Hello again from your friends at J-List!
It’s mid-august in Japan, and to millions of Japanese sports fans that means — high school baseball! High school baseball is really big in Japan, and teams from each of Japan’s 47 prefectures try all year long to win the right to go to Koshien Stadium near Osaka, where the national championships are held. To go to Koshien is the dream of every high school baseball player, and the fact that there are dozens of manga and anime series about high school baseball tells you that a lot of people find the subject romantic and interesting. The creator of Touch, most famous baseball manga of the 1980’s, was born in Isesaki, where J-List is based, and baseball fans here seem to have an extra keen affinity for Koshien, reliving their youth while they watch the games that are broadcast on national television. They’re also watching for the professional stars of the future — Hideki Matsui gained national attention while he was at Koshien a decade ago, when he was walked every time he got up to the plate by pitchers who feared his powerful swing, creating a public outcry. This year Gunma Prefecture is represented by Kiryu Daiichi High School. Go team!
Japan’s has two religions: Shinto, the indigenous religion of Japan which worships spirits (kami) in natural objects; and Buddhism. Showing their usual skill at adapting concepts from outside Japan and rearranging them to suit their needs, Shinto and Buddhism were fused together so that the two could coexist peacefully without war or conflict. One of the major themes to religion in Japan is that Japanese turn to Shinto for events that have to do with life (weddings, baby christenings, wishing for good fortune in the coming year), and Buddhism for events that deal with death (funerals, ceremonies for remembering past loved ones). So invisible is the line between Shinto and Buddhism that many young Japanese don’t really understand the difference between a Shinto shrine (“jinja” in Japanese) and a Buddhist temple (“otera”).
The most important day of the year to Japanese is January 1st, which is the day most Japanese head to their favorite Shinto shrine to pray for good luck in the coming year. But the second most important time of the year to Japanese is the Obon holidays, which runs from August 13-15. Ostensibly a kind of “homecoming day” for the souls of deceased family members, it’s a time when Japanese usually return to their “real home” (jikka), i.e. their parents’ home, and get together as a family, eat, drink — not unlike Thanksgiving in the States. Like the anniversary of a person’s death, Obon is a time to visit the graves of family members, to clean them with water, light an incense stick, leave fresh flowers, and update the deceased on family events, so they know they haven’t been forgotten. There’s a big rush out of Tokyo during this time of year, as everyone tries to leave the city early so they can avoid the packed trains — and in a few days they’ll all be coming back.
For the new update, we’ve got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:
- First, for fans of Japan’s highly developed gothic fashion culture, we’ve got a great anthology of all that is Goth, from manga artwork to clothes to articles on the influences of gothlife from around the world
- We love the tacky Japanese miniature toys that are so popular these days, and we’ve got a new series for you: Amazing Weapons, featuring recreations of the bizarre funny inventions of World War II
- For fans of kogal street fashion, we’ve got the super cote photobook of Hitomi Saito, a very cute contemporary Japanese girl, and the super cute swimsuit loveliness of Yurina Sawatari
- Then enjoy fresh stock of CG Mag, the great magazine devoted to Cam Girls, which is really another word for Race Queens…
- If you love Japanese comics, we’ve got the new issue of Dengeki Gao, a great 450 page manga that’s filled with great stories, as well as fun extras for you to collect
- For fans of our delicious Japanese snacks and food items, we’ve got several new things for you, including fresh watermelon juice powder (great for the summer), mentaiko spaghetti sauce (don’t ask what mentaiko is, trust us), vegetable furikake, delicious caramel popcorn from Japan, and more
- Also, a major restocking of delicious Pretz baked pretzel sticks from Japan, including Crispy Pizza Pretz, Tomato Pretz, and one of our favorites, Spicy Chicken Beer Pretz, which goes great with beer
- We’ve got a very highly refined all-purpose canvas case for you, which holds documents, pens, electronic devices, you name it — very cool, and it even gives off “minus ion” (negatively charged ions) for a feeling of well-being
- Also for those interested in Japan’s minus ion craze, we’ve got a spiffy pass case that allows you to organize all your cards, money, train pass etc, by Dr. Ion
- For fans of traditional things from Japan, we have some great “his and hers” chopsticks featuring famous images from Kyoto
- For Kitty fans, we’ve got some great Sanrio items for you, including beautiful Kitty stickers, a plush Kitty bean-bag toy, and a great spoon and straw combination item
- Play the Japanese game of Go anywhere with a cool magnetic portable Go set we’ve got for you – if you don’t know how to play, we provide a link to a complete guide for you!
