from your bathwater with a Hello Kitty bath cleaner, which makes keeping your bath clean a snap
  
• All Japan loves Pingu, the cute penguin character -- we have deluxe heart keychains featuring Pingu and Pinga, so cute
  
• Also very cool, traditional kimono bags that are carried when you wear a kimono on special events -- but you can use your kimono bag to carry anything, anytime
  
• Next we have a handy bottle for storing and pouring olive oil, salad dressing, soy sauce, you name it
  
• We've restocked several popular Ghibli items including the Totoro stamp sets, the plush Ghibli keychain sets, the Spirited Away No-Face keychains, the popular Bou Nezumi plush toys and many more items
  
• For Hello Kitty fans, we've got a great digital timer for your kitchen, great for Sanrio lovers everywhere
  
• Fans of Cutie Honey, we have fresh stock of the dynamite detailed figures of Cutie and Kisaragi
  
• Finally, enjoy more wacky Japanese gum erasers that are really fun to use, kanji practice notebooks for students, and more!
  

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

• For fans of Japan's gorgeous photography style we've come to call "Japanese girls in Underoos," enjoy the new issue of Urecco Gal, filled with fantastic Tokyo hello kitties
  
• Also new: you can order a revolving monthly subscription to Urecco Gal and get it sent to you each month automatically, until you tell us to stop
  
• Next enjoy the new issue of Yappari Hitozuma Dechita, or You Know I Really Love Married Women, featuring dozens of ultra-experienced twentysomethings and mature gals
  
• Photobook collectors, we've got some great items for you, starting with the delightful first photobook of Honoka, who shows you her natural body
  
• Then we've got a charming photobook starring stylish Japanese actress Tae Kimura, a gorgeous woman captured in a hardcover photobook for you
  
• Look for restocked photobooks including Yuko Ogura's delightful hardcover photobooks, Yoko Matsugane's very steamy DOME and more
  
• H manga fans, enjoy some great new works for you, including a book about "sexy and sweetish women" by Tenma Comics, a secret "Lingerie Closet" by JCC, and vol. 1 of the excellent Warm Heart
  
• We've restocked several popular works too, including hermaphrodite-themed comics like the popular Futanari Collection
  
• For fans of doujinshi, guess what? We've got another half-dozen or so books for you, with fantastic artwork and hilarious parodying of your favorite anime characters
  
• For our DVD customers, we've got some dynamite items for you, starting with the luscious first DVD release of Mihiro, the drop-dead gorgeous photobook model who is the second coming of Mai Hagiwara as far as we're concerned -- yummy (region free)
  
• Next, a cool new "Concentratation" series DVD at a great price -- the lovely performances of Ami Hyugi (region free)
  
• From SOD, enjoy stuck-up rich girls (ojosama) who show you their solo performances (region free)
  
• Then from SOD's Natural High label, an amazing work featuring hot she-males, aka "new half," who show you what they're made of (region free)
  
• Next, Moodyz brings you the excellent kiss and much more of gorgeous females, who perform their pure love for you (region 2)
  
• Finally, look for many restocked DVD titles, including the lovely Russian, Romanian and Northern European girls discs, Million's Dream Super Stars 4 Hours Special, Big Battle 8 Hours Special, and more!
  

J-List advertises on several websites and in magazines, too. If you've recently found J-List because of an advertisement that we saw, we'd like to hear from you so that we can better support these companies. If it's not too much trouble, please consider shooting us an email or leaving a note in your next order telling us if you saw an ad of ours somewhere. Thanks!

Remember that J-List carries the excellent Japan Hot Wheels cars, made exclusively for the Japanese market. The popular toys include a perfect replica of the Mach 5 from Speed Racer, the Airwolf helicopter, K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider, the Delorean from Back to the Future, and more. These are remarkable toys, with great die-cast metal detailing, a super item for any collector. Note that the current stock we have is probably all we'll be able to get, as all current toys are out of production.

Greetings from J-List September 15, 2004

One of the biggest surprises any foreigner living in Japan receives is when he sees his first Japanese right wingers, blasting annoying music from their speaker cars. Japanese right-wing groups are blustery nationalists who drive around cities playing patriotic music from Japan's wartime past, including the war songs soldiers used to sing on ships. They fly Japan's wartime "rising sun" flag and make speeches about how great the Emperor is, while passers-by ignore them completely. One of the first anime series I fell in love with as a child was Space Cruiser Yamato, a show which was tinged with more than a few right-wing themes (Earth being bombed by the white Gamilon Desslock was an allegory for what Japan went through during the last years of the war). Sure enough, the theme song from Yamato/Star Blazers is a favorite among Japan's fascist types, and it's common to hear it blasting from their annoying loudspeaker cars. Japan's organized right-wing groups are closely associated with the infamous Japanese mafia, the Yakuza.

