Greetings from J-List January 22, 2000

Hello from a very cold and windy Japan. The temperature is well below the freezing point as the Sea of Japan side of the country is experiencing very strong snowfall. The Japanese Alps (yes, they really call them that) are protecting the Tokyo area from the snow, but it’s really cold. North Americans who are used to such staples as central heating, but in Japan, heat is provided to one room at a time via kerosene heaters (called “stoves”) which invariably run out of fuel at the most inconvenient times, forcing you to go outside to pump more kerosene (and get kerosene on your hands).

I’m a little nervous before my big performance tomorrow. Sunday is the annual school show put on by our kids’ preschool, and it’s a huge affair, with over 20 acts performed by the children, the staff — and parents. I’m in a group that’ll be performing a taiko (Japanese drum) number, and being the only foreigner in the group, any tiny mistake I make is sure to be caught by the entire audience.

I’m rushing to get the update off so I can get home (and get warm). For your viewing enjoyment, there’s an interesting site that features some Quicktime VR movies of scenes around Tokyo at http://www.Dancy.com/vr/index.html#QTVRPart01 . (Quicktime 3 or 4 with QTVR installed is required.) It’s just like being here!

Newly added items to the J-List site tonight include:

• New magazines, including the new issues of Dela Beppin, Video Boy and Best Vide, as well as a dozen or more $5 magazines for our $5 magazine sale (see new magazines on magazine page 1, $5 magazines on page 3)
  
• Several new in-stock videos, courtesy of Kaori, featuring Kawashima Azumi, Wakana Sena, and more
  
• New Yaoi manga on the Yaoi page o and two new Japanese puzzles on the puzzle page, including a new illustration by the excellent Yoshitaka Amano (creator of Vampire Hunter D).
  

Well, that’s tonight’s update. Have a nice weekend, and wish me luck on stage!