- Then for fans of funny English, we’ve got a great all-purpose canvas bag that says “communicating a hot affection”
- For Disney fans, look for fresh stock of the very cool Steamboat Willy black and white Kubrick figures, a true collectors item
- Also, we’ve restocked the Studio Ghibli PVC complete figures from Totoro and Khakis Delivery Service, very cool and very detailed
- Also, we’ve restocked the ultra-realistic miniature Sushi toys from Re-Ment, with both full sets and individual items available
- We have more items for your kitchen, including delicious Ikari Sauce, which is called “tonkatsu sauce” or just “sauce” in Japanese — but it’s one of the most delicious things the country has to offer!
- We’ve posted the very cool Showa Enamel Signboards in full sets — the full sets had not been posted on Monday, sorry about that
- For fans of Hayao Miyazaki’s excellent films, look for fresh stock of The Cat Returns and Lupin III: The Castle of Cagllostro, two excellent films that are provided with full English subtitles (region 2)
- Finally, check out fresh stock of soy sauce fish bottles for bento, more ear cleaners with lights built into them, new varieties of miso soup, more authentic Japanese chopsticks, fresh stock of our popular bento boxes and onigiri makers, and more!
For our adult customers, we’ve got many new 18+ products. They include:
- For fans of beautiful Japanese girls with big busts, we’ve got the new issue of Gal’s Dee in stock, bursting at the seams with hot girls from Japan, including Aoi Sora, Cocolo, and the busty and erotic Kyoto Ayana
- Also, we’ve got the new issue of “I Want you to Look at Me,” which features incredibly cute Japanese amateurs age 18-20 having sex in love hotels
- For photobook fans, enjoy the superb glossy photobook of Hikaru, a new and super-cute nude idol from Japan
- Also, for fans of Japan’s famous sexy idols, we’ve got a super new issue of Sabra Girls, featuring the best idols from the pages of Sabra — Yuko Ogura, Megumi, Chisato Morishita, Chinatsu Wakatsuki, and more!
- For our DVD customers, we’ve got some great new titles for you, starting with 230 minutes of the best sex of Mio Nishino, a beautiful star from the late 1990’s who is retired now (region free)
- Then enjoy the Gokkun Debut of Umino Shinju (whose name means “Pearl of the Sea”), who does it all in a great bukkake release from SOD and Natural High (region free)
- Then enjoy the best sex of Soft on Demand, with 27 great scenes featuring their best AV stars, with a focus on wet female orgasms (“female gushing”) (region free)
- From Moodyz, enjoy a re-release of the “Mission of Lesbian” of bright AV star Devi, who takes on many beautiful and tender Japanese amateurs for her “first time lesbian” (region 2)
- Then enjoy the great new Dream Woman release featuring our current fave Asuka Sawaguchi, who really fucks up a storm in this great bukkake special (region 2)
- Finally, look for fresh stock of many DVD titles, including Zenra (all nude) Volleyball, more fun in the Magic Mirror Boxcar, and Semen Beauty Treatment.
Remember that J-List carries cool Japanese shoes and footwear, including great “tatami sandals” that are made out of the material tatami mats are made from. We also carry an item I personally feel all parents of young children should buy, Japanese shoes for children with squeakers inside — when children walk, their shoes make a fun squeaking noise that they love, and it allows parents to always know exactly where their children are in a crowded store. It’s a wacky but very useful thing from Japan which we’ve wanted to make available for years.
