All About Names in Japan

Just as in the West, Japanese parents-to-be obsess over what name to give their new baby. In addition to reading books which give background on various trendy names, they will often consult a Buddhist priest who will advise them on what characters are lucky for that year. The number of strokes used to write the name are important, too, and my wife took great pains to ensure that our daughter's Japanese name would have the same number of lines as hers, "so she can enjoy the same strong good luck I've had in my life," according to my wife. Names can be written in hiragana, foregoing kanji altogether for aesthetic reasons, but most parents choose kanji characters for the names of their children, being sure to choose from the official list of approved name characters the government publishes. One big difference between the West and in Japan are the lack of Biblically-derived names here -- every country in Europe has a local version of "Peter" (Pedro, Pierre, Pietro), but these don't exist in Japanese. Certain Western names are associated with famous names from Hollywood. For example, you might know several people named Jason, but in Japan, there's only one: the famous killer from the Friday the 13th movies. There are many Michaels in the world, but in Japan Michael Jackson is the name that springs to everyone's mind when they hear the name, and if you name is Clara, Japanese of a certain generation will probably identify you with the girl in the wheelchair from the famous anime Heidi, Girl of the Alps.

If your name is Jason or Freddie, you might scare people in Japan.

Japanese Visual Memes

It's fun to study random bits of Japanese culture, like the way children who want the weather to be good tomorrow will make a little man called Teruteru Bozu out of tissue paper and hang him by the window sill as a prayer to make it stop raining. Another fun traditional meme you encounter Japan is a face made from hiragana characters, called heno heno moheji (which is what the characters say when pronounced out loud), which Japanese kids like to doodle in their school textbooks. It's totally meaningless, but a widely recognizable visual image of Japan, known to show up on bento boxes from time to time. One of my favorite visual memes is called aiai-gasa, which means "two people walking together under an umbrella," and if you've watched a few anime series, you've probably seen it drawn on a chalkboard once or twice. The Japanese believe that walking together in the rain is very romantic, and drawing an umbrella with the names Taro and Hanako underneath implies that they like each other.

It's fun to study Japanese visual culture.

The Zen of Japanese Money

The currency used in Japan is yen, called en in Japanese, a word which literally means "circle," which was probably why the yen rate was officially set at 360 yen to the dollar in the decades after World War II. Because yen prices involve numbers that are quite high, you quickly get used to paying 980 yen for lunch, or 8,000 yen to fill your gas tank, or 178,000 yen for a new computer. Like Europe and Canada, Japan uses coins for a lot of currency denominations, with the 100 and 500 yen notes (equivalent to $1 and $5 bills) having been replaced by coins many years ago. One of my favorite Japanese coins is the 5-yen coin, shown below, which always makes me think of the bamboo fountain at Ryoan-ji, one of my favorite Buddhist temples in Kyoto (it's the place with the "sea" of rocks that you can sit and contemplate for hours). The 5-yen coin is considered especially lucky because its name in Japanese (go-en) has the same pronunciation as a word roughly translatable as "a fortuitous encounter with someone who will be important to you for the rest of your life." Hence, a lot of Japanese omamori good luck charms contain 5-yen coins inside.

The 5-yen coin is my favorite type of Japanese money.

Go! Go! Nippon!

Remember: J-List is here to help you learn about Japan, and one fun way you can start is with Go! Go! Nippon!, a fun all-ages visual novel that simulates a visit to Japan. Developed for foreigners who are fascinated with Japan, this fun game lets you explore the Tokyo and Kyoto areas, accompanied by two cute girls, which you get to fall in love with. Which girl will you choose? Because the game displays both Japanese and English text, you can learn by playing the game. Order now!

