Hello from Japan, where if you cut your fingernails at night, you won’t be able to be with your parents when they die.
A person’s perception of various things changes when you live in Japan. I am a fan of William Gibson’s novels, and they read really differently when you’ve lived here a while, and see things he describes in his books everyday (like Black Black caffeine gum). As you learn Japanese, you pick up on little errors of misconceptions the outside world has about Japan. You learn that just because a name is Japanese-sounding doesn’t mean it’s Japanese. Mr. Sulu, of Star Trek fame, has a name that doesn’t actually exist in the language, and doesn’t even follow the rules of Japanese pronunciation. It must have “sounded Japanese” to Gene Roddenberry back in the 1960s. In Minority Report, Tom Cruise gets his eyes replaced with those of a man named “Mr. Yakamoto,” but this name doesn’t exist in Japanese, either (there’s no way to write “yaka” in kanji). Living here also makes it fun to identity the elements in Star Wars that have been “inspired” by Japan, too!
Breakfast cereal is one of the major staple foods in the U.S., and it’s slowly growing in popularity here in Japan, too. It was slow going, though — Japanese consumers preferred Japanese food, like fish, miso soup and natto (fermented soybeans), to what looked to them like “bird seed.” Now, several brands of cereal compete for share the Japanese cereal market, lead by Kellogg’s, who markets Corn Flake, Corn Frosty, Choko-wa (chocolate loops), Genmai Flakes, All-Bran. Unfortunately, Kellogg’s products are very expensive here — about $4 for a box that contains only 2-3 American-sized bowls of cereal, so I usually choose Ciscorn or Calbee’s cereal products. Amazingly, Japan is a huge consumer of rice, but no one sells Rice Crispies or a similar product here.
Japan’s interactive love-sim games (known as bishoujo games or hentai games) are part of a long tradition in Japanese gaming, going back to the earliest computers with color displays, NEC’s PC98 series. Japanese love-sim games are a huge part of the Japanese software market nowadays, so much that over 25% of the software produced in Japan are these interactive dating simulations, and virtually every computer store has a massive area dedicated to these game titles. We’ve been involved in translating these games into English since we started out, back in 1996, and are extremely pleased with the huge selection of English translated games we’re able to make available through J-List. Remember, you can get 20% off any four or more of our bishoujo game titles (currently shipping titles only) — just add them to your cart and the discount will be applied at checkout.
We’re very happy with how popular the new limited-edition camouflage “American Devil” and silver-augmented “Sexual Power” T-shirts are proving! We’re glad everyone likes the new designs! Our San Diego staff ships shirts out daily, and all sizes are in stock, so let us know how we can serve you!
For the new update, we’ve got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:
- First, for Star Wars fans, we’ve got the limited edition soft vinyl Clone Trooper Commander large figure, a truly beautiful item for any Star Wars collector (and sold only in Japan!)
- J-List carries monthly magazines by “reserve subscription” in which we send you the current issue of that magazine each month until you ask us to stop. We’ve got two great new magazines available for subscription, Cosmo, a great magazine for fans of all things cosplay; and Dengeki Games, dedicated to hard-core fans of the hottest games for Playstation 2, X-Box, Gamecube and Gameboy Advance
- For Hello Kitty fans, some cute items, including “Mug Cup and Mascot Key Holders” that would look great on your desk
- For fans of wacky Japanese interior items, a super-giant pineapple that hides a box of tissue — a great conversation piece for your room
- For Hamtaro (Hamutaro) fans, we’ve always got lots of great authentic items from Japan — see a new Hamtaro handbag that’s filled with Japanese snacks
- Speaking of Japanese snacks, we’ve got more of them for you, including delicious Morinaga Koeda almond chocolate, a chocolate-filled cookie called Collon, Japanese “nabe” stew mix, and more
- Also, fresh stock of miso soup, various furikake, a major restocking of our famous “Gravel Choco” and more
- For Totoro fans, a dynamite soft Nekobus toy that will surely be a hit
- For your kitchen, a set of two “character frying pans” that allow you to make cute pancakes, eggs, and more
- For anyone with a “keitai” (that is, a cellular phone), we’ve got the ultimate cute phone holder from Japan
- For fans of traditional Japanese items, enjoy fresh stock of soup and rice bowls, chopsticks, and other items
- Also, fresh stock of our cute sushi makers, so fun!
- Finally, look for more Hello Kitty frosted flakes, more funny signs with messages like “Do Not Enter” in Japanese, a cute way to remove oil from your face, and more!
For our adult customers, we’ve got many new 18+ products. They include:
- For Japanese adult magazine fans, we’ve got the great new issues of Penthouse Japan and Penthouse Special, which feature only Japanese girls photographed in beautiful Penthouse style!
- Enjoy the excellent hardcover nude photobooks of Japan, with Jun Nada’s super-erotic first offering and a very sexy swimsuit photobook by Nanami Kaoru
- Japan’s leg and stocking fetish photobooks are world famous, and we’ve got the new Super Leg’s 2003, filled with beautiful glossy pages and pull-out posters
- If you love Japanese hentai manga, we’ve got more excellent items for you, including hentai comics by Plaza Comics, Mujin, Angel and more
- Also, another excellent volley of erotic doujinshi that are all brand-new — but please check out our stock quickly, as stock is extremely limited
- For DVD collectors, we’ve got a great volley of new erotic titles for you, starting with Nao Oikawa Special, a great 2-for-1 DVD from Alice Japan (region free)
- The “Blue File” DVD series brings you a whopping 4 hours of white hot AV on a single disc — enjoy the best works of Ruri Ayase in the latest Blue File release! (region free)
- Fans of the lovely small-bodied Miyuki Hourai will enjoy her new DVD by Dogma, which features her erotic sex and lots of “cock socks” (region free)
- Enjoy the “Semen Fundamentalism” of the “Seven Semen Samurai” in a new bukakke special release by Soft on Demand (region free)
- Then see the best and most erotic lesbian sex in the history of SOD, featuring their most lovely stars! (region free)
- Then, for fans of great Indies sex, enjoy the erotic body and lovemaking of the busty Eri Yukawa in a great bondage-themed work from Wanz Factory (region 2)
- There’s been a big restocking of adult DVD titles, with Hitomi Hayasaka’s great works. more Black Semen in L.A., Ran Asakawa’s very popular Exciting Molestor Land (just love the wacky titles they come up with…), the busty Kimiko Matsuzaka’s great DVD and more!
- Remember that our 25% off January DVD sale is half over! If you haven’t taken advantage of this great time to pick up a bunch of great DVD titles, now is the time. To help you out, we’ve added another dozen or so titles to the sale!
J-List carries many delicious snack items, and one of our favorites is Pocky. Pocky is basically a straight pretzel stick covered with delicious chocolate, strawberry, whipped green tea cream, or just about anything else. It was introduced by the Glico food company in the 1960s and is a major “category killer” in the Japanese chocolate-covered pretzel market, often imitated but never bested. J-List carries an excellent selection of Pocky flavors for you to enjoy, so please see our excellent selection (if you buy 10 or more boxes of one type, you get a 15% discount). Please note that we can’t carry Pocky and similar chocolate products in the summer, due to the heat and humidity in Japan, so buy some now, while it’s cold!
