Greetings from J-List September 22, 2004

Japan can be a very uniform place: because things like education and transportation policy tend to get decided on a national level, it can be surprising how similar different parts of the country might look to an outsider. In Japan, a traffic light is a traffic light — they’re all exactly the same color and shape, horizontally oriented, except in northern Honshu and Hokkaido, where they hang them vertically to keep the snow off in the winter. In the U.S., there is quite a lot of variation in how schools are structured, with traditional, charter and year-round schools, schools in large, easy-to-heat buildings on the East Coast but spread-out multi-structure schools in warmer parts of the country. In Japan, however, a school is a school, with drab concrete buildings that look like they came out of some Communist country, uniforms, and textbooks that are the same from one end of the country to the other. And while there are big differences between Japanese cities, from overdeveloped Tokyo to the gritty charm of Osaka to Hiroshima with its street cars and solemn park around the A-Bomb Dome, there is uniformity here, too. No city seems complete without a tower (Tokyo Tower, Yokohama Marine Tower, etc.), a Tanabata festival in July, and in August, a huge fireworks show.

One minor thing I’ve noticed about Japanese restaurants and similar establishments: they love to trumpet how long they’ve been around by adding what year they were established. Our favorite Indian restaurant is Mahatma Net Delhi, which has been in business since 1978, according to their sign. They don’t always wait before bragging about how long they’ve been in business, though. My wife and I went to a newly opened Italian restaurant that featured “Since 2004” on their sign. Another wacky one: a coffee shop I go to in Tokyo informs us they’ve been around “since A.D. 1987” (thanks for the clarification).

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 some Japanese, at least the ones I’ve encountered, are more open than Americans about discussing topics like menstruation or masturbation. Accidental flatulence is not nearly as rude in Japan as it is in the U.S. On the other hand, something that I personally consider very rude — someone reading over my shoulder — is not rude at all here. As a result, anything being read or written by a foreigner on a train is considered fair game, and it’s not rare to have one or more Japanese straining their necks to see what this gaijin is writing on his Powerbook.

We’re really happy to see how our wonderful 2005 Japanese wall calendars are selling so far — thanks to everyone who has preordered. We’ve added a dozen more calendars which were not posted last week, including popular stars like Akiko Yada (one of my favorite TV commercial idols in Japan), the undying Morning Musume, Japanese pro wrestling calendars and more! Remember, order 4 or more calendars and get 15%, and your mailing tubes free, too. These wonderful calendars make thoughtful Christmas gifts for anyone who has a fascination with Japan!

For the new update, we’ve got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:

