Hello again from your friends at J-List!
When foreigners visit Japan, there are many things that stand out as odd to them. Using coins for the equivalent of $1 and $5 bills, which Americans aren’t used to. Horizontally oriented stoplights versus vertical, as they have in the States (except in Northern Japan, where they get a lot of snow). Stores which let you know they’re about to close by playing Auld Lang Sine through store speakers. Kit Kat bars with three thick levels of wrapping to them. Drinks with names like Pocari Sweat and Calpis. Vending machines selling rice, eggs, adult products. High school girls all wearing those outrageous bulky socks. Toilets without seats. It’s all very odd, but then again, that’s the fun of traveling to another country, seeing what it has to offer and comparing it with what you’re familiar with back home.
Convenience stores (“conbini” in Japanese) are another fun thing to check out when you come to Japan. There are dozens of convenient store chains here, dominated by Seven Eleven Japan, which created the category in 1974 by adapting an American concept with Japanese-style distribution practices. Some other popular convenience stores are Lawson, MiniStop, Circle K Japan, Sunkus (the name is a merging of “sun” and “thanks”), and Yamazaki Daily Store. Convenience stores offer many products, including Japanese-style food (bento and onigiri/rice balls), various bread products (both sliced white bread and various specialty breads, including a current hit, the ham & cheese on french toast sandwich), drinks like canned coffee, candy and gum, batteries and film, umbrellas, ice cream, and inexpensive toys for kids. The concept of personal checks doesn’t exist in Japan at all, and most people pay their monthly bills by taking them to their local convenience store where they can be read by the cash register. In the winter, I love to go to a convenience store and get niku-man, a Chinese bun which is basically meat inside steamed white bread — yum. There are microwave burritos to be had here, but be warned: with ingredients scrambled egg & ham or pizza and sausage, they might surprise you. Like Japanese banks, convenience stores here compete by trying to appear as similar to each other as possible, and by and large, you won’t find something that available in one chain that’s not available everywhere.
For the new update, we’ve got some excellent products from Japan for you. They include:
- For bento fans, we’ve got a new variation on our popular bento box, a two-level version with chopsticks, cup and cloth bag to carry it all in
- For fans of Japan’s very popular swimsuit idols, we’ve got a great perfect-bound photobook featuring the lovely Yuka Hirata
- Also, look for other great photobooks, such as the delightful and popular Eriko Satoh’s new hardcover offering, and the cute cut-off shorts of Natsuki Nakazawa
- For Hello Kitty fans, we’ve got some really cool canvas Kitty all-purpose holders, which are a great way to store things on your desk
- Also, see a great set of Kitty toothbrushes in stock, and fresh stock of the cool Hello Kitty soy sauce bottles, Kitty rice bowls and coffee cups, and more
- For fans of Usako Friends, the uber-cute character series in the Thunder Bunny universe, we have a great new Usako Friends character stationary/origami set that you can fold into a 3-D model too
- The Kubrick line of block toys from Medicom Toy is known for its great quality — see the excellent new Nightmare Before Christmas figures that we’ve got in stock!
- For fans of Japanese snacks, enjoy vegetable-flavored pretzel snacks, more delicious canned fish stewed in miso, big Japanese rice crackers and Kamen Rider ramen — yum!
- We’ve restocked our popular loose socks, the bulky socks that high school girls wear (in 70 and 120 cm sizes)
- For Totoro fans, we’ve got a great new PVC keychain as well as a major restocking stock of several Totoro plush toys (including the “really big Jiji”)
- Got a keitai (portable phone)? Get a cool Velcro keitai holder that’s very cool
- Finally, some cool new authentic chopsticks from Japan, a spiffy light from Japan,
For our adult customers, we’ve got many new 18+ products. They include:
- For fans of beautiful women all around the world, we’ve got the new issue of the “No. 1 Glamour Magazine” Bachelor, which features beautiful nude models and AV stars from America, Europe and Russia
- Also, we’ve got the new issue of one of our favorite magazines: Smart Girls, which features fabulous photos of pro and amateur Japanese gals which are so pretty and sexy, the magazine is purchased by women in Japan as well as men
- We’ve got a great issue of DVD Binkan (“DVD Sensitivity”) which features a full color magazine and a 2 hour DVD filled with great samples and quickies (region free)
- For photobook lovers, don’t miss the sweet photobook of Yukari, whose erotic body surpasses mere nudity in photographs expertly taken by Takayuki Kozuka
- Then see fresh stock of several photobook items, including Toko Ushikawa’s “Gentle Sex” and Yoko Matsugane’s oh-so-sexy “Genkai DNA”
- We’ve got some great new items for hentai manga collectors, including the excellent big-bust “Party of Release,” bunny girl fetish manga by Belle Comics, Yoki Amano’s “Melty Feeling”
- Also, fresh stock of some great sold-out works like dick-girl Colors Anthology, Onesama to Pururun, Slave As Flesh Hole and more
- For doujinshi lovers, we’ve got a great item: for you: a new issue of Gorippa, featuring fabulous hentai artwork of Evangelion, Love Hina, Bebop Cowboy, and more
- For DVD collectors, we’ve got some great new adult titles for you, starting with the Sakurako Kaoru’s 180 minute Re-Mix, featuring her best busty sex ever (region free)
- Cocolo is a fresh and wonderful pro adult video idol from Japan, and you’ll love her in her new Cocolo’X release, very erotic and enjoyable (region free)
- From Soft on Demand’s IEnergy label, a bold release for Ran Asakawa fans: a complete sci-fi story in which Ran transforms into an erotic super-heroine to deal out justice to perverted men (region free)
- For fans of Ai Nagase, see her very best hardcore performances ever with SOD, in a new compilation release (region free)
- Bondage fans will love to see the lovely Jun Nada being tied up all pretty, in a new erotic work from Wanz Factory (region 2)
- Then see three extremely beautiful “chijo” (Japanese “slut fetish”) take on a team of lucky gaijin men from countries like America, Canada, Australia and Brazil, in “Lecherous Ladies vs. Foreign Sex Fight” (region 2)
- Finally, we’ve got fresh stock of the popular I.K.U. Project, a bold and futuristic sci-fi erotic film that features both Japanese and Chinese actors to paint a picture of an erotic future Blade Runner-type world (region 2).
Want to see the faces of J-List? We’ve updated our “About J-List” page (http://www.jlist.com/aboutjlist.html) with the newest faces: Laura, Daisuke, Dennis and Guadalupe. See the faces behind the people who make J-List work!
J-List has many fun T-shits with messages like “Dirty American Devil” and “Beware of Perverts on Trains.” All shirts are 100% 6.1 lb cotton and all sizes are full U.S. sizes — and J-List goes the extra mile for you, stocking size S all the way up to size 2XL (and 3XL depending for some colors). To make room for new designs, we’re always closing out some of our older shirts, which you can get at a great bargain price. Check out our shirt pages for all available shirts!
