Misconceptions About the U.S. and Japan

It can be easy to get the wrong idea about other countries, and it's not uncommon for people to carry misconceptions around with them for years. Like the student of mine who asked me if they had McDonald's in America -- she'd eaten Makudonarudo all her life and had assumed it was a Japanese chain. Or an exchange student friend of mine who was sure that HBO was some kind of euphemism for "H-video." Japan is famous for its love hotels, places where couples can spend some private time together, important in a privacy-challenged country where people in their 20s often live with their parents. Before the current word had been coined, these establishments were referred to as "motels" (mo-teru), with the result being that many older Japanese think that America is littered with love hotels along every freeway. We can get the wrong idea about Japan and the Japanese, too. When I arrived here, I expected Japan to be so expensive I'd have to sell my retinas if I wanted to eat a steak, yet I can gorge myself on Indian food for far less than what it would cost me to eat at the Star of India restaurant in San Diego. Anime series often feature characters who live in beautiful Buddhist temples or sprawling mansions, but of course very few of them do in real life. Really, there's no better cure for these silly misconceptions than just getting out and traveling!

By the way, there is a Hello Kitty-themed love hotel. Thought you'd like to know.

Forgetting Your Shoe Size in Japan

You've been in Japan too long when, while back in the U.S., you're asked your shoe size and reply, "Er, 26 centimeters?" One of the first things to go after moving to Japan is forgetting your shoe size in your home country's system of measurement, and whenever I'm buying shoes while back home I find I have to try on several pairs to find ones that will fit. Like most of the world, Japan uses the metric system for measuring distances, and it's surprisingly easy to get used to using kilometers and centimeters, just as getting used to temperatures in Celsius takes only one instance of being cold because you didn't bring a jacket due to not knowing that 16 degrees was jacket weather. In lieu of paper sizes like "letter" to "legal," the Japanese use the international ISO standard, which takes time to get used to but is very logical -- A4 is similar in size to letter, A3 is twice that size making it similar to tabloid, and so on. Japanese plugs are the same shape and voltage as used in the U.S., but they almost never have the third prong for a ground (or aass as they say in Japanese, the local pronunciation of the English word "earth"), and this causes you to get pretty savvy about carrying a plug adapter with you in your laptop bag. Finally, there's probably nothing taken for granted less than paper coffee filters, but they're quite important to us: the large filters are not available in Japan, so if the J-List crew wants to have our morning coffee we need to plan ahead and bring them over from the U.S.

Living in Japan will make you forget your shoe size.

Selling Eroge at Comic-Con

Well, the San Diego Comic-Con is over for another year, the banners and booths all taken down. After all the excitement of the show, it can be sad to walk through the San Diego Convention Center as everyone is breaking down and getting ready to go home. But we'll be back again next year!

Comic-Con is, of course, a very different convention from Anime Expo, which was held two weeks ago. While there are plenty of hardcore fans of anime, manga, cosplay, Japanese games and so on at AX -- everyone is more or less the same "tribe" -- there's an incredible amount of diversity at SDCC, with fans of superhero comics and sci-fi and Dr. Who and My Little Pony all mingling with Japanese pop culture types. Since I'm most familiar with the visual novels and eroge that we've been publishing for years, I was manning that part of our booth, explaining what they were to fans who passed by, for example describing the difference between a basic "harem" type eroge in which a single male character is surrounded by a number of cute girls for him to interact with, and games with much more depth and character development (our favorite examples: 1 2 3 4). I had some interesting discussions with fans who hadn't played H-games directly but who knew what they were since they're a common plot device in anime series like I Have Few Friends, Genshiken and Welcome to the NHK. One of my more interesting customers was a married couple, with a wife who was drawn to one of our popular yaoi games while the husband picked up a more traditional school dating-sim to gaze at the beautiful characters. They looked at each other, each saying, "I didn't know you liked this...?" then walked off happily with their purchased games tucked under their arms.

I had fun explaining eroge at the SDCC!

We Love Touhou at J-List

At J-List we love Touhou, the popular indies "bullet curtain" shooting game for Windows that resonated with Japanese doujin artists because the characters were so deep and interesting (plus the hats they wear are so cute). We stock dozens of fun Touhou products from keychains to T-shirts to the original games themselves. Click to see the most popular Touhou products on the site now!

