Greetings from J-List April 11, 2001

It’s an unseasonably warm day in Japan today — we’ve got all the windows open!

I remember when I first started learning Japanese, I wondered how Japanese text entry could work on a computer. I pictured some horrible keyboard with a horrible layout including all possible kana and kanji keys. Japanese input is accomplished through a front-end processor, which is included in all Japanese versions of computer OSs. Input is done in roman — there was a special layout for hiragana/katakana input, but it’s thankfully gone the way of Cobol in the past decade — and the text pops up in a floating window in hiragana, the “basic” syllibery used in Japanese. To convert it to kanji, hit the space bar, the the highlighted hiragana will be converted into whatever the front-end processor thinks is the most common kanji for that word, based on a large dictionary of words. When you get used to it, you can enter Japanese text quite quickly, and know without looking that the correct kanji has been chosen. Some front-end processors are better than others, though — Kotoeri, which comes with the Japanese version of Mac OS and the Japanese Language Kit, is famous for not learning what kanji you use and slowing you down. Third party companies in Japan offer replacement front-ends that are more efficient.

There are some interesting conventions that just work differently in Japan from the way they do in the States. In Japan, the circle (maru) is the universal symbol for “correct” and the X (batsu) always means “wrong.” But when we got the coffee machine we use at J-List from the U.S., which shows a 1 for “on” and a 0 for “off,” Kaori instinctively saw the 0 as meaning “on” and kept wondering why the coffee wasn’t brewing. Similarly, the color red means “wrong” to a Japanese — it’s the color a teacher uses to mark a students’ paper. Red pens, therefore, should never be used for anything like signing your name — that would be in poor taste.

For this evening’s new items, we have some really nice ones for you. They include:

• First, the wonderful new issue of Urecco, the beautiful magazine from Million Publishing — features a host of lovely girls, including the extremely popular Ohura Anna (!) and many more
  
• We have several other cool magazines for you, including the new Aishite Ageru (“I’ll Love You”), a great sperm & wet fetishism magazine and Yanchaex, filled with Japanese bad girls
  
• We’ve got several all-new Japanese photobook items in stock, including the positively wonderful baby-faced Kojima Ami’s beautiful glossy photobook
  
• Also very high on the “cool” list is the beautiful Deka Cream 3, a giant oversized photobook filled with lovely Japanese girls photographed as only Cream could — a shockingly beautiful “Million Mook” in stock now
  
• If you love manga, we’ve got several killer new erotic volumes posted for you, including new offerings from Tsukasa, X Comics, Mujini and more, as well as fresh stock of several popular books that had been sold out. Check out the very nice update to our manga pages!
  
• We have some wonderful limited stock of new erotic game girl doujinshi, too, nearly a dozen titles posted for you (but they’ll go fast)
  
• For AV fans, see the new video “the Legend of Lecherous Lady” starring Chihiro, as she explores such themes as teaching virgins lesbian sex and taking what she wants from men
  
• The new Masterpiece of Soft on Demand DVD is posted to the DVD Main page — 2 hours and 68 erotic titles showcased for you on a region free DVD!
  
• Also for DVD collectors — a very special item that we haven’t seen the likes of in a while, a fabulous erotic DVD featuring the charming Hagiwara Mai, by Bauhaus, featuring full uncensored hair nude and more
  
• For fans of Japanese gum, we’ve got a great new item from Lotte — “Assist” gum, a tasty, tangy sports gum that files you up with lemon-lime taste when you’re tired or thirsty
  
• We’ve got several cool Wacky Things from Japan for you, including a handy canvas bag with an ukiyoe print on it, miso soup with natto (fresh, not dehydrated!), and a sign that says “Now hiring part-time help” in Japanese, and more
  
• When I was a child, I loved nothing more than Ultraman, the silvery-rubbery hero who defended the peace of the Earth from various evil monsters. Now we’ve got the really cool Hyper Ultraman set of Ultraman toys from Bandai in stock on the Anime Snacks page. Full sets are available!
  
• Another really cool item from Bandai, only available from Japan, is the Record of Gundam War, a set of four miniature “battle scenes” which you assemble to recreate a scene from Gundam history. Each item includes two battling Gundam mechs, a background, and various props to add to the 3D realism. Very cool!
  

If you’d like to see more information on the excellent new bishoujo games from Peach Princess, stop by the Peach Princess official site at http://www.peachprincess.com. In addition to a great downloads section, tended to by Ms. Kumiko herself, there’s a very useful discussion board where you can talk over all issues of Japanese bishoujo gaming. Tell them Peter sent you!