The "Mystery of Translation"

One subject I write about a lot is the way learning a foreign language helps you to understand your own brain better. Currently we're working on the long-delayed Moero Downhill Night Blaze, the third and final eroge about Initial D-style mountain racing (the one with actual racing in it). This title was delayed because the company that made the game had the bad fortune to be based in Sendai, in northern Japan. which was heavily damaged in last year's earthquakes, forcing us to find a new programmer to port the game (happily no one at the company was hurt). As I go through the game files, finishing up the final few lines that need translating, I'm amazed at the way the actual act of translation doesn't seem to be managed by my conscious brain at all, but somewhere deeper. I mentally place a word or sentence that I want to translate into a special place in my mind and -- ding! -- a few seconds later I have the translation I need, just like cooking something in the microwave. Any translation from one language to another must match the feel of the original line, of course, and my brain seems quite adept at judging whether the "voice" (including formality or lack of it, feminine or masculine intonations etc) of the translated line matches the original, all without conscious thought by me. We plan on getting the third Moero game out soon, and we hope you'll consider preordering it, or perhaps picking up the specially-priced set of the first two games while we finish the third game.

I'm fascinated by "the mystery of translation" in my brain.

China Musume: The Invader Came from Beyond the Sea

The saber rattling between China and Japan over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands continues, with China officially canceling a planned event to commemorate 40 years of diplomatic relations and goodwill between the two countries. I've been watching various news programs on the crisis as seen from Japan, which have been interesting. One commentator pointed out that virtually every young person in Chinese urban areas is an only child thanks to the "One Child Policy" in place since 1978; with the Chinese preference for boy children over girls, this means a high number of alpha males with a lot of anger, which fundamentally changes the dynamics of the country's psychology. Of course, the Senkaku islands aren't the only potential trouble spot in the region: China has territorial disputes with nearly 20 countries, including the Spratly Islands, which are claimed by China, the Philippines, Brunei, and Vietnam. Back in 1988 actual shooting broke out between China and Vietnam, resulting in the deaths of 70 soldiers on both sides.

There is, naturally, lots of fun "fanart" on Pixiv regarding the Senkaku Islands. This is "China Musume."

The "Tyranny of the Majority" in Japan

Japan is a great place, really, with clean streets that are always safe to walk down at night, an excellent public transport system, and toilets that wash your butt for you. The people are nearly always polite, unless you get between an obasan (middle-aged housewife) and a sale item she's got her eye on in the supermarket, and there are many amazing foods to discover, like "aspara-bacon" (asparagus wrapped in bacon), a favorite dish of mine at izakaya restaurants. But there is one problem, brought about by Japan's homogeneous society in which 98% of people believe themselves to come from exactly the same genetic stock, which can be thought of as "tyranny of the masses." The Japanese think bread should be white and fluffy, so don't expect to find a huge selection of cracked wheat, oat and other types of healthy bread in supermarkets here. They also tend to like thick, creamy milk with 4.2% milkfat or higher, and it's not uncommon to find no lowfat milk available in the store -- and just forget about ever finding skim milk. Most Japanese cities require trash be separated, with moeru gomi (burnables), plastics, aluminum and steel cans, PET bottles and so on all being put out on different days from 6-8 a.m., which is kind of hard on people like me who stay up late (since I have to overlap my day with the J-List San Diego office). Finally, the Japanese often don't "get" non-standard food lifestyles, and if you're a vegetarian or need to avoid rice or caffeine for health or religious reasons, it can be a bit of extra work.

Of course, can you imagine a bunch of self-entitled foreigners in America whining that Americans don't do things exactly as they would like? They wouldn't get very far.

Japanese love thick, creamy milk.

The Top Hello Kitty Products from Japan Today

You can always depend on J-List to carry fun and interesting Hello Kitty products from Japan. We've got fun Hello Kitty bento and onigiri items, a popular Hello Kitty ice cube maker, fun Hello Kitty muffin makers plus a kawaii way to store your glasses overnight. Click here to see the most popular Japan Hello Kitty products, as ranked by our customers!