• First, for Gundam fans, we have pretty much the coolest thing I’ve ever seen: Gundam throw pillows that feature Haro, the Gundam RX-78 and a Zak — woah
• For lovers of classic 80s video games, a rare treat: series 2 of the miniature table-top video games which are real games that you can actually play!
• Shirow Masamune’s incredibly rare Galgrease trading cards sold out in just one day, but we’ve managed to get more in stock, as well as his popular Intron Depot vol. 4 art book
• Japanese snack fans, we’ve got more items in stock for you: tasty Cocoa Waffles from Hokkaido, Japanese traditional orange jelly, white grape Hi-Chews and sea urchin flavored rice crackers — yummy
• Also, a limited edition flavor of Pucca cream-filled fish shaped crackers, with yogurt cream inside
• We’ve restocked various items too, including Hi-Chew Grape, Pocari Sweat drink mix, Glico Honey Pretz, and Shigekix engineered to make you smarter
• Lupin the 3rd, two dynamite sets of Lupin figures, including Japan’s most famous thief, his sidekick Jigen, and Inspector Zenigata
• Next, we have another cool traditional Japanese ashtray that’s modeled after a famous Japanese symbol — very cool, even if you don’t smoke
• iPod owners, we’ve got a nifty item from Japan’s Elecom electronics maker: a cool set of earphones that converts into a “box speaker” when you want to listen to music with friends
• For Sanrio collectors, we have a cute faux leather wallet featuring My Melody and strawberries
• JPOP fans, enjoy the lovely new photobook of Aya Matsuura, a super cute idol who will charm you with her cute photographs
• And for your kitchen, beautiful hand-painted ukiyoe chopsticks, very nice
• Fans of Japan’s avante-garde artists, we’ve restocked several great art books, including Gothic Taste and Tsutomu Nihei’s “Blame! and so on…”
• Interested in learning Japanese? We have a cute hiragana notebook that makes it fun to practice Japan’s basic writing system
• Explore the world of shiatsu with a nifty Japanese massager, which allows you to stimulate your hands, neck, feet, anywhere
• We’re fans of the super cute Pinky Street Japanese figures, and are announcing preorders of the new Pinky in Town photobook w/ figure set
• Fans of the #1 anime magazine we sell, Megami Magazine, we have restocked Megami Magazine Deluxe, which is loaded with fabulous art and stuff to pull out
• Another rare item for you, we’ve restocked the Microman Chronicle, a fabulous photographic documentary of the Microman toys by Takara, sold as the Micronauts in the U.S.
• If you love Japan’s super-cute swimsuit idol Yuko Ogura, we can’t recommend her new DVD enough: it’s a 4-in-1 disc, compiling four of her previous sexy DVD releases into a 2-disc set (region 2)
• Tarantino fans, we’ve restocked the Japanese release of Kill Bill, which features all the scenes cut out from the U.S. release of the film (region2)
• Our Japanese eyedrops are very popular — and we’ve restocked all varieties for you today (enjoy)
• Finally, a cute way to clean up crumbs from your tabletop, more traditional “tenugui” hand towels, more excellent “minus ion” relax pens, and more!

For our 18+ customers, we’ve got many new products. The new items include:

• For fans of Japan’s amazing 18+ magazines, we’ve got a super new magazine for you showing a dozen hot Japanese JAV stars, including Ito Rei, Nao Oikawa, Cocolo, Kurumi Morishita and more
• Then enjoy the new issue of Shuffle, a super detailed Japanese magazine showcasing gorgeous Japanese women in love hotels
• Photobook collectors, we’ve got some great restocked photobooks for you, including Straddle by Miki Komori, Alice in Love Place, and more
• Collectors of H manga, we have a great lineup for you, starting with the super Battle Club vol 1 by Yuji Shiozaki, a superb manga by Tentyu-Maru, and an incredible expression of imagery from Femio Tenma
• We’ve also added fresh stock of several nice manga, including The Illustrated Maya vol. 1 & 2, Masochist Housewife, and more
• Doujinshi fans, we have dynamite new books in stock, including cool comics for Gundam fans
• Also for yaoi fans, enjoy a great new complete “yomi-kiri” (single-book complete story) by Chouko Kabutomaru
• We have a nifty new personal massager for you that’s uniquely Japanese: a “heart egg” vibrating massager that looks like a gashapon capsule toy
• For our DVD customers, we have some great new offerings including an exploration of various toys and bizarre things you wouldn’t normally use for that purpose (region free)
• Then witness the best Black Men vs Japanese women in a special release from Moodyz, featuring gorgeous stars who treated really nice by big black men from the U.S. (region 2)
• Next, see the most amazing mini-skirt, silk stocking and high heel performances from Waap Entertainment, with no less than ten amazing Japanese ladies (region 2)
• We’ve restocked several great DVD products, including the popular “Horse Riding” Concentration DVD release, more all-girl kissing DVDs, and the lovely Waap Special starring Nao.

Remember that J-List carries dozens of excellent English-language dating-sim games which allow you to interact with virtual anime girls in a unique Japanese story. These games are really great — with long, developed stories, beautiful graphics and characters, and lots of replay value. J-List is the exclusive distributor of Casual Romance Club, an interesting love-sim game release in English, even though it was released here in Japan. It’s the only game to offer not just game text in English, but also character voices too.