Hello again from all of us at J-List!
We noticed many differences between Europe and Japan while we were there, but one area was very familiar to us: they use the Metric system, just as Japan does. Unfortunately it hasn’t taken root with Americans, but the Metric system is very easy to get used to, as all gaijin who come here to live can attest. Instead of miles, you use kilometers (1 mile = 1.6 km, or about half again as long). Instead of inches, you use centimeters (1 in = 2.5 cm), so just divide by four, which makes a distance of 4 inches into 10 cm. (Through some fluke, TV screens are measured in inches in Japan.) And liters are not hard to get used to — a liter is a little less than 1/4 of a gallon. Unfortunately, I don’t think the U.S. will ever be able to adopt the Metric system without some sort of benevolent dictatorship being imposed.
The oldest known settlements in Japan are in Iwakuni, Gunma Prefecture, which happens to be about 20 minutes from our house. We were bored on Sunday, so we decided to take the kids to the museum there to show them the stone tools of people who lived as far back as 50,000 years ago. (They also have a full skeleton of a mammoth, too, a great things for parents wanting to entertain their kids.) Although Western Japan, with great former capitals like Kyoto and Nara, may had a greater influence on Japan history in the last 1500 years or so, the Kanto region was a very culturally active region in Japan’s prehistory. During the Jomon Period (the age of pottery) and Yayoi Period (when the Japanese first started cultivating rice), the area where Gunma Prefecture now occupies was settled by many ancient people. Also, the region was very active during the area of the Mound Builders (from the 4th through the 7th century AD), and throughout Northern Japan you can find thousands of burial mounds.
At J-List, we always strive to make rare and unique products available to our customers. We’re happy to announce that J-List is teaming up with Matsukameya, a famous maker of Japanese high school uniforms, to make them available to everyone around the world. Matsukameya is a maker of top-quality high school uniforms, with a variety of styles and colors. Each uniform is hand-made for you when you order it, and a wide variety of sizes are available for fans around the world (actually, Matsukameya designs their female uniforms so that even men can wear them, if they are so inclined). They’re great for cosplay at anime conventions! See the new School Uniforms page for all our uniform tops and skirts, and be sure to check the size chart before ordering.
For our new update, we’ve got many nice items. Our anime, snack, T-shirt and wacky items include:
- First, the aforementioned Japanese school uniforms that we’re so proud to be able to carry
- We have some very nice new sexy idol and swimsuit/Race Queen photobooks, hardcover and softcover
- For fans of sexy idol trading cards, we’ve got the very nice “trading card bible” of Natsuki Kato in stock
- In Japan, they have these killer eyedrops that refresh you and wake you up — and we’ve got them in stock now (both for guys and for girls)
- For Kubrick collectors and Evangelion fans, we’ve got all three of the brand-new Kubrick figures sets in stock now, and they are really great
- Also, we’ve finally gotten in fresh stock of the Castle of Caliostro 2-DVD release that features both English subtitles and dubbed tracks, along with many valuable extras for Miyazaki fans (region 2)
- For Hello Kitty fans, many new items, including two great bento box cloth bags (but you can use them for anything), cute facial oil wipes, and a very spiffy Hello Kitty item for your car
- Fresh stock of the incredibly-popular Hello Kitty vibrators (we had 500 in stock when we went to Germany, but had almost sold out of all of them by the time I came back)
- Also, fresh stock of our unique and authentic Japanese loose socks (both 80 cm and 120 cm sizes)
- For Star Wars fans, a very cool item indeed: a 1/7 scale pre-painted soft vinyl model of Darth Vader, created by the famous Kotobukiya and ArtFX just for the Japanese market (you must see it to believe it, it is so cool)
- Finally, more cool items such as a great Japanese wooden coin bank, cool accessories for those who want to imitate the kogal way of fashion, and more!
For our adult customers, we’ve got many new items, too. They include:
- We have several new magazines for you, starting with the very nice new Bejean, the excellent oversized adult magazine from Eichi Publishing (featuring one of my favorites, Yuko Oguro, on the cover)
- For fans of all things anal, we’ve got limited stock of the popular Shake Hip for you, too (it’s, ahem, rather detailed)
- We have an excellent selection of new photobooks today, with great new hardcover books by the sexy Yinling, the first nude photobook of Yuka Suzuki, and many more
- Also: a nice “Accidents” photobook by Kishin Shinoyama, featuring the lovely Ai Kurosawa (!)
- We’ve got the new CD Indies Deluxe in, featuring a full color magazine and two full Video CDs for you to enjoy viewing
- For manga fans, we’ve got more new volumes in stock for you, including the excellent Heaven or Hell Advanced by Blue Blood, a 2-volume set of Bomber Girl, and much more (also many back-in-stock books)
- For yaoi fans, we’ve got two great new yaoi comics in stock, too
- If you love Japan’s adult DVDs, we’ve got several new ones, starting with a great “Sentai” production (fighting team, like Power Rangers) from Soft on Demand, with 210 minutes of footage on 2 DVDs (region free)
- SOD’s “Best Selection” series DVDs give you the best moments of their thousands of productions — now you can enjoy the best AV performances of Rin Tomosaki (region free)
- From Dogma, we’ve got an excellent new production with Kurumi Morishita and Shinobu Kasagi, a very artistic and erotic “dangerous drama” that features lesbian performances and more (region free)
- The sweet and charming Mai Satoh has been a regular in Japan’s top magazines lately, and now we’ve got her DVD in stock (region free)
- Emily Yoshikawa (aka Emirie Yoshikawa) is Japan’s first “Latino” AV idol (she’s half Japanese, half-Dominican Republic) — now see a great 3 hour “3 in 1” with her (region free)
- For region 2 fans, we’ve restocked the popular “Twice” featuring the elegant Kaoru Tsunoda (region 2)
- Finally, in a great new release from Moodyz, the beautiful Kaori Shimizu goes to America to find some great, big black men and have sex with them, in a “yellow cab” DVD that is spectacular (region 2).
Remember that J-List carries virtually all English-language bishoujo games that are in print, so you can find all the best games in one place. Peach Princess, Hobibox Europe, JAST USA and Milky House, we’ve got them all and all are in stock. Japan’s bishoujo games are an interesting kind of interactive love-simulation game that’s unique to Japan, and we hope you’ll try out some of them. If you’re unsure which games you think you’d like, feel free to email us for a recommendation!