Educational Variety TV in Japan

Japanese TV never fails to entertain, or to provide me with good neta, a word which means the fish part of a piece of sushi, though in this case it refers to ideas for these little updates that I write. One aspect of Japanese TV I've been generally impressed with us the large number of popular shows that manage to offer educational value. The other day I was watching "Time Shock!," a Japanese quiz show in which teams of actors, commedians and other television personalities took turns sitting in a special chair while they were asked ten questions on subjects like geography, English or history. If they failed to answer at least six questions right, the chair would spin them around and upside-down at a very fast rate, emitting noise and steam. On the surface it may seem like another crazy Japanese "game show" (not really an accurate term, since no prizes are awarded and the participants are all professional entertainers), but I like the show because the questions are fascinating, and quite useful to my high school-age kids. A lot of these educational TV variety shows started appearing 6-7 years ago when Japan's policy of yutori kyoiku (lit. "Take it Easy" Education) failed miserably, leaving Japan dead last in academic competitions with other countries in Asia. Considering the percent of American television that apparently seeks to rot the brains of viewers (*cough* American Idol *cough*), a fun show that actually teaches something is a breath of fresh air.

If players can't answer the questions, their chair spins then around and around!

Kawaii or Beautiful?

You probably know that the Japanese word for "cute" is kawaii, an adjective that's been in use since the Heian Period (794-1185) to describe endearing features in women, babies and cats, assuming they had cats in Japan back then. The Japanese certainly are fans of all things cute, from panda-themed coffee cups to surprisingly adorable Rilakkuma personal products, and have a tradition of employing kawaii models and idols to deliver important public notices, like fire awareness campaigns ("Did you extinguish all flames and turn of all heaters before sleeping? These are the words that can save your family.") It's interesting to observe that while kawaii-ness is in the eye of the beholder -- for example, many Japanese find crooked teeth charming while others don't, and there's a slang word busu-kawaii that means "homely, but in a cute way" -- the more refined concept of "beauty" (bi in Japanese, pronounced "bee") is more universally defined. For a man or woman to achieve true beauty, the Japanese say, they must be tall, with a body "eight heads high" (that is, their head should take up 1/8th of their total frame). They should have a "high nose" (not flat like most Japanese), and larger eyes with two creases in the eyelid (futae), not the narrow single-creased eyes of most Japanese (hitoe).

Former Morning Musume member Erina Mano reminds you to turn off all flames before bed.

Autumn in Japan 2012

Saturday marks the official start of autumn, which is a holiday in Japan, though it'll be observed two days later as part of the "Happy Monday" holiday initiative by the Japanese government (yes, it's really called that). Autumn is hands-down my favorite time of year here, thanks to the pleasant weather that makes going for a drive up Mt. Haruna so nice. Just as sakura (cherry blossoms) are the symbol of springtime, the beautiful leaves of the momiji (Japanese maple) represent autumn, and the crimson colors are really special to see as they change. Autumn is filled with unique cultural imagery, including viewing the full moon while eating a steaming sweet potato baked over hot stones and sipping sake. I'm not the only one who loves autumn: Japanese advertisers have a ball targeting consumers with advertisements reminding them to buy Kirin's season-limited Aki-Aji beer or consider a visit to Kyoto in its most beautiful season.

It's time for my annual "Damn, I wish I were in Kyoto now" post.

Cosplay Products from J-List!

Halloween is coming, and J-List just happens to have hundreds of fun anime cosplay and related products to help you have a great time this year. From Japanese eye patches and "socks glue" to the new Hatsune Miku face mask and brain-powered cat ears (which comes in U.S. and International versions), we've got some great items for you to browse. We also have authentic "Keep Out" tape which could come in handy for Persona 4 or Durarara cosplay. Click to see all our cosplay products, ranked by popularity!