Somewhat similar to Japan's right-wingers are the boso-zoku, the motorcycle gangs that drive loudly through the streets of Japanese cities, making as much noise as they can. An odd segment of young counter-culture, boso-zoku (lit. "tribe of those who run wildly") are gangs that dress in clothes with right-wing slogans on them and ride on motorcycles modified to be extra loud. Boso-zoku types are known as "yankii," from the English word "yankee," perhaps because they dye their hair blonde (or perhaps not). The motorcycle gangs from the Katsuhiro Otomo film Akira are based on the boso-zoku, but the real bike gangs aren't nearly as interesting: they're mostly bored delinquents who dropped out of high school because they fell in with the wrong crowd. You could call them "yakuza scouts" because Japan's mafia usually uses boso-zoku members to run errands 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 of them. To experience the annoyance of the boso-zoku, see this German page: http://www.bosozoku.de/ (fair warning: it's loud)

Announcing the second half of Japanese calendar season! Every year at J-List we carry the amazing large-format Japanese calendars which are available in Japan for a limited time from October to November or so. If you've never seen these Japanese calendars, they're really amazing -- huge poster-sized sheets of thick stock paper, with beautiful printing and wonderful photography and art that will really make your year special. Because we genuinely love Japan and want to bring a little piece of it to everyone, we go the extra mile for you, carrying hundreds of anime, JPOP/JROCK, swimsuit idol, race queen and other calendars, including off-the-wall items which might not be that popular (but which are still very cool). Rolled calendars require a mailing tube, which is $2 and one tube can hold two calendars. As in previous years, if you buy 4 or more calendars you'll get 15% off, and get your mailing tubes for free!

As usual, it's fun to look at the ranking of calendars and see whose star has risen or fallen over the past year. Once again, Ayumi Hamasaki has claimed the coveted CL1 spot, reflecting her ongoing status as one of the top JPOP stars and fashion entities in Japan. She's followed by Aya Ueto, who had a banner year in dramas and film, and the elegant Misaki Ito, the Japanese Audrey Hepburn, who built a successful acting career after making a splash in commercials for plum wine. Many of Japan's top name swimsuit idols are back this year, like Yuko Ogura, Yinling of Joytoy and Eriko Satoh, as are popular Japanese "talents" like Yuka and the half-British, half-Japanese Becky. Since the opening of "cultural imports" between South Korea and Japan this year, Korean dramas and films have been very popular here -- look for some calendars featuring Korean stars like the gorgeous Yoon Sona (her Korean-Japanese accent is so cute). As always, there are dozens of great anime calendars available for preordering, with virtually every anime series represented. Hayao Miyazaki fans will be especially happy to see a fabulous 3D Totoro calendar this year, as well as several other great items for his fans.

As always, we recommend that everyone get their preorders in quickly, so we can order your calendars and get them back for you as speedily as we can. Calendars should start to come in in the month of October, and we ship your calendars out to you right away. The window for ordering these great calendars is unfortunately very short, and we'll have to close preorders around the middle of October. To avoid the agony of not getting that rare Japanese calendar you want, be sure and preorder early.

In addition to huge volley of 2005 calendars added to the site, we're happy to announce stock of the gorgeous Shirow Masamune movie Innocence, which tells the continuing story of the characters from Ghost in the Shell. A fabulous animated film directed by Mamoru Oishi, it was a huge hit in Japan and is being distributed around the world. Although this film opens in theatres in the U.S. this weekend, we've got it on DVD right now -- order your copy today! (We even have the deluxe Staff Box in stock.)

In addition to the above items, look for a huge volley of updated products, including many popular manga volumes, photobooks (Aoi Sora and more), great DVDs in the "Concentration" series, anime toys, fresh stock of "jitte" (the weapon of ninjas), as well as other wacky things from Japan!

Greetings from J-List September 13, 2004

Florida has really been hit with some powerful storms this season, and we hope that all our customers in the area made it through safely. Unfortunately, Japan was also pummeled by typhoons this year, resulting in many deaths in Okinawa and the two southern islands of Kyushu and Shikoku. Typhoon season in Japan lasts from late August through most of September, a kind of second rainy season after the normal one in June-July. This year, typhoons caused extensive damage to a landmark well known to foreigners who have visited Japan: Miya-jima, the beautiful Shinto shrine near Hiroshima, famous for the red torii arch that appears to float on the sea when the tide comes in. While much of the shrine itself was damaged by the high winds and water, the floating arch was miraculously undamaged.

