Hello again from all of your friends in Japan!
It’s typhoon time in Japan, as typhoon no. 6 meanders its way across the Pacific to touch down in central Japan, right where we are. Typhoons are a big problem, but they usually hit in September — this is a rare storm to be coming this early in the season. We’re battening down all the hatches here…
Coca Cola’s new C2 is coming to the U.S. this summer, but it’s out here in Japan already. A reformulating of Coke with half the sugar and half the carbs, it’s basically a retread of a 1990s Japanese product, Coke Light, which the company brought out here after Diet Coke failed to win over Japanese consumers. (They thought it tasted like medicine.) While some of the J-List staff have taken to drinking C2, I’ll stick to drinking mugi-cha (barley tea), a favorite of most Japanese and a delicious natural drink in the summer. We have cold-brew barley tea bags in stock if you’d like to try some.
Although Japan is famous for sake (sah-kay, remember, try not to say saki if you can avoid it), or distilled rice wine, the national beverage of Japan is definitely beer. Japan’s beer market is dominated by the four major breweries, Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo, and Suntory, who introduce dozens of new beers per year in an attempt to win market share from the others: beer with double the carbonation, blends of dark and light beers, beers brewed for women, and season-limited beers such as Sapporo’s A Winter’s Tale and Kirin’s Taste of Autumn. There are actually two kinds of beer sold in Japan: regular beer and “happoshu,” a low-malt beverage that’s taxed at a lower rate than beer, so it’s a lot cheaper (but I don’t like the taste). Although there have been some inroads made by microbreweries in Japan, by and large the major breweries have not made much impact in Japan. Part of the problem is that the Japanese government, which is dependent on a steady stream of beer taxes, is not willing to grant licenses to small companies that might not pay their taxes. Whenever you enjoy a frosty beer in Japan you always have “otsumami,” a word which means any food you munch on with your beer. There are many foods to choose from: beef jerky, rice crackers with peanuts, cheese with dried cod strips, or if you’re feeling adventurous, dried, shredded squid, which seems to taste better the longer one lives in Japan.
The most profitable Disney theme park in the world is Tokyo Disneyland, which opened in 1983 and has broken all records for money-making for the Disney theme parks (oops, I mean “resorts”). The Japanese penchant for spending money on souvenirs for family members, called “omiyage,” helps push this profitability up. Japan has a second theme park to enjoy now, too: DisneySea, centered around themes of the sea. The park features a volcano, a replica of Agrabah from Aladdin, a fun under-the-sea area for younger kids, a cruise ship, a “jet coaster” (as they say in Japan) based on Journey to the Center of the Earth, and even a hotel where you can get married right inside the park (for all the Japanese “Disney otaku” who really love Disney characters). When we went to the park last year, my son commented that it was “kakko warui” (unstylish, uncool) for Mickey Mouse to speak Japanese when he should be speaking English.
Thanks for all the warm feedback on our problem with our graphic images — we really love being able to serve such an excellent group of individuals around the world! Now that the J-List graphics are back to normal, remember we’re having a one-week special “Thanks Sale” to say thanks to everyone for their patience. Get a special 20% discount on 4 or more DVDs, or a whopping discount of 25% on 4 or more English dating-sim games.
For the new update, we’ve got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:
- First, for fans of the amazing Chobits anime and manga by CLAMP, we have a superb high-end set of Chobits candy toys (shokugan) featuring the incredibly beautiful female characters (full sets are in stock)
- Want to keep your desk clean? We recommend our cute Hello Kitty desk vacuum cleaners, which allow you to clean up dirt, dust and more from your desk and keep it looking clean — plus they’re great for displaying
- Also for fans of Kitty items not available outside of Japan, we have a great Hello Kitty tissue cover that fits over any long box of tissue
- We’re big fans of the Pinky character toys from Vance Project, extremely cool super deformed anime figures — to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Gainax, we’ve got some Pinky Cosplay figures featuring Asuka and Rei from Evangelion — so cool!
