J-List blog

It's fun to look up odd place names, like Intercourse, Pennsylvania, Climax, Michigan, or Le Tampon, France. Naturally, there's a large body of place names that sound naughty to the Japanese, too. Places like Nampa, Idaho, which is funny because 軟派 nampa happens to be a common slang term that roughly means "girl hunting," boys asking random girls they encounter to go to karaoke or out for drinks with them. Boyne City, Michigan holds a special place in the hearts of Japanese men, since "Boyne" becomes ボイン boin in Japanese, the "boing" sound of boobs moving. There's a mountain in Malaysia called Mt. Panty (Gunung Panti), one in Indonesia called Mt. Baka (Bukit Baka), and good old Scheveningen in the Netherlands, which sounds like スケベ人間 sukebe ningen, meaning "perverted human being." (I'm sure they could use some of our T-shirts there.) But the grand-daddy of funny-sounding place names is Eromanga, a mining town in Queensland, Australia, with a name that sounds like ecchi manga comics.

A lot of time has gone into studying how language flows and changes across different regions, and one famous example of this is the research about what each part of the U.S. calls carbonated beverages, usually "soda" in California and the East Coast, "pop" in the middle and northern states and "Coke" in the South. (Personally I always called them "soft drinks.") Recently I've noticed a shift in the labels some fans use to refer to Japanese animation. I posted a gif from Totoro the other day, listing the anime name, and one person asked me how I could call Totoro an "anime" when it was an animated film, not an episodic series, and I realized the word had shifted slightly in meaning for that fan. I've seen other fans who seem to draw a strong distinction between "hentai" (meaning 18+ animation from Japan), "ecchi" (anime with sexy fanservice), and anime itself, as if they were three unrelated categories. Fun fact: the word "anime" only dates from the 1970s, and everyone over the age of 40 here refers to animation on TV as "manga." They also regularly call Disney productions "anime," which would cause most fans I know to go into conniption fits.

J-List is getting ready for a great Anime Expo, and if you're going to be at the show, make sure to come by our booth (#2624) and check out the thousands of awesome products we'll have there. We'll be putting on a big panel, too, with new game announcements and a special original gift for everyone who attends. If you can't make the show for some reason, we've got a great consolation for you: a sitewide Pre-AX Sale starting now, with 5% any order of $75 or more using code AX2016. Get shopping!

Last night I went with Mrs. J-List to a nice restaurant over in Maebashi to celebrate my birthday. The restaurant had a genkan (foyer) at the front where patrons remove their shoes then put on slippers before entering, but when I went to put my slippers on the owner rushed over with a larger pair to accommodate my giant gaijin feet...which is pretty funny since, at 26.5 cm (about a size 8 1/2 in the U.S.), my feet are average size for Japan. When it comes to foreigners, the Japanese do have trouble seeing past their own pre-existing cultural worldview. They always "see" me as being very tall and apologize for how tiny and cramped their cars and homes are, despite the fact that I'm just 177 cm, or 5'9". Japanese also perceive all Western women as having blonde hair, whether they do or not -- many of the "blonde" actresses in the European and Russian JAV we sell are brunette and raven-haired, yet no one here seems to notice -- and envy them for being freed from the endless social rules that Japanese have to follow.

Japan is a British-style parliamentary democracy with a two-house Diet (legislature) for passing laws, an executive branch headed by a Prime Minister elected by the majority party, and so on. One thing I've been impressed by is the way Japan sets strict rules for how its elected officials must behave, both during elections and while in office, then makes sure they're are followed. Once, when a Deputy Defense Minister was found to have asked for perks in exchange for defense contracts, the National Police raided the Ministry of Defense, which is the equivalent of the FBI raiding the Pentagon, something I don't see ever happening in the U.S. Currently Tokyo is enveloped in a scandal after governor Yoichi Masuzoe was found to have mis-used public funds, for example claiming $3700 in meals with his family as work-related expenses, which forced his resignation. The bad news is that an emergency election to replace him will cost a whopping 5 billion yen (USD$45 million).