Cool Products Tuesday, July 17, 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.

	Comptiq Aug 2012 Those yearning for the inside scoop on all things moe and bishoujo, your search is over! J-List is proud to present Comptiq, a definitive monthly who's-who of beautiful anime and game girls with complete, full-color news and in-depth articles on the latest and greatest characters in Japan. View products »
	Animedia Aug 2012 Animedia, one of the most popular visual art and culture magazines from Japan. This is the 31st anniversary special issue with tons of great content!
	Persona Magazine 09 Fans of the Persona series will want to take a look inside another great issue of Persona Magazine. Packed with insider info.
	Coro Coro Comic July 2012 Another great monthly comic, Coro Coro. The official home of Pokemon, Doraemon and many other classics, plus free stuff for collectors!
	Dakara Boku ha H ga Dekinai, More In Stock Powering a spirit of death through deep perverted energy is just another day for Ryosuke Kaga. Other manga restocked too!
	Awesome Homura Products In Stock If you love Homura, you should score the Homura Nendoroid figure that just came in, but hurry as she won't stay in stock for long.
	Other Fun Anime Toys in Stock See some gorgeous Tiger and Bunny products in stock, plus a gorgeous Revoltech from Anubis Zone of the Enders which I love. Click to see now.
	Evangelion x Hello Kitty Bath Towels I'm sure you've often asked yourself why there aren't more Hello Kitty + Evangelion crossover products. In stock now!
	Evangelion 'Eva & Logos' Products Restocked Also: Evangelion is the most epic thing since The Force, and our customers know we have many products in stock. Click to see the best ones now.
	Necomimi Nerowear Now in Stock! The amazing cat ears that move when you think are in stock and ready to ship out to you. They really react to your brain and react automatically!
	Pink Cool Neck Ribbon ~ Cat Keep yourself cool this summer with a kawaii neck scarf the also doubles as a personal body cooler.
	All Over Dot Style Body Dress Get into the summer party mode with a dress that really stands out, coming from the streets of Harajuku.
	Fun Cosplay & Fashion Products in Stock We love to bring random and wonderful products to you. See our normal cat ears, Japanese bloomer set (PE uniform), plus "Absolute Zone" socks and more.
	Laundry net For Girls  Add some Japanese flair to your daily life with a very cool manga inspired laundry net. Such a fun item, and it comes from Japan!
	Fun Health & Skin Care Products from Japan Keep your skin looking young and smooth with our great lotions and face washes containing Japanese sake and rejuvenating charcoal.
	Darth Vader Star Wars Ice Cube Trays, More The power of the dark side is strong in this drink, with Sith shaped ice cubes from Japan. They look mighty awesome floating in your scotch.
	Strike Witches ~ Silver Wings ~ Limited Edition The ultimate PSP game for Strike Witches fans is here! With a limited figure and great gameplay, this is a title fans will not want to miss.
	Big Restocking of Touhou Keychains and Figures Our customers love the popular Touhou keychains and doujin figures we carry, and we've got good news: we were able to restock some of the best ones.
	Touhou Games Restocked, Too Also see fresh stock of the legendary Touhou shooting games for Windows, the best action games you'll ever find. Several back in stock for you.
	Totoro, Grave of the Fireflies on Blu-ray! Enjoy one of Hayao Miyazaki's best-loved works, with the excellent Blu-ray release of Totoro, Grave of the Fireflies and Poppy Hill. Full subtitles!
	Fun Hello Kitty products restocked We love to find interesting Hello Kitty products from Japan for you, and today we've restocked several, incl. our Face Die Cut Vinyl Bags, Pencil Pouch and more.
	Summer Story ~ Fuurin Wind Bell with Golden Fish Bring a little of the Japanese summer to your home with this fuurin wind chime display. Such an amazing item for summer!
	Natsukashi-Ya ~ Black Cat Mosquito Coil Holder Warm weather, beach parties, and out door barbecues filled with mosquitos. Protect yourself with a new cat buddy who will help keep them away.
