Although Japan is a lot smaller than the U.S. -- it's about the same land area as Nebraska, but spread over an area larger than California -- cars are just as important to most people, especially outside of larger cities with their convenient trains. Roads in Japan are understandably more narrow than in countries with more space, and one aspect of driving here I still can't get used to is looking in the large mirrors positioned at blind intersections to see if cars are coming -- I usually just inch my car out to see oncoming traffic instead. While there are some small cars on the roads here, including a class of 1000 cc-and-smaller engine vehicles called "K" cars ("kei" is one pronounciation for the kanji for "lightweight"), there are plenty of big vehicles, too, such as the giant Toyota Land Rover, the Ford Expedition even a huge Cadillac Escalade I saw the other day. Although there is a network of freeways in Japan which are extremely clean and well-engineered, the fact that there's seldom one going where you want to go means that driving in Japan usually involves lots of surface streets and stoplights. Freeways aren't "free" either -- it costs me around $6 to go to the next city over, or $25 if I take the freeway all the way into Tokyo.
I've always been fascinated with kanji, the Chinese characters that Japan adopted around the 6th century. Essentially a pictographic writing system that was layered over the existing Japanese language, which had no written form up to that time, there are generally two pronunciations for any given character: the original Japanese word (for a word like water, mizu, 水), and the Chinese reading (sui). The basic rule is, a kanji all by itself (water) will be read using the Japanese reading, while compound words that happen to use the character as part of it (seawater, watercolor paint, hydrogen、海水、水彩, 水素 respectively) get read using the Chinese reading. Although I can't speak Chinese or Koran worth a damn, some of the more complex words in Japanese, like "cell phone" "air current" or "a delicate love triangle" (don't ask me why I know this, but it's quite well known here, 微妙な三角関係, bimyo na sankaku kankei) come out sounding the same, not unlike the way that many English vocabulary words are shared with French.
Autumn is upon us in Japan, and that means one thing: School Sports Day, a special event held at all elementary schools where kids run relays, do tug-of war, have egg toss competitions, perform dances or brass band numbers that they've been practicing for months, and so on. Tomorrow is our turn to "oo" and "ah" as our kids celebrate youth and sports at their school sports day, and we've got everything ready, from folding chairs to cameras to bento. In accordance with Article 17 of the Japanese Constitution, I've purchased a new video camera so we can record these special memories for posterity (our old one conveniently broke on us).
Our new embroidered Japanese hats are proving to be quite a hit with J-List customers, and we think they're a great way to add something unique to your personal fashion space. Today we've got two killer new hats for you, baseball cap versions of our "Cheshire Totoro" parody anime T-shirts which come in grey or blue. These very-soft Vintage Chino Twill Cap by Alternative Apparel are the best hats you can buy, with brass clasps for stylish size adjustment to fit any head (even mine). The new Totoro caps look great -- check out both colors on the site!
We've posted the rest of the 2007 calendars today, and there are now more outstanding large-format calendars from Japan for you than ever. All these preorder calendars are printed on the most beautiful paper you can imagine, and will become a special part of any room they hang in. We now have over 250 only-available-from-Japan calendars available for preorder, from beautiful images of Japan to rare JPOP to the hottest anime and more. Browse our 2007 calendar lineup now!
Just a reminder about email: it isn't what it used to be, and J-List often has problems with our emails getting through to customers, and vice-versa. We've noticed that Yahoo and Hotmail are two of the mail services most likely to delete mails from J-List without reason, with AOL coming in a close third. We recommend Google's Gmail service much more, and use it ourselves quite a lot (in fact we're updating the J-List contact form to use these email addresses). If you'd like to make the switch to Gmail but need someone to send you an "invite" email, just give us a shout and we'll get one to you right away. If you ever have problems getting a speedy email reply from us, please make sure you use the contact form on the site, which allows you to immediately reach all J-List employees.
Friday, September 15, 2006
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
A new social problem for Japanese, famous English phrases including "Boys, Be Ambitious," and the Japanese obsession with design
Among the many problems modern Japan faces is katsuji-banare (ka-TSU-jee bah-NAH-ray), or a growing detachment from printed characters. Japan publishes more books and magazines than any other country -- a whopping six billion individual books and magazines in one recent year. But at least 40% of that figure is represented by manga, Japan's world-famous comics, and as the percentage of visual manga increases, people are getting worried that Japan is moving away from its traditional writing system and culture. In our neighbood we have a bookstore called Family Book, and there are rows and rows of manga of all kinds there, taking up about the same floor space as novels and non-fiction books. How will this store look a decade from now, I wonder? Computers exacerbate the problem of moving away from the printed word, of course, since you essentially don't need writing skills to create a message -- just type your sentence into your computer and hit the space bar until the kanji you want pops up automatically. It makes for lazy brains, unfortunately.
Words become famous for various reasons. In English, a lot of well-known words and phrases come from Shakespere, and every time you say "there is method to my madness" or "that's greek to me," you're actually quoting the Bard. Japanese lock on to certain English phrases, too, often as a by-product of the six years of English language that most take in school. Some of the most well-known English phrases are those used in the classroom, like "this is a pen" or "How are you? Fine, thank you, and you?" or famous speeches from history (I have a dream, four score and seven years ago, that sort of thing). Many Japanese learn English through music, and J-List's Tomo was very familiar with lyrics from Beatles and Led Zeppelin songs at an early age. Every few years some TV commercial will use an English phrase that will imprint itself on the Japanese mind a little, like the Kanebo commercials that use "for beautiful human life" as a slogan. During the war, Japanese kids would go up to GI's and say "Give me chocolate!" and the Japanese staff reports that this is still a well-known phrase by their generation, sixty years later. One of my favorite English expressions is "Boys, Be Ambitious," spoken by Professor Clark, an American educator who taught at what would become Sapporo University around 1877. The words were for his students, eager to begin the work of modernizing Japan's government and other institutions in the Meiji Era, but they could be used to inspire just about anyone who needs a reason to aim for a higher goal. One of my favorite manga series is Boy's Be..., a collection of boy-meets-girl stories told from the point of view of boys trying to find true love. I once took a 14 hour train ride with nothing but Boys Be manga to entertain myself -- it was pretty cool, since the stories are so interesting. (Small plug, we have the Boys Be anime in stock now if you want to give it a spin.)
One thing I've always liked about Japan was the obsession with good design here. With a few rare exceptions -- schools and other public facilities are still often built in the Late Contemporary Chernobyl style -- most products here, from cell phones to cars to umbrellas to fax machines called "Fappy, the Fax that Makes you Happy," exhibit a strong sense of design. Japanese designers always strive to create products that will be judged kakko ii by consumers, which literally means "good style" and can be translated as cool, stylish or good-looking. (The opposite word is kakko warui, meaning dorky, ugly, uncool.) This approach to design even extends to something as simple as notebooks and stationery, as in the "64 degrees Fahrenheit" notebooks we've just posted to the site, which combine excellent design, beautiful quality paper and somewhat meaningless English (gotta love that).
Want to plug into some cool music from Japan? J-List sells Apple's iTunes Japan Music Cards, which happen to be the only way to buy songs from the iTunes Store in Japan unless you have a credit card with a billing address here (and even I don't have one of those). The Japan iTunes Store is chock full of great J-POP and other music, with songs priced at only 150 or 200 yen per track. The cards come in 2500, 5000 and 10,000 yen varieties, can be used with the iTunes you've already got installed on your Mac or PC, and music purchased is compatible with all iPods, including the new ones Apple just announced.
For fans of our 2007 calendars, it may surprise you that we have ... more calendars! Our staff has been hard at work releasing the rest of the fantastic large-format calendars that are printed exclusively for the Japanese market. Today we've posted some great new items for preorder, including popular anime calendars (Rozen Maiden, the new Kanon anime, Aria The Natural), oh-so-cute idols (Sayaka Ando, Kana Tsugihara, Momoko Komachi), fun calendars for kids, and even some sizzling calendars that will keep you warm this winter. Why not browse our extensive selection of 2007 calendar preorder items right now?
Words become famous for various reasons. In English, a lot of well-known words and phrases come from Shakespere, and every time you say "there is method to my madness" or "that's greek to me," you're actually quoting the Bard. Japanese lock on to certain English phrases, too, often as a by-product of the six years of English language that most take in school. Some of the most well-known English phrases are those used in the classroom, like "this is a pen" or "How are you? Fine, thank you, and you?" or famous speeches from history (I have a dream, four score and seven years ago, that sort of thing). Many Japanese learn English through music, and J-List's Tomo was very familiar with lyrics from Beatles and Led Zeppelin songs at an early age. Every few years some TV commercial will use an English phrase that will imprint itself on the Japanese mind a little, like the Kanebo commercials that use "for beautiful human life" as a slogan. During the war, Japanese kids would go up to GI's and say "Give me chocolate!" and the Japanese staff reports that this is still a well-known phrase by their generation, sixty years later. One of my favorite English expressions is "Boys, Be Ambitious," spoken by Professor Clark, an American educator who taught at what would become Sapporo University around 1877. The words were for his students, eager to begin the work of modernizing Japan's government and other institutions in the Meiji Era, but they could be used to inspire just about anyone who needs a reason to aim for a higher goal. One of my favorite manga series is Boy's Be..., a collection of boy-meets-girl stories told from the point of view of boys trying to find true love. I once took a 14 hour train ride with nothing but Boys Be manga to entertain myself -- it was pretty cool, since the stories are so interesting. (Small plug, we have the Boys Be anime in stock now if you want to give it a spin.)
One thing I've always liked about Japan was the obsession with good design here. With a few rare exceptions -- schools and other public facilities are still often built in the Late Contemporary Chernobyl style -- most products here, from cell phones to cars to umbrellas to fax machines called "Fappy, the Fax that Makes you Happy," exhibit a strong sense of design. Japanese designers always strive to create products that will be judged kakko ii by consumers, which literally means "good style" and can be translated as cool, stylish or good-looking. (The opposite word is kakko warui, meaning dorky, ugly, uncool.) This approach to design even extends to something as simple as notebooks and stationery, as in the "64 degrees Fahrenheit" notebooks we've just posted to the site, which combine excellent design, beautiful quality paper and somewhat meaningless English (gotta love that).
Want to plug into some cool music from Japan? J-List sells Apple's iTunes Japan Music Cards, which happen to be the only way to buy songs from the iTunes Store in Japan unless you have a credit card with a billing address here (and even I don't have one of those). The Japan iTunes Store is chock full of great J-POP and other music, with songs priced at only 150 or 200 yen per track. The cards come in 2500, 5000 and 10,000 yen varieties, can be used with the iTunes you've already got installed on your Mac or PC, and music purchased is compatible with all iPods, including the new ones Apple just announced.
For fans of our 2007 calendars, it may surprise you that we have ... more calendars! Our staff has been hard at work releasing the rest of the fantastic large-format calendars that are printed exclusively for the Japanese market. Today we've posted some great new items for preorder, including popular anime calendars (Rozen Maiden, the new Kanon anime, Aria The Natural), oh-so-cute idols (Sayaka Ando, Kana Tsugihara, Momoko Komachi), fun calendars for kids, and even some sizzling calendars that will keep you warm this winter. Why not browse our extensive selection of 2007 calendar preorder items right now?
Monday, September 11, 2006
More ways we foreigners can save Japan, all about "Nihonjinron" and superstitions about death
Last time I put forth the idea that perhaps one solution to Japan's birth rate woes might lie in international marriage, that encouraging Japanese of both genders to consider marrying people from other countries might add something to Japan's somewhat homogeneous society and reverse the population decline. Gaijin males do have a reputation for being a lot more romantic than their Japanese counterparts, and a certain segment of female society seems to yearn for these qualities in a partner, sometimes desperately. Back when I was teaching ESL, it was my job to work with graduating high school students who were going off to study in the U.S. One of my female students had a hilarious book on how to avoid being mislead by blue-eyed, smooth-talking Americans who were likely to compliment a girl on how pretty she was (which is never done here), causing her to melt into his potentially less-than-virtuous arms like so much butter. Just as gaijin-husband Japanese-wife couples are known for being more "love-love," meaning more romantic, I'm pretty sure that couples with Japanese husbands and foreign wives tend to have the same altered dynamic. There's a weekly show on called My Wife is a Foreigner, which follows the lives of married couples in which the wife is from outside Japan. (Like many aspects of contemporary Japanese life, the show is heavily influenced by the American sitcom classic Bewitched, go figure.) In one episode, a Japanese man had married a Ukrainian woman, and the show explored how they raised their kids with both languages, how their meals differed from the average Japanese family's, and how the couple got along with each other when the kids were in bed and the wine was chilled.
One concept you eventually bump into when studying about Japan is "Nihonjinron" (nee-HONE-JEEN-rone), a word which literally means "theories on Japan." A collection of ideas that grew out of Japan's postwar period, the Nihonjinron concepts generally have to do with describing Japan as a unique country, totally unlike the nations of Asia or the West, with a linguistic and developmental history unlike that of any other nation. Part of this is the belief, held by almost all Japanese, that their language is one of the most difficult in the world, with its mixture of Japanese words and grammar overlaid by Chinese characters with readings that shift by context and region, with a heavy borrowing of foreign loan words for good measure. Another part of the reason Japanese is so hard, supposedly, is that it is so subtle, with so many shades of grey and information that's implied rather than being specifically stated. Although some of the ideas seem like they could possibly be valid, there's a high amount of voodoo in most Nihonjinron thinking, and overall it seems to be nothing more than coming up with ways to feel good about your own country, since everyone feels that their country is special.
Depending on how you look at things, the Japanese can appear quite superstitious. Certainly, there are many superstitions here that seem odd to foreigners, such as, don't cut your fingernails at night or you won't be able to be with your parents when they die, don't whistle at night or snakes will come and get you, don't give gifts in sets of four since four means "death" in Japanese, and so on. Many of these beliefs come from Japan's death-oriented Buddhism -- it's bad luck to sleep with your head to the north (kita makura), as dead people about to be cremated are laid with their heads to the north. Similar to this, there's a complex system of lucky and unlucky days according to a Buddhist calendar, with six different days that cycle throughout the month. It's good luck to get married or start construction on your home on the luckiest day (Taian), but if you were to get married on the unlucky day (Butsumetsu, the Dying Day of Buddha), you'd probably end up divorced and unhappy. Virtually all Japanese want to get married on Taian, and wedding halls are packed to the gills on these lucky days. When buying a car, it's also customary to take delivery of it on one of these lucky days, to avoid traffic accidents.
We love to bring you rare products from Japan, and today we've got some great items for fans of Nintendo's DS, which is incredibly popular all around the world. In addition to our recently posted DS pencil case, we've added pencils in DS colors, multicolored little DS erasers that open up, and a pad of paper that imitates the shape of a DS. A cool line of unique products only available from Japan!
