Hello again from Japan, where the American shampoo Pert is marketed under the product name Rejoy.
It’s customary for various regions around Japan to choose a “meibutsu” (literally “famous thing”) which they use to promote their uniqueness. Sometimes it’s a famous food: Fukushima Prefecture, north of Tokyo, pushes its delicious northern-style ramen, while Nagoya is famous for curry udon, thick noodles in a curry soup (it’s great). Our town, Isesaki, is famous for hand-woven silk fabric used to make kimono, and Takasaki, one town over, is famous for hand-made Daruma statues which are used to bring good luck on New Year’s Day. Several towns around Japan have a unique angle on self-promotion, with “fertility festivals” that celebrate fertility and, well, the male sex organ. There’s a great video posted by our friends at TokyoDV which shows all the sights and sounds of the amazing “Steel Phallus” festival in Kawasaki (Quicktime required). Seeing people carrying a shrine shaped like a male organ through the streets is not something you see every day. The URL is http://www.tokyodv.com/culture/FertilityFestival.html
Sometimes in Japan there are things that defy explanation. For some reason, most of the people who live near our house in Japan have the same last name as us — Yanai — despite the fact that they’re not related to us in any way. On this month’s “kairanban” (a kind of revolving newsletter that goes to everyone in our immediate neighborhood; when one family reads it, the put a check by their name and take it to the next house on the list), I noticed that 11 out of 19 were named Yanai, all of them apparently unrelated. My repeated questions as to how this could be go unanswered. About a kilometer away, there’s a patch of houses with families whose last names are all Hosoi, but they, too, are not related to each other. It’s one of the mysteries of living in a small town in rural Japan, I guess.
For the weekend update, we’ve got a great slew of items for you, including rare Hello Kitty items from Japan, with a great item that your kids (or you) will love, a cute High School Jenny doll from Takara, fashionable and fun accessories from Japan, a super item for Ultraman fans, delicious snack items, “green tea” bath tablets, bento related items, fresh stock of anime toys including Totoro music boxes and plush toys, Japan-only Hot Wheels, and more. For our adult customers, enjoy new magazines, including several cool hardcore items and a “photobook magazine” devoted entirely to the lovely Maiko Kazano, new photobooks and other items, some super erotic manga as well as a dozen or so restocked books, fresh stock of popular yaoi books, a dynamite 2003 G-Taste Daily Calendar that we just got in, several excellent new DVDs including fetish items we’ve been searching for for years, and more!
The J-Mate site has been updated, with new reviews of the fun “Blue” underwater fetish DVD series, as well as Soft on Demand’s interesting “darkness fetish” DVD release as well. J-Mate is a great place to browse through product reviews and interviews in English with Japanese AV actresses. The URL is http://www.jmate.com/ Remember that we’re always interested in getting your reviews of products for posting to the site!
At J-List, we carry dozens and dozens of English-translated “bishoujo” games, i.e. Japanese interactive love-sim games. We’ve dropped the price of two of our favorite games, Legend of Fairies and Fairy Nights, a two-part game that features great artwork by Mercy Rabbit, an artist that has been very popular at J-List over the years. Each game is now just $9.95, and they work on all Windows systems and Macintosh (System 7.x-9.x, classic mode in OS X supported). For Mac users, OS X versions of the games are planned, and the upgrade will be free when they’re ready.
Remember, too, that we have FREE SHIPPING on all G-Collections games this month, but this month is almost over. Why not browse our bishoujo game list and see which ones you’d like to add to your collection? We’ve also got the brand-new Private Nurse in stock, a great new English-language love-sim game that’s fully uncensored and features beautiful graphics.
