We appear to have had a hiccup with our listserver, which caused Monday’s update to not be delivered to some readers until 1-2 days later. We’re sorry for any confusion.
Each year in Japan, the list of who paid the most income taxes during the previous year is published in the newspaper. The actual incomes of individuals is private, but how much tax they paid is a matter of public record, and it’s always fun to see who is making money (or who has bad accountants). For actors and “talents” (a Japanese catch-all word for any entertainer), the list was headed by Japanese TV personality Minomonta, host of Japan’s version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? As usual, the comedy team Tunnels (one of whom played Japanese player Tanaka in Major League II and III) did well, taking the #2 and #5 spots, and another duo of comedians, Downtown, snagged #3 and #4. SMAP member Kusanagi, who learned the Korean language and is acting as a bridge of pop culture between South Korea and Japan, also did well last year, bagging the #6 position. In the JPOP world, Ayumi Hamasaki was bumped out of the top spot by the lead singer of B’z, who Tomo hates because he doesn’t really play his instruments when he performs in concert. Manga artist Rumiko Takahashi also did very well — worldwide sales of Inu Yasha pushed her to the #3 in the “other” category. But the person who paid the most taxes was Hitori Saito, owner of a successful health food company, who paid over $100 million in personal income taxes.
Did you know that the father of the tornado scale was Japanese? Tetsuya “Ted” Fujita was a Japanese scientist who came to the University of Chicago in the early 1950’s to study storms and tornados. He was instrumental in making several breakthroughs in how we understand meteorology, and discovered many of the steps that tornados go through as they form. His research also improved air safety. So the next time you hear a casual report of an F5 or F3 level tornado, remember that the F stands for Fujita.
A quick update on the upcoming Yulia Nova DVD releases — we’re still waiting for them to come back from the duplicators. They’ll be ready soon enough, and we hope you’ll preorder them now. The discs offer lots of great new footage, never seen before, as well as complete English subtitling of all three discs. We’re sorry for the delay, but we’ll get these out for you as soon as we can.
J-List carries virtually every English-translated dating-sim game in print, and stocks them all for your convenience in our San Diego location. In addition to our special $1 shipping sale we’re having right now, we’re happy to announce reduced prices on all the Viper games by Hobibox, including Viper V16, Viper Paradice, Viper Limited edition, and Love Love Show. The hallmark of the Viper series is that the games feature full-frame animation, allowing for a very different game experience. Check out all the great titles we’ve got!
For the new update, we’ve got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:
- First, for all computers users out there (everyone), we’ve got some unique Japanese mice that we like a lot, the compact Elecom mice that feature wind-up cords, great for notebook users
- For fans of our delicious Japanese snack foods, enjoy tonkatsu sauce-flavored rice crackers (yum!), more excellent Mobi crackers that are unique and tasty, and a delicious new gummi treat that’s fun to eat
- Also, taste the fun new Top Pokemon bubblegum, 60 individual pieces of delicious green apple flavored gum
- Restocked snack items include Gummi Chocolate, Bisco mini cookies, delicious Ume and No Time gum, March of the Koalas, and much more
- Also, the VERY LAST Pocky we’ll be getting in stock before summer — don’t delay!
