Four-Kanji Japanese Phrases and Anime

The Japanese language naturally has elements that are very different from Western languages, like a formalized system of polite speech called keigo and a lack of differentiation between plural and singular nouns. Another interesting area of Japanese is a category of beautiful Chinese phrases made up of four kanji characters which Japanese use to add a bit of je ne sais quoi to their speech, and to preserve the ancient wisdom of China in the form of proverbs. Some of these poetic phrases include the titles of anime series like ikki tousen (lit. "being a match for 1000 warriors") or tenjo tenge ("the wide world, including both heaven and earth") or Mazda's advertising slogan jinba ittai ("man and horse, moving together as one"). Another 4-character phrase that comes up quite often is yuju-fudan (yuu-juu foo-DAHN), written with the characters for "kindness" "softness" and "indecision." The term describes just about every male character in a romantic comedy anime series who has difficulty choosing between two or more girls who love him. In the upcoming animated visual novel School Days the main character Makoto is torn between two girls, his girlfriend Kotonoha and the energetic Sekai, and his chronic inability to make a choice brings about a lot of drama as the story unfolds.

Makoto is yuju-fudan, unable to decide which girl he loves.

Foreigners ♡ Mt. Fuji

There's no more famous image of Japan than Mt. Fuji, the picturesque volcano that rises gracefully from Shizuoka and Yamanashi Prefectures to a height of 3776 meters (12,388 feet). We gaijin seem to have a special relationship with Mt. Fuji, and I still remember my first encounter with the mountain. It was shortly after I'd arrived in Japan, during a trip to Kamakura, about an hour south of Tokyo. The day had been a hazy one, and as the haze cleared I suddenly found myself staring at a huge image of Mt. Fuji that had been invisible only a short time before, which took my breath away. Japan's native religion Shinto reveres especially beautiful sites in nature, and no place is more sacred than the top of Mt. Fuji. If you're ever planning a trip to Japan in the summer, you might want to consider climbing the mountain, which takes 6-7 hours or so and is not a difficult climb. When you reach the top, you'll be above the level of the clouds, and it's really an amazing view. Incidentally Mt. Fuji is Fuji-san in Japanese, and it's best that foreigners avoid using the name Fuji-yama. While both -san and -yama are valid pronunciations for the mountain kanji, Fuji-yama has become a "quaint" name only used by foreign visitors.

Foreigners have a special love for Mt. Fuji.

Summer Products from Japan

Summer is almost here, and J-List is well stocked with hundreds of products that help you enjoy the season, Japan-style. From our selection of Ramune drinks (stocked in San Diego) to refreshing mugi cha barley tea bags to Japanese sensu folding fans, great summer yukata and those wonderful mosquito-killing ceramic pig. What can J-List send you today?

Cool Products Wednesday, May 30, 2012

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.