Hot on the tail of the 75+ anime, JPOP, sexy idol and other 2007 calendars posted on Friday, we've got...a whole bunch more! We've got dozens of new anime calendars (Gintama, Gundam, Kiki's Delivery Service, the new Ghibli movie Tales of Earthsea, Fate/Stay Night), great new cute idol calendars (Mayuko Iwasa, Mayumi Ono, and more), JPOP calendars (Maki Gotoh and other Morning Musume members, and more), some old standbys (Audrey Hepburn, Hibari Misora), and some very steamy calendars (Yinling of Joytoy, and many more). Our large-format glossy Japanese calendars are a fantastic way to spend a year with your favorite images of Japan. Why not browse our 2007 calendar pages now?
One concept you eventually bump into when studying about Japan is "Nihonjinron" (nee-HONE-JEEN-rone), a word which literally means "theories on Japan." A collection of ideas that grew out of Japan's postwar period, the Nihonjinron concepts generally have to do with describing Japan as a unique country, totally unlike the nations of Asia or the West, with a linguistic and developmental history unlike that of any other nation. Part of this is the belief, held by almost all Japanese, that their language is one of the most difficult in the world, with its mixture of Japanese words and grammar overlaid by Chinese characters with readings that shift by context and region, with a heavy borrowing of foreign loan words for good measure. Another part of the reason Japanese is so hard, supposedly, is that it is so subtle, with so many shades of grey and information that's implied rather than being specifically stated. Although some of the ideas seem like they could possibly be valid, there's a high amount of voodoo in most Nihonjinron thinking, and overall it seems to be nothing more than coming up with ways to feel good about your own country, since everyone feels that their country is special.
Depending on how you look at things, the Japanese can appear quite superstitious. Certainly, there are many superstitions here that seem odd to foreigners, such as, don't cut your fingernails at night or you won't be able to be with your parents when they die, don't whistle at night or snakes will come and get you, don't give gifts in sets of four since four means "death" in Japanese, and so on. Many of these beliefs come from Japan's death-oriented Buddhism -- it's bad luck to sleep with your head to the north (kita makura), as dead people about to be cremated are laid with their heads to the north. Similar to this, there's a complex system of lucky and unlucky days according to a Buddhist calendar, with six different days that cycle throughout the month. It's good luck to get married or start construction on your home on the luckiest day (Taian), but if you were to get married on the unlucky day (Butsumetsu, the Dying Day of Buddha), you'd probably end up divorced and unhappy. Virtually all Japanese want to get married on Taian, and wedding halls are packed to the gills on these lucky days. When buying a car, it's also customary to take delivery of it on one of these lucky days, to avoid traffic accidents.
We love to bring you rare products from Japan, and today we've got some great items for fans of Nintendo's DS, which is incredibly popular all around the world. In addition to our recently posted DS pencil case, we've added pencils in DS colors, multicolored little DS erasers that open up, and a pad of paper that imitates the shape of a DS. A cool line of unique products only available from Japan!
Hot on the tail of the 75+ anime, JPOP, sexy idol and other 2007 calendars posted on Friday, we've got...a whole bunch more! We've got dozens of new anime calendars (Gintama, Gundam, Kiki's Delivery Service, the new Ghibli movie Tales of Earthsea, Fate/Stay Night), great new cute idol calendars (Mayuko Iwasa, Mayumi Ono, and more), JPOP calendars (Maki Gotoh and other Morning Musume members, and more), some old standbys (Audrey Hepburn, Hibari Misora), and some very steamy calendars (Yinling of Joytoy, and many more). Our large-format glossy Japanese calendars are a fantastic way to spend a year with your favorite images of Japan. Why not browse our 2007 calendar pages now?
Friday, September 08, 2006
Seeing Japan through iced coffee goggles, relieving stress through coloring books, and how we gaijin can save Japan from its falling birthrate!
Whenever my wife and I try a new restaurant we order aisu kohi, which we use to judge the dedication of the staff and owner to the customers. Are they using bottled iced coffee, or brewing it themselves every morning? What quality of beans are they using? As true aficionados, we've been doing this for a while, and we've mapped most of the eating establishments in our city based on the quality of their iced coffee. The other day we went to Silk Road, a local pasta restaurant which scores a strong 8.4 on our iced coffee chart. It has something else to recommend it, too: extremely gorgeous waitresses, with bright eyes and beautiful faces and stunning Morning Musume-esqe smiles. My wife turned to me and said, "The owner of this restaurant must be a real face-eater." She wasn't making an obscure Dr. Who reference -- the word menkui (men-KOO-ee、面食い), literally meaning face-eater, refers to someone who loves extremely attractive members of the opposite gender. There are quite a few of these interesting words or idioms in Japan that might confuse you, even if you knew what the words themselves meant. A person who talks too much and can't keep a secret has a "light mouth" (kuchi ga karui), while someone with a "wide face" (kao ga hiroi) is well-known in the community. If you're "good head" (atama ga ii) it just means you're smart, and a person who is somewhat uninspiring romantically, more or less lying there like a piece of maguro (tuna) sushi is called, well, maguro.
Japan is facing a serious population problem, with its birthrate of just 1.25 children per woman culminating in the first shrinkage of the national population last year. The reasons so few babies are being born are many. Part of the problem is over-urbanization and concrete sprawl -- if you lived in one of the massive "rabbit hutch" apartment buildings in Tokyo that strongly resemble Borg Cubes, you wouldn't want to have eight kids either. Changing social patterns is another part of the equation, as women become empowered and learn to say no to marriages in which communication with their husbands involves little more than meshi! furo! neru! (dinner! bath! sleep!). The other day I was bouncing around some blogs written by foreigners living in Japan, and I noticed something: a high number of them were written by proud gaijin men or women who had found a Japanese spouse and were beaming with joy over their newborn children. A high number of these couples seemed to have two or three kids, too, which is more than the average Japanese couple (usually just one). Maybe, I thought, the answer to Japan's quandary is for Japanese to embrace kokusai kekkon, or international marriage, promoting marriage between Japanese and people from other countries. Maybe the addition of "ingredient X" that people not born in Japan would bring to relationships would stimulate a "renaissance of love" of some kind in Japanese society. Foreigners like you and me might just hold the key to saving Japan! J-List is doing our part to bring Japanese and gaijin around the world together, of course, with our "Looking for a Japanese Girlfriend/Boyfriend" and "Kiss Me I'm Gaijin" T-shirts, and our newest "eye chart" shirt that might just serve as a conversation starter for that someone special.
Japan is the land of the boom, as they say, and you never know what will end up being popular. Japan can be a stressful place, and this year people have hit on a unique way to relieve that stress: coloring in coloring books! A whole line of popular books which let you recreate famous works of art with a variety of materials -- from crayons to professional colored pencils to paints -- while developing your own style and relaxing at the same time. We've got some of these on the site now, so if you're looking for a unique way to remove your daily stress, a high quality coloring book that lets you recreate the world's best art might be just the ticket!
The new 2007 calendars are here! Every year J-List carries hundreds of Japanese anime, JPOP/JROCK, gorgeous idol and other calendars from Japan, and we're happy to announce the the main volley of our calendars have arrived and are posted to the site. These extra-large glossy calendars are the most beautiful you will ever see, printed on thick poster-size paper stock that will look great all year and beyond. These are preorder calendars: make your order and we'll hold it until the items you ordered come in, which should be in October or November. We've got about 75 new calendars posted for preorder now, with many outstanding calendars for 2007, including the Studio Ghibli calendar (with all new art); calendars by virtually every gorgeous Japanese model you could name, from Yuko Ogura to Aki Hoshino to Yua Aida; fantastic calendars for popular anime like Bleach, Naruto, and Full Metal Alchemist; the most popular male stars in Japan like Gackt; and much more. This year the coveted "CL1" top spot goes to the gorgeous Kumi Koda, the stylish JPOP star who has had a fabulous year, and we've got her dynamite calendar, too. Because these calendars aren't sold outside of the domestic market, they're a really special way to bring a piece of Japan home with you all throughout 2007.
Remember that J-List has the most excellent selection of Domo-kun products from Japan you can ever find. Domo-kun is the official mascot of NHK, Japan's public broadcasting network, and he's become a cult favorite all around the world. Many of the items we have are of limited availability and will never be available again. Do you like the cute Domo-kun plush toys wearing samurai costume? Perhaps some of the cool Domo-kun straps that go on your phone, camera or keys look pretty cool? How about our really, really bg Domo-kun plush toys? All are among the Domo products that are nearly out of stock, and once they're gone, they'll be gone forever. Why not browse our Domo-kun product pages today?
Japan is facing a serious population problem, with its birthrate of just 1.25 children per woman culminating in the first shrinkage of the national population last year. The reasons so few babies are being born are many. Part of the problem is over-urbanization and concrete sprawl -- if you lived in one of the massive "rabbit hutch" apartment buildings in Tokyo that strongly resemble Borg Cubes, you wouldn't want to have eight kids either. Changing social patterns is another part of the equation, as women become empowered and learn to say no to marriages in which communication with their husbands involves little more than meshi! furo! neru! (dinner! bath! sleep!). The other day I was bouncing around some blogs written by foreigners living in Japan, and I noticed something: a high number of them were written by proud gaijin men or women who had found a Japanese spouse and were beaming with joy over their newborn children. A high number of these couples seemed to have two or three kids, too, which is more than the average Japanese couple (usually just one). Maybe, I thought, the answer to Japan's quandary is for Japanese to embrace kokusai kekkon, or international marriage, promoting marriage between Japanese and people from other countries. Maybe the addition of "ingredient X" that people not born in Japan would bring to relationships would stimulate a "renaissance of love" of some kind in Japanese society. Foreigners like you and me might just hold the key to saving Japan! J-List is doing our part to bring Japanese and gaijin around the world together, of course, with our "Looking for a Japanese Girlfriend/Boyfriend" and "Kiss Me I'm Gaijin" T-shirts, and our newest "eye chart" shirt that might just serve as a conversation starter for that someone special.
Japan is the land of the boom, as they say, and you never know what will end up being popular. Japan can be a stressful place, and this year people have hit on a unique way to relieve that stress: coloring in coloring books! A whole line of popular books which let you recreate famous works of art with a variety of materials -- from crayons to professional colored pencils to paints -- while developing your own style and relaxing at the same time. We've got some of these on the site now, so if you're looking for a unique way to remove your daily stress, a high quality coloring book that lets you recreate the world's best art might be just the ticket!
The new 2007 calendars are here! Every year J-List carries hundreds of Japanese anime, JPOP/JROCK, gorgeous idol and other calendars from Japan, and we're happy to announce the the main volley of our calendars have arrived and are posted to the site. These extra-large glossy calendars are the most beautiful you will ever see, printed on thick poster-size paper stock that will look great all year and beyond. These are preorder calendars: make your order and we'll hold it until the items you ordered come in, which should be in October or November. We've got about 75 new calendars posted for preorder now, with many outstanding calendars for 2007, including the Studio Ghibli calendar (with all new art); calendars by virtually every gorgeous Japanese model you could name, from Yuko Ogura to Aki Hoshino to Yua Aida; fantastic calendars for popular anime like Bleach, Naruto, and Full Metal Alchemist; the most popular male stars in Japan like Gackt; and much more. This year the coveted "CL1" top spot goes to the gorgeous Kumi Koda, the stylish JPOP star who has had a fabulous year, and we've got her dynamite calendar, too. Because these calendars aren't sold outside of the domestic market, they're a really special way to bring a piece of Japan home with you all throughout 2007.
Remember that J-List has the most excellent selection of Domo-kun products from Japan you can ever find. Domo-kun is the official mascot of NHK, Japan's public broadcasting network, and he's become a cult favorite all around the world. Many of the items we have are of limited availability and will never be available again. Do you like the cute Domo-kun plush toys wearing samurai costume? Perhaps some of the cool Domo-kun straps that go on your phone, camera or keys look pretty cool? How about our really, really bg Domo-kun plush toys? All are among the Domo products that are nearly out of stock, and once they're gone, they'll be gone forever. Why not browse our Domo-kun product pages today?
More pictures from while we were in the U.S. My son and I got homesick for some sushi, so we headed to the Korean sushi restaurant. (There 's, um, a lot of Korean culture growing in San Diego.)
So far so good. The sushi guide looks the same.
Of course, you would never get kimchee with your sushi in Japan. Trust me on this one.
But ah, nothing goes so good with sushi as Asahi beer.... All in all the meal was good, if about 2x more expensive than in Japan. Turns out the lady was even Japanese, not Korean, but she had been so sure this gaijin buying sushi couldn't possibly speak Japanese, that we spoke only English until it was time to pay the bill. Silly.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
A happy day in Japan, forgetting which kind of English you speak, and feeling "natsukashii" with my old Japanese textbook
It's a boy! All Japan is currently cheering the news that Princess Kiko has given birth to a boy. The new royal son -- the first male heir to be born in four decades -- is third in line to succeed the current Emperor, Akihito, known in Japan as the Heisei Emperor, since that's the name of the current era. The birth of a male heir ends the long controversy over whether Naruhito's daughter Aiko would be allowed to fill the role as Empress. Japan has had eight females in that position in its long history, but none since the Meiji Restoration, in which Japan "restored" the role of the Emperor after 1300 years of being little more than a political figurehead. The new birth takes the pressure off poor Masako-sama, wife of the Crown Prince, who had fallen into depression over pressure from the Imperial Household Agency to get pregnant with a male heir.
I've got a Yankee friend who lives in Tokyo, and the other day he asked an odd question. "I forget, do Americans stand in a line, or in a queue?" Forgetting your own dialect of English might sound like a strange thing to have happen, but in a place like Japan where foreigners of all nationalities are grouped together into one big gaijin melting pot, little things like vocabulary and grammar can seem pretty unimportant. It's quite common for gaijin to hang out with foreigners from other parts of the world, and I've been known to throw back a beer or two with friends from other countries -- it's fun to debate American politics with Canadians or Australians or Brits, since they're emotionally divorced from the day-to-day political issues in the U.S. One word I accidentally picked up was "uni" (you-NEE), slang from down under that means university, but none of my friends back home knew what I was talking about when I used it. Part of the issue is the lack of native speakers around -- it's incredible how your own language changes when the social group around you changes. I suspect this phenomenon is not unrelated to how a person's written grammar and punctuation goes to hell from hanging out in Internet chatrooms too long.