- For fans of Japan’ swimsuit idols, enjoy the photobook of Yukie Kawamura, a charming angel in a glossy hardcover photographic collection
- Then enjoy some great new Japanese folk and traditional music, including a bizarre item — more Japanese war songs from World War II
- Sanrio fans, we’ve got a cute large Merry Melody plush toy that’s really cute, as well as some totally fun Hello Kitty maracas
- Then we’ve got more of the Japanese Girl Nagomi items, this time tea tins that you can put green tea in, or just about anything
- Learning hiragana or katakana? We’ve got some handy stickers for you that are fun to stick, and very colorful
- Then, for your kitchen, we have a handy item: an “ice ball” maker, which makes a perfect sphere of ice, perfect for serving drinks to guests
- We also have other items for your kitchen, including the popular Kyoto and I.Kotoba Deluxe bento box set, the Hello Kitty mayonnaise holders (which you can put anything in), and more
- We love gashapon, the capsule toys sold in Japan, and today we’ve got a cool item: miniature replicas of the tools police in Japan use to fight crime, totally wacky and very detailed
- We’ve restocked several of the popular Domo-kun items, including the Domo-kun business card holder, the very large plush and “hug pillows,” Domo pocket tissue, Domo all-purpose pouch and more
- Also, look for fresh stock of the popular Japan Hot Wheels vehicles, sold only in Japan, including my all-time favorite, the Mach 5 Hot Wheels
- Totoro fans, we’ve also restocked several Totoro items, including the Totoro Doll Collection and several plush toys
- For fans of Re-ment’s super detailed food toys, which are perfect replicas of real food, we have fresh stock of the Cafe Meshi series, including full sets
- Want to have some unique fun? Try our Japanese Balloon Helicopter toys, which fly really high in the sky
- Finally, find a great item for fans of Sony’s cute cat, Anywhere With You, more cute Groomy plush pets that help clean your computer area, funny Japanese erasers, fresh stock of wacky English notebooks, and more!
For our 18+ customers, we’ve got many new products. The new items include:
- For fans of Japan’s excellent 18+ photographic magazines, we’ve got the new issue of Bejean, filled with incredibly beautiful women (note: stock is limited on this issue)
- Then we’ve got a deluxe issue of Iketeru Oneesan, a hard-to-translate title which basically means Good Lookin’ Girls
- Photobook fans, enjoy the dynamite offering of Kyoko Nakajima, an incredible model photographed in a wide array of innovative cosplay situations
- Then we’ve got the new photobook offering of Yoko Kumada, the popular and very sexy swimsuit idol from Japan (and one of our favorites)
- Restocked photobook items include Aki Hoshino’s delightful hardcover release, the lovely photobook of Aya Koizumi, and more
- For our H manga collectors, we’ve got some great new items for you, including the excellent and dreamy Halgion by EC Comics, Tsukasa’s PaiPanYa, and a super new book by Chosuke Nagashima
- Then look for various restocked manga titles, too, including Dark Crimson, Suicup Kiki Ippatsu, A Course in Nakadashi, and many more titles
- For our DVD customers, we’ve got some great items for you, starting with the best 4 hours of Mizuho Kanou, aka Jun Kusanagi, one of the top JAV stars of the past decade and a woman with an incredible body (region free)
- Then explore a world of fascination with a new release from Dogma, featuring the lovely Senna Kurosaki (region free)
- From SOD, Female Director Haruna is back, this time exploring a new all-female “study” theme, filmed in beautiful Hawaii (region free)
- From SOD’s Deep’s label, witness the lovely play of 15 different Tokyo girls, aged 18-23 (region free)
- Next, enjoy the female “chikan” performance of Rei Aoki and Ruby Aiba, two amazingly sexy girls (region 2)
- Then, Juli Wakatsuki explores how far she can go in a great new release from Wanz Factory (region 2)
- Finally, enjoy various restocked DVD titles, including Mai Hagiwara’s lovely recent releases, Sora Aoi’s delicious Watermelon DVD, Maria Takagi’s Perfect One Year, and the Minori Aoi Special Box Set.
Remember that J-List stocks over 100 kinds of Japanese snack items, with such popular products as Pocky, Black Black caffeine gum, and one of our favorite items, Sushi Gummi, little gummi sushi pieces (fruit-flavored, not fish-flavored) sitting on marshmallow “rice.” We also carry the delicious “Bubble Ball” candies, inexpensive cola, ramune, grape and other candies that contain fizzing “carbonation” inside — a fun item that’s great to eat. We also recommend the Hello Kitty Chewing Candy, stick soft candy that looks like gum but is chewy like Starburst Fruit Chews. There’s always something fun for you at J-List!