Demonstrations in China: the View from Japan

This has certainly been a harrying week for violent protests. The Japanese government's purchase of the Senkaku Islands from their private owners, a move aimed at reducing extremist activity from both China and Japan, had the opposite effect as Chinese demonstrators ran amok, burning Japanese cars and smashing the windows of Japanese businesses in more than 100 cities. Although the destruction of property was very sad, it hasn't been without comedy, like the protester who defaced a Mercedes-Benz car thinking it was Mitsubishi, the mistaken attacks on "Japanese" businesses like McDonald's and Rolex, plus the "Japanese" Samsung factory that got burned down. (South Korea's Samsung encourages Chinese consumers to believe it's a Japanese company, advertising itself with images of Mt. Fuji to promote an image of quality, something it probably regrets now.) While the protesters were expressing anger at Japan's 1895 annexing of Senkaku/Diaoyu, China claims has been its territory since 1534, they were mostly harming their own countrymen, destroying Japanese cars owned by Chinese citizens and damaging businesses owned by Chinese shareholders. They were also doing a great deal of damage to relations with their neighbors (China has territorial disputes with most of its neighbors, who must be watching this week's developments nervously) as well as untold economic harm, just as its domestic economy is slowing down.

It's certainly been interesting to watch the drama unfold. While the Japanese news has covered the demonstrations, with various political commentators giving their opinions on the complex issues at play, most of the interesting news has only been available online. (Japan's free press is very quick to censor itself on various topics, leading many Japanese to turn to foreign news sources or the Internet to learn the whole story.) While Japanese are deeply concerned about the images they've been seeing, most expect things to return to some form of normalcy soon. ("It's just a festival they hold every few years," said one J-List staffer.) Always looking for an excuse to create new moe art, artists on Japan's 2ch BBS took riben guizi, a derogatory Chinese word meaning "Japanese devil" and made a cute character named Hinomoto Oniko (the Japanese reading of the same kanji characters). She's quite cute, and has become a popular Internet meme.

Severe anti-Japan protests in China; a protestor boasts online about the "Mitsubishi" logo he stole.

Japan's Post Office Adding Business Loans?

One theme I cover a lot is that capitalism in Japan doesn't work the way it does in other countries. For example, the free market here is rather "polite," with companies taking care to avoid targeting their competitors with cutthroat business practices. Panasonic's new line of televisions doesn't aim at knocking Sony's offerings out of the marketplace, and new Internet startups don't seek to destabilize existing businesses and benefit from the chaos that emerges. Another aspect of capitalism here is that the government -- national, prefectural and local -- involves itself with a lot of areas you'd expect the private sector to handle. Perhaps the best example of this is Japan Post, Japan's sprawling post office, which also operates as the world largest bank (they have $2.4 trillion in deposits) as well as a major seller of life insurance. These side businesses naturally bring it into competition with private banks and insurance companies, who loudly question why the government needs to be undercutting the private sector and taking away their business. Now Japan Post is planning on expanding to include business and housing loans, which has caused a new outcry from Japan's financial sector.

Japan Post draws fire for its expanding...services.

Anime Magazine Subscriptions from J-List

J-List has a popular revolving magazine subscription service which makes it easy for you to get the most popular anime, manga, fashion, racing and ecchi magazines sent to you each month. Japan's magazines are great, often giving readers rare omake (oh-mah-kay), which is Japanese for "free swag," like free posters, phone straps, figures and so on. Best of all, the subscriptions are month-to-month so you can cancel or change subscriptions at any time. Click to see our most popular Japanese magazine subscriptions now!

I Wish I Were in Kamakura Right Now

I get a lot of requests from people planning trips to Japan asking for places they should visit. For visits to the Kanto (Tokyo and Yokohama) area, one spot I always recommend is Kamakura, a charming city that's a 90 minute train ride away from Yokohama, great for taking a day trip. A picturesque city by the sea with a very long history, it hosts many temples and shrines, the most famous being the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine founded in 1063. Old stuff like this always floors me as an American, since nothing in the U.S. built by Europeans is half that old. Kamakura is most famous for the giant bronze statue of Buddha, the second largest in Japan, and this alone would make the city worth a trip even if it weren't one of the prettiest places in the country to visit. Kamakura is also home to one of the most famous train lines in Japan, the Enoshima Electric Railway (nicknamed "Enoden"), which has been in operation since 1900 and which is beloved by Japan's many train otaku, who come from miles away ride on it. (Watch the yuri anime Aoi Hana to see more of the beautiful Kamakura area and Enoden train line.)

