Hello again from Japan, the home of tomato flavored pretzels!
Part of Peter’s Unified Theory of Japan is that the Japanese greatly desire to be seen in a favorable light by other nations, especially the countries of the West. A lot of what the Japanese do, such as the creation of Japan’s high-speed Shinkansen train system in the 1960’s or the complete renovation of Narita Airport in 2001, are largely done to impress foreigners who come to Japan during events like the 1964 Olympics and the 2002 World Cup. There is no higher honor for Japan than to have one of its own attain fame around the world, and various men such as writers Yukio Mishima and Yasunari Kawabata and director Akira Kurosawa have become legendary inside Japan largely for attaining fame in the world stage. With this love of being recognized by the outside world, the Japanese are understandably proud of Spirited Away winning the Academy Award for best animated film, and Japanese television is singing the praises of Hayao Miyazaki and his long contribution to the international image of Japan as a nation. (Shameless plug: we just got a dozen copies of the Spirited Away region 2 DVD in stock if you haven’t gotten yours yet.)
Japan can seem a very digital place, full of little gadgets that make life easier — or sometimes just more complicated. Despite all the fiber-optic lines and microprocessors, Japan can be very analog, too. While we work at J-List, with all our Macs in our own little corner of the Internet, we often hear the local yaki-imo man driving around with his truck of hot, baked imo (sweet potatoes). Selling baked sweet potatoes is an old profession, going back to the Meiji Era, and the song they sing (or play through speakers, in this modern era) is a classic part of the background of living in Japan. We found a site that has a recording of the song here, if you want to hear it for yourself: http://www.kyoto-su.ac.jp/information/sounds/ishiyakiimo.html
Since our founding in 1996, J-List has been blessed with thousands of great customers like you, whose strong support has enabled us to grow at a furious pace. The J-List office is now quite full of stock, virtually overflowing with products stuffed into every corner imaginable — we even have some anime statues stored in the bathtub. To improve the situation, we’re starting construction this week on an add-on to the J-List office, which will double our storage area and allow for us to bring you many great things from Japan into the future. Thanks for your support, and keep your eyes on us!
We’re very happy with the attention our new Japanese Study Aids category has received, especially the Canon Wordtanks. We’ve posted online versions of the English manuals for the two higher-end units, for customers who want to download them and check out the excellent features of the Wordtank line.
For the new update, we’ve got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:
- First, we’ve added a new Reserve Subscription item to our lineup of great magazines you can get from Japan — we now carry Gothic & Lolita, the Japanese magazine of gothic fashion and style
- If you love Japan’s super cute Race Queens and swimsuit idols, we’ve got some nice items for you, including a gorgeous hardcover photobook of Toko Ushikawa
- For anyone trying to learn Japanese, we’ve added two mini dictionaries to our newly created Japanese Study Aids page
- For Hello Kitty fans, we’ve got some nice items, including Hello Kitty Pachinko that’s really fun to play with — makes a great stress reliever!
- Also, a dynamite toy series — Hello Kitty Kubrick style block figures — they are just too cool!
- If you love Sailor Moon, be sure and see the excellent cold cast high-end anime statue of Hotaru / Sailor Saturn, it’s great
- For Evangelion fans, a set of three great figures from the series, rare and very cool
- If you’re into fun Japanese snacks, we’ve got some great ones for you including Village of the Bamboo Sprouts (berry flavored cookies), delicious fish-shaped Ototto crackers, and delicious banana flavored Bulgaria Yogurt soft chews — yum
- Also, we’ve got lots of cool traditional things for you to try, like miso soup and delicious dried, shredded ika (squid)
- Also, a tasty vitamin-enriched citrus candy with an herbal coating
- For fans of Japanese-style bathing, we’ve got some aloe bath powder that turns your tub into a Japanese hot springs
- For fans of the Tomica die-cast cars, we’ve got stock of the super cute Nissan March, Japan’s answer to the new Beetle
- For Evangelion fans, a rare treat — a re-issue of the first episode in a great collector’s edition that features full-frame music videos and other great extras (region 2)
- We like funny signs in Japanese, so we’ve added more, including “Please take your shoes off” (an old favorite)
- Finally, look for a handy first aid bag that you can use in many ways, a great sticky roller that cleans any surface for you, more hot springs powder and related items, Japanese tea, and more!
- For our adult customers, we’ve got many new 18+ products. They include:
- For fans of wonderful Japanese adult magazines, we’ve got the new Bejean, the oversized magazine just overflowing with top Japanese AV stars
- Also, a great item in stock for fans of older, more mature amateur ladies, including married women
- Also, a great hybrid item, Woooo B-Gumi, a combination magazine and hentai manga filled with beautiful Japanese AV stars and idols
- For photobook fans, see the excellent items we’ve got for you including the super sexy Ryoko Mitake, one of the most elegant and beautiful women in Japan today, in a new photobook
- Also, we’ve got a super “Cutey Honey” cosplay photobook featuring super sexy models dressing in the famous anime costumes — features that lovely bombshell Megumi, too
- Look for fresh stock of several popular photobooks as well, including Kaoru Private Collection by Garo Aida, Yuko Ogura’s Secret Room (Mmmm), and Ran Asakawa’s dynamite hardcover photobook
- We love Japan’s excellent hentai comic culture, and have some great new offerings for you, including the incredibly erotic “Seduction” by Hidefumi Akito
- Also, the anime series The Prince of Tennis has really caught on with yaoi fans who love the images of all those sweaty guys — see a new all-POT yaoi anthology manga in stock
- For fans of the excellent artwork of G-Taste creator Hiroki Yagami, we’ve got a great new series of G-Taste miniature “trading figures” of his most memorable characters
- For our DVD collecting customers, we’ve got another great bunch of products for you, starting with a great value-priced Aika Miura best hits DVD, featuring some of her best erotic works ever (region free)
- For fans of beautiful soft breasts, enjoy the “great satisfaction of the milky white breast girls” in a new offering from Max A (region free)
- We love the erotic works of Nanami Nanase — see a great compilation of her best stuff in the new Nanamix vol. 1 from Soft on Demand (region free)
- Enjoy the soft and erotic world of lesbian sex in a new series, “Let’s Do Lesbian” (region free)
- The swimsuit idol Megumi is a popular face from Japan — now see her as she takes off her swimsuit and performs her very first AV (?) (region 2_
- Finally, we’ve got a great new bukkake DVD in the “Semen by…” feature, this time with female teacher Riho Nanami — just lovely! (region 2).
Remember that J-List carries the really popular girls of Eastern Europe and Russia, including busty bombshell Yulia Nova, the girls of the Czech Republic, and one of the most popular items to come along in a while, Gold Bird, the nude gymnastics of Romania’s actual Olympic Gymnastics team. (Supposedly this caused quite a stir back in Romania.) Check out all the great items we have!
Also, remember that we have three excellent region free DVD players for you to choose from, each of which should fill all your DVD viewing needs. We have the Sampo DVE-612, a solid and reliable unit that’s just $98; the OITO DVD player, a superbly engineered small-footprint player that’s fully region free and VCR friendly; and the new Cyberhome DVD CH-500, a very reliable region-free DVD player with many excellent features. All players support PAL & NTSC (and allow you to view a PAL disc on an NTSC TV and vice-versa), and all feature international power support. We ship these players daily from our warehouse in San Diego.