J-List stocks great anime products, including all the best anime Blu-rays, from the official releases of Studio Ghibli (with dubbed tracks and subtitles in many languages) to the highly collectable Blu-ray releases that are the backbone of the anime industry. Today we've added the uncensored Prison School discs, which are 100% uncensored and come with tons of cool extra stuff. Start your collection now!

When studying a new language, one of the first things we want to do is learn the "naughty" words, which depending on the language can be pretty colorful (especially that English slang). This isn't the case with Japanese, however, a language which has very few really innovative insults and only one word you can't say on TV. The "s" word exists -- it's kuso if you wanted to know -- but characters in kid's TV shows say it regularly, so it doesn't pack the punch it does in English. Pretty much the most common insult in Japanese is 馬鹿 baka, meaning "stupid" or "idiot." Someone nearly hits your car in an intersection? Let fly with a 馬鹿野郎 baka yaro! ("stupid jerk!"). Your gaijin husband mistakes a mimikaki ear cleaner for one of those sacred bamboo spoons used in Japanese tea ceremony? Say 馬鹿じゃない？ baka ja nai? ("what are you, stupid?"). Humility is something that's important in daily life in Japan, and over the years I've been surprised to meet several people (students, new acquaintances, etc.) who went out of their way to tell me how baka they were, apologizing ahead of time for any inconvenience their stupidity and slow-wittedness might cause me. In Japan, it's better to be self-effacing by calling yourself stupid than do the opposite, to appear boastful about how smart you are.

Japanese TV shows often provide an interesting window into how Japan views their place in the world. Like the show Why Did You Come to Japan? which sends camera crews to Narita Airport to interview interesting foreigners who've just arrived, asking why they're visiting the country and (if they're especially interesting) following them around reporting on what they do while here, for example a group that cosplayed at Comiket. The other day I caught an interesting show called Japanese Wives of the World, which tells the stories of Japanese women living in unexpected places. This episode introduced Yukiko, who lives in Paris with her animator husband Savin Yeatman-Eiffel, who happens to be a descendant of the man who built the Eiffel Tower 130 years ago. To the Japanese there's nothing more posh than the idea of living in Paris, but marrying into such a famous family is just unimaginable.

At J-List we love the works of Miyazaki Hayao a lot, and carry more Totoro and Ghibli products than any company we can think of. Today we've got a great update of new Totoro products, including new noren door curtains that provide privacy between rooms while giving you a beautiful seasonal visual to look at. Browse our My Neighbor Totoro items now!

Japan is a mysterious country which can be hard to figure out sometimes. One of my hobbies is to use Google's search suggestion feature to see what questions others might have about Japan, and answer them here. So here are more random questions about Japan!

Why do Japanese use -san on the ends of names?

It's just the most common name suffix used in Japanese, slightly formal-sounding. There are a whole bunch of them, like -chan (for cute persons younger than you, usually female), -kun (for males younger than you), or -sensei (for teachers or anyone in a high position of respect).

Why does Japan have an aging population?

All countries experience falling birthrates as they industrialize, and since 1960 Japan's birthrate has gone from 4 per female to around 1.4. The aging is more pronounced in Japan due to their trademark longevity and lack of immigration inflows.

Why do Japanese yell "bonsai" [sic]?

It's banzai (万歳), which literally means "10,000 years," short for "May His Majesty the Emperor Live for 10,000 years" and is Japan's version of "God Save the King." A bonsai (盆栽), lit. "grown on a tray," is a miniature tree, a totally unrelated word.

Why do Japanese wear face masks?

Japanese wear surgical masks for several reasons, including to keep out germs and pollen but also as polite way to indicate to others to keep their distance to avoid catching a cold. Aflac founder John Amos visited the Osaka Expo in 1970 and, seeing these masks and how health-conscious the Japanese were, decided to enter the Japanese insurance market, one of the smarted business decisions of the 20th century.

Why do Japanese type "www" on the Internet?

