Greetings from J-List October 16, 2000

Hello from Japan, the country that invented “melon au lait” — melon-flavored milk, which Tomo just loves.

Whenever you learn a language, one of the first things you generally learn are the “bad” words — that’s just plain human nature. What many students of Japanese are surprised to find are, there are almost no really bad words to learn — if you define bad as in, words that kids aren’t allowed to use. “Kuso” (shit) is used regularly on children’s anime in Japan, and most kids use it normally while playing. “Baka” (stupid) is the catch-all insult, although my daughter takes it a step higher by saying “baka-jijii” (stupid old man), usually to strangers. The various applications of the “F” word don’t translate into Japanese at all — although virtually all Japanese know the English word, along with the English word “sekkusu.” What defines “bad” language in Japan is often not the words themselves, but the tone and style of speech — I forbade my kids to watch Gingaman (aka Power Ranger Galaxy) on TV in Japanese due to the rude yakuza-like tone of voices used by the villains. The only really “bad” words in Japanese is “manko” (referring to a woman’s reproductive organ) — a word as embarrassingly close to “mango” as election/erection for Japanese speakers of English. This word is so bad, it’s usually written with a circle or “X” in place of the middle letter when written in manga.

There are many interesting gestures that the Japanese have come up with, some of which are quite famous all over the world. Instead of point to his chest when referring to himself, he’ll point to his nose, which looks odd to some foreigners. An “okay” sign inverted means “money, and a pinkie held up with a questioning glance means Are you seeing your girlfriend tonight?” Waving your hand at someone looks to Americans to mean “get away from me, but it really means come here.” Both forefingers put on your head to look like devil’s horns means “anger, as in, If I go to a bar, my wife will get angry with me.” And clashing your forefingers together like swords means “fighting, as in, My wife and I got into a big fight last night. I shouldn’t have gone to that bar last night.”

For this evening’s update, we’ve got a lot of great items for you, including:

• First, new magazines, including the excellent new Beppin School and Gokuh issues — these are great new issues filled with the most popular AV stars and models from Japan
  
• For photobook fans, we’ve got The Super Girls, a collection of *35* lovely AV and models from Japan
  
• On our high-end bondage and S&M photobook page, several new items, including new “hitozuma” (married women) books and more
  
• We have several excellent manga posted, including new erotic wide manga by Mujin Comics, MD Comics and Cult Comics (see Manga -> New releases)
  
• For fans of erotic game dojinshi, we’ve got not one but two new volumes of the popular Electric Love Princess adult dojinshi anthology mangas (on Manga -> Parody manga)
  
• For hentai anime fans, an interesting item, the “Active Memorial Series, a line of hentai video digital comics” adapted from popular hentai games — see this on Adult videos -> New releases
  
• For code-free adult DVD fans, we have two great new titles — Mejiri Climax vol. 1, which features 90 minutes of great footage from five of the Mejiri titles, and Non-Stop Fuck, a 120 min. compilation of “100+1” girl over the past ten years (great item for collectors)
  
• On our anime toys page, we’ve got a really cool item — the Kubrick action figures based on the Planet of the Apes, with figures of Taylor and Statue of Liberty, Cornelius, Zira, Dr. Zaius, and more
  
• Also from the Kubrick line, a mech and armored figure based on Votoms
  
• We have another set of vintage Japanese pro-wrestling magazine, on the magazines “back-issues” page
  
• For those who don’t have enough Hello Kitty in their lives, a nifty photograph frame — display pictures of your loved ones on a desk or hanging on a wall, surrounded by Hello Kitty
  
• Finally, from the “things Peter has wanted to sell for years” category, we’ve got another handy item you just can’t live without: Japanese mosquito incense, known as “katori senkoh” in Japanese. A spiral of long-burning incense which burns from the outside, towards the center, it emits a pleasant incense smoke that wards off mosquitos and other flying bugs. A great item for anyone who’s bothered by mosquitoes!
  

As much as I’ve enjoyed working on CM-Watch, that site that aims to bring you interesting Japanese TV commercials and CM-culture, I’ve got to face the fact that I’m just too busy to continue with the updates. Rather than let this great site fold, I’m looking for a webmaster who will help with updates and conversion of commercials in iMovie format to Quicktime (including subtitles). Please email me if you’re interested, as I’ve got a backlog of interesting CM’s I’d like to post. Knowledge of Japanese CM culture and idols, and experience with Macs and iMovie/iMovie 2 are appreciated. Please email for more information!