	Megami Magazine July 2012 Anytime Megami Magazine comes out we're extra excited to see all the amazing posters, previews, illustrations and omake that is included. This issue comes with not only 16 fresh new posters, but also a DVD of original content! Megami Magazine is the most popular anime magazine on J-List with good reason, the incredible energy the company expends to delight us fans. Grab this issue now! View products »
	Dengeki G's Magazine July 2012 Catch up on all the latest anime and game news, then enjoy a fantastic omake poster of the ultra-cute Kuroyukihime. Only the best from Dengeki.
	Persona Magazine vol. 7 Fans of the Persona series will want to take a look inside another great issue of Persona Magazine -- with great omake gifts too.
	STEP ~ Kantoku Artworks We love the moe artwork of Kantoku, so we're bringing you this wonderful artbook with over 140 pages of his finest illustrations.
	Monster Hunter Silicone Ice Tray These kawaii silicone ice trays and cooking molds are great for making fun treats for your gaming party guests.
	Itazura Cat Coin Bank Restocked Today See more stock of the little cat who steals your money, the cutest coin bank ever. Also available in cute dog and panda versions.
	Evangelion Car Sunshade, More In stock Let the girls of Evangelion protect your car from the heat of the sun, plus we have the epic Evangelion USB powered fan in stock.
	Rare Artbooks & More, Available Again We're doing inventory today, which means we're finding dozens of artbooks, manga and other items that were out of stock available now. Browse them now!
	Persona 4 The Golden **Preorder** Enjoy new content, new characters, and improved gameplay in this powered-up remake of Persona 4. For the PS Vita.
	Awesome Anime Games Restocked See new stock of OreImo Portable, the Steins;Gate fandisc, PapaKiki, Atelier Elkrone, and other fun games for your PSP.
	Doorknob Girl Fetish Photobook? A strange new fetish straight from Japan: beautiful girls who love to kiss doorknobs. It's something we like a lot... though we can't tell you exactly why.
	Restocked Photobooks The super cute idol and model Nozomi Sasaki collaborates with photographer Asami Kiyokawa for a very creative photobook. Reina Fujie is looking rather cute too!
	Revoltech Takeya No.005 Jikokuten (Dhrtarastra) It's time to add to your collection of Buddhist action figures with this awesome poseable Jikokuten. Comes with tons of optional parts for smiting evil.
	'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."
	Ghibli Plush Pens Get ready to study with some excellent items from Japan's very loved Ghibli studio, like these character pens.
	Other Totoro Products Restocked Plus other amazing Ghibli items are awaiting for your love, like the last Totoro blankets until winter, Ghibli pencil cases and more.
	GACHAPIN Shampoo Hat for Children Japan is known for its wacky and fun products and character designs, like this Gachapin shower protector (keep shampoo away from your eyes).
	Mousse-chan Key Chain Parts Set And for fans of the Mousse-chan series of products, these cool accessory items are all the rage.
	Kuttari Mamegoma Plush & More Restocked There's no shortage of cute things from japan, and J-List has tons of items for you. See fresh stock of the Classic Mamegoma Plush, so cute to hug and hold!
	Restocked Japanese Pens for Manga & More This full set of three pens are appropriately named mangaka, for these pens are used by many top manga artists.
	Salty Watermelon Pepsi, Other Drink *Preorder* By customer demand, we've got some great new drinks from Japan for you, like the oh-so-strange Salty Watermelon Pepsi, Espressoda from Suntory, Lotte Black Black Sparkling caffeine drink, and more. Try them all, then tell us which is your favorite! View products »
	FritoLay Hiyashi Ramen Chuka Cheetos We also have some tasty new snacks, like FritoLay Hayashi Ramen Chuka Cheetos and juicy strawberry gummies from Meiji.
	Many Restocked Snacks Today Enjoy new stock of Peko-chan Milky Candy, amazing Habanero spicy potato rings, Fuwarinka Rose Essence gum & candy, Lotte Fit's gum in "magic" flavor and more.
	Traditional Bento Boxes Restocked Big restocking of bento boxes for traditional bento fans too. The Miso Soup Bowl Bento Box, Kerria Ellipsoidal Lacquered Bento and more.
	Our Best Chopsticks Restocked, Too Browse our wide selection of very cool chopsticks, both portable and formal, to make your lunch or dinner extra special.
	Microwave Waffle Maker, Other Fun Products Or try making waffles in your microwave with the fun cooker we restocked today. We sell dozens of wacky Japanese microwave products.
	New Anime Songs on iTunes Japan There's always something great to find on the iTunes Japan anime page, like the new Yuru Yuri songs posted, or the Nyarko OP for moe Cthulhu fans.
	3D Mt. Fuji Crystal, Other Items Restocked A great gift for a Japan-loving friend, this display is sure to captivate, plus many other fun traditional gift ideas.
	Fun 'Ninja' Phone Straps, More Restocked Ninja have a secret code -- a sign that only other ninjas will know. If you are a ninja, then you'll know what to look for here: Ninja Stars!
	Ichika Nendoroid ~ Ano Natsu *Preorder* Fans of AnoNatsu's Ichika should check out this cute Nendoroid action figure. Poseable, with lots of optional parts to keep you entertain.
	Bunnygirl Charlotte Figure ~ IS *Preorder* Charlotte from Infinite Stratos shows off a very cute bunnygirl outfit with this awesome figure. The quality is absolutely amazing.
	Haruka Figure -Angelic Island ~ Idol Master *Preorder* Today's swimsuit figure stars Idolm@ster's Haruka Amane. Her cheerful smile couldn't be more infectious.
	Kurisu Makise 1/3 Doll ~ Steins:Gate *Preorder* You won't believe the level of detail on this huge 1/3-scale (that's almost 20 inches tall!) figure of Kurisu from Steins;Gate. For true collectors.
	Lingerie the Best vol. 18 There is always a fantastic set of Japanese women's panties included in Lingerie the Best, and in this month they are super sexy lingerie. That's in addition to tons of racy photos of smoking hot women in the skimpiest outfits you've ever seen. We love the Japanese for being so innovative and awesome when it comes to ecchi stuff. View products »
	Many Photobooks Restocked We've got a passion for excellent photobooks, especially when they have extra cute Japanese idols who enjoy showing off their bodies in front of the camera.
	Shunga ~ 48 Artists in Edo period  Many of you have already seen The Fisherman's Wife. Now enjoy hundreds more beautiful erotic paintings from Japan in this shunga artbook.
	Chika Eiro Hole ~ The Dignity of Great Pussy Here's a deluxe meiki style onahole based on the red-hot AV star Chika Eiro. Great for private "anatomy lessons" and lowering your personal stress.
	Black Rock Shooter Parody, Other Onahole Toys We also restocked some of our favorite parody onahole toys, including Black Rock Shooter and Sexy Twins Perfect Body. So realistic you might buy them dinner.
	Miku Hatsune, Vocaloid Parody Stress Toys Enjoy awesome Hatsune Miku toys restocked, which let you show your love of the famous Vocaloid singer like no one else. Miku and Luka versions!
	Restocked TENGA Stress Products Our most popular stress relief toys are the sleek TENGA line, and we've got several models back in stock for you today! They will really take the edge off.
	Yuru Plus ~ Yuru Yuri Doujin Software Have your way with Kyoko and Yui from Yuru Yuri in this erotic doujin game for your PC. Features fully-animated ecchi for you to enjoy!
	School Days HQ ~ Collector's Edition *Preorder* Preorders for the best English-translated eroge ever released are piling up. Did you get your order in? Orders will go out in the order received so order now!

