Japan is a big fan of naming special days to create awareness about things we take for granted, like Sweet Potato Day (Oct. 13) or Rubber Manufacturing Day (May 6) or Teddy Bear Day (Oct. 27, the birthday of Theodore Roosevelt, from who the name originates). Why do I know these silly dates? Because every time I start my car, a computerized voice greets me and tells me what special day it is. Today happens to be Karaoke Culture Day, a day to pause and think about the beneficial effects karaoke has had on all or our lives, or something like that. Karaoke sprung into being in 1971, created by musician/inventor Daisuke Inoue, who had been asked by customers at a live house he performed at to record instrumental versions of his songs so they could sing them at company events. With the recent invention of high-tech 8-track tape players, stereos were getting smaller, and Daisuke got the idea for a portable song machine with a microphone jack that would allow people to sing their own songs. The company he founded to market tape-based karaoke machines launched the modern karaoke industry, but it fell on hard times when Laserdisc-based karaoke came along and stole the marketplace, causing Inoue to step down as president to take responsibility for not leading the company more effectively. Unfor- tunately for Daisuke, it never occurred to him to patent the idea or trademark the name “karaoke,” mistakes which would cost him hundreds of millions. The name, incidentally, comes from “kara” (empty, as in karate, which means “empty hand”) and “orchestra.” Since I learned Japanese in part by hanging out at Japanese karaoke restaurants in San Diego and reading the words as they appeared on the screen, I tip my hat to Mr. Inoue, and hope he’s enjoying his retirement.
The population of the United States has just hit the 300 million mark, an event that seems like a grim joke considering that Japan’s population has probably reached its peak of 127 million at just about the same time, and has started to decline as deaths outstrip births. I guess I’m not quite sure how to feel about the issue of population shrinkage. On the one hand, Japan has a high population compared its small size, with 327 people per square km, compared with 383, 27 and 3 for England, the U.S. and Canada, respectively, so it seems that the idea of a lessening of population pressures could be a good thing. But does a falling population mean that an eternally shrinking GDP is in Japan’s future? Some people suggest this, but I don’t buy it, since Japan is currently an extremely inefficient place, and if they can manage to copy just a fraction in productivity gains seen in the U.S. in recent years, the economy can grow even if the overall population declines. In reality, the macro-level changes that Japan is facing on the population front are likely to affect the average person far less than more localized trends, such as the tendency for young people to flee the extreme rural parts of the country for larger cities. During my bachelor days I travelled from one end of Japan to the other, visiting places like Aomori Prefecture at the top of Japan’s main island of Honshu, known for its apples and sad enka songs, and Tottori Prefecture, home of Japan’s only desert. These regions are very sparsely populated, with lonely train stations that have so few passengers passing through that it isn’t feasible to keep even one employee there — hence, you buy your ticket and give it directly to the train conductor when you got on the train. As usual, I’m sure the changes Japan is going through are things that will just be dealt with as we go forward in human history.
Bathing in public baths (sento) and hot spring spas (onsen) is a fun part of life in Japan, and something my family and I are big fans of. By and large, being in the buff in front of others is something you don’t give a second thought to — it’s just part of the culture here, like beer vending machines and aloe flavored yogurt. While Japan is famous for images of men and women bathing together, kon’yoku or mixed bathing is actually very rare these days — I’ve only found one mixed bathing bath, and believe me, I’ve looked hard. Although men are strictly forbidden from entering the womens bathing area, there’s an unwritten rule that female staff may enter the men’s bath to clean at any time, despite the natural state of all the men bathing inside. Usually the women are obasans (older women in their 50s or so), but every once in a while an attractive younger woman will come in to straighten the buckets or check the bath temperature, causing the occasional dash to hot water by gaijin who shall not be named.
Calling all fans of Japanese calendars! We’ve gotten a huge volley of 2007 calendars in stock, and have posted them to the site for you to browse. Among the calendars we have on hand and ready to ship out to you are Domo-kun (a great item for fans of NHK’s famous brown spokesmonster), gorgeous idols like Mihiro, Yukie Kawamura, and Sonim, super anime characters like Boy Detective Conan, Negima, My Neighbor Totoro, beautiful images of Japanese castles and gardens, and more. We also have two items that I can’t recommend highly enough: this year’s outstanding Ghibli Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service 3-D calendars, which feature Totoro standing by the famous bus stop and Jiji the Cat, both of which are great for displaying photos in when 2007 is behind us.
Last time we officially announced that our new yaoi PC dating-sim game, Absolute Obedience, was in stock and shipping, and now we’ve got another announcement for fans of this popular genre from Japan: J-List’s San Diego staff will be attending the upcoming Yaoi Con in San Francisco, October 20-22 in the heart of San Francisco. We’ll have our great English-translated BL games as well as other fun stuff for you to browse, and our famous J-List tissue, of course. If you’ll be at the show, please come by and say hello to us! You can see more information on the convention here.
