The "Correct" Way To Do Things in Japan

One theme I write a lot about is how there's exactly one "correct" way to do things in Japan -- a correct way for students to sit at their desk while in school, a specific stroke order that every kanji character must be written in, and so on. There's even exactly one "correct" way to hold chopsticks, and it's common for Japanese to have lengthy discussions over dinner about someone who holds their chopsticks in a "funny" way. I came face-to-face with this "universal correctness" when the time came to get my Japanese driver's license, which required me to drive a long course without making any errors at all (it took me 11 attempts to finally pass). A symbol of the Japanese approach to how to do things can be seen in the marks they make on paper when counting objects. While most Westerners count by drawing sets of five "chicken scratch" lines, the Japanese draw the five-stroke character for honesty and correctness (tadashii).

If you've ever lived in Japan (and maybe if you haven't), you probably bristle at having one "right" way to do things. If so, tell us about it here.

There's one "correct" way to do things, including hold chopsticks.

Japan Voice Actor Ranking TV Show

The Japanese are fans of "ranking" TV shows that rank famous products for you, and it's not hard to find variety shows that search out the most delicious gyoza, ramen or ekiben (train station bento) from around Japan and rank it for you. The other day I caught a different kind of ranking show: they asked 100 currently working anime voice actors to choose the 25 seiyu who had inspired them the most, a list that included the voices of such legendary characters as Crayon Shin-chan, Son Gokuh, Doraemon, Rei Ayanami, Luffy from One Piece, and so on. Over the two hour period, the show counted down the top names, with the voice actors in the studio recounting amusing "NG" stories (what the Japanese call bloopers, from "no good") of mistakes they'd made during recording sessions, and so on.

The #1 most respected voice actor was Koichi Yamadera, the voice of Kaji-san.

The Japanese Can be Rude?

I wrote last week that the Japanese were quite possibly the most polite people in the world, which is one of the nicer things about living here. Still, there are certain things the Japanese occasionally do that feel impolite to me for one reason or another. When a Japanese person is pointing something out to you, it's quite common for them to use their middle finger, which would be unheard of in the U.S. unless you were trying to insult someone in a subtle way. (Most Japanese know what the Western gesture of "flipping the bird" is, but only externally, and it's never seen in daily life.) Some of the "manners" we take for granted don't apply here: you're actually expected to slurp your noodles loudly while you eat, and no one thinks twice about reaching over your plate to grab the soy sauce...but make sure you don't leave chopsticks sticking up in your rice. People here are fascinated by anything a gaijin might be writing in a notebook or on a computer screen, and will read over your shoulder if given the opportunity. Finally, there's the "gap" between Japanese studied in textbooks and the nihongo actually in use here. For example, you can indicate the recipient of an action by attaching a "giving or receiving" word to a verb, e.g. itadaku "to receive [from someone higher in station than you" if talking about something your boss or customer did for you, or ageru "to give [to someone higher in station than you]" for discussing something you did for them. There's a verb yaru "to give [to someone lower than you']" which we were warned to only use in reference to small children or dogs, as it can be rude if used incorrectly. Naturally, real Japanese speakers violate this rule every day, so I had to unlearn a lot of Japanese grammar when I first got here.

Japanese are occasionally rude. But only occasionally.

J-List Stocks-a Mario Products-a

J-List carries thousands of fun products direct from Japan, including a lot of cool items for gamers. If you love Mario, enjoy the items we have on the site today, including some new dioramas for recreating your favorite video game scenes, Super Mario Bros. salt and pepper shakers and surprisingly a surprisingly sizzling figure of Princess Peach.

Cool Products Monday, August 29, 2011

Here are today's "really cool products" that I've picked out for you, out of the 30+ new items we've added to the J-List and JBOX.com sites today. Note that some products may be "not safe for work" but that all links will allow you to redirect yourself either to the J-List or JBOX.com websites. To see all the J-List products, check out J-List or the JBOX.com updated products link.