Recently, I went on eBay and found a copy of my very first Japanese textbook, Foundations of Japanese Language by Soga. Reading through this old book, which has been surpassed by much better works nowadays, left me totally natsukashii (NATS-ka-SHEE, translatable as "so nostalgic I look like one of those manga characters with a tear rolling out of my eye"). Looking back, I realize I went through several stages as I struggled to learn this wonderful, difficult language. First, I worked to master hiragana, the syllable-based writing system that looked like so many snakes squirming there on the page (snakes! on a page!). I went through a phase where I reduced sentences into mathematical equations, which allowed me to swap out elements to say what I wanted to say, and after that, a period of growing my vocabulary by reading manga and transcribing song lyrics for karaoke. After coming to Japan, I buckled down for more serious study, including the subtle art of keigo, the special subset of language used in polite situations. Invited to a Japanese friend's house, I dediced to try my polite language with my host, but I messed it up so bad that he didn't even understand what I said. I'd taken my shot and messed it up terribly, although I certainly learned from the experience. (Aside: I once saw a news conference where this happened to a foreign correspondent who had asked the Emperor a question...Akihito didn't understand what he was asking, and I felt so bad for that poor reporter.)
In Japanese, the word nampa means to flirt with members of the opposite sex and try to take them home (apologies to our customers in Nampa, Idaho). Our newest wacky Japanese T-shirt aims to help break the ice between you and potential Japanese females by displaying a standard "eye chart" (as soon at doctor's offices everywhere in Japan) that's specially designed to help your nampa skills. The text on the eye chart essentially says "Hey, how are you doing? You look pretty good. Are you doing anything right now? If not, let's go have some coffee together..." Since potential Japanese girls have to get up close and personal to read the small text, it's an interesting secret weapon that can break down the barriers between you. This might lead to a beautiful relationship! Printed with high quality silkscreening for long life, on an 6.1 lb 100% cotton shirt (orange). Sizes S-XL are available.
Remember that J-List is your source for getting Japan's best anime, manga, JPOP/JROCK, gothic fashion and other magazine, direct from Japan through our "reserve subscription" system. All magazines are chosen for high numbers of pictures and other visual elements, so even if you don't read the language, there's plenty of great information in each issue, with lots of cool color pictures and other stuff. In case you ever wondered, the top-selling magazines (based on current subscribers) are, Megami Magazine (great bishoujo girls and loads of posters); Goth-Loli Bible (the voice of gothic cosplay culture in the world); FRUiTs (Tokyo street fashion); Hiragana Times (with articles in both English and Japanese); Newtype Japan; Kera (gothic and "punk" fashion), SHOXX (J-Rock in the extreme); Cosmode (anime cosplay); Nihongo Journal (for learning Japanese); and Comic AG (our best-selling "H" manga). You never need to pay in advance and you can cancel your revolving subscription at any time. By the way, if there's a magazine you'd love for us to carry, please suggest it to us!
I've got a Yankee friend who lives in Tokyo, and the other day he asked an odd question. "I forget, do Americans stand in a line, or in a queue?" Forgetting your own dialect of English might sound like a strange thing to have happen, but in a place like Japan where foreigners of all nationalities are grouped together into one big gaijin melting pot, little things like vocabulary and grammar can seem pretty unimportant. It's quite common for gaijin to hang out with foreigners from other parts of the world, and I've been known to throw back a beer or two with friends from other countries -- it's fun to debate American politics with Canadians or Australians or Brits, since they're emotionally divorced from the day-to-day political issues in the U.S. One word I accidentally picked up was "uni" (you-NEE), slang from down under that means university, but none of my friends back home knew what I was talking about when I used it. Part of the issue is the lack of native speakers around -- it's incredible how your own language changes when the social group around you changes. I suspect this phenomenon is not unrelated to how a person's written grammar and punctuation goes to hell from hanging out in Internet chatrooms too long.
Recently, I went on eBay and found a copy of my very first Japanese textbook, Foundations of Japanese Language by Soga. Reading through this old book, which has been surpassed by much better works nowadays, left me totally natsukashii (NATS-ka-SHEE, translatable as "so nostalgic I look like one of those manga characters with a tear rolling out of my eye"). Looking back, I realize I went through several stages as I struggled to learn this wonderful, difficult language. First, I worked to master hiragana, the syllable-based writing system that looked like so many snakes squirming there on the page (snakes! on a page!). I went through a phase where I reduced sentences into mathematical equations, which allowed me to swap out elements to say what I wanted to say, and after that, a period of growing my vocabulary by reading manga and transcribing song lyrics for karaoke. After coming to Japan, I buckled down for more serious study, including the subtle art of keigo, the special subset of language used in polite situations. Invited to a Japanese friend's house, I dediced to try my polite language with my host, but I messed it up so bad that he didn't even understand what I said. I'd taken my shot and messed it up terribly, although I certainly learned from the experience. (Aside: I once saw a news conference where this happened to a foreign correspondent who had asked the Emperor a question...Akihito didn't understand what he was asking, and I felt so bad for that poor reporter.)
In Japanese, the word nampa means to flirt with members of the opposite sex and try to take them home (apologies to our customers in Nampa, Idaho). Our newest wacky Japanese T-shirt aims to help break the ice between you and potential Japanese females by displaying a standard "eye chart" (as soon at doctor's offices everywhere in Japan) that's specially designed to help your nampa skills. The text on the eye chart essentially says "Hey, how are you doing? You look pretty good. Are you doing anything right now? If not, let's go have some coffee together..." Since potential Japanese girls have to get up close and personal to read the small text, it's an interesting secret weapon that can break down the barriers between you. This might lead to a beautiful relationship! Printed with high quality silkscreening for long life, on an 6.1 lb 100% cotton shirt (orange). Sizes S-XL are available.
Remember that J-List is your source for getting Japan's best anime, manga, JPOP/JROCK, gothic fashion and other magazine, direct from Japan through our "reserve subscription" system. All magazines are chosen for high numbers of pictures and other visual elements, so even if you don't read the language, there's plenty of great information in each issue, with lots of cool color pictures and other stuff. In case you ever wondered, the top-selling magazines (based on current subscribers) are, Megami Magazine (great bishoujo girls and loads of posters); Goth-Loli Bible (the voice of gothic cosplay culture in the world); FRUiTs (Tokyo street fashion); Hiragana Times (with articles in both English and Japanese); Newtype Japan; Kera (gothic and "punk" fashion), SHOXX (J-Rock in the extreme); Cosmode (anime cosplay); Nihongo Journal (for learning Japanese); and Comic AG (our best-selling "H" manga). You never need to pay in advance and you can cancel your revolving subscription at any time. By the way, if there's a magazine you'd love for us to carry, please suggest it to us!
Time for more pictures from our trip along Historic Route 66. Hope the pictures are intereting.
My updates during the trip were brought to you by KOA, which is Kampgrounds of America (clever spelling), which usually had Internet access for us.
Ever wondered what people in Nevada do when it's hot? They find a river and pretend it's a beach.
Complete with boats and a jet-ski!
We discovered another important past-time during our trip, too.
Monday, September 04, 2006
Japan's most famous businessmen, when not to laugh at your students, and all about our prefecture
Japan's fascination with businessman Takafumi Horie (whose nickname is "Horiemon" because someone thought he looks like the character Doraemon) continues today, as the famous founder of Yahoo-wannabe Livedoor -- and the company that publishes the Japanese version of Eudora, if you want a bit of trivia -- enters his "not guilty" plea in court. He's accused of violating a slew of stock-manipulation laws, including "announcing" mergers for companies he'd already secretly purchased the stock for then profiting when the shares went up. Perhaps Japan's most recognizable businessman until his arrest in January, he was in the headlines daily. He never wore suits, preferring dark T-shirts, even when meeting with very high-ranking businessmen, and had the audacity to acquire other companies through hostile takeovers, something that just isn't done in "harmonious" Japan.
All things considered, laughter only belongs in a foreign language classroom if it builds confidence or friendship among students, and if you're an ESL teacher, it's probably best not to throw your head back and laugh openly when your students make an error. That being said, there have been times during my career as a teacher when it was very difficult not to keep the giggles away. One older student was describing a scene about skyscrapers in New York, but she kept saying "skycrapper" instead, which had me twisting this way and that as I tried to avoid laughing while I imagined some kind of divine lavatory in the sky. Another time a student told me how he fixed his car radio over the weekend, only he didn't say "fixed," but another word entirely which starts with the same letter, and I struggled to keep from laughing out loud at this. We were talking about careers once, and one student who planned to take the test to enter the National Postal Service told me his dream was to become a "post officer," which struck me as amusing, even though it's a logical mistake when you stop and think about it. I feel bad about these lapses, although I know that I've given as good as I got, providing my Japanese hosts with many hours of amusement thanks to my own language slip-ups over the years, like the time I tried to order some mango juice, and, er, nevermind, it's a long story.
J-List is based in Gunma Prefecture, a crane-shaped piece of land that's located right in the center of Japan -- the heso (belly button) of the country, as the Japanese like to say. Situated right on the edge of the Kanto Plain, where Tokyo and Yokohama are, the primary cities in Gunma are Maebashi (the Prefectural capital, once famous for its silk industry); Takasaki (a vibrant commercial city, although because it was never bombed during World War II, the roads are noticeably narrower than in other cities); Ota (home of the Subaru corporation, and the old Nakajima Air Works, where Japanese Zeros were built); and our own Isesaki. Virtually all the cities in Gunma are former castle towns, and almost without exception, the City Offices are built on the grounds of the former castle ruins, which fills some kind of continuity with the past that I as an American can't quite fathom. Like all corners of Japan, Gunma is famous for many things, including konnyaku (a gelatinous food made from potatoes that's so firm that several elderly people a year choke on it and die), karakaze (the biting wind that blows over the mountains in the winter) and kakaa-denka, extremely strong-willed women (like my wife). If you want to buy some land in a place like Tokyo or Nagoya you need to work really hard to achieve your goal, but in Gunma there's plenty of land for the population of 2 million. Thus, people in Gunma are famous for having a poor work ethic, and being somewhat lazy.
J-List's wacky Japanese hats are off to a great start, with many customers picking up our fun embroidered hats that feature slogans like "I'm looking for a Japanese girlfriend" or our parody Otaku logo. Our hats are extremely well made, using Vintage Chino Twill Caps Alternative Apparel, and they're fully size adjustable (one size fits all, guys or girls). We're posting our newest original hat offering today, based on our best-selling "Ecchi" parody of the Ecko logo, which features two rhinoceroses engaged in some interesting social activities. Check out our newest wacky Japanese hat today!
We've got another new product category for you too: posters featuring the amazing artwork of Dan Kim, creator of the Clone Army manga series (and the creator of the JAST USA H-game webcomic, H.H.). These limited edition posters are 11x17 in size and would look great on any wall. Browse our new poster selection now!
This month's "Game of the Month" is Private Nurse, a great 2-CD release from G-Collections in which you play Hiroki. You've been sick all your life, but one day your mother tells you that she's hired a private nurse to take care of you. The next thing you know, you've got your very own private nurse, Maria, who is totally dedicated to curing you. Maria is going to be much more than a nurse to you: she'll be your teacher, too. But what about Ayano-chan, who you've known since childhood, and who is secretly in love with you? A fabulous game of love and "H" and healing from G-Collections. Special pricing this month!
All things considered, laughter only belongs in a foreign language classroom if it builds confidence or friendship among students, and if you're an ESL teacher, it's probably best not to throw your head back and laugh openly when your students make an error. That being said, there have been times during my career as a teacher when it was very difficult not to keep the giggles away. One older student was describing a scene about skyscrapers in New York, but she kept saying "skycrapper" instead, which had me twisting this way and that as I tried to avoid laughing while I imagined some kind of divine lavatory in the sky. Another time a student told me how he fixed his car radio over the weekend, only he didn't say "fixed," but another word entirely which starts with the same letter, and I struggled to keep from laughing out loud at this. We were talking about careers once, and one student who planned to take the test to enter the National Postal Service told me his dream was to become a "post officer," which struck me as amusing, even though it's a logical mistake when you stop and think about it. I feel bad about these lapses, although I know that I've given as good as I got, providing my Japanese hosts with many hours of amusement thanks to my own language slip-ups over the years, like the time I tried to order some mango juice, and, er, nevermind, it's a long story.
J-List's wacky Japanese hats are off to a great start, with many customers picking up our fun embroidered hats that feature slogans like "I'm looking for a Japanese girlfriend" or our parody Otaku logo. Our hats are extremely well made, using Vintage Chino Twill Caps Alternative Apparel, and they're fully size adjustable (one size fits all, guys or girls). We're posting our newest original hat offering today, based on our best-selling "Ecchi" parody of the Ecko logo, which features two rhinoceroses engaged in some interesting social activities. Check out our newest wacky Japanese hat today!
We've got another new product category for you too: posters featuring the amazing artwork of Dan Kim, creator of the Clone Army manga series (and the creator of the JAST USA H-game webcomic, H.H.). These limited edition posters are 11x17 in size and would look great on any wall. Browse our new poster selection now!
This month's "Game of the Month" is Private Nurse, a great 2-CD release from G-Collections in which you play Hiroki. You've been sick all your life, but one day your mother tells you that she's hired a private nurse to take care of you. The next thing you know, you've got your very own private nurse, Maria, who is totally dedicated to curing you. Maria is going to be much more than a nurse to you: she'll be your teacher, too. But what about Ayano-chan, who you've known since childhood, and who is secretly in love with you? A fabulous game of love and "H" and healing from G-Collections. Special pricing this month!
Friday, September 01, 2006
The hierarchy of language in Japan, trouble for "unhurried education" and, is my wife a Desperate Housewife?
Hello again from Japan, where, when two people say the same thing at the same time, they're then supposed to shout "Happy ice cream!"
There's no doubt about it: Japan has had a fascination with the West ever since the appearance of Admiral Perry's "Black Ships" in 1852, and that enigma continues to be a part of the Japanese psyche to this day. But while Japan has often had a uniquely close relationship with the United States, either through trade or as a result of the Occupation, the continent of Europe seems to carry a bit more mystique. You can see this at work when you take a look at the world of Japanese tarento or "talents," a catch-all word for actors, comedians and other famous TV-types. While television personalities like Hikaru Utada or Yu Hayami who can speak English fluently get a lot of "wow points" with fans, there seems to be a hierarchy at work, with Japanese bilingual in languages other than English getting more respect. When actress Kumiko Goto married French F1 racer Jean Alesi, people expected her career to fade, but she's more popular than ever, appearing occasionally in commercials or variety shows speaking French (oo la la). Recently retired soccer star Hidetoshi Nakata was known for wowing fans by appearing on Italian TV and speaking the language fluently, which immediately put him at the top of the worldwide pantheon of Japanese athletes. Sometimes linguistic bridges of understanding are built closer to home, as when Tsuyoshi Kusanagi of the long-running SMAP comedy/ singing group learned Korean and built a comedy career for himself on the other side of the Sea of Japan.