It's Japanese netspeak for laughter, since warau is Japanese for "to laugh" and Japanese net users are too lazy to type that out.

Why do Japanese throw salt?

Salt is considered a purifying agent, and sumo wrestlers throw salt in front of them to purify the dohyo mound before they wrestle. When you come home from a Japanese funeral, you have to sprinkle salt all over your body before entering your house to keep evil spirits from following you inside.

Why do Japanese make the "peace" sign in photos?

There are several theories, but the best is that this popular 1972 ad for Konica cameras got it started.

Why do Japanese drive on the left?

When Japan started modernizing in the 1870s, they got all their early transportation technology from "Britain-senpai," which is why Japan, like the U.K., drives on the left today.

Why do Japanese imports have low mileage?

Except for rare trips up Mt. Akagi, I almost put no miles on my car here in Japan. You just don't go anywhere far by car, and if I'm going to Tokyo I'd take a train instead. As a result of this phenomenon, you can get low-mileage engines and car parts from Japan cheap.

Why do Japanese coins have holes in them?

Ancient Chinese Secret, literally. These coins have been in use in China since 300 B.C. or so. The holes are so you can carry the coins on a string and (in our modern age) so blind people can tell the coins apart more easily.

Where do anime nosebleeds come from?

It's just a joke, a meme that's been around for decades. It got its start in a Shonen Jump manga called Yasuji’s Life Lessons for Messed Up Kids, published in 1970.

Why does Japanese sound like Spanish?

No idea, but the vowels used in Japanese are exactly the same as Spanish (and Portuguese, and Italian), making it possible for language learners from these groups to speak Japanese with very little accent.

Why do Japanese love cats?

Everyone loves cats, but part of it is the way the "lens of the Internet" warps the way we perceive Japan. We're far more likely to encounter pictures of Japanese and their cats than, say, Japanese discussing local politics or art history. This is the same effect that makes the world view Japanese people as more "perverted" than they really are.

Why do Japanese not like foreigners?

I was surprised to see this search result, because the Japan I see is extremely happy to welcome foreigners, especially with the big tourism boom that's going on right now. While Japanese are only human, and might be turned off by a busload of rowdy Mainland Chinese refusing to wait in line to make purchases in a shop, they're always polite and professional. The only time I've gotten any negativity in Japan was when a drunk yakuza took issue with me being in a sauna...but since he couldn't do it in English, he sat down sheepishly and was quiet.

Why do Japanese grow square watermelons?

Because if they don't, who will?

One of the stars of the current anime season is Koutetsujou no Kabaneri (Kabaneri of the Iron Fortess), which is basically Attack on Titan meets Sakura Wars with big iron trains. After a mysterious virus turns huge swaths of humanity into zombies known as kabane, humanity builds walled fortress cities which are connected by armored locomotives. The show is great, with plenty of action and exciting characters, especially Mumei, an energetic human/kabane hybrid who gets all the best fighting scenes and lines. I like the show mostly because the character designs were done by Mikimoto Haruhiko, who created such classic series as Macross, Megazone 23 and Gundam 0080. So totally did Mimikoto-sensei rule the mid-to-late 80s that studios had to come up with new distribution methods so they could release over time, such as the way Gunbuster was spaced over six episodes to avoid blowing out fans' monthly anime budgets. Seeing those classical facial designs -- the attention given to the way the shadows fall across different parts of the face, the signature "Mikimoto eyes" and nonexistent elfin noses -- in a modern show is really great to see.

One of the staples of Japanese food life are noodles, called men in Japanese. As is usually the case, a few types of Japanese noodles have become famous around the world, though there's a lot hidden under the surface. The two most common kinds of noodles are soba (gray-colored buckwheat noodles) and udon (fatter noodles made from wheat flour), both of which can be eaten hot or cold. In the summer the Japanese love the angel-hair noodles called soumen, or hiyashi-chuka, cold noodles with cucumber, scrambled egg and ham on top all sitting in a tangy sauce. The most famous noodle dish is ramen, egg-and-flour noodles usually served in a soy or miso soup base, which is a Japanese modification of traditional Chinese noodles. The Japanese also eat a lot of yakisoba, the local version of Chinese chow mein, which is made even more cross-cultural by adding Korean kimchee, yum. If you're yearning to learn more about Japanese food, browse our lineup of cookbooks and bento books!