	Dengeki Moeoh Oct 2011 Dengeki is the amazing magazine publisher that strives to be the best at showing all things MOE~. From anime and manga to games and toys, you'll find everything you want inside. Plus lots of great extra, like this month's figure from Ro-Kyu-Bu! View products »
	Ane Ageha ~ Hair & Make vol. 4  Become like one of the girls of Tokyo with Ane Ageha magazine. Tons of tips on how to make your hair and make-up just like the girls of Shibuya.
	Nekomimi Parka One Piece with Pink Ribbon and Tail Also: the last stock we'll get in this season of the Nekomimi Parka with Cat Ears. These are always a popular item, they are so kawaii.
	More Awesome Japanese 'Over Knee Socks' If you're aiming for the height of fashion, cosplay, or just want to look dashing in a set of fine hosiery, check out our Japanese tall socks, restocked today!
	Super Mario Bros. Wii Sound Figure ~ 1up These two new Mario dioramas will look awesome on your desk at work, and you can play with them when things get too stressful.
	More 2012 Japanese Calendars See even more gorgeous 2012 Japanese calendars available for preorder, including beautiful Japanese idols in kimonos, the beauty of seasonal food and more.
	LED Light Ear Cleaner Japanese technology is making everyday activities safe, one innovation at a time, like this ear cleaner with built-in LED light.
	A Certain Scientific Railgun Figures Fans of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun will love the two figures we just posted. But fair warning, most sold as preorders and they might go fast.
	Madoka Kaname Nendoroid Figure The adorable Madoka Nendoroid is finally in stock! Containing many parts to make other poses for Madoka, plus the awesome Kyubey figure, this will sell out fast.
	Panty & Stocking Nendoroid Check out these great new Nendoroid action figures that really capture the spirit of the Panty and Stocking characters from the popular Gainax anime.
	K-On! Sound Egg Set of 6 Take the undeniably cute voices of your favorite characters from K-On! with you everywhere you go with these "sound egg" toys.
	Mobile Suit Gundam Cup Holders Show your Gundam pride with these cup holders as you shout lines like, "You wouldn't have been shot down if you hadn't come out to meet me in battle!"
	Chopper Origami Chopper from One Piece looks even cutter when he is folded into the shape of a crane, fish or flower. You are limited only by your imagination.
	Hello Kitty Omatsuri Straps This box comes with a total of 10 different keychain/cell phone straps of traditional omatsuri (festival) items transformed into Hello Kitty.
	Japan-Only iOS Software In addition to JPOP/anime songs, get Japan-only iOS apps, like the free Evangelion "sound game" or a moe girl who tells you the time and weather.
	Traditional Family Crest Yukata ~ Size XL The Japanese yukata has always been praised for its comfortable pajama-like fit while keeping an air of style that is fitting for a samurai.
	'In Case of Emergency, Commit Seppuku Here' We love to sell T-shirts and hoodies with kanji on them. One of our favorites is, "In Case of Emergency, Commit Seppuku Along the Dotted Line."
	Today's New Japanese Snacks Enjoy the delicious new SOURS gummy from Nobel, in White Peach flavor. Also, we've got new "SPASH" gum from Lotte.
	Macross Frontier Wafers & Card This wafer/card set lets you have your fandom and eat it too! Enjoy the cocoa flavored cookies, as well as the awesome Macross Frontier card.
	Today's Restocked J-Snacks Delicious Glico Pretz in Honey Milk and Ham & Cheese flavor, Blueberry Gum, Oreo Soft and Country Ma'am Cookies, Hi-Chew Fanta (?) and more!
	Always Protect Your Banana Avoid the embarrassment of a bruised and damaged banana by using the popular banana carrying cases for bento, from Japan.
	Bento Boxes Fit for a Samurai Japan's fascination with samurai history continues, and we've restocked the popular bento boxes based on historical samurai of old. Wow!
	Easy Microwave Rice Cooker Our popular Microwave Rice Cooker is back in stock, which saves you from having to buy an expensive electric rice cooker. Great for bento enthusiasts.
	Japanese Notebooks Restocked Are Japanese students better at studying because they have the right notebooks, or do they have the right notebooks to improve their studying?
	Restocked Traditional Items Then, we've restocked those wacky "geisha" towels that have a surprise for you when they get wet. We're amazed at how popular these are.
	Japanese Keychains, More Enjoy our restocked "Three Lucky Cats" phone strap, such a fun way to bring more luck into your life. Click to see the new items.
	Blue Exorcist Character Trading Figures We've pickup up this these cute chibi character figures from the Blue Exorcist series, now ready for preorder. So awesome!
	Stocking 1/7 Metamorphose Figure *Preorder* Pair-up with the previously previewed Panty from Panty &amp Stocking with Garterbelt, and these angels will fight the demons within you.
	Tamaki Mukousaka 1/7 Figures *Preorder* From the hit game To Heart 2 comes the always sexy Tamaki, this time in a maid's outfit. Two versions posted to the site now.
	The Best Magazine Special Sep 2011 "The Best" magazine yet again lives up to its name, with a fresh issue that brings the best chakuero of Japan and more to you. Not only are the girls on every page gorgeous, but you also get a 4 hour DVD to enjoy, too. View products »
	Summer School Girl ~ Natsufuku Joshi This gorgeous new photobook shows off the daily lives of Japan's kawaii youthful girls. Great guide for cosplayers too.
	Newly Restocked Photobooks Many photobooks, including The Scene of Busts, which features Tokyo girls showing their oppai in public places, are back.
	Orga Denma Cup Spacer Japan has been the land of making hybrids for years, sometimes with cars other times with food. Well, that same hybrid spirit can now be found with this onnacup + vibrator. Connects to most any onnacups to create a new, wonderful experience. View products »
	Awesome 'Oreimo' Parody Toys We can't believe there are so many great Oreimo parody onnacup toys. Take your pick between parodies of Kuroneko, Ayase, or Kirino.
	Samurai Girls Parody Toys, More See even more fun toys restocked, including Samurai Girls/Ikki Tousen with double the fun, the Pururun Angel Bust oppai and more.
	Restocked Japanese PC 'H' Games Enjoy both versions of the seminal (heh) classic Kanon, Ero Kendo Club, Princess Hunting Dungeon Meister plus the epic Starless, by the creator of Bible Black.
	Outstanding Visual Novel: Family Projects Looking for a great eroge for summer? Then we recommend Family Project, voted the best H-game in the history of the genre. Great voice acting, too!
	We Love Cast-Off Figures A Queen's Blade figure just wouldn't be complete without being able to remove some clothes. It's 100% nosebleed-worthy.