Although sumo wrestling is the official sport of Japan, enjoying special status and financial support by the government, the hearts of Japanese sports fans belongs to baseball. Baseball was introduced here back in the Meiji era, when Japan started its long path towards modernization. Although halted during World War II as an "enemy sport," today baseball has more fans than ever. Currently, though, Japan's baseball world is going through some growing pains. The #1 team is the Yomiuri Giants (owned by the Yomiuri newspaper company), and the team is so popular that they alter the dynamics of the entire sport: the other eleven teams can only hope for good ticket sales when their team is playing the Giants, and teams outside of the Giants' Central League are doomed to drown in red ink for all eternity. When the owners of the Kintetsu Buffaloes and the Olics Blue Wave announced they were going to merge, effectively laying off half the players, a proposal was put forth to combine the two leagues into one. Owners relented when they faced a strike by all players, and they're in dicussions now about what can be done to help some of the less profitable teams.

A fun part of learning the Japanese language is memorizing the "counters." In Japanese, you use different words for counting different objects depending on what shape they are. If you're counting sheets of paper, you count with "mai" (ichi mai, ni mai, san mai, and so on). For any long, cylindrical object, you use "hon" (ippon, ni hon, san bon). (Roppingi, if you want to know, means "six trees" -- roku plus the "pon" counter, and ki is Japanese for tree.) There are some difficult ones to get down -- for example, an umbrella is counted with hon/pon because it's long and cylindrical when closed, but when it's opened, it's in a different shape. How do you count it? Does the Space Shuttle count as an airplane or a ship? Does comatose body or freshly-killed corpse get counted with the same counter as the one for people? We used to have lots of fun annoying our Japanese teacher back at SDSU with questions like these.

J-List brings you many unique things from Japan, and one cool category of item we like very much are the authentic high school uniforms made by Matsukameya of Nagoya. Each uniform is hand-sewn by the company to your own size measurements, and the detail on these uniforms is perfect, right down to the buttons and pleats on the skirts. We've added a new item to our lineup: authentic high school swimsuits which are great for a variety of cosplay applications.

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

• First, for Gundam fans, we've got a dynamite item: a little folding table featuring Haro, the cute robot from the various Gundam TV series
  
• Fans of Kubrick's amazing detailed block toys, we've got a deluxe set featuring all the characters of The Usual Suspects
  
• We have a really cool traditional Japanese ashtray (or generic container to hold whatever you want) shaped like a Japanese 5 yen coin
  
• For Hello Kitty fans, enjoy a wacky toy hammer shaped like Kitty-chan, which makes wacky sounds when you hit things with it
  
• For fans of Japan's "sentai" (fighting team) shows, we've got a treat: Zebraman, a really amazing Japanese film exploring Japan's hero genre (region 2)
  
• For fans of Japanese snacks enjoy delicious grape & cider sticks, very tart ume candies, ramune candy with vitamin C, and tasty white grape gummi
  
• Freshly restocked snack items include Sushi Gummi, delicious Black Sugar Caramel from Morinaga, and the popular Black Black caffeine gum
  
• Also, a traditional candy known as konpeito, which appeared in the film Spirited Away
  
• Protect laptops and other similar items with an all-purpose soft zipper pouch, which we have in stock
  
• Then for your kitchen, a cute Hanako Style holder for glasses, very stylish and cute
  
• Clean any surface with handy cleaning tools, which remove oil and dirt easily from kitchen surfaces
  
• We love My Neighbor Totoro, the famous film by Hayao Miyazaki -- enjoy fresh stock of many Totoro items, including the giant plush toy, several Totoro stuffed toys, Catbus soft plastic toys and more
  
• Also, fresh stock of the cool Totoro alarm clock, made with real wood, a great way to wake up every morning
  
• Finally, see fresh stock of our Cup Noodle coffee cups, more Sanrio ice cube trays, a great restocking of traditional "fude pen" brush pens, and more!
  

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

• For fans of Japan's famous 18+ magazines, enjoy the new issue of Yasashite Shite Ne, aka Please Be Gentle With Me, now perfect bound
  
• For fans of Japan's "wet" photography, we have a new magazine for you, Doppyu, dedicated to capturing gorgeous Tokyo girls in love hotels
  
• Also, for fans of "jukujo" or mature ladies, we have a new photobook featuring lots of gorgeous, experienced gals
  
• Next, enjoy the delightful glossy color photobook of Angel Eye, the sexy swimsuit idol team by Yellow Cab
  
• Next, the super sexy Miki Kitamura shines in her first photobook -- a delightful cosplay fantasy photobook for you
  
• H manga fans, we've got some excellent items for you today, starting with an amazing exploration of love by Izumi Comics, a romantic story about dating and love, and an amazing work by Kaoru Tachibana featuring amazing female characters
  
• Doujinshi collectors, we've got some really rare and cool books for you, which parody the most famous anime characters you love
  
