Hello again from all of us in Japan!
In the U.S., the existence of the military looms large in many ways. The military protects the U.S. and some of the best jobs to be had are with jobs related to the defense industry. Japan has a military, too, although you probably don’t think about them much. Japan’s 300,000-strong Self-Defense Forces, or “Jieitai,” were created in 1954 at the urging of the U.S., who wanted allies to stand with them against Communism. Even though the SDF is supposed to keep its budget at less than 1% of Japan’s GDP, it’s a very advanced and well-funded force, with an annual budget of US$42 billion. One of the biggest problems with Japan’s military forces is that they’re basically extra-legal — Article 9 of Japan’s constitution strictly states that “land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential will never be maintained.” During the 13 years that I’ve lived in Japan, there have been numerous attempts at amending the constitution to give the SDF official status, but Japan’s strange form of democracy, in which every little political party has the right to shout out their opinion and consensus is very hard to reach, has made this impossible so far.
Although coffee and Western tea are popular in Japan, many prefer the wide variety of Asian teas often grouped together in the wide category of “green tea.” The list of teas enjoyed in Japan is almost endless, with the most popular being ryoku-cha (a slightly weak green tea), mugi-cha (a pleasant-tasting tea made from barley, enjoyed in the hot summer), or genmai-cha (tea with roasted grains of unhulled rice in it). Oolong-cha, a dark refreshing tea from China, is perhaps the best-selling bottled beverage in Japan; it’s very nice because it cuts through oil, washing down anything greasy you’ve eaten (it can be even used as a mild cleaner). Matcha, a bitter green tea made from powder, is used in the Japanese tea ceremony, and is also a popular flavoring for cakes and ice cream — I even saw matcha yogurt the other day, although I can’t recommend it.
A major path to business success seems to be, watch what successful companies do in the U.S., then do it in Japan before they can get over here. In America, eBay may be king of the hill when it comes to online auctions, but in Japan it’s Yahoo all the way — Yahoo’s Japanese auction site is so successful that eBay quietly closed their Japanese page three years ago. Pizza Hut is another similar success story. After observing the paradigm shift from eating pizza in restaurants to having it delivered, Pizza Hut copied the Domino’s strategy in Japan, opening hundreds of franchises and delivering pizza in 30 minutes or less. Pizza Hut (whose motto here is “Dynamic and Speedy”) has a strong presence all over Japan, but Dominoes is almost nonexistent.
For the new update, we’ve got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:
- First, for Ghost in the Shell fans, we’ve got a treat for you: “gashapon” (capsule toys) of the classic by Shirow Masamune, in full sets so you don’t have to waste your money buying duplicates
- Fans of Japan’s gorgeous swimsuit idols, we’ve got trading cards of Azusa Yamamoto, fun to own
- Looking for delicious snacks from Japan? We’ve got Milky Banana candies, super delicious Chocolate Every Burger, little cookie hamburgers for you to eat, and more
- From Lotte, we’ve got delicious acerola gum, a tart, very delicious fruit that’s high in vitamins
- We’ve restocked many food items including the traditional flavored Kyoto style pretzel snacks, Hi-Chu Green Apple, March of the Koalas, Bontan Ame and various flavors of Pocky
- Also, a very wacky item: a pack of Black Black caffeine gum that’s really an eraser in disguise
- We have the new Dengeki Comic Gao, a fabulous 550+ page monthly comic that’s filled with great art and extras
- Manga collectors, we’ve got a treat for you: vol. 1-7 of the Mythical Detective Loki, e.g. Ragnarok, a super set for you
- One of the most famous stories in Japan is the Sankokushi, the History of Three Provinces of Ancient China — we’ve got excellent PVC figures from Sankokushi, in full sets, from Epoch
- Sanrio fans, we’ve got a super cute item for you, an all-purpose pump bottle for shampoo, hand soap and so on, featuring My Melody, as well as a remote controlled Walking Hello Kitty
- For all those embarrassing moments when you don’t have enough chopsticks in your home, we’ve got some nice new ones, made of bamboo, the best material for chopsticks
- We’ve got a cool item for you: multi-colored Japanese fude (FOO-day) pens, which allow you to write in classic Chinese calligraphy
- Fans of Gloomy Bear, the sad and homicidal Japanese character, we’ve restocked several items for you, including the Gloomy Bear ballpoint pen
- Finally, we have totally cool Sanrio notepads, more spiffy shogi playing board and piece sets, wacky highlighting pens that smell like fruit, and more!
For our 18+ customers, we’ve got many new products. The new items include:
- For fans of beautiful kogals photographed very stylishly, we’ve got the new Urecco Gal in stock for you, just loaded with gorgeous girls for you
- Enjoy the new issue of Bizuma (“Beautiful Wife”) Hacker, a popular magazine for fans of married women and 30+ ladies
- Also, the new issue of Enjo Kei, a perfect bound magazine featuring 100% real Tokyo girls
- For photobook fans, the delicious Ryo Uehara shows her lovely self to the camera, in an offering that is really lovely to see
- Then see the beautiful Sumire Ogawa, a super-sexy swimsuit idol, in her brand new release
- Restocked photobooks include three very popular photobooks featuring the lovely Mihiro, one of our favorite sexy models from Japan
- Next up, Ourei Harada shines brightly in her hardcover photobook with the delectable title of Vanilla Aulait
- We have some fantastic 18+ manga for our H manga collectors, including a wet new work from Takeshi Hirano, the super “Mix With” by Ohwata Izumi, and a superb “kemono” offering from Pikupi-kun
- We’ve also restocked several popular manga titles for you — check them out
- For yaoi fans, we have a new work in stock for you, Cisco Kataru’s “Empty Heart,” as well as various restocked titles
- For our DVD customers, we’ve got some great new items, starting with a fun Concentration Horse Riding collection, at a great price (region free)
- Then we’ve got a delightful new release by Sora Aoi, featuring multi-angle action of one of Japan’s loveliest JAV stars (region free)
- Next, enjoy a new “naughty ballerina” DVD featuring Miki Nakazawa, the Rhythmic Gymnastics girl with Black Hair (region free)
- From SOD’s Chuujitsudoh label, female best friends touch each other to try to guess which manko belongs to their friend (region free)
- For fans of all-girl performances, we’ve got another excellent offering by the famous indies studio U&K (region free)
- Then from Wanz Factory (my personal favorite JAV studio), a fresh new concept: tickling, starring six lovely idols including Rina Usui (region 2)
- Then enjoy many restocked titles including the Contrary Soap Heaven with Sora Aoi, Kyoko Ayana’s DVD with toy, the excellent Sexy Ballerina, and Ero Para Go Go!, a tribute to late-night Japanese television game shows.
J-List sells many interesting items from Japan, including our trademark “funny Japanese T-shirts” which are printed in the USA and come in all sizes, from small all the way up to XXXL. Our most popular T-shirt by far is the “Looking for a Japanese Girlfriend,” followed by “Dirty American Devil” (the word the Japanese used for us during the war), “Beware of Perverts” and “You Must be 20 to Buy Alcohol and Tobacco.” Of our recently added shirts, the Domo-kun parody is easily the top seller. All shirts are 100% cotton and all sizes are stocked, for speedy shipment to you!
