Hello again from Japan, the birthplace of “Vermont Curry.”
Well, my wife Chiharu and son Kazuki are off to the U.S. for “their turn” in America. Rina and I got to go to San Diego in June and July, and now it’s time for the other half of our family to go get their “America fix.” My son will attend a summer school program, interacting with other kids and having fun, and he’ll also be taking some special swimming lessons. My wife will shop, enjoy being in the house in San Diego, and see some of her friends that live in the U.S. (including Kiyomi, the Japanese woman who always says what’s on her mind “because that’s what Americans do”). Daughter Rina and I are sad to see them go, but on the other hand, most married will probably agree, it’s quite fun for a man to get some time rattling around the house without the wife around. I can read in my underwear, indulge in that extra can of beer, and watch Simpsons reruns until 3 am.
Meanwhile, with her mother and brother gone, daughter Rina has fallen back into the habit of speaking English with me, something which I encourage whenever I can. We get along quite well in English, although she comes up with some perplexing sentences, such as, “I want to be a Post Office.” I’m sure Kazuki’s English will get really good while he’s in the U.S., too. As a general rule, my wife and I are the last two people on earth who get to see the “American” side of our own kids. Since we speak Japanese, and since we’ve got a “Japanese relationship” with our kids, we almost never get to see them speaking English at all — and one thing I’ve learned, once you establish a certain custom of speaking a language with a person, you can almost never change that in the future. Learning about how bilingual people talk to each other and what patterns emerge from their interaction is a very interesting subject.
When my mother was a teenager, she had a child and gave the baby up for adoption. After several years of searching for her her son, digging her way through various layers of beauracratic resistance, she found her son — suddenly, I’ve got an older brother — and we’re all very happy. If you are interested in learning more about how you can use the Internet to find a birthmother or child, she recommends a site called Plum Site (http://www.plumsite.com/), founded by Damsel Plum, a child who was given up for adoption herself.
We continue to get some people who are shopping at the new J-List site for the first time, trying to figure out what their password is. If you’re using the new J-List site for the first time, please checkout as a “new user” (you’re new to the new system, even if we’ve got you on file here). You’ll be able to set up your new account for fast checkout in the future.
For this weekend’s update, we’ve got some extra-special items lined up for you, including:
- First, we’ve got several nice new magazines, including both new Penthouse issues, and the new issue of “Let’s do Evil Play”
- For collectors’ we have several premium past issues of Urecco, which we’ve posted on the top of Magazine page 4
- Photobook lovers should check out the new hardcover photobooks we’ve posted, including Nozomi Saitoh’s lovely swimsuit photobook, and more — also, fresh stock of Garo Aida’s Strawberry Diaries
- For fans of our “gouka-bon” or high-end bondage and fetish photobooks page, we’ve got an update, including an item for fans of Japanese “new half” erotica
- We also have fresh stock of the can’t-keep-them-in-stock Crystal Card Japanese adult video idol collectible card series
- It’s doujinshi season around here, and we’ve got even more very nice, very rare items for you — these always tend to go fast, of course, so check out the doujinshi page and get them while they’re hot
- Not to be outdone, the manga page has been updated, with many new very nice erotic manga works for you, including some fabulous volumes by Fujimi and Tenma Comics that we highly recommend
- Chihiro Inoue and Julie Morikawa, two very well endowed lovely ladies, perform in a great new video for you, W Climax (that is, Double Climax — the letter “W” denotes “double” to the Japanese)
- For DVD fans, the lovely Minami Asaoka will assist your masturbation, while 10 lovely Campaign Girls (an offshoot of Race Queens) perform erotic fun in a 160 minute Cam-Girl DVD
- For anime fans, we’ve got the new Kubrick Evangelion releases, including both very cool versions of the Eva-01 Test Type — but stock is limited
- For fans of the very cool idols, check out the Last Alive collectible card series, featuring some very nice girls
- On our popular “Wacky Signs and Stickers” page, we’ve got authentic Japanese “ladies” and “gentlemen” bathroom signplates, for those without enough wackiness in their homes
- On our Japanese snacks & gum pages, we’ve got fresh stock of the very popular Japanese Roasted Coffee hard candy, which folks tell us is delicious
- We’ve also updated our other Wacky Things pages, with a host of useful (and sometimes just funny) items. Today we’ve posted fresh stock of Japanese mosquito incense (very effective at keeping mosquitos away in the summer), some very nice traditional Japanese chopsticks, Japanese food erasers, fresh stock of our best-selling Hello Kitty toilet paper and other Kitty-chan items, and authentic umbrella condoms from Japan!
J-Mate (http://www.jmate.com) has been updated again, this time with a review of the very cool Anna Ohura II photobook. Check it out!
Finally, we’ve decided to start a “Glossary of Terms” for the J-List site, giving definitions and information on many of the terms that we use on the site — from “hentai” to “anime” to “bukkake.” If you have any feedback on the glossary, including suggesting some terms that confuse you, please let us know. Thanks! See the link to the glossary right below the category links.