Simplified and Abbreviated English in Japan

The Japanese use English in many ways in their daily lives, for expressing words related to automobiles or technology, for example, or for decorative phrases like "image up" (to improve one's image) or "guts pose" (to strike a self-confident pose). Since English words can be unwieldy in syllable-based Japanese -- the word "weekend" takes seven syllables to expresses in katakana for example -- they are often shortened and simplified to make them easier for them to work with. Screwdrivers come in "Phillips" and "regular" but the Japanese refer to them as "plus" and "minus," which is genius. A ménage-à-trois also get a very simple name in Japanese: 3P, very logical. Often the Japanese will use abbreviations which may make little sense to native English speakers, like HP for homepage, CM for TV commercial, OL for "office lady" (a female office worker), OB for "old boy" (an alumnus of a school), NG for "no good" (a blooper made while filming, or used as the opposite of OK), or KY (short for kuuki yomenai, lit. "cannot read the air," describing someone with poor social skills).

Index is a character who is KY, out of sync with everyone around her.

Delicious Desserts & Snacks in Japan

One thing I love about Japan are the incredibly delicious desserts here, from green tea ice cream to Japanese "pudding" (a caramel egg custard also known as flan) to "coffee jelly," which is cold and delicious in the summer. Cake is considered a special treat, and you usually buy individual pieces for $3-4 each from a patissier who trained for several years in France, rather than buy a whole cake. If you ask for "shoe cream" in the U.S. you'll get something to clean your shoes with, but in Japan "choux crème" is a dreamy pastry filled with custard, and every once in a while Mrs. J-List will surprise the staff with a box of shu-cream pastries for us to eat while we work. Then there's the amazing world of crepes, which are a staple of anime episodes where characters go on dates. They're basically light pancakes filled with whipped cream, sliced bananas or strawberries, chocolate syrup and other good things. The most famous place to enjoy delicious crepes in Japan is Harajuku, the hip street fashion district of Tokyo, and if you ever come to Japan you should give them a try.

Japanese crepes are heavenly.

Moe Moe...Microsoft?

I have a lot of respect for companies that work hard to understand the countries they do business in, and if I were ever to sell a product in Canada, I hope I'd have the vision to market it to hockey fans. For years there's been a doujin meme called OS-tan in which amateur artists create cute anime girl versions of your favorite computer operating systems like…Windows 2003 Server-tan, a moe characters to represent that OS. (Incidentally -tan is the endearing -chan name suffix, but pronounced as if a small child were saying it, making it even cuter.) With the release of Windows 7, Microsoft got in on the game, commissioning an "official" OS-tan character called Nanami Madobe (nana = 7, mado = window) to promote its new OS, and fans dutifully started creating doujinshi works featuring the new character. Microsoft continued the series with an official Silverlight character as well as Claudia Madobe (Nanami's cousin), who promotes the company's cloud-based computing services. Now Microsoft is raising the otaku-bar again, bundling a PVC figure of Claudia with purchases of Visual Studio Professional. What's next, official Microsoft dakimakura pillows? If they make them, I will totally sell them on J-List.

Microsoft markets its products with official anime characters.

New Eroge Posted to J-List -- Did You Preorder?

In addition to posting the School Days Deluxe Collector's Edition as well as shipping the legendary Koihime Musou game with fully restored vocal track, we posted two new games from MangaGamer last time for preorder. First there's a great deluxe version of DearDrops, a great story of music, love and rock n' roll, followed by Harem Party, about a harem of fantasy game characters who pop out of a game and into the real world, with sexy results. Both titles will be in great package form with extras, and will be fully DRM free! Did you preorder them yet?