• Also for yaoi fans, enjoy a bold new comic, "Forbidden Eden"
  
• For our DVD customers, enjoy some great products, starting with Non Stop Uniform Idol, featuring 240 minutes of uniform and costume play, with Japan's top name starlets (region free)
  
• Next, Soft on Demand goes to Hakata, in Kyushu, to see if they can make gorgeous local girls take it off for the camera (region free)
  
• Then, SOD explores the world of She-Males in an interesting n ew DVD release (region free)
  
• Then, enjoy a new "Clothed Female, Naked Male" release from Moodyz features gorgeous girls studying anatony, and their reactions are priceless (region 2)
  
• Then enjoy various restocked DVDs including several new titles that come with free shipping (SAL or airmail) -- check out our great selection of products!
  

Remember that J-List sells our unique Japanese T-shirts featuring bizarre and aesthetically beautiful messages in Japanese, like "I'm looking for a Japanese girlfriend" or the Japanese emergency exit sign. We love the reactions we see from Japanese who see the shirts outside of Japan, and having a wacky message on your shirt is a great potential conversation starter. All shirts are 100%, printed in the USA, and all shirts are full U.S. sizes.

Greetings from J-List September 8, 2004

Hello from Japan, where a cleft chin is known as "ketsu-ago" (KEH-tsoo AH-go), literally meaning "butt-chin."

Japan is the home of manga, the uniquely detailed comics that are famous all over the world. The term manga literally means "whimsical pictures" and was coined by ukiyoe artist Hokusai to describe a book of wookblock art he'd done (he's the artist of the famous Red Fuji and The Wave you may have seen). Early forms of manga had existed since before World War II, but the father of manga in its present form is Tezuka Osamu, creator of virtually all of the popular early works. His stories, often laced with challenging philosophical themes, set the bar high for the generations of manga artists that would follow. Today Japanese buy a staggering 2.2 billion manga books annually, 40% of all printed books sold here, and manga is generally read by people of all ages. At our liquor shop, we sell the weekly manga magazines like Shonen Jump and Shonen Magazine, and it's not uncommon to see a businessman get out of a BMW to buy this week's issue of his favorite comic. While Westerners use the term manga to refer to Japanese printed comics, most Japanese over the age of 25 use the word to refer to animation as well; only the younger generation uses the term anime.

Currently Japan is having a "manga revival," with many of the classic golden age comics back in print for fans to enjoy again. Fist of the North Star, Golgo 13, Lupin III, The Rose of Versailles, Ashita no Joe -- they're all being reprinted and sold in convenience stores for the next generation of Japanese. I'm currently re-reading Touch, the 80s high school baseball manga by Mitsuru Adachi, which I used to study Japanese with back in college. It's very "natsukashii" (nats-ka-SHII, meaning nostalgic)

The most profitable Disney theme park in the world is Tokyo Disneyland, which opened in 1983 and has broken all records for money-making in the history of theme parks. The Japanese penchant for spending money on souvenirs for family members, called omiyage (oh-mee-YAH-geh), helps make this profitability possible -- the average guest spends around $300. Disney's second Japanese park opened a couple years ago: DisneySea, centered around themes of the ocean. The park features a volcano, a recreation of the Arabian town of Agrabah from Aladdin, a fun under-the-sea area for younger kids, a cruise ship, a "jet coaster" (as they say in Japan) based on Journey to the Center of the Earth, and even a hotel where you can get married, right inside the park. We had fun when we went, but my son said it was "kakko warui" (uncool) for Mickey Mouse to speak Japanese when he should be speaking English. The biggest problem with theme parks in Japan are all the people: no matter what day you go, it seems they're brimming with guests, and waiting 3-4 hours for popular rides can really suck.

For the new update, we've got some excellent products from Japan for you, including updated and restocked toys, manga, DVDs, snacks, wacky things from Japan, and much more. J-List has over 2000 cool things from Japan -- you can view items updated in the last 3 days with the handy 3-day link, http://www.jlist.com/UPDATES/3/

For anime fans in Germany, there's a cool convention starting September 10-12 in Kassel, and many of our game and T-shirt products will be at the show (although we won't be, unfortunately). For more information on the show, see the Connichi website at http://www.connichi.de/

Remember that J-List stocks the incredibly detailed classic food replica items from Re-Ment and other companies, which recreate famous foods of the world -- sushi, Japanese traditional dishes, classic American food, Asian treats and more -- in such detail you won't believe they're not edible (you even get little silverware/chopsticks). Although Japanese have to buy these individually, we go out of our way for you, making full sets available so you can avoid buying duplicates and throwing them away. These amazing toys are perfect for doll collectors, too -- and they make thoughtful gifts, too.