Greetings from J-List!
Want to know a Japanese joke? In Japanese, the word for Prime Minister is “sohri,” which sounds like the English word “sorry” — kind of like the English phrase “don’t touch my mustache” sounds like “dou itashimashite” (you’re welcome) in Japanese. “Sori,” a similar-sounding word, means razor. Japanese kids say stupid things like, “I’m sorry, hige sori [beard razor], jori jori [the sound of rough, unshaven whiskers].” The word for Prime Minister is also sohri (written with different characters, of course, but the pronunciation is the same), so you can add the name of Japan’s current PM, Koizumi-sohri. If you’re ever talking to a Japanese person, and they apologize to you for something, come back with “Koizumi-sohri, hige sori, jori jori!” and watch them jump out of their shoes. (Pronunciation is koi-ZOO-me SOH-ree, hee-GAY SOH-ree, JOE-ree JOE-ree.)
Has a Japanese ever told you are “good head”? If so, it’s a complement, although it might not sound like one. In Japanese, the phrase for “smart” (intelligent) is “good head” (atama ga ii), which sometimes gets carried over into English by Japanese still learning the language. The English word “smart” is used in Japanese to mean slender, well proportioned (as in, “That girl is very smart and stylish”). Other words are used in English in interesting ways. For example, when a man wants to win a woman’s love, he prepares to “attack” her — the English word attack is used to mean “to go out and win the love of another” and doesn’t carry the violent connotations it can in English.
In Japanese, the word “sake” (SAH-kay, remember never to say “saki”) refers to all alcohol, as well as the famous rice wine from Japan. Alcohol is a big part of Japanese society, a lubricant that allows people to remove stress and deal with the pressures of this vertical society (with many levels above and below you). The Japanese have some great unwritten rules when it comes to alcohol, too. For example, if you’re out with your co-workers drinking, it’s perfectly permissible to get anything off your chest about your boss, and be critical of him — if you overstep the normal bounds of what is okay to say, it’s dismissed the next day because alcohol was involved. If you make a fool out of yourself in front of your female co-workers, it’s also generally forgiven the next day, too.
We’ve added a new toy category for J-List, for Kubrick toys (those cute figures that are so popular), Blythe and other dolls from Takara, and also the small toy + candy items we sell, such as the Godzilla figures that come with delicious ramune candy. You can also check out all toy items with the “View all toys” category too, of course.
For the new update, we’ve got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:
- First, for fans of the incredibly popular Shirow Masamune in particular and great Japanese manga in general, we’ve got a “reserve subscription” available for Young Magazine Uppers, which often includes extremely rare posters and other items inside
- For Hello Kitty fans, we’ve got one of the coolest things you’ll ever see — five beautiful Kitty statues in a classic kimono, performing a dance
- If you love Japanese film on DVD, we’ve got a new one for you: Battle Royale, a hilarious story of a fight to the death among Japanese junior high school students (region 2, subtitled in English)
- Also, fresh stock of the excellent Ghost in the Shell vol. 2 and The Color of Life, which features incredibly bold Japanese TV (including Oh! Mikey).
- If you love Chobits, the popular manga of a future in which the PCs of the future are beautiful girl-robots, we recommend the new Kodansha Bilingual Comics that we’ve got in stock now
- Takara’s popular Blythe dolls are really getting popular — we’d sold out of all the ones we posted last week. Now we’ve got some cool new ones for you!
- Also for fans of rare toys, we’ve got a super figure of Lupin III with a Laputian robot from the famous episode of the show directed by Hayao Miyazaki — really cool, and really rare
- Parody goods are popular in Japan right now, and we love to carry them — see a parody of Canada Dry band-aids, some authentic cigarette erasers, and more in stock now
- For fans of Japanese snack foods, find Meiji’s delicious Fran chocolate sticks, two kinds of great furikake, and more
- Also, fresh stock of popular items such as Choco Q (the delicious chocolate eggs with meticulously sculpted plastic animals inside), more popular Lotte chewing gum including Black Black, more miso soup, and more
- For students of Japanese, we’ve got a cool rewritable kanji practice notebook, with many easy characters for you to learn
- For fans of bento and related items, we’ve got a great two-tiered bento box, a set of high-quality disposeable chopsticks, and more
- Finally, look for an authentic Japanese abacus, a super pin set for Tokyo Mew Mew fans, Hello Kitty business card holders, and more!