American television studios have found a great market for their products in Japan, with hit shows like 24, Prison Break and CSI: Miami scoring big with viewers, who watch them on pay satellite channels or NHK, or rent them one disc at a time at the local rental shop. My wife seems to be leading the charge, watching virtually every show that's released here, coming back from the rental shop with 5-6 discs every time I turn around. Sometimes I watch along with her, giving silent thanks for the Japanese subtitles on the screen, which keep me from having to try to explain difficult words to her in Japanese. The shows are popular, but just as with fans around the world watching animation from Japan, there are cultural issues raised. For example, in my wife's current favorite, Desperate Housewives, the subject of marriage councilors come up quite a bit, but Japan is a country where the concept of telling your problems to a therapist is an alien one, and I'm sure there's more than a little viewer confusion at times.
For the past few years, Japan has been engaged in an experiment to take some of the pressure out of its famed educational system, switching to what is called yutori kyoiku or "unhurried education." The idea has been to ratchet back Japan's achievement-focused educational system and provide a broader, less stressed experience for children. Some of the reforms are being rolled back, however, as Japan falls further and further behind other nations in areas of education where it once reigned supreme. Whereas Japan used to be ranked near the top in math and science, it's now somewhere around 18th place, being easily bested by countries like South Korea and India. That's why my daughter's summer vacation ended a week earlier than normal, because school officials are reacting to the poor educational performance of students by increasing the time spent in school. I certainly hope that the recent trends can be reversed.
J-List makes dozens of anime, manga, cosplay, fashion, toy and other magazines available to you through our popular "reserve subscription" system. Just sign up, and we'll send you the new issue of the magazine(s) you want, until you tell us to stop, and credit card, check or money order or Paypal are accepted. Today we've added a new reserve magazine, Tokyo Journal, a great quarterly that brings you hard-hitting stories about life, culture and politics in Japan's largest city. I distinctly remember reading about Aum Shinrikyo and other topical events of the day back in the old days of 1995, so it's cool that I be able to bring this magazine to people outside of Japan.
There's no doubt about it: Japan has had a fascination with the West ever since the appearance of Admiral Perry's "Black Ships" in 1852, and that enigma continues to be a part of the Japanese psyche to this day. But while Japan has often had a uniquely close relationship with the United States, either through trade or as a result of the Occupation, the continent of Europe seems to carry a bit more mystique. You can see this at work when you take a look at the world of Japanese tarento or "talents," a catch-all word for actors, comedians and other famous TV-types. While television personalities like Hikaru Utada or Yu Hayami who can speak English fluently get a lot of "wow points" with fans, there seems to be a hierarchy at work, with Japanese bilingual in languages other than English getting more respect. When actress Kumiko Goto married French F1 racer Jean Alesi, people expected her career to fade, but she's more popular than ever, appearing occasionally in commercials or variety shows speaking French (oo la la). Recently retired soccer star Hidetoshi Nakata was known for wowing fans by appearing on Italian TV and speaking the language fluently, which immediately put him at the top of the worldwide pantheon of Japanese athletes. Sometimes linguistic bridges of understanding are built closer to home, as when Tsuyoshi Kusanagi of the long-running SMAP comedy/ singing group learned Korean and built a comedy career for himself on the other side of the Sea of Japan.
American television studios have found a great market for their products in Japan, with hit shows like 24, Prison Break and CSI: Miami scoring big with viewers, who watch them on pay satellite channels or NHK, or rent them one disc at a time at the local rental shop. My wife seems to be leading the charge, watching virtually every show that's released here, coming back from the rental shop with 5-6 discs every time I turn around. Sometimes I watch along with her, giving silent thanks for the Japanese subtitles on the screen, which keep me from having to try to explain difficult words to her in Japanese. The shows are popular, but just as with fans around the world watching animation from Japan, there are cultural issues raised. For example, in my wife's current favorite, Desperate Housewives, the subject of marriage councilors come up quite a bit, but Japan is a country where the concept of telling your problems to a therapist is an alien one, and I'm sure there's more than a little viewer confusion at times.
For the past few years, Japan has been engaged in an experiment to take some of the pressure out of its famed educational system, switching to what is called yutori kyoiku or "unhurried education." The idea has been to ratchet back Japan's achievement-focused educational system and provide a broader, less stressed experience for children. Some of the reforms are being rolled back, however, as Japan falls further and further behind other nations in areas of education where it once reigned supreme. Whereas Japan used to be ranked near the top in math and science, it's now somewhere around 18th place, being easily bested by countries like South Korea and India. That's why my daughter's summer vacation ended a week earlier than normal, because school officials are reacting to the poor educational performance of students by increasing the time spent in school. I certainly hope that the recent trends can be reversed.
J-List makes dozens of anime, manga, cosplay, fashion, toy and other magazines available to you through our popular "reserve subscription" system. Just sign up, and we'll send you the new issue of the magazine(s) you want, until you tell us to stop, and credit card, check or money order or Paypal are accepted. Today we've added a new reserve magazine, Tokyo Journal, a great quarterly that brings you hard-hitting stories about life, culture and politics in Japan's largest city. I distinctly remember reading about Aum Shinrikyo and other topical events of the day back in the old days of 1995, so it's cool that I be able to bring this magazine to people outside of Japan.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Stereotypes of foreigners by Japanese including Girls from Ipanema, Japan's "other" staple food, and more
Living outside my home country as I do, the subject of stereotypes has always interested me. Everyone has certain preconceived notions about people from other countries, some of which are based on real observations, while others come from erroneously overgeneralizing. 1.27% of the population of Japan is made up of gaijin, and while this is nothing compared to some countries -- almost 10% of people in Germany hail from elsewhere -- it's natural that Japanese here will develop stereotypes of foreigners living in their midst.
First of all, some Japanese have a tendency to think of all foreigners as being either Americans or Europeans, even though those groups make up a tiny sliver of the population here -- people from Brazil, Peru, and Pakistan are far more common in my city. They think that all foreigners are tall, and if I get into a Japanese person's car they are likely to apologize for it being so cramped, even though I am actually of average height. The Brazilian women here tend to wear Ipanema-style bikinis that are far more daring than Japanese women could ever wear to the local pool, and one J-List staff member says they remember thinking that all women from other countries must be that bold, including Americans. Unfortunately, foreigners are sometimes either ignorant of, or care less about, some common aspects of politeness here, and one impression Japanese have of some gaijin is ki ni shinai -- they don't worry about anything, even apologizing for something when they make a mistake. The Japanese spend a lot of time with no shoes on, and once a man told me he was sure that a Westerner could never pick a pencil up off the floor with his toes, since we wore shoes all the time (I promptly proved him wrong). Finally, as an American, I've naturally been asked numerous times in classrooms if I owned a gun when I lived in the States, or how many guns, or had I ever shot anyone. The sad truth is that some Japanese, especially younger students who have never come into contact with the U.S., have the mistaken image that all Americans sleep with guns under their pillows. Naturally, this is something I've worked hard to change in my years here in Japan.
Everyone knows that rice is the staple food of the Japanese, eaten with almost every meal. The "other" staple food in Japan would have to be soybeans, which are the source of a great variety of Japanese foods. Miso soup, a hot soup made from fermented miso paste, is an extremely healthy dish that's enjoyed with every traditional Japanese breakfast, and served with other meals. Tofu is another popular food, used in many Japanese and Chinese recipes, or good served chilled on a hot afternoon with soy sauce poured over it. Natto is the famous fermented soybeans that are popular in much of the country, although less so in the Kansai/Osaka area, to say nothing of my mouth. My kids eat it all the time, and when they want to tease me they come up to me and breathe Natto breath on me -- ugh. Japan couldn't get through a day without soy sauce, of course, the single most common condiment in Japanese kitchens, even more than salt and pepper. Finally, soybeans play a important cultural role each February on Setsubun, the traditional end of the year according to the old lunar calendar, when you throw them at imaginery devils to chase away evil and bring happiness into the home. (By the way, we've got lots of miso soup on the site now...)
Among the other cool things that J-List carries, we've got authentic "loose socks," those baggy, oversized socks that Japanese high school girls wear. We have two sizes to choose from, the standard 70 cm and the "super" 120 cm, which provide extra sock length to allow you to bunch it up around your ankles just so. If you find that the weight of the socks causes them to fall down we've got real "socks glue" to glue them to your leg so they'll stay looking great.
Remember that J-List is hiring right now. We're looking for someone for our San Diego office with experience in the U.S. anime industry who can help us grow our unique brand of Japanese pop culture. If you're interested in learning more, please see this page for more information
First of all, some Japanese have a tendency to think of all foreigners as being either Americans or Europeans, even though those groups make up a tiny sliver of the population here -- people from Brazil, Peru, and Pakistan are far more common in my city. They think that all foreigners are tall, and if I get into a Japanese person's car they are likely to apologize for it being so cramped, even though I am actually of average height. The Brazilian women here tend to wear Ipanema-style bikinis that are far more daring than Japanese women could ever wear to the local pool, and one J-List staff member says they remember thinking that all women from other countries must be that bold, including Americans. Unfortunately, foreigners are sometimes either ignorant of, or care less about, some common aspects of politeness here, and one impression Japanese have of some gaijin is ki ni shinai -- they don't worry about anything, even apologizing for something when they make a mistake. The Japanese spend a lot of time with no shoes on, and once a man told me he was sure that a Westerner could never pick a pencil up off the floor with his toes, since we wore shoes all the time (I promptly proved him wrong). Finally, as an American, I've naturally been asked numerous times in classrooms if I owned a gun when I lived in the States, or how many guns, or had I ever shot anyone. The sad truth is that some Japanese, especially younger students who have never come into contact with the U.S., have the mistaken image that all Americans sleep with guns under their pillows. Naturally, this is something I've worked hard to change in my years here in Japan.
Everyone knows that rice is the staple food of the Japanese, eaten with almost every meal. The "other" staple food in Japan would have to be soybeans, which are the source of a great variety of Japanese foods. Miso soup, a hot soup made from fermented miso paste, is an extremely healthy dish that's enjoyed with every traditional Japanese breakfast, and served with other meals. Tofu is another popular food, used in many Japanese and Chinese recipes, or good served chilled on a hot afternoon with soy sauce poured over it. Natto is the famous fermented soybeans that are popular in much of the country, although less so in the Kansai/Osaka area, to say nothing of my mouth. My kids eat it all the time, and when they want to tease me they come up to me and breathe Natto breath on me -- ugh. Japan couldn't get through a day without soy sauce, of course, the single most common condiment in Japanese kitchens, even more than salt and pepper. Finally, soybeans play a important cultural role each February on Setsubun, the traditional end of the year according to the old lunar calendar, when you throw them at imaginery devils to chase away evil and bring happiness into the home. (By the way, we've got lots of miso soup on the site now...)
Among the other cool things that J-List carries, we've got authentic "loose socks," those baggy, oversized socks that Japanese high school girls wear. We have two sizes to choose from, the standard 70 cm and the "super" 120 cm, which provide extra sock length to allow you to bunch it up around your ankles just so. If you find that the weight of the socks causes them to fall down we've got real "socks glue" to glue them to your leg so they'll stay looking great.
Remember that J-List is hiring right now. We're looking for someone for our San Diego office with experience in the U.S. anime industry who can help us grow our unique brand of Japanese pop culture. If you're interested in learning more, please see this page for more information
Monday, August 28, 2006
New "keitai" phones for my family, all about Japanese names, and the Pluto - Gamilon connection
Saturday was "new keitai day" for our family, and we all went down to the local "au" store to get new mobile phones (keitai, in Japanese). As usual, the pace of technology in Japan is very fast, and even though it's been just a year since I got my last phone, there had been two complete generations of new models introduced in the interim. The new crop of phones included features like "Wanseg" digital TV viewing with a screen that can rotate horizontally, a phone with a physical switch to go from "business" to "personal" mode, and the football helmet-tough Casio's G'z One, made for people who drop their phones a lot (like me). As usual, Japanese phone manufacturers are all about style, and each of the phones had a unique, fresh approach to appeal to a different segment of phone buyers, with several phones specifically touting their simple "Friendly Design(tm)." All the phones we looked at had features such as GPS "Safety Navigation" (so we can find missing family members), extra-large text for older users, music capabilities, cameras, and a virtual "Hello Message!" room where you and your friends can chat with each other, with each person represented by a different animal. While it was nice to have some cool phones to choose from, there are almost no "smart" phones like the Treo or Blackberry here, since kana can be entered quickly with a ten-key pad and Japanese consumers presumably find phones with QWERTY keyboards to be ugly.
Because names in Japanese are written in kanji, they have meanings that are mysterious to foreigners. Western names have meanings, too -- my name, Peter, comes from "rock" in Greek, and "Payne" supposedly comes from the French "pain" (bread), similar to the English last name Baker. Some characters used in many Japanese last names include:
Yama = Mountain 山
Ta (or da) = Rice field 田
Naka = Middle 中
Matsu = Pine 松
Kawa (or gawa) = River 川
Kon (or Kane) = Gold (usually indicates Korean ancestry, e.g. Kim) 金
Gaijin are also interested in learning how to write their own names in kanji, too. While foreign names are most properly written in the katakana syllabary system, it's possible to "force" a non-Japanese name into kanji. For example, someone named George can choose two characters with the readings of "jo" and "ji" (like, 条寺 just to throw something out) Similarly, you could translate the name into similar kanji, for example choose characters for "lock" and "tree" if your last name was Lockwood. I wanted to write my name in kanji, but there are no characters that are read "pe" or "pi," so I broke the rules, putting a circle next to other kanji to change the pronounciations (which is quite silly, trust me). I accidentally registered that bizarre, 6-character name with our local city office, and now my wife groans every time she has to explain why her American husband has such a bizarre name in kanji...
Pluto's demotion from planetary status is causing quite a lot of discussion across the Internet, and in Japan, too. On one show I happened to be watching, a panel of experts was talking about the fate of our ninth planet, each giving various opinions on the subject. "But what about the Gamilons?" one of them asked. In the 1979 anime show Space Cruiser Yamato (Star Blazers in English), a race of aliens called the Gamilons establishes a base on Pluto and uses it to send radioactive planet bombs to Earth, and it's up to the Yamato to destroy the base and the deadly Reflex Gun. There was a lot of tongue-in-cheek discussion about how the change in Pluto's status might affect the Gamilons' plans for attacking the Earth now that Pluto wasn't a "real" planet anymore.
