Hello from Japan, where natto (fermented soybeans) mixed with hot mustard and soy sauce is a popular breakfast.
I’m feeling extra-refreshed today, because I took an evening off of work to enjoy a traditional hot springs hotel with some gaijin friends from overseas. The Japanese really take bathing seriously, and have a very highly developed idea of what a good bath is. The best baths are natural hot springs, called onsen in Japanese, and happily, there are many famous hot springs in our prefecture. There are many different kinds of hot springs, some in small establishments where there’s only one bath, and some larger hotels which have a dozen different baths or more, including beautifully designed outdoor baths — it’s always fun to try them all. There are also some “fake” hot springs which use boilers to heat the water, but they’re convenient to go to, and there are several near my house. In Japanese hot springs and public baths, you always bathe in large baths used by everyone, with just a small towel to cover your nether regions. Before you get into a bath, you wash yourself thoroughly and then enjoy the bath. Although Japan is famous for men and women bathing together, mixed baths are almost impossible to find in Japan — I’ve only found one in all my years in Japan, and believe me, I’ve looked.
A trip to an onsen hotel in Japan is an interesting experience, no matter which hotel you go to. First, you arrive at your room, usually a Japanese-style tatami room, where you drink tea and marvel at how beautiful and “Japanese” your room looks. You can then go check out the baths if you like, walking while wearing your yukata, a cotton kimono that’s very comfortable (although they don’t always fit foreigners that well). For dinner, the food is usually very Japanese, with lots of fish and beautifully-arranged vegetables, and always a few things that you can’t identify. After dinner, it’s back to the baths for more bathing. If you want, you can find karaoke, video games (always very out of date), and ping pong in a “night corner” somewhere in the hotel — it’s some unwritten onsen rule that all these things must be available to complete the customer’s onsen experience. You can also eat some ramen or HagenDaaz ice cream, too, then head back to your room to sleep on Japanese futons. If you want to learn more about Japanese hot springs, we humbly recommend Tokimeki Check in!, a great Japanese interactive love-sim game in which you’re the owner of a Japanese hot springs inn.
J-List makes very unique T-shirts with funny message on them in Japanese. Now we’ve got a new discount offer to say thanks for making them such a success. Order 3 or more T-shirts and get 10% off! The discount will be applied at checkout automatically.
Our 2003 calendars continue to fly out the door, and every day a few more sell out completely. To help you help us move our huge stock of JPOP, sexy idol, anime, traaditional Japanese and other calendars, we’ve lowered prices again. Please browse our stock and see what you’d like to have on your wall next year — order two or more calendars and your shipping tubes are free!
For the weekend update, we’ve got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:
- First, we’ve got many nice toy items in stock for you, starting
with a super-soft plush Totoro that features suction cups so you can stick
him to the inside of your car — it’s great
- Also, from Takara, a super-popular happy character toy called
Hidamari no Tami, which moves his head from side to side and makes you feel
happy, and runs on solar power!
- For Godzilla fans, two dynamite toys from the new Godzilla vs.
Mecha Godzilla movie, playing in Japan right now
- From Furuta, a super series of Tokyo Mew Mew cute figures, very
cute
- Domo-kun, the spokesmonster for Japan’s national TV
broadcasting station NHK, is back, with two different Domo-kun coffee cups
that are really unique and special
- For fans of lovely Race Queens from Japan, a super “Best of
Race Queen 2002″ photobook for you
- We have some great Hello Kitty items, including a maze and
activity book, a Kitty diary with lock, and a super-cute memo pad with
stickers
- We love Japanese snacks, and have some great new ones for you,
including chocolate covered gummi fruits (delicious!), Mini Moni bubble
gum, and more
- Also, look for many restocked miso soup and other delicious
items
- For trading card collectors, we’ve got the super cool Patlabor
the Movie 3 trading cards, very nice
- Look for a major update of bento related items, including some
of our most popular bento boxes and sets, as well as chopsticks, onigiri
makers and more
- Finally, look for great items for your kitchen including
Japanese tupperware containers, a cute memo holder, tasty lip balm in fruit
flavors, and more!
For our adult customers, we’ve got many new 18+ products. They include:
- First of all, we’re happy to announce a great new bishoujo
game, Tottemo Pherome, the latest game from our friends at G-Collections,
with great uncensored graphics and full Japanese voice! It ships after Dec.
18 but we’re posting it now to give fans a chance to preorder it and get
free shipping
- For fans of Japanese magazines, we’ve got the excellent
large-format Gokuh, featuring dozens of top-quality Japanese AV idols and
many great photographs
- Also, more popular hardcore magazines from Japan, including the
new issue of “I’m sure I love married women after all”
- Japan’s hardcover photobooks, with beautiful glossy printing,
are famous all over the world, and we’ve added some great new ones,
including Momoka Hayakawa’s “Natural Water” and the sultry Yumi Kitagawa’s
“Purple Haze”
- For hentai manga lovers, we’ve got some nice new items for you,
including AV Comics Juice of Girl and a 2-manga set from Wani Comics
- For DVD lovers, we’ve got some excellent new items for you,
starting off with a “Best Hit Selection in the Momo Aida” — 4 hours of the
best performances of Momo Aida, a major AV star from the 1990s and a
favorite of mine (region free)
- Then enjoy 3 hours of superb lesbian hardcore in “Addicted to
Lesbian” (region free)
- Enjoy the magical sex of six lovely AV stars in Little Indecent
Girl “MEGU” (region free)
- There’s another excellent first lesbian kiss DVD featuring the
first nude lesbian kiss of beautiful women, from SOD (region free)
- See beautiful girls fight it out in a new Cat Fight release,
great for fans of authentic female pro wrestling as only Japan can do it
(region free)
- Enjoy the beautiful AV star named “Kay” who stars in a superb
mix of bukkake themed productions from Waap — enjoy them all on one DVD
(region 2)
- Finally find new DVDs in stock, including the Megumi Osawa
Special, fresh stock of The Lingerie, more stock of Semen Real Fight, Vs.
Black Fuck and Semen and even Mizuho Kano’s great hardcore!
Remember that J-List carries many interesting and delicious kinds of Japanese chewing gum, including major varieties from Lotte. The most popular is by far Black Black, the spicy caffeine gum that’s never failed to amaze us with the speed with which it sells out every week. Other popular gum we sell include Lotte’s Blue Berry, No Time (gum that brushes your teeth for you when you’re too busy), Juicy Melon (the newest flavor) and more. And in each pack, there are “lucky” sticks that have “Yes! Chewing!” printed on them. Order 10 or more packs of one flavor of gum to get 15% off.
