Hello again from all of us in Japan!
The cold weather has begun in Japan, and we can feel real winter right
around the corner. Because Japanese homes lack central heating found in
most American homes, it can be hard to keep warm, especially for a San
Diego boy like me. In general, rooms are heated one at a time in Japan —
which is good, since you don’t spend energy heating rooms you’re not using.
We have a kotatsu at our house, which is a low table with a blanket over
it, and a heater inside; put your legs inside the kotatsu and you’ll be
toasty in no time. (My daughter and our cats love to go to sleep inside the
kotatsu, which is not healthy, however.) Since electricity is expensive in
Japan, most people use kerosene heaters, either stand-alone heaters called
“stoves” (sutoobu) in Japanese, or electric-kerosene heaters that blow
heated air (called “fan heaters”). These are economical, but smell bad (the
kerosene fumes give you a headache after a few hours, and you must open a
window to ventilate), and whenever the tank inside the heater runs out of
fuel, someone has to go outside and freeze while they refill the tank from
the kerosene jugs kept outside. Heating pads, called “kairo” (which we
happen to have in stock), are also ways of keeping warm when you’re cold.
In Japanese, the English word “convenience” refers to convenience stores,
also called “conbini.” Japan is very big on convenience stores, and several
chains — 7-11, Lawson, Sun Every, Thanks, Yamazaki Daily Store — compete
to bring the best products to their customers. Japanese convenience stores
always offer a large selection of bento (Japanese boxed lunch), onigiri
(rice balls wrapped in nori seaweed), bread (which includes things like
sweetened chocolate bread, bean paste bread, and so on), as well as other
items you might expect, such as drinks (Coke, Pepsi, oolong tea and Calpis
Soda). You can send packages from any convenience store, and if you’re
going to fly out of Narita Airport, you can send your suitcases ahead for
about $20 per suitcase — very handy when you want to travel but don’t want
to lug suitcases. Japan is a completely check-less society, with no concept
of personal checks. To pay your phone or electric bills, you can just them
down to the local conbini and pay them in cash (the bills have bar codes on
them so the girl can process them quickly). They say imitation is a form of
flattery, and it must be true. Two convenience store chains in Gunma sport
names “borrowed” from American chains — Save-On and K-Mart. Alas, the
Golden Age of the Conbini might be over for good, though. In the early and
mid-1990’s, it was unheard of for a convenience store to close its doors,
but now with the economy bad for so many years, convenience stores closing
and turning into laundromats, used book stores or even used car dealerships
are very common.
Announcing lower prices on calendars! We’ve got loads of 2003 calendars in
stock for you, with many incredibly beautiful and rare items ready for you
to order — no waiting! Because we want you to enjoy these great items,
we’ve lowered prices on almost all of our great calendars. You’ll be
helping us, too — the calendars have taken over the J-List kitchen, and no
one can get near the refrigerator until we sell the calendars. You will
love spending your year with the really cool character, idol, anime, JPOP
and other calendars available from J-List.
We’re all hooked on a bizarre TV show in Japan, a “mannequin drama” OH!
Mikey, which is filmed with outrageous looking fashion mannequins in place
of actors. It’s the story of the Fuccon family, father James, mother
Barbara and son Mikey, who came from America to start their new life in
Japan. In each episode of the show, the Fuccon family undergoes new trials
and tribulations as they learn about Japan. It’s a kind of parody of
foreigners living in Japan, and the fact that expressions on the faces of
the mannequins never change adds to the bizarreness of the story. We’re
happy to report that we have the box set of OH! Mikey in stock, and it
comes complete with English subtitles and many extras.
For the new update, we’ve an extra large selection of cool things from
Japan for you, including:
- First, we’ve got the fun and bizarre boxed sets of Oh Mikey! in
stock for you, containing all episodes of this bizarre and fun series —
and it’s fully subtitled in English (region 2)
- We love Japan’s cute JPOP idols, and have restocked several
excellent photobooks of Morning Musume members, including Kaori Ida, Risa
Ishikawa and more!