Yama = Mountain 山
Ta (or da) = Rice field 田
Naka = Middle 中
Matsu = Pine 松
Kawa (or gawa) = River 川
Kon (or Kane) = Gold (usually indicates Korean ancestry, e.g. Kim) 金
Gaijin are also interested in learning how to write their own names in kanji, too. While foreign names are most properly written in the katakana syllabary system, it's possible to "force" a non-Japanese name into kanji. For example, someone named George can choose two characters with the readings of "jo" and "ji" (like, 条寺 just to throw something out) Similarly, you could translate the name into similar kanji, for example choose characters for "lock" and "tree" if your last name was Lockwood. I wanted to write my name in kanji, but there are no characters that are read "pe" or "pi," so I broke the rules, putting a circle next to other kanji to change the pronounciations (which is quite silly, trust me). I accidentally registered that bizarre, 6-character name with our local city office, and now my wife groans every time she has to explain why her American husband has such a bizarre name in kanji...
I have to take issue with you Americans. What are you doing, letting General Mills release abominations like this???
Or this???
These were pretty disturbing, until I realized it was a way for Hershey's to capture a portion of the M&M's market.
However, bubble gum flavored floss, that's just weird.
I did see some things I approved of. LIike the 100 calorie packaged foods. Way to go, guys! (Also, when I flew on Southwest I was happily surprised that they gave out treats that were downright healthy.)
Then again, there are some unhealthy foods still at large in the USA.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Understanding how perceptions of foreigners affects us, learning culture through anime, and time to study some Japanese!
All countries are affected to a certain extent by the views of foreigners. I've read that the Chinese never really thought much of the series of loosely connected walls that ran through their country until foreigners came in and started raving about it, naming it the Great Wall and everything. America certainly has internalized the image of Ellis Island and Lady Liberty that was brought in by European immigrants over the past 150 years, making it part of our modern self-perception. Japan is also affected by the opinions of foreigners here, and in many cases the passion gaijin feel for Japan spreads to Japanese people as well. A show my wife likes to watch a lot is NHK's Eigo de Shabera-Night, which explores how Japanese can best go about learning English, inviting guests like former U.N. Assistant Secretary General Yasushi Akashi to talk about how they struggled at mastering the difficult language. The other day they had a segment that took viewers on a tour of Kyoto hosted by bilingual foreigners who lived in the city. It was interesting to see Kyoto through the eyes of these gaijin, and hear them rave about their favorite parts of the city -- the passion they felt for Kyoto was really contagious.
One of the things I like about Japanese animation is that it always opens your mind to new cultural concepts, and even something like how names work in Japanese can be gleaned from anime. Names function quite differently in politeness-sensitive Japan than in the U.S., and it's common for people to use keigo (polite speech) when addressing others in a school or work setting, or if the person is older than you, e.g. "Fujita-san" or "Tomo-san" (fairy formal) rather than just "Tomo" (very informal). Lately I've been on an Orange Road kick, watching the second movie, the novel for which I translated and put on the net a decade ago (link on J-List site). In the movie, the main character Kyosuke gets "time-slipped" to three years into the future, which causes some challenges when his "younger" sister starts talking differently to him because she's technically older now. Another plot point revolves around when he started calling his girlfriend Madoka by her first name (as informal as you can get in Japan -- one guess when that was). Another old-school fave of mine is Maison Ikkoku, the Rumiko Takahashi classic that tells the story of college student Godai's attempts to woo the manager of the apartment he lives in, the recently widowed Kyoko. Because she's older than him, he calls her "Kyoko-san" during their courtship, and only at their wedding reception, after he's become her husband and thus on the same level as her, can be bring himself to drop the formal -san ending and call her by her name, Kyoko.
Every year in December, thousands of foreigners take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, the primary way of testing your Japanese language skills. Once upon a time I disliked Japan's test-based approach to learning, yet after using the JLPT to help improve my own language ability, I can recommend it as a good way to make yourself study -- there's nothing like having a clear goal in front of you to motivate yourself. There are four levels to the test, set up so that you can try a new level each year. Level four is the easiest, testing hiragana, katakana and a hundred or so kanji, while level one is super hard, being the goal you need to clear if you want to attend a Japanese university. By happy coincidence, J-List happens to have some good study tools for the JLPT, including previous year's tests you can use for practice. The test is given at various cities around Japan and the world, and the deadline for applying is coming up within a few weeks -- so this is your official wake-up call if you'd like to challenge the test this year. If you'd like information on how you can sign up for the test, this siteis a good page to start (although I apologize if things aren't as clear as they could be).
Announcing the newest line of product offerings: kanji hats with our famous wacky Japanese messages on them! Our new professionally embroidered hats are a great way to wear a unique Japanese message on your head and show off your uniqueness to everyone. Manufactured by Alternative Apparel, the stylish Vintage Twill baseball caps are great, enzyme-washed for extra softness and featuring a sturdy brass buckle for "set and forget" head sizing. Enjoy our first two hats, our best-selling "Looking for a Japanese Girlfriend" design and a favorite of mine, our "Otaku" Oakley logo parody.
Remember that J-List has plenty of cool "back to school" items for you or your young ones, from unique pens, pencils and notebooks to pencil casesthat will make study fun, and more. We've got "fude pens" that let you write as if you were using a Chinese writing brush, cool erasers that are the best you can find anywhere in the world. We've also got study aids that can help you improve in any subject, such as Japanese flashcard blanks (quiz yourself to learn more), and the very cool Zebra Check Set, which lets you highlight information with a special pen then "magically" make it disappear with a red overlay while you test yourself on the answers.
One of the things I like about Japanese animation is that it always opens your mind to new cultural concepts, and even something like how names work in Japanese can be gleaned from anime. Names function quite differently in politeness-sensitive Japan than in the U.S., and it's common for people to use keigo (polite speech) when addressing others in a school or work setting, or if the person is older than you, e.g. "Fujita-san" or "Tomo-san" (fairy formal) rather than just "Tomo" (very informal). Lately I've been on an Orange Road kick, watching the second movie, the novel for which I translated and put on the net a decade ago (link on J-List site). In the movie, the main character Kyosuke gets "time-slipped" to three years into the future, which causes some challenges when his "younger" sister starts talking differently to him because she's technically older now. Another plot point revolves around when he started calling his girlfriend Madoka by her first name (as informal as you can get in Japan -- one guess when that was). Another old-school fave of mine is Maison Ikkoku, the Rumiko Takahashi classic that tells the story of college student Godai's attempts to woo the manager of the apartment he lives in, the recently widowed Kyoko. Because she's older than him, he calls her "Kyoko-san" during their courtship, and only at their wedding reception, after he's become her husband and thus on the same level as her, can be bring himself to drop the formal -san ending and call her by her name, Kyoko.
Every year in December, thousands of foreigners take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, the primary way of testing your Japanese language skills. Once upon a time I disliked Japan's test-based approach to learning, yet after using the JLPT to help improve my own language ability, I can recommend it as a good way to make yourself study -- there's nothing like having a clear goal in front of you to motivate yourself. There are four levels to the test, set up so that you can try a new level each year. Level four is the easiest, testing hiragana, katakana and a hundred or so kanji, while level one is super hard, being the goal you need to clear if you want to attend a Japanese university. By happy coincidence, J-List happens to have some good study tools for the JLPT, including previous year's tests you can use for practice. The test is given at various cities around Japan and the world, and the deadline for applying is coming up within a few weeks -- so this is your official wake-up call if you'd like to challenge the test this year. If you'd like information on how you can sign up for the test, this siteis a good page to start (although I apologize if things aren't as clear as they could be).
Announcing the newest line of product offerings: kanji hats with our famous wacky Japanese messages on them! Our new professionally embroidered hats are a great way to wear a unique Japanese message on your head and show off your uniqueness to everyone. Manufactured by Alternative Apparel, the stylish Vintage Twill baseball caps are great, enzyme-washed for extra softness and featuring a sturdy brass buckle for "set and forget" head sizing. Enjoy our first two hats, our best-selling "Looking for a Japanese Girlfriend" design and a favorite of mine, our "Otaku" Oakley logo parody.
Remember that J-List has plenty of cool "back to school" items for you or your young ones, from unique pens, pencils and notebooks to pencil casesthat will make study fun, and more. We've got "fude pens" that let you write as if you were using a Chinese writing brush, cool erasers that are the best you can find anywhere in the world. We've also got study aids that can help you improve in any subject, such as Japanese flashcard blanks (quiz yourself to learn more), and the very cool Zebra Check Set, which lets you highlight information with a special pen then "magically" make it disappear with a red overlay while you test yourself on the answers.
My son is a meticulous little guy, and when he decided that he was going to take a picture of lightning (which flashed constantly while we were there), nothing could disuade him.
The sunset was really beautiful there.
This little guy strung us along for all kinds of food. When he went into the canyon, my son dove after him, as in, dove over the wall part, with only a little embankment from keeping him from going all the way over.
For the record, Americans get Japanese wrong too. They meant 検定 not 限定 on this sign.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
The subject of English lyrics in Japanese songs, the drama of "juken hell," and useless trivia for you
First, the J-List site went down for a couple hours on Tuesday night, U.S. time, due to a server hiccup, but all is well now. Very sorry if you were trying to check out our site during this period!
One subject that's always fascinated me has been the tendency of Japanese singers to mix English lyrics in with Japanese music. When listening to a popular Japanese song, including many from anime, it's quite common to hear a stream of apparently meaningless words or phrases, like "stay! stay! stay!" or "get chance and luck!" or "nice to meet you, good to see you!" or "un du trois!" (the latter is not even English, but no one here notices that). The words seem quite random and whimsical, but if you translate the surrounding Japanese lyrics, the meaning usually meshes together into some larger gestalt. The trend towards putting English in songs supposedly started with famous singer Yumi Matsutoya, who grew up near Yokota Base, one of the major U.S. military bases near Tokyo, and was fluent in English since childhood. During the 1970s, "Yuming" scored with many hit songs that mixed English with Japanese lyrics, such as "You don't have to worry, worry, [I will protect you]," and the face of pop music in Japan has never been the same since. I believe the reason "decorating" songs with English words has proved so popular is tied to the emotional link that Japanese feel to the language. Since most every Japanese person has to study English for six years, or ten if they go to college, making use of phrases like "body feels exit!" or "I do my homework!" allows songwriters to push emotional buttons that wouldn't be accessible with Japanese lyrics, even if the meaning is lost in translation.
Although Spike TV's English-dubbed version of Hey! Spring of Trivia didn't seem to get much traction with U.S. viewers, it's still one of our favorite shows here in Japan. Here are some useless bits of Japanese trivia that aired on the show in recent months. In Osaka there's a batting center with a Hello Kitty pitching machine in which "Kitty-chan" pitches balls at batters. The word "boycott" comes from a person's name, Charles Boycott, an Irish landlord who was "boycotted" by the residents of his town over a land dispute. Flamingos are pink because they're fed special food containing shrimp meal to make them that color. Edison proposed to his second wife in Morse code. In 1948, Nagoya's baseball team the Dragons issued new uniforms with the name misspelled as "Doragons." Oh, and papaya seeds taste like wasabi when you bite down on them.
Each country is different, and the kinds of subjects that make good drama or comedy on television are probably just as unique. In Japan, one popular vehicle for depicting human drama is "juken hell," the period from summer to the following February when students in their third year of high school must study day and night if they have a hope of getting into their university of choice. Passing this test is the defining moment in the lives of Japanese students up to that point, and success means achieving your life's goals, while failure means a clouded future. One of my formative anime series was Kimagure Orange Road, a story about a love triangle between two girls, Hikaru and Ayukawa, and a guy, Kyosuke, who happens to be an esper with super powers that he can't let anyone find out about. The movie that resolves the long-running love triangle is set against the backdrop of Kyosuke and Ayukawa preparing for their all-important college exams, which adds an extra dimension of crisis to the story, since much more than just the feelings of the three people is at risk. There's one scene that I like because it's so uniquely Japanese, where a teacher yells at Kyosuke, "You in the back! Don't you know you're supposed to resolve all your problems d'amour by the second year of high school?" High school seniors in Japan are much too busy to worry about things like falling in love.
J-List is hiring! We've got a full-time position in our San Diego office for a motivated individual with skills and experience in the areas of marketing and managing wholesale accounts. Knowledge of the U.S. anime industry is a plus. For more information on the job opening, see this link. (While we usually only consider people already in the San Diego area, we are open to people who would be relocating from another part of the U.S., depending on your skills and experience in the anime industry.)
Here are today's "really cool products" that I thought were especially noteworthy. Note: the J-List links below may be for adult products and should probably be considered "not safe for work." To see all the J-List products, check out J-List or the JBOX.com updated products link.
One subject that's always fascinated me has been the tendency of Japanese singers to mix English lyrics in with Japanese music. When listening to a popular Japanese song, including many from anime, it's quite common to hear a stream of apparently meaningless words or phrases, like "stay! stay! stay!" or "get chance and luck!" or "nice to meet you, good to see you!" or "un du trois!" (the latter is not even English, but no one here notices that). The words seem quite random and whimsical, but if you translate the surrounding Japanese lyrics, the meaning usually meshes together into some larger gestalt. The trend towards putting English in songs supposedly started with famous singer Yumi Matsutoya, who grew up near Yokota Base, one of the major U.S. military bases near Tokyo, and was fluent in English since childhood. During the 1970s, "Yuming" scored with many hit songs that mixed English with Japanese lyrics, such as "You don't have to worry, worry, [I will protect you]," and the face of pop music in Japan has never been the same since. I believe the reason "decorating" songs with English words has proved so popular is tied to the emotional link that Japanese feel to the language. Since most every Japanese person has to study English for six years, or ten if they go to college, making use of phrases like "body feels exit!" or "I do my homework!" allows songwriters to push emotional buttons that wouldn't be accessible with Japanese lyrics, even if the meaning is lost in translation.
Although Spike TV's English-dubbed version of Hey! Spring of Trivia didn't seem to get much traction with U.S. viewers, it's still one of our favorite shows here in Japan. Here are some useless bits of Japanese trivia that aired on the show in recent months. In Osaka there's a batting center with a Hello Kitty pitching machine in which "Kitty-chan" pitches balls at batters. The word "boycott" comes from a person's name, Charles Boycott, an Irish landlord who was "boycotted" by the residents of his town over a land dispute. Flamingos are pink because they're fed special food containing shrimp meal to make them that color. Edison proposed to his second wife in Morse code. In 1948, Nagoya's baseball team the Dragons issued new uniforms with the name misspelled as "Doragons." Oh, and papaya seeds taste like wasabi when you bite down on them.
