Hello again from Japan, where the “@” mark in email address is called “at-mark.”
Because English has been taught in schools in Japan since the end of World War II, most Japanese do have a basic functional understand of English, even if they can’t always communicate in it. This causes English to seep into the Japanese language in many ways, creating words like “rinse in shampoo” (shampoo with cream rinse in it) and “soft cream” (soft serve ice cream). Since most Japanese can understand at least a little of the language, movie titles are often left in English, but are “reduced” so they’re easier to understand. “You’ve Got Mail” was released here as “You got mail” — essentially the same, just a little easier for Japanese to remember. “Aliens” became “Alien 2,” “Ms. Congeniality” was reduced to “Dangerous Beauty,” and “The Sum of All Fears,” was reduced to “Total Fears.” Currently playing in Japan is “League of Legend” (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen).
The Japanese language has a great many kotowaza or old proverbs, recounting the wisdom of past generations. It’s fun for gaijin to study these proverbs, because no one expects a foreigner to know archaic Japanese sayings. One of my favorite kotowaza is “ningen banji saiou-ga-uma” which means “All things are like Saiou’s horse.” This refers to an old Chinese story about a man named Saiou whose horse broke his leg — making everyone say how unfortunate he was. Because he had no horse, though, he didn’t have to go off to battle to be killed, so this was a good thing. The moral of the story is, when something good or bad happens, no one can say for sure if it is truly a good or bad thing in the end. Another proverb you hear a lot is “ishi no ue ni mo san-nen” which is translatable as “Three years sitting on a stone makes it comfortable.” In other words, if you’re going to try something new, keep at it for at least three years before you give up. Also: “suki koso mono no jozu nare” which means “What one likes, one does well,” or, you become good at doing things you actually like doing, so choose your career based on your interests. If you want to see more Japanese proverbs, here’s an interesting page: http://www.ite.ie/proverbs/jproverb.htm
Announcing free shipping on select adult DVDs! J-List stocks over 800 DVD titles from Japan, and sometimes it’s a little difficult to manage all our stock. To help us move out some older titles, we’re giving free shipping on select titles. (Free shipping is SAL — if you order DVDs by Airmail we’ll give you half price on the shipping for those items). Enjoy the discounted DVDs! These titles still fall under our normal “buy 4 or more, get 15% off” discount.)
Brave Soul is coming! The long-awaited hentai RPG by Peach Princess is going to ship soon. Unfortunately a last-minute delay with the manuals is pushing things back another two weeks or so, but we do plan to have the game back soon. Brave Soul is a fully interactive scrolling RPG for adults that features a fantastic fantasy world to explore, and beautiful female companions to lead into battle. Preorder for free shipping when it’s ready!
For the new update, we’ve got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:
- First, for fans of our Seibun educational toys from Japan, which offer fun learning opportunities to kids of all ages, we’ve added additional items, including the
- For Domo-kun fans, we’ve got a deluxe larger hand towel for you, great for sports, or keep them out for guests to use (they will be impressed)
- For Hello Kitty fans, we have the ultimate apron — a beautiful all-pink Kitty apron that will really make you feel special
- For fans of Kubrick’s unique block toys, we’ve got limited stock of the Reservoir Dogs toys, so very cool
- For fans of Japanese snacks, we’ve got new authentic “black candy” from Okinawa, new delicious miso soup with onion and seaweed in it, and a unique traditional treat, Hello Kitty Ringo Ume
- Also for Kitty fans, a great Kitty “fan strap” that looks like a traditional Japanese fan, as well as a deluxe set of Kitty Onigiri molds to make rice balls that look like Kitty and her friends
- Kitty is cute, but Doraemon is also very popular in Japan — enjoy a cool Doraemon “PET bottle strap” that you can use to take drinks anywhere with you
- For those who want whiter teeth, enjoy sugarless Whiteen gum (it’s sugarless)
- We’ve added fresh stock of the best-selling miniature sushi and famous dessert replicas from Re-Ment, incredibly detailed as only the Japanese could make
- Finally, look for additional wacky things from Japan, like herbal hot springs bath powder, a wacky notepad that could only have come from Japan, and more!
For our adult customers, we’ve got many new 18+ products. They include:
- First, we’ve got the new issue of Gal’s Dee for you, filled with supremely beautiful Japanese gals of D cup or larger, including the delicious Marimo Asoh
- We love the “Karami” series of magazine/photobooks, which are basically full color magazines dedicated entirely to a single famous idol — the new issue features everything you could want to know about the sweet Manami Yoshii
- For photobook fans, enjoy several new offerings, including the sweet nude of Yui Kawai and a great new “Imoto” hardcover photobook photographed by Garo Aida
- Also, enjoy the delightful nude of Kim Mizuno, Japanese AV star who was featured in America’s Playboy — something that really makes Japanese people beam with pride
- There’s a great “gouka-book” format photobook that shows you the “hairless sex” of 17 different amateurs, something interesting to see
- Also, not one but two new pocket-sized photobooks that let you enjoy the lovely Miku Ishida and Yuko Ogura
- Also, fresh stock of some great photobook items, including LCC Gold (love those Romanian nude gymnasts), the delightful Straddle, and Maria Takagi’s erotic hardcover photobook
- Also, we’re big fans of the Japanese erotic photographic style we’ve come to call “girls in Underoos” — beautiful amateurs photographed in stylish and inventive ways which transcends erotica. See a great example of this in Hibiki Tokiwa’s “GirlFriends”
- We have some great erotic manga for you too, including an erotic rendition of Crime and Punishment (very nicely done), fun with sexy raccoon girls, and anal-and-bukkake festival by Ando Hiroyuki
- Also, a major restocking of hentai manga, including all volumes of Blue Eyes, Nudist 2, Wild Dance of Lewd Breasts and more
- For doujinshi fans, we’ve got great new parody comics for you too, including a super parody of Gundam, an erotic maid fetish offering and more
- For our DVD customers, we’ve got some great items for you, starting with the High-Grade Soap 4-Hour Special, featuring the best “soapland” sex by Million (region free)
- For fans of Minori Aoi, one of the most lovely AV starlets of the past few years, we’ve got a new release featuring her dynamite sex (region free)
- Then, there’s a new Deep Kiss release from Soft on Demand, in which female friends are scouted on the street, and asked to come into the Magic Mirror bus and experience lesbian kissing for the first time (region free)
- One of the most popular themes in manga in Japan is “dick girls” — now experience this thrill in Shonen A, a unique new hermaphrodite adult DVD from SOD’s new Hibino label (region free)
- Manga artist Tatsuya Egawa, creator of Golden Boy and Tokyo University Story, fulfills his dream of being with the lovely Ai Kurosawa in his debut as an AV film star, “My Yearning Office Lady” (region free)
Then, enjoy the best forbidden lesbian sex from the U&K company in Lesbian Best Complete 2 (vol. 2) (region free)!
The “top 5” list has been updated for the past week, making it easy to see what products other J-List customers are buying. Click the links to bring up the top ten products in each category.
Remember that J-List carries the famous Japanese gum Black Black, a caffine-laced gum that will wake up you and keep you awake. Black Black was recently written up in Wired magazine, complete with a link to J-List (thanks, guys!). And as with most of our gum and snack items, if you buy 10 or more you get a 15% discount at checkout.
