Hello from Japan, on this windy Wednesday evening.
Well the U.S. elections are over. They were closely watched from Japan, with an American-style “election watch” board showing which states went to which candidate, and news and commentary from different corespondents — it was just like a slice of home, except that everything was in Japanese. Just as I have trouble understanding the Japanese system of elections — somehow they’re allowed to dissolve the legislative body and call elections on a moment’s notice — the U.S. system of electors and “winner take all” can be confusing to Japanese. I was able to vote this year, too, thanks to the absentee ballot system.
Although Japan adapted many parts of European society and government to itself during the Meiji Restoration and beyond, losing World War II and the subsequent occupation by U.S. forces left its mark on the Japanese’s psyche, making the U.S. forever “cool” in the eyes of Japanese. While his is good for Harley Davidson’s overseas sales division, I sometimes find myself groaning when Japan copies the U.S. yet again in some silly way or another. In addition to American-style election new reporting, the Japanese have just completed their regular nationwide census — timed, it would seem, perfectly with the U.S. census. There’s a Japanese version of the Oscar Awards, a near-perfect copy of the U.S. awards show, where Japanese actors and directors win awards and congratulate themselves — of course, there aren’t that many movies made here each year
For this evening’s update, we’ve got a bunch of great new items, including, but not limited to:
- First, the newest issues of Penthouse Japan and Penthouse Special are in, and they are filled with lovely Japanese ladies for your enjoyment
- We’ve got several all-new photobooks in stock, including both nude and swimsuit/sexy idol photobooks — please check them out
- Also for photobook collectors, more of the excellent Kanazawa Bunko 4th Photobook
- As a follow-up to our popular manga posting on Monday, we’ve got several all-new volumes, including a great new erotic manga by Chataro, as well as fresh stock of some of our popular manga works
- For DVD customers, a great new way to look at Kanazawa Bunko and Suzuki Minami — as blondes! With outrageous wigs and hair tints, two new DVDs show fascinating new faces to these popular and lovely AV gals.
- If you’ve ever loved Enka, the wispy, dreamy music style that corresponds with country music in the U.S., check out the enka albums we’ve got on the Anime & JPOP Magazines page
- On our Anime Toys page, some cool items for Hello Kitty and Kamen Rider (Masked Rider)
- We’ve got fresh stock of our of our most popular “wacky” items — authentic loose socks from Japan!
- Also on our Wacky Things page, several cool new items, including new origami paper (made of real Japanese “washi” paper), a scoop for your rice, and more!
If you loved the Japanese animation show Space Cruiser Yamato (aka Star Blazers, as it was known in English), check out http://www.starblazers.com, a pretty cool site where you can buy lots of Star Blazers stuff, and even watch episodes through the Internet.