Each country is different, and the kinds of subjects that make good drama or comedy on television are probably just as unique. In Japan, one popular vehicle for depicting human drama is "juken hell," the period from summer to the following February when students in their third year of high school must study day and night if they have a hope of getting into their university of choice. Passing this test is the defining moment in the lives of Japanese students up to that point, and success means achieving your life's goals, while failure means a clouded future. One of my formative anime series was Kimagure Orange Road, a story about a love triangle between two girls, Hikaru and Ayukawa, and a guy, Kyosuke, who happens to be an esper with super powers that he can't let anyone find out about. The movie that resolves the long-running love triangle is set against the backdrop of Kyosuke and Ayukawa preparing for their all-important college exams, which adds an extra dimension of crisis to the story, since much more than just the feelings of the three people is at risk. There's one scene that I like because it's so uniquely Japanese, where a teacher yells at Kyosuke, "You in the back! Don't you know you're supposed to resolve all your problems d'amour by the second year of high school?" High school seniors in Japan are much too busy to worry about things like falling in love.
J-List is hiring! We've got a full-time position in our San Diego office for a motivated individual with skills and experience in the areas of marketing and managing wholesale accounts. Knowledge of the U.S. anime industry is a plus. For more information on the job opening, see this link. (While we usually only consider people already in the San Diego area, we are open to people who would be relocating from another part of the U.S., depending on your skills and experience in the anime industry.)
Here are today's "really cool products" that I thought were especially noteworthy. Note: the J-List links below may be for adult products and should probably be considered "not safe for work." To see all the J-List products, check out J-List or the JBOX.com updated products link.
Monday, August 21, 2006
The custom of gift-giving in Japan, the problem of Japanese forgetting kanji, and my kids' approach to bilingualism
One complex subject in Japan is that of gift giving. The Japanese are very much into exchanging gifts, and the goodwill that it creates provides a valuable social "lubrication" that makes all manner or personal and business relationships work more smoothly. In July and December there are two gift-giving seasons, when people will give gifts to thank teachers or others in the community to thank them for their past assistance. Predictably, these specially made gift boxes containing anything from coffee to cooking oil to laundry detergent are often passed on to others, with some gifts changing hands many times before they're actually used. This tradition of giving gifts exists in the business world too -- employees give gifts to their bosses right before bonus time, and companies exchange gifts too, thanking each other for their business. (This year we gave V-8 style canned vegetable juice to companies we have relationships with in Japan.) Incidentally, if you ever come to Japan, it's probably a good idea to bring some items to give out as gifts to people you might encounter here -- something representative of wherever you're from, or even a carton of cigarettes from your home country, always a popular item. (The smoking staff of J-List says that Newport Menthols are a good brand, since they're not sold here.)
There are four writing systems used in Japanese: hiragana and katakana, two syllable-based systems used to express Japanese and foreign words, respectively; the Roman alphabet, the "unofficial" writing system that everyone needs in order to function in society; and kanji, the complex ideographs imported from China through Korea in the 6th century A.D. You need to be able to read around 2000 kanji to be considered literate in Japan (not as bad as it sounds), and the government maintains a list of official "general use kanji" (常用漢字) that are used in books, newspapers, etc. One problem the Japanese are grappling with now is a sharp reduction in the ability to write kanji in the younger generations, because of devices like computers and "keitai" (portable) phones bring up the correct kanji for you automatically. As email and other forms of 21st Century-style communication change the daily lives of Japanese, the number of people who are unable to write kanji well is going up.
I'm writing this at Narita Airport right now, as my wife and I wait for our kids to arrive from the U.S. Our kids are quite interesting in how they handle speaking English and Japanese, and I've always loved observing their bilingual language growth. My daughter, who is very "going my way" (as the Japanese say, meaning that does things her own way), switches from Japanese to English mode almost the moment she arrives in the U.S., never letting something like not knowing what a certain word means get in the way of communication. She's extremely sociable in both languages, and makes friends with kids she's just met, something that's quite rare in Japan. My son is much more cautious in his approach to English, and if he's not sure of the correct usage of a certain vocabulary word or grammar point, he will usually choose to say nothing, which makes people assume he can't speak English even though he reads English at one grade above his current level. The lesson is clear: fear of making a mistake is the bane of the language learners, and it's far better to say the wrong thing than nothing.
Remember that J-List has posted the first of our incredible onslaught of 2007 Japanese calendars, a near-the-end-of-the-year tradition here going back to the very beginning a decade ago. We've got dozens of fantastic large-format calendars that are sold exclusively in the Japanese market on the site for you, with even more great calendars posted today, including views of Mt. Fuji, calendars that look like traditional kakejiku scrolls, beautiful women in kimonos, traditional Japanese rooms, fantastic art calendars by artists like Ichiro Tsuruta, and more. Our calendars make great gifts, too, for yourself or anyone else. Browse our selection now!
There are four writing systems used in Japanese: hiragana and katakana, two syllable-based systems used to express Japanese and foreign words, respectively; the Roman alphabet, the "unofficial" writing system that everyone needs in order to function in society; and kanji, the complex ideographs imported from China through Korea in the 6th century A.D. You need to be able to read around 2000 kanji to be considered literate in Japan (not as bad as it sounds), and the government maintains a list of official "general use kanji" (常用漢字) that are used in books, newspapers, etc. One problem the Japanese are grappling with now is a sharp reduction in the ability to write kanji in the younger generations, because of devices like computers and "keitai" (portable) phones bring up the correct kanji for you automatically. As email and other forms of 21st Century-style communication change the daily lives of Japanese, the number of people who are unable to write kanji well is going up.
I'm writing this at Narita Airport right now, as my wife and I wait for our kids to arrive from the U.S. Our kids are quite interesting in how they handle speaking English and Japanese, and I've always loved observing their bilingual language growth. My daughter, who is very "going my way" (as the Japanese say, meaning that does things her own way), switches from Japanese to English mode almost the moment she arrives in the U.S., never letting something like not knowing what a certain word means get in the way of communication. She's extremely sociable in both languages, and makes friends with kids she's just met, something that's quite rare in Japan. My son is much more cautious in his approach to English, and if he's not sure of the correct usage of a certain vocabulary word or grammar point, he will usually choose to say nothing, which makes people assume he can't speak English even though he reads English at one grade above his current level. The lesson is clear: fear of making a mistake is the bane of the language learners, and it's far better to say the wrong thing than nothing.
Remember that J-List has posted the first of our incredible onslaught of 2007 Japanese calendars, a near-the-end-of-the-year tradition here going back to the very beginning a decade ago. We've got dozens of fantastic large-format calendars that are sold exclusively in the Japanese market on the site for you, with even more great calendars posted today, including views of Mt. Fuji, calendars that look like traditional kakejiku scrolls, beautiful women in kimonos, traditional Japanese rooms, fantastic art calendars by artists like Ichiro Tsuruta, and more. Our calendars make great gifts, too, for yourself or anyone else. Browse our selection now!
Friday, August 18, 2006
Challenges of international marriage, housing issues in Japan, and all about Japanese bread (pan)
My wife and I face various daily challenges because of our kokusai kekkon, or international marriage. As an American I can never get completely comfortable with natto, the fermented soybeans she loves so much; and she'll always be frustrated by my inability to perform mugon ryokai, the "wordless communication" that somehow allows Japanese to send unspoken social signals to each other through the air. Our kids, however, are both American and Japanese, and they each have two passports to prove it. When a child is born to U.S. citizens living in Japan, they get automatic dual citizenship until they turn 20, allowing them to carry both Japanese and U.S. passports. Incidentally, I've lived in Japan for almost fifteen years and have permanent resident status, essentially a "green card" to live in Japan. I of course have the option of becoming a naturalized Japanese citizen, something that many "lifer" expats opt to do, but somehow the world seems a little more fun with me in it as an American rather than a Japanese.
One big area where Japan and the U.S. are different is housing. Houses are nearly always designed and built from scratch by construction companies, rather than made in blocks of similarly-designed homes as is usually the case in places like California. Land is never very plentiful in Japan, especially in areas where people would actually want to live, and partially because of this people tend to develop an attachment to land rather than their home. Since "used" houses don't have resale value like they do in the rest of the world, it's quite common for Japanese to tear their houses down and have new ones built every 15-20 years. Although the Japanese are fluent in the metric system, they always measure homes in tsubo, a unit of measurement that's equal to two tatami mats, or approximately 3.3 square meters, and prices for home construction are usually expressed "per tsubo" (with the average being around $2500 per tsubo to build a house). Home construction is a huge business in Japan, and every day you can see commercials from established companies trying to make you want to trade in your ratty old home for a fresh, new one built by them. Some companies show elephants standing on the second floor of their houses to show how sturdy they are, or hire famous stars like Ichiro Suzuki to promote their companies. Some companies you may have heard of are involved in home construction in Japan, including Toyota Home (Toyota) and PanaHome (Panasonic).
Although rice is the famous staple food of Japan, eaten with almost every meal, the Japanese are no slouches when it comes to bread. Called pan in Japanese, from the Portuguese who introduced it to Japan, the are dozens of varieties of bread here, available from national bakery companies as well as smaller bakeries that deliver fresh-baked right to shoppers. Often what the Japanese call "bread" would qualify as a doughnut to most of us, such as the famous Anpan, round bread with different types of Japanese sweet beans inside, or Melon Pan, essentially a large piece of sweetened bread that looks like a honeydew melon cut in half -- or like a brain, which is why Japanese say eating it will make you smart. One of my favorite types of Japanese pan is Curry Pan, fried bread with spicy curry inside, yum. They have "regular" bread in Japan, too, of course, and there's one benefit over U.S. supermarket-fare: you can buy a loaf of bread with 8, 6 or 4 slices (I recommend the latter if you like really thick French Toast). If you're a fan of Re-Ment, the company that makes incredibly detailed miniatures of food and other products, check out the new Homemade Bakery series we've just posted!
We've been tweaking our new search feature, which provides more accurate, weighted search results, and we've added some new functionality, including the ability to search for specific strings by putting quotes around the search term (entering "loose socks" with quotes searches for this exact string), and omit results (loose socks -glue, which will show all results containing "loose socks" but not the word "glue"). Incidentally, the new search system broke our "top 5" pages that indicate the most popular products on the site, but we've gotten it fixed and back on the main pages of J-List and JBOX.com.
Announcing the start of 2007 Calendar Season! Every year about this time, J-List starts taking preorders for the outstanding calendars from Japan, which are printed exclusively for the Japanese market. The calendars we sell every year come in two volleys: first, we post dozens of amazing calendars that capture the natural beauty of Japan; the delicate imagery of a tea garden; the aesthetic beauty of Japanese sushi or bento; kanji calendars for students; gorgeous bikini idols like Aki Hoshino; and fantastic other calendars like the best-selling "Onsen Girls." Most of the JPOP and anime calendars will be posted in a couple weeks. Please browse the amazing calendars we've got on the site for you now!
Each month, J-List offers a "PC dating-sim game of the month," allowing you to explore this amazing genre of entertainment from Japan at a special price. This month's game is Target: Pheromone, a great title from Trabulance in which you must help a witch from another dimension get home, which you do by collecting female, er, pheromones. A fun interactive game with a story that you control. Buy it as a shrinkwrapped package or download (the download is just $19.95).
One big area where Japan and the U.S. are different is housing. Houses are nearly always designed and built from scratch by construction companies, rather than made in blocks of similarly-designed homes as is usually the case in places like California. Land is never very plentiful in Japan, especially in areas where people would actually want to live, and partially because of this people tend to develop an attachment to land rather than their home. Since "used" houses don't have resale value like they do in the rest of the world, it's quite common for Japanese to tear their houses down and have new ones built every 15-20 years. Although the Japanese are fluent in the metric system, they always measure homes in tsubo, a unit of measurement that's equal to two tatami mats, or approximately 3.3 square meters, and prices for home construction are usually expressed "per tsubo" (with the average being around $2500 per tsubo to build a house). Home construction is a huge business in Japan, and every day you can see commercials from established companies trying to make you want to trade in your ratty old home for a fresh, new one built by them. Some companies show elephants standing on the second floor of their houses to show how sturdy they are, or hire famous stars like Ichiro Suzuki to promote their companies. Some companies you may have heard of are involved in home construction in Japan, including Toyota Home (Toyota) and PanaHome (Panasonic).
Although rice is the famous staple food of Japan, eaten with almost every meal, the Japanese are no slouches when it comes to bread. Called pan in Japanese, from the Portuguese who introduced it to Japan, the are dozens of varieties of bread here, available from national bakery companies as well as smaller bakeries that deliver fresh-baked right to shoppers. Often what the Japanese call "bread" would qualify as a doughnut to most of us, such as the famous Anpan, round bread with different types of Japanese sweet beans inside, or Melon Pan, essentially a large piece of sweetened bread that looks like a honeydew melon cut in half -- or like a brain, which is why Japanese say eating it will make you smart. One of my favorite types of Japanese pan is Curry Pan, fried bread with spicy curry inside, yum. They have "regular" bread in Japan, too, of course, and there's one benefit over U.S. supermarket-fare: you can buy a loaf of bread with 8, 6 or 4 slices (I recommend the latter if you like really thick French Toast). If you're a fan of Re-Ment, the company that makes incredibly detailed miniatures of food and other products, check out the new Homemade Bakery series we've just posted!
We've been tweaking our new search feature, which provides more accurate, weighted search results, and we've added some new functionality, including the ability to search for specific strings by putting quotes around the search term (entering "loose socks" with quotes searches for this exact string), and omit results (loose socks -glue, which will show all results containing "loose socks" but not the word "glue"). Incidentally, the new search system broke our "top 5" pages that indicate the most popular products on the site, but we've gotten it fixed and back on the main pages of J-List and JBOX.com.
Announcing the start of 2007 Calendar Season! Every year about this time, J-List starts taking preorders for the outstanding calendars from Japan, which are printed exclusively for the Japanese market. The calendars we sell every year come in two volleys: first, we post dozens of amazing calendars that capture the natural beauty of Japan; the delicate imagery of a tea garden; the aesthetic beauty of Japanese sushi or bento; kanji calendars for students; gorgeous bikini idols like Aki Hoshino; and fantastic other calendars like the best-selling "Onsen Girls." Most of the JPOP and anime calendars will be posted in a couple weeks. Please browse the amazing calendars we've got on the site for you now!
Each month, J-List offers a "PC dating-sim game of the month," allowing you to explore this amazing genre of entertainment from Japan at a special price. This month's game is Target: Pheromone, a great title from Trabulance in which you must help a witch from another dimension get home, which you do by collecting female, er, pheromones. A fun interactive game with a story that you control. Buy it as a shrinkwrapped package or download (the download is just $19.95).
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
My wife's new respect for Johnny Depp, 15 minutes of fame for Baby Gorilla and Pyupa, and High School Baseball in Japan
Something odd happened while I was in the States: my wife decided that Johnny Depp was the neatest thing since pre-molded sushi. She didn't come to that conclusion by watching his many films, which are of course entertaining, but because of an interview he gave to two fifth-grade students from my son's school, which teaches the standard Japanese curriculum but with most classes in English rather than Japanese. Since the experimental school started, it's gotten quite a lot of attention from the mass-komi (the Japanese media, from the English word "mass communications"), and over the summer they were visited by members of V6, one of the more interesting Japanese pop singer groups from the Johnny's Entertainment talent agency. After trying and failing to follow some of the classes in English, the V6 guys chose two students -- whose nicknames were Baby Gorilla and Pyupa, don't ask me why -- for a special task: they would interview Johnny Depp in English and try to make the usually serious actor burst out laughing.