	Today's New Japanese Snacks Enjoy some great new Japanese snacks, including a "revival" flavor of Hi-Chew, plus amazing Caesar Salad flavor Jagarico and other fun snacks.
	Today's Restocked Japanese Snacks A big updating of Japanese snacks too, including Takoyaki Puff Snacks, Sushi Gummy, Neru Neru Nerune DIY powdered candy plus One Piece gummy treats.
	Cat Track 2 Tier Bento Box w/ Elastic Band A bento for cat lovers! This very stylish black and pink bento box has amazing modern style.
	Great Bento Boxes Restocked Also see some amazing large-sized bento boxes restocked, including bentos for men who need a larger lunch to get them through the day. Great design!
	Cute Aluminum Foil for Bento! Bento foods are even more awesome when wrapped in cute aluminum foil with frogs printed on it, apparently. See the retocked items.
	Learn Hiragana...in the Bath? Fun ways to study hiragana in the bath, with the Bath Hiragana Chart and Hiragana Gauze Towel, plus other fun items.
	TATAMI SETTA Sandals The Japanese tatami has a natural way to cool during the summer, just like these sandals. I love the feel of these things on your feet.
	Fun Traditional Products Restocked Next we have an excellent lineup of traditional products from Japan, including our Lucky Wishing Board w/dragon image, traditional card games and more.
	Taiga Aisaka 1/8 Figure Bunny Girl *Preorder* For Toradora fans, here's an ultra-cute figure of heroine Taiga Aisaka in a sexy bunnygirl costume!
	Yuuko Kanae 1/10 Figure Beach Queen *Preorder* From the sexy occult romance Dusk Maiden of Amnesia comes this smoking hot Beach Queens series figure of heroine Yuuko Kanae.
	Revoltech No.123 Hunter Swordman Rathalos *Preorder* Monster Hunter fans, check out this supremely cool Revoltech action figure of a badass hunter swordsman in full Rathalos gear.
	Other Fun Preorder Figures Max Factory presents a cool Figma action figure of Scarlet Rain from Accel World, plus Muginami from Lagrange!
	Amazing 'H' Magazines from Japan Every page is plastered with gorgeous Japanese girls, willing to go all the way in front of the camera, and it comes with a bonus DVD. Spectacular.
	Elegant Ero Photobooks Hot MILF and AV actress Aoi Aoyama is the current top mature performer of the JAV world. See this new book plus several other restocked items.
	Wagamama na Tare Chichi Presented by talented artist Masaya Toguchi comes this amazing hentai manga featuring gorgeous hot female characters with huge tits and lots of "H."
	Hamechae! Bunnys Do you like horny bunnies? Then you'll love this erotic manga featuring big-oppai girls in bunny suits, maid outfits, and lots of other costumes.
	Super Awesome Hentai Artbooks Posted If you're a fan of gorgeous 2D artbooks from Japan, we've restocked several of our best ones, including Shigeo Hamashima and Ito Life best new works.
	Pepee ORGANIC Personal Lotion Pepee personal lotion is the ultimate helper for when sliding up to someone you love, or whenever you need things to go a little more smoothly.
	Our Most Popular Male Stress Toys Restocked Our most popular male stress toys are restocked today, including Sujiman Kupa Roa, perhaps the most advanced onahole the world has ever seen.
	Shakuhachi Simulator, Other Toys Restocked See the popular oral pump that has broken so many sales records at J-List, plus other fun oral-themed toys.
	Greatest Stroker II is Back in Stock Not your regular stress toy here. This motorized toy is sure to add an extra level of relaxation for men looking for a release. SCIENCE!
	Gurenka ~ First Limited Edition From visual novel developer Escu:de comes a modern fantasy with inhuman heroines, battles, and plenty of humor.
	DEARDROPS Limited Edition is In Stock Now A superb visual novel about music, love and rock n' roll, DearDrops is one of the most popular visual novels released in recent years. Comes with tons of extras!
	Beautiful Paipan Doll from Eastern Europe ~ Ann Marie & Lola When Japanese AV directors take on western girls, this gives us this amazing production hot teens from Eastern Europe.