Hello from Japan. As I write these words on my Newton Messagepad 2000, I am sitting in the middle of “happening” Shibuya, one of the self-styled “playgrounds for the young” here in Tokyo. I am seated on the cobblestones right in front of the station, about 10 meters from the famous dog statue. (This is from story about a dog named Hachiko that was so faithful, it came to meet its master at Shibuya Station everyday when he came home from work, Å@and when he died, the dog waited for 10 years before dying himself). I am listening to three talented street musicians playing r&b in Japanese. The girl playing Rolling Stones with the accordion is damn good.
I had an interesting test of my mettle as a generation X-er today. I was standing in Shinjuku, waiting for a business contact to show up, reading through the latest Tokyo Walker (the lovely Japanese actress Tokiwa Takako is on the cover). I found the listings for The Empire Strikes Back, and saw to my horror that that day was the last day that any theaters would show the movie — they were all switching over to Jedi the next day. What was worse, the last showing anywhere — to the best of my knowledge, the last showing of the film on the Planet Earth, since Japan was next in line after the United Arab Emirates to get the special releases of the Star Wars movies — started at the same time as my important business meeting. What did I do? Of course I ditched the guy and went and saw the movie. Now my four-month complex that I would be the only member of the Star Wars Generation to miss this great movie in the theaters is put to rest.
We have a nice weekend update for you. The biggest lump of new items is on the adult mangas page, where you will find *20* new adult books, which are quite nice. There are some excellent new magazines on the magazine page, including the April issue of Beppin School, which is an absolute must for Akira Fubuki fans. Although we still remain unable to get a bunch of new stock, we have gone through and made even more massive price cuts on our JPOP and anime selection. Coupled with our “buy 4, get one free” promotion, this is your chance to cart off a lot of our JPOP stuff at a great price. As I have said to some in private email, we do remain dedicated to JPOP, and will be returning with a selection of JPOP when we get a supplier
Well, that’s all for now. See you on the J-List homepage.
