Join Our Newsletter
  • Visit Our Store
  • Come Write for J-List!
J-List Blog
Visit J-List - Your Favorite Online Shop and Friend in Japan
  • Featured
  • News
  • Gallery
  • Product Reports
  • Your Friend in Japan
No Result
View All Result
J-List Blog
  • Featured
  • News
  • Gallery
  • Product Reports
  • Your Friend in Japan
No Result
View All Result
J-List Blog
No Result
View All Result

Greetings from J-List January 19, 2002

Peter Payne by Peter Payne
22 years ago
in Your Friend in Japan

Hello and Happy Saturday from all of us in Japan.

We’re often asked, when coming to Japan, what kinds of items are good to bring as gifts? In the past we’ve recommended cigarettes, Starbucks coffee or just about anything from your unique home town, be it St. Louis or San Diego. Since the Japanese really like the United States, any of the gazillion items with the Stars and Stripes is a good suggestion. If your intended recipients have been to America before, they may know about American’s unchallenged lead in the world of breakfast cereal, and a box of some cereal might be an amusing but appreciated gift. Finally, my bother in Lake Tahoe sent us some graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows so we could make that all-so-American treat, S’Mores. They were such a big hit with our staff here, that we have to add graham crackers to the list of things to bring to Japan when visiting.

Everyone knows that the Japanese take their shoes off when they go into a house. To the Japanese, shoes, and anything to do with the feet, are inherently “dirty.” When you enter your own home, you take your shoes off at the lowered foyer, called “genkan” in Japanese, and leave them there. If you have a lot of shoes on the floor of the genkan, you can store them in the handy and stylish shoes holder (geta-bako), which stores your shoes for you. (This is a good thing. Like American women, Japanese women love to accumulate shoes, my wife included.) Leaving your dirty shoes near the front door means that the house is much cleaner, and much easier to keep clean. For inside the house, Japanese always wear slippers, and if a gaijin goes to a Japanese person’s house, the Japanese person will give him slippers to wear, even if they’re much too small for his feet. It’s always sort of “funny” to see people in American TV and movies wearing shoes indoors (kind of like seeing Pocari Sweat for the first time). Although we try to “live like Americans” when we go to the U.S., most of my Japanese family (including myself) quietly leave our shoes near the front door when back home.

I fondly remember my days at SDSU, studying Japanese with the text my professor, Higurashi-sensei, had written. It was third year Japanese, and quite difficult — we were expected to master 100 kanji per month, which was difficult, although I had an advantage over most of the other students because I actively read manga to improve my reading skills. In the text, the American John Smith comes to a Tokyo university to study architecture, and meets his homestay family, including his homestay brother and sister, Taro and Hanako Yamada (Taro and Hanako Yamada are the Japanese versions of John and Mary Smith, i.e., the “most vanilla” names you can think of). Each chapter features John or his friend Mary getting into some misunderstanding that needs to be resolved. In one chapter, Mary got her sneakers dirty, so she washed them in the washing machine. Well, since shoes are seen as incredibly dirty things here in Japan, Mary’s host mother got really angry, and had to buy a new washing machine. I thought that was an exaggeration, but my wife told me no, she would do the same thing if I tried to wash shoes in our washing machine.

We’ve got a bunch of nice items for you this weekend on the J-List site, with fresh stock of magazines, manga, DVD and other items, including a special treat for hentai doujinshi fans, the very cool busty doujinshi by Blue Eyes creator Tohru Nishimaki. Please check out the new and restocked items.

We’re glad to see sales of the new English-language adult manga magazine, AG, taking off. We think this is a great concept, and we’re going to support AG with articles on Japan and more. We offer this magazine as an automatic subscription (we’ll send you each new issue as it comes in from our warehouse in San Diego). We’ll also carry individual issues on the J-List website, too.

Want to take a VR tour of the “real” Tokyo? We found a really cool virtual reality site that lets you enjoy many interesting parts of Tokyo from the comfort of your computer room. Check out http://homepage.mac.com/dancy/vr/ (Quicktime required).

Tags: familygaijinhentaiJapanese languageLearning JapanesemangaUSA

More Posts Like This

Who Are The Best Silver Haired Anime Girls
Your Friend in Japan

Why Are Silver-Haired Anime Girls So Mysterious?

by Peter Payne
1 month ago

Whenever I ask a question on Twitter/X and get lots of replies from our followers, I know it's a subject...

Watashi No Shiawase No Kekkon
Your Friend in Japan

‘My Happy Marriage’ is a Serotonin Boost For Your Brain

by Peter Payne
2 months ago

There are so many worthwhile anime series for fans to enjoy each season it can be easy to miss one....

Learn Japanese Through Anime! Otonari No Tenshi

Learn Japanese With Anime! Otonari no Tenshi-sama Edition

6 months ago
What Hentai Tags Do You Hate Blog

Which Hentai Tags Do You Hate?

9 months ago
Anime Famous Outside Of Japan

13 Anime More Popular Outside of Japan than Inside!

10 months ago
Christian Anime Christianity In Japan

A Christian Anime!? How Christianity is Viewed in Japan!

1 year ago
Next Post
J-List Default Featured Image

Greetings from J-List January 21, 2002

Trending Today

Why Is Umi Yatsugake So Popular
Your Friend in Japan

Why is Umi Yatsugake The Most Popular JAV Actress?

4 days ago
Roxy Migurdia Blog Post
Figures

This is the Roxy Migurdia Figure We All Needed!

6 days ago
Why Are There So Many Characters Named Sakura
Your Friend in Japan

Why Are So Many Anime Characters Named Sakura?

6 days ago
Tan Fighters List1 6
Featured

Lovely Tanned Fighters Who Need No Protection

1 week ago
Neko Pako Fuck Paradise
Adult Toy Reviews [NSFW]

J-List’s Top 11 Hentai Cosplay JAV Works

3 years ago
Get the Newest Figures from J-List - Your Favorite Online Shop and Friend in Japan
What Autumn 2023 Anime Will J List Watch
Your Friend in Japan

The J-List Autumn 2023 Anime Guide! Which Anime Should You Watch?

by Peter Payne
September 28, 2023

TenPuru, Episode 12 [END]: Where Are You Looking?

Rurouni Kenshin, Episode 13: Sword vs. Gun

Comic Con Africa Is a Slice of Global Otaku Culture

The J-List Autumn 2023 Anime Guide! Which Anime Should You Watch?

Bibury Animation 100 Girlfriends Who Really Love You

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Discord
  • YouTube

© J-LIST. All trademarks, characters and images are property of their respective owners.

No Result
View All Result
  • Featured
  • News
  • Gallery
  • Product Reports
  • Your Friend in Japan

© J-LIST. All trademarks, characters and images are property of their respective owners.