Hello again from Japan, where “not by the hair of my chinny chin chin” means something else entirely!
We hope all our customers in the U.S. had a happy and safe July 4. There is no Fourth of July in Japan, of course, although in place of it they have Tanabata, the Festival of the Weaver, on July 7. Based on a famous Chinese tale about the stars Altair and Vega (named Prince Hikoboshi and Princess Orihime in the Japanese version of the tale) who were separated by the “River of Heaven” (the Milky Way), they can only see each other once a year on this day. Tanabata is a great time to have a summer “matsuri” (festival), to stroll through the streets of your local town and take in all the colorful decorations, hear performances of taiko drums, drink beer and eat yakisoba noodyes, and help carry an “omikoshi” (a “portable shrine”) around the town. Quite different from the Fourth of July, but at least there are usually fireworks. For more information and pictures on Tanabata, see this page: http://www2.gol.com/users/csr-kts/hiratsuka/tanabata/
Every nation has what the Japanese call a “kokumin-sei,” a kind of “national personality” or set of characteristics that makes that nation a certain way. Germans may be precise and meticulous, which makes them good at building world-class cars. Americans like to think and dream big ideas, and have an indomitable optimism that any problem can be overcome. The Japanese have their own set of national characteristics, from being group-oriented to naturally wanting to avoid confrontations when possible. The Japanese, for example, have certain ideas about feet and anything related to them are “dirty,” which is the reason Japanese remove their shoes and leave them in a special area by the door. If you have to stand on a chair to reach something high, you must always take your shoes off first, to avoid dirtying the chair for the next person who wants to sit down. Some of my best memories as a child were going without shoes for most of my summer vacation, but in Japan, the idea of children walking barefoot outdoors would be unheard of. In America, when your shoes get very dirty, it’s acceptable to most people to throw them in the washing machine and wash them. My wife told me that if I did that in our home in Japan, I’d be buying her a new washing machine the next day.
We’ve been told by our ISP that the load on the new server is getting quite high, and we apologize if there are any problems with the J-List. We’re taking steps to improve the problem. If you experience any problems, like pages that die while attempting to load, or slow searches, please email us and let us know.
We found a bunch of DVDs that were $30 or less but were mis-categorized on the DVD main page. We’ve moved these items to the low-cost DVD page for you so you can find everything where it should be. (Thanks to the customer who let us know about the problem.)
For the pre-weekend update, we’ve got a bunch of very nice items for you, including:
- First, we have lots of cool new toy items in stock for you, starting with the Reservoir Dogs Kubrick series figures
- We have some new Japan-only Hot Wheels vehicles from some cool Japanese 70s action shows, and more stock of high-quality plush Totoro toys from Sun Arrow
- For fans of Shirow Masamune, we have a cool series of anime cards that are beautiful
- We have some nice new items for fans of Japan’s swimsuit idols, including a photobook of the lovely model Ellirose, photographed by Kishin Shinoyama (with essay in English included)
- For fans of the dreamy manga and anime by CLAMP, J-List now caries the beautiful original volume of the manga for you (vol. 1 through 5 are in stock)
- Also, we’ve got the very cool Chobits DVD in stock, featuring the first three episodes as well as the limited edition box for the first 3 DVDs (and a really cool stationary set)
- We’ve got fresh stock of the very cool “walking Gundam” toys which really walk on your table
- New “cute” items for you include Hello Kitty study cards (to help you learn Japanese if you’re studying), a cute hamster wind chime for the summer, and super items for My Melody lovers
- Also: Japan’s wacky toilet paper craze continues, with cute printed toilet paper for collectors of The Dog (great as a decoration if you don’t want to use them for their intended purpose)
- For those who want to be Japanese, we’ve got a Japanese mechanical pencil and lead set that’s very fun to use
- We have new snack items in stock, including super-sour gummi treats called “Qun,” chocolate “bean” bread, more delicious miso soup, and more
- Finally, see a cool item to take to the beach, a nifty bamboo “sun blind” that has been used in Japan for hundreds of years, cool items for your kitchen, and more!
For our adult customers, we’ve got many new 18+ products. They include:
- New magazines, including the popular bukkake magazine Gal’s Shower (vying with Urecco for the spot as best-selling magazine at J-List), as well as new amateur adult magazines, kogal magazines, and more
- We’ve got several great new photobooks in stock, including the dynamite new nude photobook by Hikari Kisugi, and several other new items
- For fans of Japan’s excellent erotic manga pages, we have an excellent update for you, with many new works in stock (including a super new manga by Uara Seiji and Youhei Kozou’s Punky Knight)
- Also, some new items for fans of yaoi comics
- Also for hentai manga lovers, we now offer the very nice Angel Club, the monthly manga magazine of Angel Comics, via our popular “reserve subscription”
- For DVD collectors, we have many new items for you (as usual), starting with a great new Deep Kiss series release, this time shot in beautiful Hawaii (region free)
- From Soft on Demand, a super new “Gokkun Bazooka” featuring bukkake and a lot more performed by Hina Uemura (region free)
- For fans of “naive” girls like Nozomi Momoi and Shinobu Kasagi, a great new offering from Kuki (region free, 180 minutes)
- We love the beautiful Nao Oikawa, and in a new “multi fuck” DVD you can choose your actions using the DVD controller, choosing what you want to do with her, depending on your mood (region free)
- For indies DVD fans, see the lovely Madoka Ozawa in a new performance, taking enjoyment in teasing men (region 2)
- Finally, we’ve gotten in fresh stock of many items, including Touching Breasts for the First Time, Semen Hospital, the popular Jukujo (mature lady) Bukkake series, Love of the Same Sex more!
Remember that most of the 18+ DVDs from Japan are region free, so you don’t need to worry about a special DVD player. However, all anime DVDs released in Japan, and most of the “Indies” adult DVDs, are zoned for region 2 (Japan and Europe). If you’re interested in imported region 2 DVDs, we humbly suggest the region free players we sell, the Sampo DVE-681P (a very nice player with progressive scanning and many high-end features), and the very affordable and compact Lasonic DVB-090. See the newly created Region Free DVD page to see these players.
The J-Mate site (http://www.jmate.com) has been updated again with a super interview with Hikari Kisugi, and a review (with plenty of screenshots) of Kaori Shimizu’s trip to LA. We’ve got lots of great information for fans of Japan’s AV and hentai culture, including translations of interviews with many top AV idols and reviews of products available at J-List. We sponsor the site as our way of saying thanks to everyone for making J-List such a success — thanks!
