Hello again from Japan, the home of a popular “creaming powder” for coffee known as “Creap.”
One unique side of Japan are the “love hotels” that pop up here and there throughout the country, especially in rural areas. Because Japanese young people usually live with their parents into their 20s (or indefinitely, if they’re the oldest son or daughter), it can be difficult for couples to find time for privacy. So they go to a love hotel, where they can enjoy “rest” (2 hours of privacy) or “stay” (all night). Formerly known as “motels,” which causes some confusion when Japanese go to the U.S. and see motels there, the rooms inside love hotels have everything couples might need — exotic baths to clean themselves, a condom on the pillow, toothbrushes, and so on. Many love hotels are organized around a theme, such as the Queen Elizabath (a giant hotel that looks like a ship), or rooms that look like the Forbidden City in Beijing. The most famous love hotel in Gunma is called The Rock, and everything in the rooms is based on Alcatraz — but it’s so popular, you have to wait to get in. Since couples going to a hotel want privacy, the hotels make sure they never need to see anyone — at some places, you can check out by phone, and put your money in a tube that will be delivered to the front desk.
I’ve talked before about Japan’s tendency to give in to the “tyranny of the masses” — for example, skim milk is impossible to find in Japan because most Japanese like thick, creamy milk with 4.7 per cent milkfat, so only the majority gets what it wants. In a similar show of over-uniformity, Japanese parents tend to “fix” children who show signs of left-handedness, and force them to use their right hands — this happened to my wife when she was a child. The rationale when my wife was young was that kids need to learn how to do math using an abacus, which can only be used with the right hand. Supposedly they don’t “fix” lefties anymore, but I distinctly remember my wife gently “correcting” our son Kazuki when he was a baby and tried to do something with his left hand. Incidentally, my wife has the equivalent of a brown belt in abacus calculation, and can sit there and add up complex numbers even by moving her hand over an imagery abacus — she doesn’t need a real one.
For the new update, we’ve got an extra special selection of new items for you, including:
- First, we have a cool treat for Macross/Robotech fans: the new series of *transforming* toys from Banpresto — all five of the very cool Valkyrie fighters (full sets also available)
- If you love Astro Boy, the very first Japanese animation series ever, we’ve got fresh stock of the beautiful recreation of Astro Boy in flight, complete with case
- For Hello Kitty fans, we’ve got a really cool series of “collectible mascots” that come with cute little metal suitcase tins, they’re great!
- We’ve gotten in fresh stock of the Studio Ghibli DVD player, a beautiful designed player that comes with many great extras, including full Dolby and DTS support, two remote controls (including an “acorn remote” that is just too cool), and English menus. Supply of these players is really drying up in Japan, so get yours before they become unavailable
- For fans of our fun Japanese snacks, we’ve got several items, including green tea flavored choco sticks, tasty “honey black candy,” tasty Japanese rice crackers and miso soup, and more
- If you love Gamera, the huge flying turtle monster, we’ve got a cool Gamera 2 Perfect Analysis data book that’s really cool
- Also, fresh stock of one of our most popular (and wacky) items, sushi gummi, fruit flavored gummi “sushi” on marshmallow “rice” with chocolate soy sauce — it’s so fun to eat!
- For fans of Japanese gum, we’ve restocked several varieties, and added a super strong mint gum for people worried about “etiquette” and bad breath
- We have cute notebooks, including a Little Twin Star coloring book and a new Hamtaro “free note” (i.e. a notebook with blank pages you can draw in) with included “rocket pencil”
- For collectors of beautiful trading cards from Japan, be sure to check out the Seventh Sanctuary cards we just got in
- A cute but slightly weird-looking character called Umi-Nin (Sea-Man) is in stock, if you’re a fan of off-color Japanese plush characters
- We’ve restocked our famous authentic loose socks and loose socks glue (which is used to hold the socks up high)
- For fans of Inu Yasha, the hit anime by Rumiko Takahashi, we’ve got the film comic of the theatrical release in stock
- If you love Japanese food, especially noodles, we’ve got a great way to enjoy them!
- Finally, check out a funky ice cube tray, a wacky wooden sign to hang up when you’ve got a broken heart, a way to keep mosquitoes away while outside, and more!
- For our adult customers, we’ve got many new 18+ products. The new items include:
- We have the new issue of the oversized Bejean, and a lovely issue it is, filed with beautiful adult video idols from Japan
- For fans of magazines that come with sampler Video CDs, enjoy the new PC King, with 2 hours of sampler video for you!
- We’ve got some very nice new hardcover photobooks in stock, including a beautiful one with the Nana Natsume’s pure nude, and a great item for fans of Garo Aida
- For doujinshi collectors, we’ve got some nice new in stock doujinshi for you, although they will go fast since they’re all brand new releases from the summer 2002 Comic Market and we’ve only got limited stock of each
- Also for fans of hentai illustrations, we’ve got some excellent new hentai manga, including a super new issue from Shiwasu no Okina (comes complete with color pages and a set of four collectible cards)
- Also for manga lovers, we’ve got a major update of back in stock items, including other Shiwasu no Okina volumes, books by Chataro and more
- We have fresh stock of the very lovely The Newest Anime Collection, an art book with information on hentai anime in Japan
- If you love the excellent English-dubbed hentai DVDs we’ve been adding to the J-List site, we’ve got more for you, four new boxed sets of excellent hentai anime, and all uncensored! All stocked in San Diego, too…
- For fans of adult DVD entertainment, we’ve got some very nice new titles in, starting with a new “obscene lesbian kissing” DVD from SOD, which features all amateurs (region free)
- There’s a great “Sperm Lesbian” 2-in-1 production with 140 minutes of excellent performances by top AV stars (including Nao Hirosue) (region free)
- We have two great new indies performances by a new company, Janes — see super hardcore sex with Ai Nagase and Shinobu Kasagi (both region free)
- AV director Tohjiro has created a new “best hits of hugging from behind” erotic DVD series, which sounds silly, but it’s really erotic and cool to see (region free)
- Finally, fresh stock of several DVD titles, including Adult Video Wrestling (pro wrestling with an erotic twist), the best of Ami Ayukawa, as well as many region 2 DVDs (good for those with region free players!).
Remember that J-List carries 6- and 12-month subscriptions to some of our most popular adult magazines, like Urecco, Gal’s Dee, and Beajean. We also carry many other magazines by revolving subscription, a system by which we reserve each current issue of that magazine for you every month. Check out our magazine subscription pages for more information!
The “top 5” lists have been updated again, so you can see what everyone else is buying at J-List. Click on each list to bring up those items on the J-List site.