The Great Buddha of Kamakura, the 2nd largest in Japan.

Sarcasm in Japanese

The concept of humor is a complex one, and it's not uncommon for something that's funny in one language to fall flat in another. I remember watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail with my wife, trying to explain the concept of "British understatement" to her, and why it's amusing for a powerful mage who can throw fireballs to have a run-of-the-mill name like Tim instead of something more extravagant. As an American, I'll occasionally take a statement I might make in English -- perhaps channeling Homer Simpson's classic "Look at me! I'm making people happy! I'm the Magical Man from Happy-Land, in a gumdrop house on Lollipop Lane!" -- and say it in Japanese, invariably receiving blank stares in return. It's no surprise my jokes don't always go over in Japanese, as the concepts of sarcasm (a sharp verbal mocking), irony (expressing humor with unexpected words, usually meaning the opposite of what you really want to communicate), and cynicism (a bitter and pessimistic view of life) all generally translate to the same word in Japanese (hiniku).

Concepts like sarcasm work differently in Japanese.

Birthrate Blues

Japan's birthrate is among the lowest in the industrialized world, with around 1.27 babies born per female compared with 1.39, 1.59, 1.82 and 2.1 for Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. As the number of children decline, causing schools to be closed and repurposed into more general community centers, more and more Japanese seem to be turning to something furrier: dogs. The number of dogs kept as pets has really shot up over the past decade, and every time I go shopping on the weekends I see a dozen or so animals in carts going shopping with their owners, usually being treated with a ridiculous amount of love and pampering. Pet ownership is rising so fast that that as of 2007 the country's dog population officially surpassed the number of human children. While dogs are the preferred pet, with dachshunds, chihuahuas and shiba dogs among the most popular breeds, Japanese families love their cats, too. (We could never choose between the two, so we have both.) By the way, if you're a fan of kawaii dogs or cute cats, J-List has some cute products you might want to check out.

With fewer children, Japan turns to puppies.

New 2013 Calendars Up!

We can tell Christmas is getting nearer because we are getting in more new products than we can easily fit into each update -- but we'll find a way somehow! In addition to today's new anime and manga magazine, figure, bento and other products we've got another volley of gorgeous 2013 calendars, like the new Accel World calendar, cute calendars for fans of animals like The Dog, The Cat, The Rabbit and so on, plus kanji calendars for anyone interested in learning about the beautiful characters, and a healthy serving of Japan's most beautiful AV stars.

Non-English Foreign Words Used in Japan

One of the first things you learn as a foreigner in Japan is that people here will assume you're intimately familiar with every word written in katakana, the writing system used for expressing foreign words, just by being a native speaker of English. Although the majority of foreign-loan words do come from English, many are taken from other languages, like arubaito (part time job, from the German arbeit) and ankeeto (questionnaire, from the French enquete) and the blocks of concentrated curry powder called roux (also French). This assumption that every Western foreigner knows everything associated with America and Europe goes beyond words, too. I was asked by the PTA of the special English school my son used to attend if I thought the International Baccalaureate program would be a good base for students wishing to attend university in the U.S., but I'd never heard of this system as it's generally found in Europe, which scandalized them. What kind of foreigner was I? Then there was the time I was teaching English to a student, and she informed me that she was a "Soroptimist," a word I was totally unfamiliar with at the time. (I now know it's an international volunteer organization for women and girls in 125 countries.)

The German word arubaito describes any part-time employment.