I'm safely back in Japan after the 16 hour door-to-door hop from San Diego. Whenever I come back to Japan after being in the U.S. I enjoy "surfing" the minor bits of culture shock I encounter. As I'm getting off the plane, I know there'll be one thing that suddenly makes me realize I'm back home, whether it's a catching a view of the official character of Narita Airport or seeing the famous "Narita Hot Dog guy" statue. This time it was an advertisement for JAL's duty free products, promising "Trendy Gift to You in a Lofty Space in the Sky." This year I was surprised to see drizzly skies, since I happened to return in the middle of Japan's rainy season, something I'd forgotten about as I usually plan my schedule so that I'm in California during this time of year.

Part of Peter's Unified Theory of Japan is that the Japanese greatly desire to be seen in a favorable light by other nations, especially the countries of the West. A lot of what the Japanese do, such as the creation of Japan's high-speed Shinkansen train system in time for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, were largely done so foreigners who visit the country would oo and ah about how advanced Japan is. There is no higher honor for Japan than to have one of its own attain fame around the world, and various men such as writers Yukio Mishima and Yasunari Kawabata, directors Akira Kurosawa and Hayao Miyazaki and manga illustrator Shirow Masamune have become legendary inside Japan in part for attaining fame in the world stage. Whenever some new event happens, such as Mt. Fuji winning official UNESCO registry as a World Heritage Site or baseball legend Ichiro Suzuki's upcoming 3000th lifetime hit in the MLB, everyone here gets giddy with excitement. Recently a team of researchers in Tokyo has discovered the 113th heaviest element in the universe, which they promise to name nihonium (after nihon, the name for Japan in Japanese), which naturally has everyone beaming with pride.

Greetings from J-List. We had a blast at the Phoenix Comicon, and I'm safely back in San Diego. Next stop for me is Japan, where I'll return for a few weeks before coming back for Anime Expo and the San Diego Comic-Con. Will you be at either show?

I'm a big fan of Japanese girls, and have loved observing their mannerisms over the years. One of the cuter -- or possibly creepier -- things they do is to refer to themselves in the third person, like Fuko from Clannad or Ayumi from Charlotte. Usually, girls will use their own names in place of a first-person pronoun from a young age, then when they start school and begin interacting with other girls will switch to atashi, a feminine version of watashi (the most common first-person pronoun), or possibly the slightly masculine-sounding boku if she's the tomboy type...though back in my teaching days I had quite a few 18-20 year old female students who still used their names in place of "I" to sound kawaii. Another cute thing Japanese females do is hold on to their sleeves with their fingers, a gesture that makes their hands seem small and makes them look ridiculously adorable.

One of the many challenges Japan faces in the 21st century is getting a handle on its suicide rate, which for the longest time was above 30,000 annually, only slightly lower then the U.S., a country with 2.5x the population. Happily, the number is on its way down, dropping to 24,025 for 2015, a decrease of 1400 from the previous year. The officially listed causes were health problems (49%), economic problems (16%), family issues (15%), workplace related (9%), love problems (3%), and school issues like bullying (2%). Part of Japan's suicide problem comes from differing social mores -- suicide has at times been seen in a positive light, a way to take responsibility for mistakes and a source of romantic stories about lovers' suicide (shinju) during the Edo Period, for example. But in my opinion, the biggest problem modern Japan faces is its outdated custom of mistrusting psychoactive drugs as "always bad," despite the existence of drugs that are proven to potentially help with deep depression. I'd love to see some new thinking in this area in Japan.

Hello from sunny Phoenix, Arizona, where we've come for the Phoenix Comicon. It's a balmy 114℉/46℃, and we're busy at the show, selling tons of fun products from Japan. Hope to see you here!

