Greetings from Japan, where the “silent E” in English is known as “mahou no E” (Magic E).
Japan is quite nippy in the Winter, especially when the kara-kaze, the famous “empty wind” that blows through Gunma in the colder months, kicks up. Most gaijin from warm places like me (San Diego) either learn to dress warmly or go home after a year. It’s not just a matter of dressing in layers like my mother always told me — because Japan lacks some core comforts like central heating, Japanese houses are usually colder than God’s Icebox. When relaxing at home, it’s quite common to stick your legs inside the kotatsu, a table with a blanket over it and a heater inside. Rooms are heated using small kerosene heaters called “stoves” (suto-bu in Japanese). When these heaters are turned on or off, they release a smell which is quite unpleasant at first, but eventually grows on you as all part of going through Winter in Japan, and you become “natsukashii” (nostalgic) whenever you smell it. For someone from San Diego like me, long underwear is a serious requirement for living in Japan.
It sometimes seems to outsiders living here that Japan is a very death-oriented society. Don’t give gifts in multiples of four because the number four is read “shi” in Japanese, which also means death. Don’t put you chopsticks straight up in your rice, since that’s only done as part of a ceremony for the dead. Likewise, don’t sleep with your head facing north, as bodies about to be cremated are laid facing this direction. Yes for all the customs that have to do with death, nearly all of which spring from Japan’s various versions of Buddhism, the Japanese have almost no concept of estate planning. As far as I can tell, virtually all the things we do in the States to prepare for the event of one’s death, from writing wills to making living trusts to investigating how to avoid death taxes are not practiced here in Japan at all. Since my parents have some land that will be transferred to my wife’s name at the time of their death, I brought the topic up with them, but it seem like something you just don’t talk about. Likewise, I asked our accountant to recommend some options we might want to keep in mind, but he said no one really did anything to prepare for death estate-wise. Even the concept of drafting a will is not really practiced here. Because all Japanese have strong “common sense” built into them, a natural sense for the “way things should be,” wills are not as necessary here. If I were to die, common sense dictates that my wife and children would receive my property, and this logic is rarely contested here.
At J-List, we carry all English-language bishoujo games in the world, including JAST USA, Peach Princess, Hobibox Europe and Himeya Soft. A highly stylized genre of interactive “love simulation” game from Japan, we’ve worked hard to help make these games available in English to fans. And, our games are uncensored. We received quite a few questions about compatibility with Windows XP, so we’ve gone through and updated all our bishoujo game product pages with XP information. The good news is that most games will work with XP, either as-is or with by running them in Windows 95/98 compatibility mode. Three Sisters’ Story and some of the older Himeya games are among the few that won’t load in XP. Also: we’ve finally gotten in stock of the last of the Himeya Soft games which we had not carried before, Love Potion. Great for fans of the classic games from Himeya!
For the mid-week update, we’ve got a bunch of very nice new items for you, including:
- First of all, some great new magazines posted, including the new Gal’s Dee, the magazine for fans of Japanese women who are all size “D” cup or larger
- Also posted are some new kogal magazines, for fans of amateur sex in love hotels
- We’ve got some rare items, some collections of some issues of Dick and Up! You, two magazines that specialize in American and European pornography — it’s quite interesting to see this world through the eyes of the Japanese
- For photobook fans, check out the new items, including a new erotic photobook by Aida Garo, and fresh stock of many nice books, including the “A Trip Of Beautiful Russians” photobook that sold out so fast last time
- For those interested in harder core items, we’ve got fresh stock of the Aika Miura bondage photobook and DVD combo item
- For hentai manga fans, we’ve posted new books for you, including very erotic manga volumes by LE Comics, Angel Comics and other studios, as well as a good restocking (a dozen or so volumes) of previously out of stock manga books
- Also, a treat for doujinshi collectors — another volley of all-new recently released hentai doujinshi works from the past winter Comic Market
- We’ve got a bunch of very nice new DVDs for you, starting with “My First Experience,” a fascinating lesbian DVD with three girls who engage in “penis band” (strap-on dildo) fucking through holed panties, thus there is no mosaic on this DVD (region free)
- For fans of the lovely and pure Rin Tomosaki, enjoy her very nice new Soft on Demand DVD project (region free)
- Those who remember Fumie Hosokawa, the Big Breast Queen from Gilgamesh Night, check out her very nice erotic DVD release (region free)
- We love the Let Fetish World series from Wanz Factory, and the latest release starring Manami Yoshii is great for all leg, foot, stocking and mini-skirt fetish lovers (region 2)
- The popular Dream Gakuen orgy series continues, with two new releases for a total of 360 minutes of killer action (region 2)
- Volume 5 of the very erotic Night Shift Hospital hentai anime is in stock, and is highly recommended for nurse fetish and hentai DVD fans (region 2)
- We’ve got a big restock of DVDs, too, with fresh stock of Black Shower, Aika Miura Perfect Eternal Edition, SOD 5 1/2 Year’s Special and much more
- Finally, Tomo has gone through and discounted a bunch of DVD items for you, so you can get them and save some money — check out the newly reduced items
- For anyone who’s ever loved the incredibly cool Captain Harlock characters from animator Leiji Matsumoto, we’ve got the Captain Harlock Saga toy series, 7 different figure/toys created with the direct oversight of the creator
- For lovers of beautiful Japanese swimsuit idols, we’ve got the hardcover photobook of Yoko Mitsuya, one of the most beautiful busty idols to appear in Japan in years
- For those who like our unique Japanese snack and food page, we’ve got melon-flavored carmels (yes, you read right), fried udon snacks, and the famous Sakuma Drops, which appeared in the happy anime film Grave of the Fireflies
- Also, delicious Japanese senbei (hard rice cracker), and for babies, very delicious milk-flavored Hello Kitty baby senbei (it’s for babies, but Kaori loves to eat these)
- For lovers of Japan’s very sexy Race Queen idols, chec out the new Gal’s Paradise Super Graphic cards we’ve posted
- Lovely “traditional Japanese” items include a “faux” lacquerware bowl, plate and spoon set, Japanese coasters, and some nice crane food decorations
- Many new cute Japanese items, including a cardboard box for Hello Kitty fans (you can put anything it, it’s very stylish), a Hello Kitty lunch box/food container, and new Hamster Club cute items
- For toy fans, we’ve got a very nice new soft vinyl figure set based on the Sunrise Heroine toy line from Yujin, and a beautiful Kimono Licca-chan doll from Takara
- Finally, see funny Japanes signs, handy protective bags that you can keep your laptop in, a cool Japanese world map, several new bento boxes for those in love with Japanese bento culture, and much more. Check out all the newly posted items!
Remember that you can find things on the J-List site using the handy “quick search” function. The search searches for any items containing the words you enter, in any order — thus you can search for actress’ names in Japanese word order (e.g. Nagase Ai) or English order (Ai Nagase). The search engine is smart, too, and snows that “bishoujo” and “bishojo” are the same thing, although some names that have multiple spellings (such as Yuna Akimoto, whose first name can be written as Yuna, Yuuna, or Yuhna) won’t come up if searched. Since J-List has 1500 products in stock at any given time, there should be something for everyone!
