Hello again from Japan, the country where a car’s turn signal is known as a “winker.”
There are many things that Japan has that I’m sure would be a big hit if introduced outside the U.S. One are little faucets at the top of toilets, which allow you to wash your hands with the clean water flowing back into the tank after flushing. Then there are these spring-loaded toilet paper holders, which allow you to remove them by just lifting up when the roll is spent. But one business model I’m sure would be a hit are “daisha” or “replacement cars.” Basically a taxi with a second driver, daisha are the people you call when you’ve had a little too much to drink, but don’t want to leave your car. One call to a daisha company, and the taxi with the spare driver will come and get you. You ride hope in the taxi, while the second driver drives your own car home. it’s a great way to improve road safety, and might be a workable business model outside of Japan, too.
Japanese anime is famous throughout the world, but there are many shows which don’t make it out of Japan, or which are shown in some parts of the world, but not the U.S., perhaps because they didn’t seem “right” for the U.S. market according to someone. While the anime they make today is very good, sometimes it seems that something wholesome has been lost as anime has gotten as popular as it has. Nearly all Japanese in their 30’s watched and cried during the sad and moving ending of Flanders no Inu (The Dog of Flanders), when Nello and Patrasche ascend into heaven amid the angels. (Note: Amazon.com has this on DVD if you want to check it out.) Then there was Haha wo Tazunete 3000-ri (3000 Leagues in search of Mother), a touching story of an Italian boy March who travels to Argentina to find his mother. There’s a touching scene when March finds a dying old woman who thinks he is her son; to comfort the woman, he lets her believe this. But of course the most popular anime from this period has to be the anime version of Heidi, which won the hearts of girls all over Japan.
For this weekend’s update, we’ve got some truly excellent items for you, including:
- First, lower prices on our great stock of 2001 calendars, and to help you help us get rid of our stock in time for 2001, a new offer — buy any two or more calendars, and get your mailing tube free!
- We’ve got a great magazine that’s new to J-List — Do Pink!, a wonderful “sperm and soap girl” fetish magazine with dozens of lovely gals
- Also very cool, the new issue of Multi Boy, which features a full color magazine and Video CD filled with all-pro Japanese AV footage and more
- Hentai fans will want to see the new issue of Colorful Pure Girl, the Digital Cute Girl Magazine, on the Magazines (hentai) page
- For our photobook fans, we’ve got several back-in-stock items, including more stock of the “Wonderful” series, Toyama Maiko’s popular “Fairy Girl” hardcover nude photobook, and more
- We have a bunch of great erotic manga volumes posted to the manga pages, with new and recently added items on the Manga (new releases) page and back-in-stock classics on the Manga (bestsellers) page
- For fans of Soft on Demand’s fantastic approach to eros, we’ve got two new videos in the “Stark Nakedness Sports Series, including the very cool 64 all-naked girls in rock-paper-scissors contest” — see who will be the last one wearing clothes!
- For DVD & cosplay lovers, we’ve got a new Costume Play Perfection series DVD, this one featuring erotic anime cosplay featuring Yamato, Captain Harlock, Gundam Wing, Galaxy Express, and more!
- For JPOP fans, in-stock issues of Zappy, the super JPOP and J-Rock magazine with photos, music and messages from Japan’s hottest stars (on the included CD
- On our Anime Toys page, several new trinkets, including fresh stock of the Alien “face hugger” keychain, and a hopelessly cute “rolling eraser” that picks up eraser chunks after you use the eraser — nice and neat!
- On our Japanese snacks page, we’ve got fresh stock of a favorite of mine, dried, shredded ika (squid)
- On our Wacky Things from Japan pages, we’ve got more of the cute “Hello Kitty mayonnaise cups” (but you can put anything in them you like), and fresh stock of the traditional Japanese oil-removing paper
- Finally, another really special item from Japan I’ve loved for years, and am now happy to be able to bring to everyone: Japanese hot pockets. A truly magnificent invention from Japan, this is a wonderful little cloth bag that gets hot when you open the plastic wrapping. It gets hot, and stays hot, for up to 18 hours, actually, and is a wonderful way to warm up if you’re cold. Being from San Diego, I find the Tokyo winters uncomfortably cold, and use these great heating pads to warm myself during the day. Great for skiers
The J-list shopping cart was experiencing some difficulties on Thursday evening, California time, but everything is fixed now. If you ever have any problems with the shopping cart and your browser, remember that you can submit orders via the secure email link on the J-List site, too. Thanks!
