Hello from J-List! Spring is beginning to spring here in Japan, a time that’s called Haru Ichiban in Japanese. On the Kanto plain that means strong, dusty winds blowing everywhere, as high pressure and low pressure zones fight it out for control of the country. It’s windy outside, but at least it’s getting warmer.
People and customs can vary quite a lot from place to place. In America, we try to respect individuality, and the concept that everyone is unique and special is seen as a positive one. But in Japan, the dynamics of how groups function tend to make people less interested in being seen as unique or special by the in-group at large. I like to consider my own life to be quite unique — I’m an American who’s been lucky enough to live in Japan for the past 13 years and evangelize Japanese pop culture to many great people all around the world. I also lived in New Zealand for a year when I was a boy, and am one of the few Yanks in the world who can recite Fred Dagg comedy monologues. I had a Japanese friend who was very different from “average” Japanese in many ways, yet when I pointed this out to her once she said, “No, I’m just a normal, average Japanese.” My friend actively wanted to be thought of as normal (in Japanese: futsuu) and not different (kawatteru) from the norm, and my compliment that she was “unique” actually upset her.
In the course of my adult life I’ve read most of James Clavell’s books on Asia and Japan. While his historically-based novels are interesting, I’ve always had a problem with his Japanese characters who are finely attuned to such concepts as giri (duty, honor, obligation) and ninjo (lit. human feeling, e.g. the moral tradition of giving up something for others) and other flowery concepts that didn’t seem to mesh with modern Japan. I’ve never met a Japanese who was ready to commit seppuku, although James Clavell’s characters always seem ready to disembowel themselves at a moment’s notice to defend their honor. I have observed, however, that most Japanese do practice real filial piety, that is, showing respect to their parents and making decisions that take their parents wishes into account. For example, while Americans usually leave home in their late teens or early twenties and never live with their parents again, it’s customary for the oldest son or daughter to stay at home permanently, taking over the family business (if there is one) and maintaining the house as the central hub for the rest of the family members. When that person gets married, their wife or husband will come live with them in their parents house, in effect being legally adopted by that family. When my father-in-law married my wife’s mother, he came to live at our house, taking his wife’s last name and taking over the family liquor shop. I also joined their household, although I kept my own last name. A bit of trivia for you: a man who lives with his wife’s parents but doesn’t take their last name is called a Masuo (mah-SOO-oh), named after the husband in the long-running anime show Sazae-san. If you want to surprise Japanese friends, pull this bit of knowledge out and watch their jaws hit the floor that a foreigner would know something like this.
For the new update, we’ve got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:
- First, for anyone wanting to study Japanese, we’ve got some useful items: kanji workbooks for Japanese students that are great for anyone trying to master written Japanese
- Also, workbooks for practicing writing of hiragana, katakana and kanji, and more fun word cards in stock
- And for any serious student of Japanese, we’re happy to have the new Canon Wordtank IDF-3000, featuring four complete dictionaries inside an easy to use electronic unit — features full English menus and manual
- Hello Kitty collectors, we’ve got some really cool items for you today, including plush Kitty hand towel sets for your bathroom
- Also, fresh stock of the Hello Kitty USB hub, the excellent Kitty diary, and other cool items
- Check out our unique Japanese snack items, including sour ume gummi treats, chocolate covered pumpkin seeds, tasty senbei crackers, and a great new kind of hard candy that’s really fun to eat
- Also, restocked traditional snacks like kneading candy (semi-liquid candy you mix with chopsticks) and the delicious “bubble ball” fizzing candy
- For fans of our wacky things from Japan, enjoy train maps of the Tokyo and Osaka area, great for your wall