My Strange Nichijo Coincidence

These days nearly all anime is "filmed" in a real location, and you have a car and an obsessive personality, you can travel to the pleasant lakeside town where Please Twins was is set, stroll through the halls of the real K-On! school, or visit the the village Hinamizawa was based on in Higurashi ~ When They Cry (though I'd be terrified of being horribly murdered there). As a fan living in Japan, I can visit -- the otaku term for it is seichi junrei or "make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land" -- that beautiful bridge from the AnoHana anime...however I generally don't expect anime to come to me. The other day I was randomly googling information on the anime Nichijou, which can best be described as Lucky Star meets Azumanga Daioh with lost of jokes about Buddhist statues, when I got a surprise. It turns out that that, by an incredibly random chance, the setting for the town in Nichijou is...J-List's home city of Isesaki, Gunma. Every background, every intersection, every building you see in the anime is an identifiable part of our city, including the amusement park, which is visible from my window right now, and the location of Hakase and Nano's house, which I pass every day when I go to the gym. I thought that someone at Kyoto Animation must be trolling J-List big time, but it turns out that the manga-ka happens to be from this city.

This isn't the only coincidence I've encountered in Japan. While I was studying Japanese in college, I read lots of manga, since the panels are mostly filled with dialogue being spoken by characters, which gives students something to pattern their spoken language on. The manga I most read was Touch, the classic tale of Tatsuya, who was forced to lead his high school's baseball team to victory at the Koshien Championships after his twin brother is killed in a car accident. Imagine my surprise when I found that the city I'd moved to just happened to be the birthplace of the artist, Adachi Mitsuru...and my wife even shares his birthday. A lot of fans of Russian idol Yulia Nova visit two sites in Japan regularly, J-List and the official website of the photographer, Satoshi Kizu. Would you believe that, again by chance, he just happens to live about 2 km from the J-List office? Is our city some kind of "power spot" that makes these coincidences happen?

WTF? It turns out Nichijou is based in J-List's home city.

Some links (1, 2, 3, 4) showing the town of "Tokisadame" which are shots of near J-List. Not only are these in the same city as us, they're in the same frigging neighborhood. So frigging werid... 

In the map that shows in episode 2, J-List is located here, just north of Kezoji Park. The hell???

Election Time: Japanese Indecision '11

All eyes are watching the upcoming election for president of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, which will determine the country's next Prime Minister. Will it be be Trade Minister Banri Kaieda, Agriculture Minister Michiko Kano, or perhaps or Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda? Personally my money is on former Land, Infrastructure and Tourism Minister Seiji Maehara, the "Tony Blair of Japan" (you'll be hearing that phrase a lot in the foreign media I predict), who made a name for himself by publicly cancelling an expensive dam project. He had the good fortune of being forced to resign his post when it came to light that he'd accepted political donations from a "foreigner" (really a zainichi Korean, born and raised in Japan), which meant that he was not a part of the current government during the disasters of March and the debacles that followed. Of course, a lot of Japanese voters would probably prefer Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, who was the face of the government in the aftermath of the disasters, and who enjoys widespread support now. While the candidates make public their various political positions, they must also work to win the support of former PM Yukio Hatohama and his co-Kingmaker Seiji Ozawa (no relation to that Ozawa), who control the largest wing of their party.

Time to elect a new Prime Minister. Thank God there's no election this time.

J-List Anime Eyeglasses Contest Update

Remember, you get a free pair of awesome J-List Anime Glasses with every order, which let you become your favorite anime character. J-List is having a fun J-List Anime Eyes Photo Contest too, and we'll give $250 gift certificates to the best three photos our customers send in. We're extending the deadline to September 15h to allow customers who haven't gotten their glasses yet to send in photos. Will your photo be one of the lucky winners? (J-List anime eye glasses are available while supplies last, details can be seen here.)