Some great news about the all-new J-List website: our English-translated visual novels and eroge are finally restored and ready for full purchasing, including physical form and instant download!
I like the J-List Facebook page and Twitter feed and Instagram feeds because I can interact with readers directly, often tossing out questions and get feedback on things people would like to read about here. One reader is planning a visit to Japan next year and wanted to know what to do to avoid embarrassment during his trip, a topic that seemed timely, since I’m here in Australia and have been making various social errors, for example being the only person at a school dinner who lacked proper British table manners. While it’s always a good idea to google up some pointers on etiquette before visiting a new country, I don’t recommend that you worry too much about such things in Japan, since the Japanese understand that foreigners are not Japanese and don’t hold it against you if you don’t know the proper way to receive someone’s meishi business card respectfully. Some general pointers might include:
- Do your best to be mindful of others around you and do what they do as best you can. Japanese never eat on trains and never eat while walking outside, for example. Take your cues from others around you.
- There are a lot of food-related taboos connected with Buddhist funerals. Never stand chopsticks or other cutlery up in your rice or food.
- Although Japanese welcome foreign guests, understand that having to deal with people from random countries is stressful for them, and be gentle. For a good example of this phenomenon, observe how all the ships in KanColle react to the explosive personality of Kongou, who represents all foreigners with her “KY” nature, which means kuuki yomenai or the inability to read subtle social situations around her.
- Most of all, enjoy the chaos that is Japan!
A related subject is how the Japanese insult people. Famously (I think), Japanese has almost none of the colorful anatomical curse words that we have in English, and when a Japanese person goes to insult you, they’ll generally reach for such standbys as baka (meaning “stupid”), or its more colorful Osaka dialect version, aho, pronounced ah-ho — and no, it doesn’t mean what you might think it means here — or if they’ve got the English language skills, they might use the English “F” word, which everyone knows. But the very worst Japanese insult is…nothing at all. That is, it’s a perfect absolute silence, the person totally ignoring your existence, which is called 軽蔑 keibetsu, meaning “severing of all communication forever because they hate you.”
J-List is more than an anime shop, and we’ve got tons of fun home and traditional products for you, including authentic Japanese kotatsu heater tables just like in your favorite anime, and today, new futon blankets to cover them with. Browse all our home/traditional items now!