- For fans of delicious snacks from Japan, we’ve got a bunch of
new items, including Cafe Latte flavored “Crunky” (we just love that name),
Glico’s delicious Chocolate Mousse Macadamia nuts, a cream and delicious
Almond Pocky, and a new flavor of Mill Make, a tasty milk flavoring that’s
enjoyed by all Japanese kids
- Also, fresh stock of various snack items, miso and other soups,
salmon furikake, and more
- We carry all the excellent anime films of Studio Ghibli, and
we’ve restocked several popular titles, including Laputa, Princess
Mononoke, Kiki’s Delivery Service and Spirited Away (all are region 2)
- For Hello Kitty fans, we’ve got some nice new items, including
another Kitty and Daniel “Wedding Plush” that is the perfect gift for
soon-to-be-newlyweds
- In time for winter, we’ve stocked up on Japan’s amazing “Kairo”
heating pads, cloth pads which get very warm when exposed to air, great for
those who hate being cold (like me!)
- Also, a fun item for your bath: Japanese “Bub” onsen tablets,
which turn an ordinary bath into a Japanese hot springs
- We have a super cool plush “Neko Bus” (cat bus) mascot for your
car, who comes with suction cups on his feet, and is, ah, anatomically
correct
- For Disney fans, two rare items sold only in Japan: soft vinyl
keychain figures of Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, both very cool and
licensed only for the Japanese market
- For fans of the super-cute Hamtaro, we’ve got a new deluxe
keychain set that’s incredibly fun to collect
- For Star Wars fans, we’ve got a positively incredibly “Marmit”
figure, a highly-poseable high-end figure that’s great for real collectors
- Finally, look for other great items, like a soft plush cover
for your folding-type cellular phone, a happy all-purpose “smile ball,”
more wacky Japanese signs you can stick anywhere, and more!
For our adult customers, we’ve got many new 18+ products. They include:
- First, for fans of Japan’s excellent adult magazines, we have
the sassy new Urecco Gal, filled with beautiful fashionable kogals and some
of the best erotic photography found in Japan
- We’ve got some excellent erotic photobooks, too, including new
hardcover works by Kaori Shimamura, Jun Kusanagi and many more (stock is
limited on some items)
- Also for photobook fans, we have an exhausting restock of
popular items, including sexy and erotic photobooks by Suzuki Fumika, fresh
stock of Megumi Osawa’s dynamite Last Dance photobook, and more
- We love Japan’s fetish for legs, stockings, mini-skirts and
panties, and have some nice items for leg fetish fans, as well
- For hentai manga fans, we’ve got several all-new volumes of
great erotic comics, including a superb “virgin special” anthology manga,
and a DVD that comes with a hentai DVD inside!
- Also, see fresh stock of some very popular hentai manga works,
including Irodori (one of the most popular hentai parody comics in J-List
history), Total Bio Chemical Laboratory, and more
- For fans of the English-language Blue Eyes comics, we’ve
restocked the entire series in our San Diego office — they’re all in
stock, waiting for you to order
- Remember that J-List stocks dozens of volumes of yaoi comics,
the very beautiful male/male love manga, and we’ve added stock today
- Also recently restocked: Japanese condoms, which are great for
anyone who wants to try the thinner, slightly smaller Japanese products
- For DVD lovers, we have some great new erotic products for you,
starting with another popular volume of “Blue,” which features the beauty
and grace of Yukiko Misawa — “You make me air bubble.” (region free)
- Then, enjoy the erotic and lusty “oneesan” (a word which means
older sister, but in this case implies an experienced, older woman) Ran
Asakawa, in a superb offering from Dogma (region free)
- There’s a new The Idol series with 150 minutes of prime AV,
starring Megu Anrai (region free)
- For bukkake fans, see Reika Midou in Deep’s great new offering
— and it’s dubbed over with a professional voice actress for an extra
bizarre feel (region free)
- Yuna Akimoto tries her hand at lesbian sex and pretending to be
a man, with some great “lesbian fucking” with a fake male members (region
free)
- Then, from Aroma Planning, enjoy the super indies presentation
of “Everyday life of Breast Fondling” as women have their breasts touched
while doing their normal daily activities (region 2)
- Finally, see fresh stock of many new items, like Madoka Ozawa’s
classic DVD works, fresh stock of “Japanese girls vs. Black men” DVDs by
Moodyz, more copies of the very detailed Russian Girls Manko 2002, the
best-selling Very Best of Million, and more!
J-List carries three excellent region-free DVD players that allow you to
watch DVDs from around the world, regardless of their region code. We have
three in stock: the Sampo DVE612 and small sized Lasonic DVB090, both
priced as just $109; and the ultra-cool high-end Sampo DVE681P, which
features many pro features. Please note that Sampo has discontinued the
681P, so our currently stock is all we’ll be able to carry. If you’re
looking for a great region free DVD player that’s got high-end features and
quality, hurry and grab one.
