Hello again from your friends in Japan!
Japan has certainly changed in the half century since World War II ended. For many, one of the most romantic symbols of the postwar era, when Japan was working so hard to rebuild their country and make products that would be recognized by the international community, are “wanman” (one man) busses. In the old days (the 1960s and 70s) busses always had an extra employee, usually an attractive female, who took your tickets when you got on the bus. When this job was phased out, “wanman” busses appeared, with a sign on them indicating that there was only one man (the driver) on the bus, and you had to pay him for your ride. Of course, all busses are like this now. There are also “wanman” trains in extremely rural areas, like Tottori Prefecture (the home of the only desert in Japan). These areas are so devoid of people that there are no train employees in the station at all. You have to go onto the train, which usually consists of just one car, and pay the driver directly for your ride.
Every country has a list of things that are considered rude, and each country is different. In Japan, of course, you take your shoes off when you go into a house (and into some businesses — J-List included). Never stick your chopsticks upright in your rice, since this is “only for dead people” (chopsticks are placed standing upright in rice as part of a last offering of rice to the departed at Japanese funerals). I’ve noticed that many Japanese, at least the ones I’ve encountered, are more open than Americans about discussing topics like menstruation or masturbation. On the other hand, something that I personally consider very rude — reading over someone’s shoulder — is not rude at all here. As a result, anything being read or written by a foreigner on a train is considered perfectly okay to read, and it’s not rare to have one or more Japanese straining their necks to see what this gaijin is doing on his iBook. If he should be writing Japanese, their interest is doubled.
For the new update, we’ve got a huge amount of cool items for you from Japan, including:
- First, we’re happy to announce stock of the superb Hayao Miyazaki film, Caste in the Sky Laputa, one of my personal favorites, which comes with 2 DVDs and features full English dubbed and subtitled tracks
- For fans of Japan’s lovely Race Queens, a special item: super-huge life-sized posters of the most famous models (Miho Yoshioka, Yinling, Toko Ushikawa, Aki Kawamura) — they’re being printed right now, but we’ve posted them for preorder now
- Also, a super photobook dedicated to the beautiful Miho Yoshioka, the #1 RQ in Japan today
- For Hello Kitty fans, some nice only-available-in-Japan items, including a Kitty set of high-quality glasses, a pretend Kitty fax machine your little one can play with for hours, and a cool suitcase belt that will protect your stuff while traveling
- Also, fresh stock of other items, including Hello Kitty toilet paper, Hello Kitty toy refrigerator and cash register, and more
- We have a great item for Astro Boy fans: several of the very nice Astro Boy figures with display cases, from Tomy
- We’ve got some cool “Inviting Cat” (Maneki Neko) items, a cute cat that invites good luck into your home
- We have fresh photobooks you might enjoy, including more Morning Musume hardcover photobooks and the lovely photobook of Yoko Mitsuya
- For fans of Totoro, enjoy a major restocking of plush and other items, including the cool Totoro tissue holder (he looks like Totoro sleeping, but he’s got tissues inside) as well as the large plush Totoro toys, all from Sun Arrow
- If you love Japanese characters like Sony’s cat “Doko Demo Issho” (Always With You), we have new items for you
- For anyone who loves the old Japanese cars of the 1950s and 60s, we’ve got an esoteric item for you from Tomy (but stock is limited)
- For snack fans, we’ve got fresh stock of Japanese miso soup, traditional Japanese furikake, and fresh stock of Pocky and Mousse Pocky
- Finally, look for great gift ideas like the Cup Noodle coffe cups, a restock of bento box items and traditional Japanese dishes, and more!
For our adult customers, we’ve got many new 18+ products. They include:
- First, a bunch of new magazines for you, including new amateur magazines of real couples in love hotels
- Also, some more cool backissues of Urecco and other magazines (stocked in San Diego) — these are quite rare and will be forever gone when they sell out
- For leg fetish fans, we’ve restocked several popular issues including Mini Suka Deluxe June 2002 and the excellent Mini Suka Panty Collection vol. 4
- We’ve got nice photobooks, including the sexy “greatest hits” photobook of Miwa Ohshiro, a great photobook of the “classic Japanese beauty” Minami Yoshikawa
- For hentai fans, we’ve got a great new volley of manga for you, including great books by top-notch artists, including Shiwasu no Okina and the very famous Satoshi Urushihara
- Speaking of Urushihara, we’ve got limited stock of his classic hentai art book Cells Works, filled with some of his most beautiful creations
- For doujin fans, we’ve got a special item: a doujin-soft CD-ROM by the TGWOA circle, aka The Great Works of Alchemy, with CG and Flash movies for fans of “dick girls”
- For fans of our incredibly selection of Japanese adult DVDs, we have many more for you, starting with a hot new No Cut!! release featuring 180 minuntes of AV by the lovely Amu Mazaki (region free)
- Kyoko Ayana is a beautiful and very busty AV idol who appears in her first Soft on Demand title for you — she is beautiful and very eager to please (region free)
- For fans of Japan’s very highly developed lesbian AV, Juri Wakabayashi agrees to appear in a “first lesbian” production in which she’s taught lesbian sex by the experts (region free)
- We love Ryoko Mitake for her erotic body and quiet beauty — see her in a great soft porn DVD by Bauhaus (region free)
- Ai Nanase stars in a great bukkake DVD in which she explores “the aesthetics of drinks a sperm” (sic) (region 2)
- Finally see a great new Akira Watase erotic performance, Heaven’s Door 2 (region 2).
J-List sells cool small toys and figures that come with candy inside. One of our favorites is the series of Captain Harlock figures from Leiji Matsumoto’s classic manga and anime. We currently have two full sets in stock, and when they’re gone that will be the end of them. You can see these items on the Anime Snacks page or the Anime and Toys pages.
The J-Mate site was down for a day or so during our server move, but it’s back up now. Look for part 2 of the very long and in-depth English interview with Ai Nagase, as well as reviews (with lots of screenshots) from Itsuki Kinoshita’s Fan Thanks Day and the excellent Bauhaus “Cosplay Lovers”. The URL is http://www.jmate.com/