As the Japan release date for Pirates 2 approached, Mr. Depp came to Japan to promote the film. Like many a Hollywood star before him, he was accompanied by Natsuko Toda, the famous movie subtitle translator who is so in demand that her personal schedule can affect the worldwide release dates of major films. (Her unfamiliarity with Tolkien caused much rending of garments by fans when she messed up the subtitles for the Lord of the Rings films.) When the time came for the sit-down interview, the kids asked various questions, then put on a show employing various gags about pirates with smelly socks in their treasure chests. They got their laugh, and Mr. Depp told them that was the best interview he'd ever done, which thrilled the kids no end. While my wife was a little disappointed that our son wasn't chosen for the interview -- he's way too shy, and has an unfair advantage over the other kids when it comes to speaking English -- she was impressed by the actor's kindness with the boys. It was an experience Baby Gorilla and Pyupa will never forget.
(Oh my! It's already on YouTube. Click here to see the interview.)
There are many popular sports in Japan, including pro baseball, soccer, judo, volleyball, and the official national sport of the country, sumo wrestling. But for millions of Japanese sports fans the most thrilling game on TV is high school baseball. Every August, teams from each of Japan's 47 prefectures fight for the right to go to the national baseball championships held at the legendary Koshien (koh-SHE-en) Stadium near Osaka, Japan's oldest baseball stadium, dating back to 1924. To go to Koshien is the dream of every young ball player, and it has a positive effect on the future careers of thousands of young men every year, whether they go on to play professionally or not. All games are televised and get huge ratings as baseball fans, especially middle-aged men reliving their youth, closely follow all the action. This year our prefecture of Gunma is represented by Kiryu First High School, but they got eliminated early on (oh well). (Of course, any discussion of Koshien should involve Touch, the best manga and anime on the subject. Here's a link for you to check out if you want to know more about this show, which has done so much for me over the years.)
Everyone loves the DVD movie format, but we don't love Hollywood confusing things with their region code system. America and Canada are region 1, but imported films from Japan and Europe are often zoned for region 2, meaning to watch these films you'll need a special player. Happily, J-List carries excellent region-free players that are great for any use. We're happy to announce a new addition to our DVD player lineup, the RJ800 from Rjtech, a sleek DVD player that will handle any discs you want to throw at it, including PAL discs, discs from any region, DVD-R/RW media and more. This player is extra cool because it also plays all versions of DIVX/MP4/AVI, allowing you to burn your favorite movies onto DVD-R media and watch them on the big screen. In addition to this great new player, we've lowered prices on all our other players, including our top of the line DVD7050 (also DIVX capable) and the outstanding portable M280 (complete with battery and 7 inch screen).
J-List strives to bring you cool things from Japan every day. One category of product we love are the pre-painted anime figures that are so fun to display, perfect 3-D versions of Japan's amazing anime style, and already painted and ready to show off. Today we've got one of my all-time favorite series, the Mecha Musume line from Fumikane Shimada, which joins incredibly cute "bishoujo" female characters with World War II mechs, including RAF planes, Wiermacht tanks, you name it. Full sets in stock!
As the Japan release date for Pirates 2 approached, Mr. Depp came to Japan to promote the film. Like many a Hollywood star before him, he was accompanied by Natsuko Toda, the famous movie subtitle translator who is so in demand that her personal schedule can affect the worldwide release dates of major films. (Her unfamiliarity with Tolkien caused much rending of garments by fans when she messed up the subtitles for the Lord of the Rings films.) When the time came for the sit-down interview, the kids asked various questions, then put on a show employing various gags about pirates with smelly socks in their treasure chests. They got their laugh, and Mr. Depp told them that was the best interview he'd ever done, which thrilled the kids no end. While my wife was a little disappointed that our son wasn't chosen for the interview -- he's way too shy, and has an unfair advantage over the other kids when it comes to speaking English -- she was impressed by the actor's kindness with the boys. It was an experience Baby Gorilla and Pyupa will never forget.
(Oh my! It's already on YouTube. Click here to see the interview.)
There are many popular sports in Japan, including pro baseball, soccer, judo, volleyball, and the official national sport of the country, sumo wrestling. But for millions of Japanese sports fans the most thrilling game on TV is high school baseball. Every August, teams from each of Japan's 47 prefectures fight for the right to go to the national baseball championships held at the legendary Koshien (koh-SHE-en) Stadium near Osaka, Japan's oldest baseball stadium, dating back to 1924. To go to Koshien is the dream of every young ball player, and it has a positive effect on the future careers of thousands of young men every year, whether they go on to play professionally or not. All games are televised and get huge ratings as baseball fans, especially middle-aged men reliving their youth, closely follow all the action. This year our prefecture of Gunma is represented by Kiryu First High School, but they got eliminated early on (oh well). (Of course, any discussion of Koshien should involve Touch, the best manga and anime on the subject. Here's a link for you to check out if you want to know more about this show, which has done so much for me over the years.)
Everyone loves the DVD movie format, but we don't love Hollywood confusing things with their region code system. America and Canada are region 1, but imported films from Japan and Europe are often zoned for region 2, meaning to watch these films you'll need a special player. Happily, J-List carries excellent region-free players that are great for any use. We're happy to announce a new addition to our DVD player lineup, the RJ800 from Rjtech, a sleek DVD player that will handle any discs you want to throw at it, including PAL discs, discs from any region, DVD-R/RW media and more. This player is extra cool because it also plays all versions of DIVX/MP4/AVI, allowing you to burn your favorite movies onto DVD-R media and watch them on the big screen. In addition to this great new player, we've lowered prices on all our other players, including our top of the line DVD7050 (also DIVX capable) and the outstanding portable M280 (complete with battery and 7 inch screen).
J-List strives to bring you cool things from Japan every day. One category of product we love are the pre-painted anime figures that are so fun to display, perfect 3-D versions of Japan's amazing anime style, and already painted and ready to show off. Today we've got one of my all-time favorite series, the Mecha Musume line from Fumikane Shimada, which joins incredibly cute "bishoujo" female characters with World War II mechs, including RAF planes, Wiermacht tanks, you name it. Full sets in stock!
Nice to be back in Japan. Oh look, what does that sign say?
Oh, black currant and vinegar juice! I must be back in Japan!
This is a "regular" drink cup in Japan, for what it's worth. In this case it held "soft cream" (soft serve ice cream), which I love to eat when I get off the plane and into hot Japan.
I was surprised to find corn flakes in my cup. It was a pleasant twist on my ice cream.
Next up...Peter goes to Washington!
Monday, August 14, 2006
August and Yasukuni Shrine, a very Buddhist holiday, and small drinks and Japanese girls' butts
Well, I've made my little hop across the Pacific, and am once again in hot, humid, kawaii Japan. When people hear that the flight to Japan is around ten hours they usually offer me their condolences, but I don't mind it at all: it's much better than flying inside the U.S. at least, with extra-cramped seats, $5 drinks and multiple connections to your destination. In this wonderful age of MacBooks and iPods that we live in, there's always plenty to do to amuse yourself inside the plane. Now that I've been back for twenty-four hours, have gotten through my "shocked at the smallness of the drinks and of the buttocks on Japanese woman walking in front of me" culture shock phase, and have gotten up at 5 am thanks to jet lag, I'm ready for a J-List update.
Besides being hot as hell, August is a solemn month in Japan. In addition to the anniversaries of the two atomic bombings, August 15 marks Japan's official defeat in World War II, and like every August in recent years, the issue of Yasukuni Shrine is in the news. Will Prime Minister Koizumi make an official visit, or won't he? How will China and Korea react? It's really a sticky wicket for Japan: there is no Arlington National Cemetery, no Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, no place that citizens to pay respects those who died for their country other than Yasukuni Shrine, a beautiful traditional Shinto shrine located in Tokyo. Since the ashes of fourteen Class-A war criminals including Hideki Tojo are interred at the shrine, there's always controversy when the Prime Minister makes a visit. The situation seems not unlike the occasional uproar over the Confederate flag flying over state capitals in the American South (to put it in some kind of context), and there's plenty of pride and history on both sides, making it a difficult problem to solve. Except for a very tiny portion of the country that drives around in trucks blasting right-wing World War II songs and making fools of themselves, I've never known the Japanese to defend anything they did during World War II, or say it was okay at all. It's true that South Korea and China both use the Yasukuni visits partially for political reasons, since calling attention to the mote in Japan's eye diverts it from the beams in their own. It's a shame there can't be more understanding on both sides, and less politics.
August is also time for one of the major Japanese Buddhist holidays, Obon, essentially a three-day holiday during which the souls of the dead are thought to come home for a visit. Obon is a time when Japanese head to their "real home" (the house where their family's Buddhist altar is located, usually their parents' home), spend time with everyone, and do haka-mairi, visiting the graves of dead family members to say hello, leave flowers, wash dirt off the gravestones, and so on. Japanese Buddhism, more than Buddhism practiced in other countries, is all about remembering your ancestors, since (as my wife has told me passionately), "without your ancestors, you wouldn't be here at all." Obon season is also a time for festivals, including a famous style of dance Bon-odori (as seen in Karate Kid II, if you'll forgive the reference). Since millions of city-dwellers take advantage of the Obon holidays to return home, cities like Tokyo are transformed into relative ghost towns during this season.
Besides being hot as hell, August is a solemn month in Japan. In addition to the anniversaries of the two atomic bombings, August 15 marks Japan's official defeat in World War II, and like every August in recent years, the issue of Yasukuni Shrine is in the news. Will Prime Minister Koizumi make an official visit, or won't he? How will China and Korea react? It's really a sticky wicket for Japan: there is no Arlington National Cemetery, no Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, no place that citizens to pay respects those who died for their country other than Yasukuni Shrine, a beautiful traditional Shinto shrine located in Tokyo. Since the ashes of fourteen Class-A war criminals including Hideki Tojo are interred at the shrine, there's always controversy when the Prime Minister makes a visit. The situation seems not unlike the occasional uproar over the Confederate flag flying over state capitals in the American South (to put it in some kind of context), and there's plenty of pride and history on both sides, making it a difficult problem to solve. Except for a very tiny portion of the country that drives around in trucks blasting right-wing World War II songs and making fools of themselves, I've never known the Japanese to defend anything they did during World War II, or say it was okay at all. It's true that South Korea and China both use the Yasukuni visits partially for political reasons, since calling attention to the mote in Japan's eye diverts it from the beams in their own. It's a shame there can't be more understanding on both sides, and less politics.
August is also time for one of the major Japanese Buddhist holidays, Obon, essentially a three-day holiday during which the souls of the dead are thought to come home for a visit. Obon is a time when Japanese head to their "real home" (the house where their family's Buddhist altar is located, usually their parents' home), spend time with everyone, and do haka-mairi, visiting the graves of dead family members to say hello, leave flowers, wash dirt off the gravestones, and so on. Japanese Buddhism, more than Buddhism practiced in other countries, is all about remembering your ancestors, since (as my wife has told me passionately), "without your ancestors, you wouldn't be here at all." Obon season is also a time for festivals, including a famous style of dance Bon-odori (as seen in Karate Kid II, if you'll forgive the reference). Since millions of city-dwellers take advantage of the Obon holidays to return home, cities like Tokyo are transformed into relative ghost towns during this season.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Understanding Japan through job resumes, reflections on the word "otaku" and Obi-Wan on our "point of view"
One way to compare Japan's more structured society with the U.S. and Europe is to look at the standardized Japanese resume form, called rirekisho (ree- REK-sho, "employment history form"). When you want to apply for a job in Japan, be it for a truck driver or sushi chef or computer programmer, you drop by a stationery store, pick up one of these standardized forms and fill it out by hand. Virtually everything that's important about you is recorded on the form: name, address, past school and career history, what special certificates or qualifications you've got, and so on. There's also a place to affix a photo so potential employers can see what you look like, always in the same place on every form. Some information isn't recorded, of course, like blood type, since employers might have biases about people of a certain blood type. The form is very different from the open-ended way job resumes are prepared in the U.S., usually a single sheet that succinctly describes a person's school and work history and career goals. Unlike the Japanese resume form, there's no set format for a resume in the States, and there are thousands of variables that could affect how yours might look. Plain font or fancy? Colored paper? Traditional layout or something more eye-catching? What level of information to include? It can boggle the mind, and I'm sure that Japanese who have to write English resumes for any reason have lots of trouble knowing where to start.
Obi-Wan was right: much of the way we view the world depends greatly on our own point of view, and how you look at a complex country like Japan is the same. You can approach Japan from many angles, learning about the country through martial arts, Zen Buddhism, toy culture, JPOP and JROCK, origami, Japanese TV dramas, and so on. Like many in the current generation, I got interested in Japan through anime, drawn in by the dramatic stories that saw actual resolution, and characters who actually died. When I started studying Japanese, I knew I needed input in the language, so I began reading manga like the Rumiko Takahashi classic Maison Ikkoku, the story of a poor college student's long efforts to woo the widow who runs his apartment. Studying Japanese through manga is especially good, since almost everything is spoken dialogue that can be digested and used as-is. I also embraced karaoke as a way to approach the contry, going to Japanese restaurants in San Diego and memorizing the songs and the kanji that displayed on the screen. The many fascinating aspects of Japan are like bridges over the sea, allowing us to walk right up and say hello.
At Otakon I talked on several panels, including one on "trends in otaku culture in Japan," where I got a lot of questions about the word otaku itself. Although it's come to equal "anime fan" or "anime geek" here in the West and serve as a badge of honor for those who revere Japanese popular culture, the word otaku is originally a polite word meaning "you" or "your family." It's kind of a "housewife word," with the most common usage being between housewives in the neighborhood. Urayamashii ne, otaku no ko wa mainichi benkyo, one might say to another, meaning "I really envy you, your son studies everyday." (Japanese are into praising each other's kids while putting their own kids down in front of others, it's a humility thing.) The word became used to refer to people who obsessed over anime in the 1990s when Gainax release their classic Otaku no Video, which documents one character's slide from "normalcy" into otakuhood. More than any other animation company, Gainax has helped create a self-aware "otaku" generation (and we thank them for it).