For our adult customers, we’ve got many new 18+ products. They include:
- If you love Japan’s erotic love-sim games, aka “hentai games,” we’ve got a special treat for you: Tsuki ~ Possession, a great new title from G-Collections, is available for ordering now! (remember you get 20% off 4 or more games, too)
- For fans of rare Japanese adult magazines, enjoy some rare titles, like the lovely Senningiri (“Over 1000 Men”), a nice magazine for fans of jukujo and married women, and more
- Also, a great magazine + 4 hour DVD item, we’ve got the great Good DVD 4 Hours, featuring tons of famous AV stars performing in quickies for you
- For fans of Japanese photobooks, we’ve got some great items, including the “Finale” of the lovely Kaori Shimamura, a delicious all-leg fetish photobook with 40 models in it, and more
- Also, we’ve got a new “chinkame” format small photobook with ten positively lovely AV stars in a book you can carry with you anywhere
- For fans of Japan’s highly developed “new half” (aka Mr. Lady) photography, we’ve got a new “sexy shemale” photobook in stock
- For hentai manga fans, enjoy excellent erotic new offerings from Tsukasa Comics, Hit Comics, and more, including an erotic ghost story from Tomohiro Kouda, Triple Sunshine
- Also, fresh stock of many popular hentai manga works, such as the popular Cat Life, Change, and Jet Boss
- Also, we love the excellent AG, the magazine of “art, sex and CG culture” and have restocked several backissues for you — they’re all in stock in our San Diego location
- Also, another volley of great doujinshi for you, all very new releases with great artwork (but they will go fast, as always…)
- For collectors of Japan’s adult DVDs, we’ve got some new items that will knock your socks off, starting with Ran Monbu (whose name sounds like the French dessert Mont Blanc when you say it in Japanese name order) in a wonderful *4 hour* erotic offering from Million (region free)
- Enjoy the erotic lesbian kissing of real Japanese amateurs in a new work from SOD’s AV director Hajime (region free)
- Yukari Sakurada is a beautiful, experienced woman who appeals to fans of “jukujo” (more mature women) themes — enjoy 2 hours of her best works in a new DVD release (region free)
- Enjoy traditional themes of bondage, lesbian sex and mature women themes, in a new release from Cinemagic (region free)
- For fans of bold erotic Indies AV, enjoy a super erotic performance by Miyuki Hourai, featuring lots of fun cosplay (including Anna Miller’s uniforms), bondage play and more (region 2)
- Finally, look for more restocked DVDs, including fresh stock of the “How to Perfect” series by Wanz Factory (one of my favorites), more lesbian kissing and other DVDs, and more!
Are you a fan of Japan’s love-sim games? If so we hope you’ve preordered JAST USA Memorial Collection and Milky House Memorial Collection, two excellent sets of three complete game products which will be shipping soon. We’re especially proud of the JAST Memorial, which accurately recreates the original three JAST USA games Three Sister’s Story, Season of the Sakura and Runaway City in perfect detail, but with many extra features and compatibility with modern Windows. Preorder now and get free shipping, as well as previous $5 off if you’ve bought one of the originals before (via mail-in coupon). Both games are golden master and are on their way to the duplicator’s now!
Remember that J-List carries a full line of Japanese snack foods, with many rare cult favorites in stock for you, like Pocky (all flavors), Black Black caffeine gum, and also the delicious and popular Felix the Cat bubble gum, which is famous all the world over (we’re not sure why, but based on the mails we get from customers, it is). Remember that all chocolate and Pocky items are only sold in the cooler months — they melt in the summer so we can’t carry them at all. If there’s something you’d like to get, we’ve probably got it in stock for you!
