I’ve made the top from Japan to the U.S., and now we’re at the Phoenix Comicon, a super fun event that we look forward to every year. If you’ll be at the show, please come see us at booth 4092, or come to our official visual novel panel on Friday at 9 pm in room 221.
It’s always fun being back in the U.S. The trip is 24 hours door-to-door, which includes 3 hours on a bus to Narita, sitting around the airport, and the total flight time. It’s a stressful trip, but at least one of my favorite places (Japan or San Diego) is waiting for me at the other end. As usual, it’s fun to “surf” the reverse culture shock I naturally experience as a result of having been an expat for so long: my surprise at seeing the “small” drink sizes which are larger than any sold in Japan or the giant burritos they offer at Chipotle; the lower level of technology in the bathroom (no toilets that wash your butt for you); and of course, seeing American icons like bacon-wrapped hot dogs on sale in the supermarket. Naturally, getting re-aligned to life in the U.S. — like driving on the correct side of the road — is always just a bit harder because of the jet lag I’m fighting my first few days here.
I’ve always been interested in the idea of “cultural bridges” which act like doorways between countries that are very different, like Japan and the U.S. A good example of a cultural bridge is Okinawa, the tropical Japanese island paradise that became U.S. territory after WWII and was returned to Japan in 1971. (No small number of J-List customers seem to have obtained their fascination with Japan after being stationed in Okinawa by the U.S. military, and we think the bizarre popularity of that Felix the Cat bubblegum over the years is related to this phenomenon somehow.) There are a lot of foods that are “in between” Japanese and U.S. cuisine, such as spam musubi (a spam-on-rice onigiri treat); “taco rice” (taco meat eaten over white rice), the closest thing to Mexican food you can find in Japan; and A&W Root Beer, which is the official drink of Okinawa yet is detested by 99% of mainland Japanese, who think the drink smells like Salonpas, a popular Japanese analgesic patch. There’s another kind of “cultural bridge” of course: the humble anime convention like the one we’re at now, which since 1991 has provided a gateway to wonderful Japanese popular culture. Whether you’re at the Phoenix Comicon or the other two shows we’ll be at this summer, Anime Expo or the San Diego Comic-con, we hope to see you this year!
J-List’s Facebook page is a popular place to get updates about new J-List products, as well as enjoy the fanart I post for everyone to share and comment on. We reached an important milestone this week, an amazing 300,000 “likes,” so we decided to have a sale to thank everyone! Take $20 off any order of $100 or more from now through the end of May using code JLIST300! This can be combined with any other offers, too, like our 3x point sale on personal stress toys and cosplay and apparel. Limit one use per customer, and it can’t be used on certain items (iTunes Japan cards etc.).