J-List has a great line of wacky Japanese T-shirts, which present funny or aesthetically beautiful kanji shirt designs for you. We've got dozens of shirts for guys and girls, as well as great hoodies for the cooler months, in stock for you, all printed here in San Diego by our dedicated staff. We're always closing out designs to make room for others, so if you like the look of one of our shirts, you might want to get before the design is cycled out in favor of new ideas. We've recently reduced the price of some of our close-out shirts, including a cool shirt that teaches you some Japanese words and culture. Why not browse our great T-shirts today?
Obi-Wan was right: much of the way we view the world depends greatly on our own point of view, and how you look at a complex country like Japan is the same. You can approach Japan from many angles, learning about the country through martial arts, Zen Buddhism, toy culture, JPOP and JROCK, origami, Japanese TV dramas, and so on. Like many in the current generation, I got interested in Japan through anime, drawn in by the dramatic stories that saw actual resolution, and characters who actually died. When I started studying Japanese, I knew I needed input in the language, so I began reading manga like the Rumiko Takahashi classic Maison Ikkoku, the story of a poor college student's long efforts to woo the widow who runs his apartment. Studying Japanese through manga is especially good, since almost everything is spoken dialogue that can be digested and used as-is. I also embraced karaoke as a way to approach the contry, going to Japanese restaurants in San Diego and memorizing the songs and the kanji that displayed on the screen. The many fascinating aspects of Japan are like bridges over the sea, allowing us to walk right up and say hello.
At Otakon I talked on several panels, including one on "trends in otaku culture in Japan," where I got a lot of questions about the word otaku itself. Although it's come to equal "anime fan" or "anime geek" here in the West and serve as a badge of honor for those who revere Japanese popular culture, the word otaku is originally a polite word meaning "you" or "your family." It's kind of a "housewife word," with the most common usage being between housewives in the neighborhood. Urayamashii ne, otaku no ko wa mainichi benkyo, one might say to another, meaning "I really envy you, your son studies everyday." (Japanese are into praising each other's kids while putting their own kids down in front of others, it's a humility thing.) The word became used to refer to people who obsessed over anime in the 1990s when Gainax release their classic Otaku no Video, which documents one character's slide from "normalcy" into otakuhood. More than any other animation company, Gainax has helped create a self-aware "otaku" generation (and we thank them for it).
J-List has a great line of wacky Japanese T-shirts, which present funny or aesthetically beautiful kanji shirt designs for you. We've got dozens of shirts for guys and girls, as well as great hoodies for the cooler months, in stock for you, all printed here in San Diego by our dedicated staff. We're always closing out designs to make room for others, so if you like the look of one of our shirts, you might want to get before the design is cycled out in favor of new ideas. We've recently reduced the price of some of our close-out shirts, including a cool shirt that teaches you some Japanese words and culture. Why not browse our great T-shirts today?
Some more pictures from the show. I was hanging out in Artist Alley a lot, snapping picturs and handing out our world-famous J-List tissues.
Now this guy has had a great idea!
Another nice costume...
This wounded Gundam holds and sign that says, "Will shoot Zakus for anime."
I'm so glad I'm a father. I know I wouldn't be able to enjoy the Harry Potter books as much if it weren't for being able to read the books through my kids' eyes.
Wow, old school. Hey, were these guys even born when Speed Racer was on the air?
Someone was distributing deodorant to random fans, and one girl gave this to me. I was mildly offended.
All too true, all too true...
This was taken before the show, when we were on our way back from a trip to Virginia. You gotta love their moxy.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
More reflections on "freedom" and how it relates to James Dean, my trip to the Moon, and Japanese "standing nails"
Well, Otakon has passed and we're safely back in San Diego, our long, multi-stage vacation across America finally over. After finishing up at the convention, we spent Sunday in D.C. so that my son could see the many amazing sights there. We started with the Capital and walked all the way to the Lincoln Memorial ("the place from Planet of the Apes"), taking in various monuments along the way. One of the challenges of raising a child who's both American and Japanese is exposing him to the cultural knowledge Americans take for granted, George Washington chopping down the cherry tree and all that. I had my work cut out for me, explaining the history of the nation mainly through the presidents that appear on the U.S. currency and trying to impress upon him why archaic language like "four score and seven years ago" is important We capped off our day at one of my favorite places in the world, the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, took in the great aeronautical achievements of the past century, went to the moon courtesy of IMAX, and did the requisite touching of the moon rock. It was a great memory.
I talked last time about what the idea of "freedom" might mean to the Japanese, at least the students I taught English to. In general Japan is what's known as heiwa-boke (hay-WAH BOH-kay), roughly meaning "going soft in the head from too much peace." Japan has spent the last six decades completely free of war, with the exception of peacekeeping efforts in Cambodia and now Iraq. I grew up with ideas from the American Revolution like "the tree of liberty, from time to time, must be replenished with the blood of patriots and tyrants" (Jefferson), but Kim Jung-il notwithstanding, Japan has very little in the way of external threats to its liberty that would make people think about what "freedom" might mean in the larger, philosophical sense. So "freedom" comes to mean the freedom to do the things they're not allowed to do in Japan, like wear the clothes they want to school (almost all junior high and high schools have required uniforms), the freedom to drive or work a part-time job (forbidden for students), freedom to listen to rockabilly music, or freedom to imitate your heroes on Hollywood. I definitely feel lucky as an American to have a better idea of what "freedom" should really mean.
I'm always interested in Japanese who recognize the limitations of Japan's more structured society and find ways around them. One person I knew had finally gotten into Aoyama University in Tokyo, a prestigious private school, after years of preparation and study. Once in the school, he found...nothing that interested him. It's common for Japanese university students to study very hard to pass a school's entrance exam, then play around for four years while they wait to graduate, and that's what he saw happening. So he dropped out -- how scandalous! -- and restarted his university career in Oregon, enjoying a much broader education in the U.S. and perfecting his English in the process. America is very much an open plain, with little in the way of established social grooves that people feel they must move through, as in Japan, and this suited my friend very well. One of the famous sayings in Japan is deru kui wa utareru, or "the standing nail will be hammered down," meaning that people who stick out will usually be brought into line with social norms in the end. If you were to make a list of Japanese who have done really outstanding things over the past century, I'm sure you'd see that most or all of them were very much "standing nails." I'm sure my friend will do great things in the future.
We're rolling out the first of our new improvements to the J-List website, a new search feature that includes weighted search results that should be more accurate. We're still working on the system, so if you have any feedback, please pass it along to us. Look for more improvements to J-List in the coming weeks and months!
Do you have a website? Do you like J-List's style? If so we hope you'll consider the Friends of J-List, our little program that makes it worth your while to link to J-List or JBOX.com. You have complete control over what products or categories you link to, and can check all stats in real-time. For more information, check out our info page.
I talked last time about what the idea of "freedom" might mean to the Japanese, at least the students I taught English to. In general Japan is what's known as heiwa-boke (hay-WAH BOH-kay), roughly meaning "going soft in the head from too much peace." Japan has spent the last six decades completely free of war, with the exception of peacekeeping efforts in Cambodia and now Iraq. I grew up with ideas from the American Revolution like "the tree of liberty, from time to time, must be replenished with the blood of patriots and tyrants" (Jefferson), but Kim Jung-il notwithstanding, Japan has very little in the way of external threats to its liberty that would make people think about what "freedom" might mean in the larger, philosophical sense. So "freedom" comes to mean the freedom to do the things they're not allowed to do in Japan, like wear the clothes they want to school (almost all junior high and high schools have required uniforms), the freedom to drive or work a part-time job (forbidden for students), freedom to listen to rockabilly music, or freedom to imitate your heroes on Hollywood. I definitely feel lucky as an American to have a better idea of what "freedom" should really mean.
I'm always interested in Japanese who recognize the limitations of Japan's more structured society and find ways around them. One person I knew had finally gotten into Aoyama University in Tokyo, a prestigious private school, after years of preparation and study. Once in the school, he found...nothing that interested him. It's common for Japanese university students to study very hard to pass a school's entrance exam, then play around for four years while they wait to graduate, and that's what he saw happening. So he dropped out -- how scandalous! -- and restarted his university career in Oregon, enjoying a much broader education in the U.S. and perfecting his English in the process. America is very much an open plain, with little in the way of established social grooves that people feel they must move through, as in Japan, and this suited my friend very well. One of the famous sayings in Japan is deru kui wa utareru, or "the standing nail will be hammered down," meaning that people who stick out will usually be brought into line with social norms in the end. If you were to make a list of Japanese who have done really outstanding things over the past century, I'm sure you'd see that most or all of them were very much "standing nails." I'm sure my friend will do great things in the future.
We're rolling out the first of our new improvements to the J-List website, a new search feature that includes weighted search results that should be more accurate. We're still working on the system, so if you have any feedback, please pass it along to us. Look for more improvements to J-List in the coming weeks and months!
Do you have a website? Do you like J-List's style? If so we hope you'll consider the Friends of J-List, our little program that makes it worth your while to link to J-List or JBOX.com. You have complete control over what products or categories you link to, and can check all stats in real-time. For more information, check out our info page.
Neo and Smith and one of our T-shirts in the background there.
Speaking of our shirts, they were there, even though J-List wasn't represented officially at any booth.
Cosplayers from Animamundi, wow.
Ulp, $5 for ramune? That's ridiculous in the extreme.
Friday, August 04, 2006
Observations on America as a "free" country, what that means to the Japanese, and questions about Burger King and Dairy Queen
My son and I continue to enjoy our mini-vacation here in Baltimore, and it's been fun to watch his reactions to various things here. We went swimming the other day to try and get away from the heat (ha!), and one of his observations was that America is more "free" than Japan -- fewer rules to follow resulting in more fun, from his 11-year-old point of view. When you go swimming in Japan, there are plenty of rules to follow -- everyone must wear a swimming cap and must shower for 2-3 minutes before going in, no one may dive or even jump in from the poolside for any reason, parents must keep within an arm's reach of children until they're a certain height no matter how well they can swim, and of course kids may not horse around by seeing how high they can jump off Dad's shoulders into the pool. But we had a great time swimming here, and even tried our hand at the high dive, a very rare thing in Japan, a country where all the pools contain uniformly shallow water for maximum safety for swimmers. (Another random observation my son made to me: if Burger King married Dairy Queen, would their child would be Jack in the Box?)
The idea that America is more "free" than Japan is one I've encountered quite often during my ESL teaching days. Japanese students, tired of Japan's stricter, more structured society, often pine for life in America, which is "free" and therefore good. In what way is America freer than Japan, I would ask, always eager to teach a lesson on a subject that interests my students rather than working from an ESL text. In America, there are fewer rules and more personal freedom, the answer would come back. No uniforms in junior high and high school. Most Americans start driving at age 16, not 18 as in Japan, and young people don't have to pony up $3000 or more for a month-long driving school to get their license. In American there's less pressure to fit into neat little holes the society has prepared for you. No doubt the image of America being "free" was helped along by Harley Davidson slogans and Jack Daniels marketing campaigns, so it's hard to tell which perceptions are real and which are imagined, but it was always interesting debating what "freedom" meant to to the Japanese.
A "yankee" can be many things. To someone from the American South, the word refers to someone from the North, or maybe any American not from the South -- is that a hint of Japan-style in-group/out-group labeling I detect? If you're traveling abroad, you're a "yank" even if you hail from Alabama or Georgia. But in Japan, the word yankee (perhaps more accurately written yankii to keep the concepts separate) refers to a "bad kid," a street punk like the biker gang in the anime film Akira. Also called furyo" (lit. "not good) or boso-zoku (meaning "violent tribe"), the term yankii no doubt comes from the penchant these misguided youths have for dying their hair blonde, or at least orange-blonde, which is what color it usually ends up as. It's considered quite normal for a Japanese young man to go through a phase where he rebels against society, and this is sometimes expressed as dressing tough and acting like he came out of a 1950's drive-in flick. It's embarrassing to say it, but the whole yankii thing can be traced sociologically to James Dean's famous film Rebel Without a Cause, just as the seed for all "magical girl" anime from Minky Momo to Sailor Moon can be traced to the popularity of Bewitched when it showed on Japanese TV. It's funny how everything in the world influences everything else...no country is an island, not even an island like Japan.
This month's "Game of the Month" is Target: Pheromone, a wacky 2-disc release from G-Collections. Silk is a witch who needs to return to her own dimension, and she needs your help. You must collect female pheromones for her to make her magic work, and to do this she puts all the women around you under your spell. Can you help Silk get home? A great game from Japanese publisher Trabulance. Special pricing on this outstanding game, this month only!
Remember that J-List carries dozens of amazing Domo-kun products for you, more than any other company in the world, we're pretty sure. Domo-kun is the ultra-cute spokesmonster for the "BS" (broadcast satellite) TV network operated by NHK, the BBC of Japan, and he's as cute a monster as you could ever hope to see. We're proud to bring you an incredible selection of Domo-kun products, with plush toys (including the giant huggable Domo-kun, the largest ever sold), Domo-kun straps for your phone, and a favorite of mine, the Domo-kun business card holder. Note that these items are very rare and are starting to disappear (already one of my favorite items, the Domo-kun business card holder, is out of stock for good, sob).
The idea that America is more "free" than Japan is one I've encountered quite often during my ESL teaching days. Japanese students, tired of Japan's stricter, more structured society, often pine for life in America, which is "free" and therefore good. In what way is America freer than Japan, I would ask, always eager to teach a lesson on a subject that interests my students rather than working from an ESL text. In America, there are fewer rules and more personal freedom, the answer would come back. No uniforms in junior high and high school. Most Americans start driving at age 16, not 18 as in Japan, and young people don't have to pony up $3000 or more for a month-long driving school to get their license. In American there's less pressure to fit into neat little holes the society has prepared for you. No doubt the image of America being "free" was helped along by Harley Davidson slogans and Jack Daniels marketing campaigns, so it's hard to tell which perceptions are real and which are imagined, but it was always interesting debating what "freedom" meant to to the Japanese.
This month's "Game of the Month" is Target: Pheromone, a wacky 2-disc release from G-Collections. Silk is a witch who needs to return to her own dimension, and she needs your help. You must collect female pheromones for her to make her magic work, and to do this she puts all the women around you under your spell. Can you help Silk get home? A great game from Japanese publisher Trabulance. Special pricing on this outstanding game, this month only!
Remember that J-List carries dozens of amazing Domo-kun products for you, more than any other company in the world, we're pretty sure. Domo-kun is the ultra-cute spokesmonster for the "BS" (broadcast satellite) TV network operated by NHK, the BBC of Japan, and he's as cute a monster as you could ever hope to see. We're proud to bring you an incredible selection of Domo-kun products, with plush toys (including the giant huggable Domo-kun, the largest ever sold), Domo-kun straps for your phone, and a favorite of mine, the Domo-kun business card holder. Note that these items are very rare and are starting to disappear (already one of my favorite items, the Domo-kun business card holder, is out of stock for good, sob).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)