2020 has been a difficult time for all of us as well deal with the reality of the Coronavirus and its effect on our daily lives. For several months J-List was unable to ship to most several countries in Europe — pretty much every place except Germany, France, the U.K. and the Netherlands. Happily, economic airmail and speedy EMS shipping is now restored to most of Europe! Basically every place except Italy, Greece, Finland and Ireland.
The list of newly-restored countries J-List can ship to is below!
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Hungary
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
(For clarification, the UK, France, Germany, and the Netherlands never went away, and we can ship there no problem. Switzerland had a hard time with the virus but shipping was restored a couple weeks ago.)
Since I’ve been posting a country-specific anime gif or some other image to celebrate each country as they came back on-line, I’ll try to do the same for each newly-restored country. Wish me luck!
The Japanese are very musically-minded, and learn about all the famous composers from Austria, from Mozart to Schubert to Strauss. They also love the Sound of Music, and even made an anime of it! In case you want to sing along, here are the lyrics!
Do wa donuts no do Re wa lemon no re
Mi wa mikan no mi Fa wa fight! no fa
So wa aoi sora
Ra wa rappa no ra
Shi wa shiawase yo
Saa utaimashou
Ranranran!
There are three things from Belgium that are ridiculously famous in Japan. The first is Belgian chocolate, especially Godiva. Second is the Mannekin Pis peeing boy statue, and you can find a replica of him in Hamamatsu-cho station in Tokyo, usually wearing anime cosplay. And third is A Dog of Flanders, the story of an impoverished boy named Nello and his dog Patrasche, which became an incredibly popular anime across Asia. Oddly, it’s not such a famous story in Belgium itself as the 1872 novel was published in English and not published locally for many decades.
Japan’s main connection to Bulgaria is through the famous watch brand, and through Bulgaria® Brand Yogurt, made by Meiji. I eat it all the time. Glad J-List can ship products to your country again!
We’re happy to be able to ship to Croatia, a beautiful country that Hayao Miyazaki took inspiration from for some locations in his film Porco Rosso.
As the Japan Post shipping to Europe situation has improved, we’re happy that we can send packages to the Czech Republic again! We hope things are getting better there!
Denmark is very well-known to the Japanese thanks to the works of Hans Christian Andersen, which all Japanese grow up reading in picture book form. A few years ago there was a discussion that moe anime styles had invaded even the realm of children’s books, such as the classic The Little Mermaid, shown above.
I’ve seen TV shows about the interest fans in Estonia have in Japan, from Aikido to Kendo to anime cosplay. Would you believe Estonians have done well in the sumo wrestling world in Japan? Baruto Kaito reached the third-highest rank in the sport before retiring. Estonia also has a local sumo wrestling league. Glad we can ship to Estonia again!
Mrs. J-List is a big fan of Hungary, and a decade or so ago with a friend. According to a TV show about how people in different countries view Japan, Hungary has a positive view of Japan because one of the first companies to invest in the country after the fall of the Soviet Union was the Suzuki Motor Corporation, which made Suzuki the de facto national automaker of Hungary for decades. Is the Order a Rabbit? is set in Hungary.
Another country we can once again ship to via inexpensive airmail and speedy EMS is Latvia. Nice to have you back, guys!
Did you expect another Hetalia gif for Lithuania? It was me, Gosick, an anime that’s set in your country. Also, “the Japanese Schindler” Chiune Sugihara was the Japanese vice-consul in Lithuania, who signed visas enabling tens of thousands of Jews to flee to Japan during WWII.
Tada-kun Never Falls In Love is the story of a mild-mannered Japanese youth who meant a flamboyant European girl, who turns out to be a princess of Luxembourg. And thanks to the improving Japan Post shipping to Europe situation, we can once again send packages to you!
Looking for a cool anime about the Vikings? Look no further than Vinland Saga, which I liked a lot. Happy to have you back, Norway!
Rico Brzenska is apparently a Polish woman who got isekai‘ed into the Attack on Titan universe. Poland and Japan have a very close connection, and we’re happy we can ship packages to Poland again!
We love Portugal and have a staff member from there working for J-List. Many beautiful parts of Portugal appear in anime, like Belém Tower in Lisbon.
We hope things are getting better in Slovenia, too. Ganbatte kudasai ne!
Sora no Woto was a cute-girls-doing-military-things anime that was set in a 500-year-old fortress in Cuenca, Spain. It’s great that J-List can ship products to Spain again — we missed you guys!
Finally, when Hayao Miyazaki needed a model for the city Kiki would visit, he turned to both Stockholm and Visby. The movie is specifically set in “a European city in an alternate world that did not experience the sadness and destruction of World War II.” We’re very happy we can ship products to Sweden once again!
Remember, we extended our GETTINGBETTER $5 coupon for a week, until June 22!
All around the world, things are getting better, and to celebrate the changes, enjoy a $5 coupon for one week! Just enter GETTINGBETTER into the shopping cart page to get your discount instantly! Browse today’s new anime figures here!