- Are you a fan of Japan’s wonderful cars? We’ve got more Tomica die-cast metal vehicles that are great to collect and display — newly added are the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and the new Honda Odyssey
- For fans of our tasty Japanese snack items, we’ve got delicious Endomame Pretz, tasty maguro snacks, pretzel sticks with the tasty flavor of green soybeans that are eaten as a snack with beer
- Also, look for cream soda Hi-Chew Kids, a delicious variation on beef jerky (heh heh), and more dynamite fizzing bubble ball bubble gum
- Restocked snack items include several varieties of Shigekix (the delicious super-tart gummi treats), Mobi snack cookies, various flavors of Lotte chewing gum, and more
- Enjoy the dynamite photographs of Mariko Takeda, a gorgeous and stylish model from the fashion magazine SuperCawaii (SCawaii), in her new photobook
- Like wacky Japanese English? We’ve got a set of all-purpose canvas bags that are rife with funny English
- Next we have two very uniquely Japanese ways to clean your ears, with ring-style cotton swabs and soft Japanese “cleaning hooks” that feel great
- Brighten your computer area with a single beautiful flower — we’ve got a handy flower holder from Hanako Style
- Studying Japanese? We have fresh stock of great flashcards that make it fun to learn basic words and greetings, as kids do, as well as more katakana flashcards and 1st grade kanji study books
- Learning to make bento as the Japanese do? We’ve got more wiener shapers, which allow you to turn sausages into penguins, crabs, tulips and more
- For fans of the super cute Pinky Street figures, little super deformed high school figures, we’ve restocked the Special Box, which includes a photobook with two figures
- Finally, we have a great box for storing anything, restocked authentic chopsticks from Japan, and many more cool items for you!
For our 18+ customers, we’ve got many new products. The new items include:
- For fans of our excellent JAV magazines, we have the dynamite new issues of Best Video and Video Boy, the great monthly magazines for fans of the Japanese video industry
- We’ve also got the new issue of Gotcha, featuring super Tokyo girls in gorgeous love hotels
- For photobook fans, we’ve got some really special items for you today, including Hikaru Koto’s fabulous glossy offering showing her in her best naughty pictures ever
- Also, Aya Kudo will amaze and delight you with her gorgeous photobook offering
- For H manga fans, a superb new work from Mujin Comics featuring amazing themes of hermaphroditism and more, as well as the super office love story by Nuku Nuku Heart and a Love Song of Angels
- Also, we’ve got a major restocking of manga for you too, including the great futanari manga Buttagiri Sisters, Sleeping Doll, Madam Hisae’s Diary, How To Make a Widow, and many more
- Also for yaoi lovers, we have a great new story about love, life and barriers
- For our DVD customers, enjoy some amazing new titles for you, starting with the Complete AV Actress performance by Nao., the silky and sexy starlet who always puts a period after her name (region free)
- Then see the real on-camera performance of girls from Hungary, as Japanese actors and film crews capture the most beautiful girls of that country for you (region free)
- Next-up, a great DVD for fans of she-male love (e.g. Mr. Lady), gorgeous girls who also pack meat (region free)
- We’ve got another bold “anatomy study” with girls from famous cabaret clubs, brought to you by Soft on Demand (region free)
- From Moodyz, see the very best of the their Superuma Rezu series, featuring gorgeous girls on camera for you (region 2)
- Then, enter Tokyo’s super disco world and experience dancin’ vixens who lose all inhibitions when they get out on the dance floor (region 2)
- Also, for fans of Yulia Nova’s amazing and graceful body, we’ve got good news — the 2nd DVD is back from the duplicators and in stock now, ready for your immediate order
- Finally a great restocking of popular DVD titles, including Noa Torigoe’s Beautiful Leg, Mai Sakashita’s Female Teacher, lots of Tekoki and more, Kyoko Ayana’s dynamite 4 hours special, and more!
Remember that J-List carries dozens of the coolest magazines from Japan, with regular subscriptions available via our Reserve Subscription system. Interested in the mysterious world of Japanese cosplay? We recommend Gothic & Lolita Bible and COSmode, both of which feature real sewing patterns in the back that you can use to make costumes. Interested in JPOP music? Why not get a subscription to Zappy, which comes with a CD in every issue, or the excellent Uta Bon, which prints sheet music from the most popular songs in Japan. Want to keep an eye on Japan’s high tech world? Then I recommend one of my favorite magazines, Goods Press, which shows you what’s hip in the world of electronics, men’s fashion and Zippo lighters each month.
