Labels are funny things, and the terms we use to define groups can be interesting to consider. Since every Japanese learns six years of English during their education, even though this is intended for passing tests rather than actual use, virtually everyone is familiar enough with English grammar for it to seep into the Japanese language a bit. The other day I was scanning blog posts and came across one about an interesting itasha (anime-themed car) owned by a particularly dedicated ラブライバー (“Love Live-er”), which is the official term for hardcore fans of Love Live! School Idol Project. If you love visual novels, you should thank the talented artists who create those gorgeous CG images, a profession known as グラフィッカー (“graphicker”) in Japanese. If you’re an aficionado of Sapporo-style ramen with a miso soup base, you’re what’s known as a 味噌ラー (“miso-ler”), and people who take mayonnaise very seriously, like Akane from Vividred Operation, are known by the slang term マヨラー (“mayoler”). Some other creative words the Japanese use include meganist, a word for lovers of meganekko or girls who wear glasses, ユニクラー (“Uniqler”) for someone who buys all their clothes from Uniqlo, and “vipper” (from the English word VIP), the “alpha” users of Japan’s ubiquitous 2ch BBS who collect posts into summary sites so they’re easier to find. In my family I’m known as a すき焼きテリアンor sukiyaki-terian, because I’ll always choose sukiyaki over other foods if it’s available.
This past Saturday was a special day for me, the anniversary of my arrival in Japan back in Heisei 3, known as 1991 to you and me. It was 23 years ago that I got off the plane at Narita Airport, taking in the strangeness that was all around me and suddenly realizing I’d managed to forget one of my two suitcases in the car back in San Diego. Japan was a very different place back then, an age before the bursting of the Tokyo Asset Bubble and the arrival of the Internet forced the country to discard many of its outdated, inefficient approaches for dealing with the outside world. This anniversary is extra special to me since I’m 46 years old this year…which means I’ve officially lived in Japan for more than half my life. I guess I’ve been unconsciously following in the footsteps of my father, a British engineer also named Peter Payne, who emigrated from London to the U.S. back in the 1950s.
J-List loves to delight our customers with random products from Japan, and today we posted some fun new apparel items! This year’s Animal Room Wear series is in stock, and it’s super cute, hooded kigurumi full-body outfits that transform you into a cute leopard, complete with furry ears and a tail. We also have great shimapan offerings, amazing Japanese socks, plus fun fashions for otokonoko fans.
