Hello again from Japan, home of cars with names like Bongo Friendee, Nissan Bluebird Sunny and Mitsubishi Thanks.
It’s interesting to observe the balance of technology between Japan and the U.S. The Japanese are way ahead of us when it comes to anime, miniature electronics and toilet seats that wash your butt then dry it, but in the market of clothes dryers, which did not exist in Japan until the past 15 years or so, they’re way behind. In Japan most housewives hang clothes out to try, and don’t use a dryer at all, but in summer when it’s very humid, and during Japan’s month-long rainy season, clothes don’t dry at all outside. I bought a dryer for my wife, but it’s not really up to par with some of Japan’s other technology. For one thing, it doesn’t have an outdoor exhaust vent, and releases all the moisture from the drying clothes inside the house, which can’t be very heathy. Dishwashers are also just starting to catch on in Japan, although since Japanese kitchen are not very large, the dishwashers have to be very small to fit. As a result, most Americans would probably have trouble identifying a Japanese dishwasher if they saw one.
Most people know that in Japan, shoes are removed before you enter a house. This is done because to the Japanese, there’s nothing dirtier than feet, and shoes belong outside. Japanese houses always have a lowered section near the front door called the “genkan,” a convenient place to leave your shoes so they’ll be there when you need to go out again (we built one into our house in America). Japanese know that Americans leave their shoes on inside the house from watching American television, and it looks very funny to them. Last night, I was watching Shrek with my son, and he was amazed to see the Princess in bed with her shoes on. Inside the house, Japanese usually wear slippers, and if a gaijin goes to a Japanese person’s house, the Japanese person will give him slippers to wear, even if they’re much too small for his feet. Although we try to “live like Americans” when we go to the U.S., most of my Japanese family (including myself) quietly leave our shoes near the front door when back home — it just feels to odd to walk on carpet with shoes.
Tomorrow is a happy day at J-List: Harumi-chan is getting married. In accordance with Japanese wedding customs, I must give a speech in Japanese, because I am Harumi’s boss. Giving a speech in a foreign language is always a challenge, but I’ll take the bull by the horns and do my best. If you want to learn more about what goes on in a Japanese wedding, see the “Two Weddings, No Funerals” article on my personal webpage (http://www.peterpayne.net). You can see pictures of Harumi and other J-List staff members by clicking the “about J-List” link on our website.
We’re happy to announce two new designs for fans of our world-famous Japanese T-shirts: an alternate version of “Looking for a Japanese Girlfriend” (our most popular shirt) and a matching “Looking for a Japanese Boyfriend” for girls, our first Baby Doll T-shirt! Both feature a very simple styling and a pleasant brush-stroke Japanese script, and they go great together, too. Both are in stock and ready for you to order!
For the pre-weekend update we’ve got an extra-special bunch of items for you, including:
- For toy collectors, we’ve got some nice items for you, including more only-released-in-Japan Hot Wheels (two new vehicles), as well as fresh stock of some popular Godzilla items
- Also, we’ve restocked the smash hit Amalie Kubrick figures, from the excellent French film
- For fans of the Japanese anime Ojamajo Doremi (Troublesome Witch Doremi), we’ve got extremely limited stock of large soft vinyl figures that are way cool
- Also for fans of toys, we’ve got a rare item, a super photobook of the most famous tin toys of the first half of the 20th century, including robots made by Japanese toy makers of the era
- One of the most popular toy items in the past year or so has been the Captain Harlock toy series, a very cool item. We’ve posted the last full sets of these toys that will be available, six of them, so if you’re looking to get the full set of these cool toys, hurry
- For Japanese snack fans, we’ve got melon flavored caramel corns (yes, you read correctly), new fried rice and ramune candy, and “candy bubbles” that you can really eat (fun!)
- We’re down to just two of the Studio Ghibli region 2 DVD players, so if are a collector of rare items from Japan and would like to get one of these players, we recommend that you hurry!
- If you love Hello Kitty, check out the Kitty “melody camera” and several other fun items we’ve added
- For fans of Hamtaro and cute hamsters, we’ve got a fun pack of hamster goods you or your kids will love
- We’ve got more Japanese eyedrops which customers can’t seem to get enough of, and fresh stock of our “Times simply to very important…” funny English notebook
- Finally, look for new Japanese chopsticks, a handy “soft pack” for storing just about anything, a great item to aid cooking with oil, and much more!
For our adult customers, we’ve got many new 18+ products, including:
- For magazine lovers, we have the new magazines for you, including the beautiful new issues of Penthouse Japan and Penthouse Special, featuring all-Japanese models shot in Penthouse style!
- Also, several new and reduced priced amateur and other magazine items, as well as fresh stock of the excellent issue of Karami dedicated exclusively to Izumi Morino
- We have the new issue of DVD Soft Catalog, a great magazine and dual video CD featuring 2 hours of samples of great Japanese AV for you, for a great price
- If you love Japan’s leg and stocking fetish photobooks, we’ve got Eri Fukazawa’s excellent new offering
- Also, enjoy new hardcover nude photobooks by Natsuki Okamoto and a super pocket-size photobook of Bunko Kanazawa in San Francsico!
- Bishoujo game fans might know about Forget-Me-Not, a beautiful erotic hentai game that’s popular in Japan right now — and we’ve got the art book in stock for you
- For hentai manga fans, we’ve got another volley of new books in stock for you, including hentai artist Fuuga’s excellent new work, as well as a general restocking of popular titles including Chataro and others
- Also, good stock of two great hentai doujinshi, Rock DOA (parodying Dead or Alive) and Tropical Princess 8 (parodying King of Fighters) — both excellent!
- For DVD lovers, we’ve got another excellent selection of items for you, starting off with Soft on Demand’s newest “zenra” (“stark nakedness”) production, Zenra Orchestra, featuring 20 girls who play a full orchestra piece in the nude (region free)
- Also from SOD, Nozomi Momoi and Kyoka Usami go all around Japan to relieve the pressure and stress of their fans in the Magic Mirror Bus, in the newest Fan Thanks presentation (region free)
- We love Hikari Kisugi for her innocent smile and beautiful girl-next-door body, and now she performs for you in a super new release from Sexia (region free)
- Enjoy the lovely soft porn of Sola Aoi, e.g. “Blue Sky”, in a new release from Eichi (region free)
- From Waap Entertainment, a huge sampling of all that is Waap, performed by the beautiful Harumi Hirose (region 2)
- We’ve got the dynamite new Nao Oikawa “Super Angle of Manko” in stock for you, featuring 90% of footage shot from the point-of-view of Nao-chan’s pussy region (region 2)
- Finally, look for many restocked DVD items, including the Amateur Bukkake series, Man’s Juice, Street Fucker, and more!
The J-Mate site has been updated yet again, with a new review of Nao Oikawa’s lovely DVD “Black Date.” You can read about dozens of Japanese products (DVDs, Japanese love sim games, photobooks) with lots of pictures, and also read English reviews with famous AV idols from Japan. J-Mate is our way of saying thanks to everyone for making J-List a success. The URL is http://www.jmate.com/