- For fans of Shirow Masamune’s amazing works, we’ve got vol. 1 of the very hard to find Jashin Hunter (Demon Hunter) illustrated novel back in stock — but our current stock will be the last available
- For Gundam fans, we’ve got the new Haro Capsule Toy series, featuring really cool PVC toys of Gundam characters in Haro-styled capsules
- By request, we’ve restocked the popular fude-pen brush pens, which write like a Chinese writing brush
- Look for some really amazing wood-cut chopsticks, perfect for putting out when guests come over to eat
- Promote health in your mouth with “tongue cleaners,” which are shaped so that you can easily brush your tongue just like you brush your teeth to remove plaque
- We’ve got some very stylish block-toy style toys from Japan similar to Lego, which you can attach to your phone or keychain
- For women who want to restore the pinkness of their nipples (something Japanese women are concerned about apparently), we’ve restocked the popular Chikubina pinkening cream
- We’ve done a major restocking of many Totoro and Studio Ghibli toys, including several Totoro plush toys, Soot Sprite plushes, the Totoro and Jiji knapsacks, the Spirited Away plush Collection, and the Fox Squirrel from Lapura and Nausica
- Also, an item we’re proud to be able to make available to you, the giant Totoro Cuckoo Clock, a truly amazing item for your home
- Finally, look for many other great items from Japan, including the Cup Noodle coffee cup (a favorite of mine), new ways to make sushi and gyoza in your home, a sunny side up egg maker, and more!
For our 18+ customers, we’ve got many new products. The new items include:
- First, we have two excellent new issues of Penthouse Japan and Penthouse Special, wonderful magazines produced entirely in Japan and featuring Japanese models and aesthetic sensibilities
- We’ve got the new issue of Do-Up!, the super sexy magazine featuring real Japanese girls off the street
- For fans of Manami Suzuki, the delightful former Race Queen turned video idol, we’ve got a magazine with DVD of her best works (region 2)
- Also for DVD fans, we’ve got a great 5 hour magazine and sampler DVD item, the new DVD Dash (region free)
- Then enjoy the delightful nude of Emi Kitagawa in her amazing new photobook release
- Also, the amazing sexy photobook of Natsuki Katoh, featuring many artistically beautiful photos
- For 18+ manga fans, we’ve got some excellent new works for you, including The Bandage Man and Ryoh-Yuuki’s amazing Love Mix
- Also, we’ve restocked many manga volumes for you, including Punky Knight, P-Total Bio Chemical Lab, Refrection, and all four volumes of the popular Female Panther
- For doujinshi fans, we’ve got another selection of top-quality comics posted, with some amazing new parody anime releases for you
- Also, yaoi fans, enjoy a big restock of popular books too, including the Muscle Man series
- We’ve restocked the beautiful Libido 7 DVD Visual Works art book too, for collectors of Japan’s dating-sim games
- For our DVD customers, we’ve got some great items for you, starting with a fantastic *8 hours* of the “Ero Best” of Big Morkal, an amazing feat by one of Japan’s top professional studios (region free)
- Then see the best girls from Hungary in another bold “Japanese actors vs European gals” release from Wild Side (region free)
- Then catch a wild trio of performances by Ai Kurosawa, Mai Haruna and Miyuki Hourai in a massive 2-DVD set from Soft on Demand (region free)
- Ami Ayukawa has debuted in the indies world, allowing this amazing angel to really shine at her best — see a great new release from her through Wanz Factory (region 2)
- Then for fans of the luscious Kyoko Ayana, a fantastic treat: a great new DVD from Moodyz which comes with a latex toy that was molded from Kyoko’s own body (region 2)
- Finally, look for some great new DVDs in stock, including Dream Woman Best 4 Hours, a bizarre sports festival from Moodyz, more “black men vs Japanese girls” titles, Akira Watase’s parody of the Mini-Suka Police, and more!
Remember that J-List carries many cute items for your kitchen, including bento boxes and accessories, Japanese chopsticks (both basic ones for general use and cute chopsticks), sushi and onigiri molds, wacky Japanse kitchen containers, and more. Please check out the “Kitchen and Bento” section of the Wacky Things from Japan page!
