Hello again from J-List!
Well, we’re back in sunny San Diego again, safe and sound. We had a great show in Las Vegas — thanks to everyone who came by to say hello. Doing an “adult” show was a totally new experience for us, but we had fun, and got to see a lot of cool stuff (Hulk Hogan came by our booth, too). I’m used to having “reverse culture shock” when I come to California from Japan — little things like ordering a small drink and getting a drink that’s larger than a large size in Japan. It was amazing how much culture shock we had in Nevada though: everything from the rules of the road to where you’re allowed to smoke (everywhere) were quite different from what we were used to in California.
The circle is now complete: I just caught the last chapter of the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. It was truly amazing, a real visual treat, although the Tolkien purist in me might have a thing or two to say about the final cut (which will probably be fixed in the final DVD release). My wife suspects I plan my business trips to the U.S. to coincide with movies that just happen to not be opening in Japan for a few more months, so I can see them early — where would she get an idea like that?
When you learn a language as different from English as Japanese, there are inevitably some words that don’t translate on a perfect 1-to-1 basis, which can present some challenges to anyone learning the language. The concept of “cold,” for example, is expressed with two different words: samui (sa-MOO-ee, coldness in the air) and tsumetai (TSOO-meh-TAI, coldness to the touch). Similarly, cold water (mizu) and hot water (yu or o-yu) are two totally different concepts in Japanese. There are two words for “love” in Japanese, too, and if you want to have some fun ask Japanese what the difference between them is — they’ll stumble as they try to come up with a way to explain the difference. The two words are koi (which usually describes romantic love between a man and a woman, or the hot love you get while dating) and ai (a higher kind of love that is used for family or anyone who’s very dear to you, or the steady, long-burning love of marriage). Yet another concept that takes several forms in Japanese is “heart.” There are three potential ways to express this word: shinzo (the actual heart pumping blood in your body), kokoro (the philosophical elements of your heart, aka your spirit or soul), and haato (the English word heart, written in the katakana writing system), which usually describes a traditional heart shape but can also be an alternate way to write kokoro. Incidentally, while Westerners usually assume the “self” or “mind” is in your head, Japanese indicate that it’s in your chest, where your heart is. In case it ever comes up in Trivial Pursuit.
Sometimes Japan can really throw you a curve ball. In Japan, like in all countries, there are foreigners living and working there, from countries like the Brazil, Peru, South Korea, the U.S. and so on. They fill various jobs, such as English teachers, translators, factory workers, you name it. The other day I was in a game center, and I saw a sign posted on the wall that stated in extremely polite Japanese, “Thank you for using this game center. Please understand that our staff can only speak Japanese, so we cannot communicate with foreigners who can’t speak Japanese. If you can’t speak this language and have some trouble with our games, please go to another game center.” Since the sign was written in Japanese, I don’t know who they thought was going to read it.
For the new update, the J-List staff has worked extra hard to make a great update for you, with dozens of cool new products from Japan, including DVDs, magazines, photobooks, toys, wacky things from Japan, snacks, gum and more. Please take a few minutes to browse all the great new items we’ve posted for you! We’ve also restocked your old favorites, from manga to candy to DVDs, and we know you’ll love the cool items for you.
Remember that J-List carries a really unique item sold only in Japan: ultra-soft acrylic character blankets from Japan, with printed images of Totoro and Hello Kitty on them. These blankets are incredibly soft and great to snuggle up against, and keep you really warm — we actually sleep with two of them, one below and one above, for really toasty winters. My mother loves these blankets so much that she regularly has me bring them to her from Japan. Our current stock of warm blankets from Japan is all we’ll be getting in for the rest of the season, so get your super-soft Japanese blanket today!