I like exploring the sources of various memes that exist in anime, like the time I researched the origin or the imouto (younger sister) fascination in pop culture, which turned out to be a 1983 anime called Miyuki about a love triangle between a boy, his girlfriend and his not-related-by-blood younger sister, the latter two both being named Miyuki. One day I was wondering about the history behind Japan's rather unique school swimsuits, called sukuuru mizugi or just sukumizu in the trades. Starting around 1955, Japan was modernizing its educational system and requiring that pools be installed to teach swimming as a required course, with officially designated school swimsuits made from the newly-available material nylon. Schools soon standardized on "skirt type" swimsuits, with a separating line across the abdomen looking somewhat like a skirt, but around 1985 these started being replaced by the sleeker "competition" style swimsuit. Riding the coat-tails of maid uniforms and shimapan, school swimsuits became an icon of Japanese moe culture thanks in part Strike Witches, which introduced the sukumiku-as-military-uniform concept. If you're interested in obtaining one of these school swimsuits for cosplay or other uses, we just happen to have them in stock, in female and otokonoko versions.

If you're going to travel to Japan, you'd better bring your suitscase, and make sure you wear a clean shirts and a nice suits. My favorite sports is soccer, and my favorite anime show is Fruits Basket. Sound odd? Due to a quirky reason of phonetics, some English words are imported into Japanese in their plural forms. The word for a swimsuit in Japanese is "swimsuits," even though you may only be talking about one, and a can of fruit juice is always "fruits juice." Japanese don't mind these words, although the misuse of English grammar tends to give English natives the heebie jeebies at first. Sometimes the words are used in their plural forms to make them easier for Japanese to pronounce or write, and other times because to keep two words from sounding the same and causing confusion. (Because "fruit" and "flute" would have the  same pronunciation phonetically, "fruits" becomes the word for the stuff you eat.)

Hello again from San Diego. We're about top pile into the J-List truck and start our drive to Phoenix, Arizona, where we'll meet thousands of fans and show off all the cool product we've prepared for Phoenix Comicon. But first, a new site update!

One interesting oddity about the Japanese is their compulsion with blood types, which can be seen in anime in the form of characters who have established blood types despite being, you know, fictional. This all got started back in 1927, when a researcher named Furukawa published a paper of dubious scientific value about differences in personality types being determined by blood, which was embraced by the militaristic government of the era, eager to understand which blood type would make the best soldiers. In general terms, Japanese consider type A people to be neat, tidy, and plan things meticulously, almost to a fault (like my wife). Type B are "my pace," meaning that they do their own thing without worrying about the opinions of others, and don't plan things out in advance (I am a good example of this). Type O are said to be loyal and passionate, and have the best leadership skills. Finally, AB people are cool and controlled, and like to hide their inner selves from others. Because there are some minor prejudices related to blood types (usually taking the form of "blood type bashing" against us type B people for being so disorganized), asking someone's blood type is frowned upon in certain situations, such as during job interviews.

It's been fun being back in San Diego for my extended vacation, visiting family and zooming around California's freeways. As usual, I enjoy the vibrant Asian culture that's becoming increasingly important in my home city. If I want to sample the amazing food culture of Japan, Taiwan, China, Korea, and Vietnam, I need only take a drive down Convoy Street, our local Asian district. Nearby there's a K-Mart that closed a few years ago, which was taken over by an Asian market. At first I expressed doubt that a niche shop could effectively full the huge floor space of the old K-Mart effectively, yet they did a great job, filling the sprawling shelves with all manner of Asian foods, including more varieties of Korean sesame oil and tobanjan spicy miso paste than you can shake a chopstick at. Best of all is the explosion of Boba Tea, which my daughter and I love.

There are many reasons to like Japan. Extremely good service at every restaurant you visit, complete with a steaming hot towel handed to you as you sit down. Trucks that warn you they're backing up by playing the Disneyland Main Street Electrical Parade song. Walking behind a Seven-Eleven and finding a beautiful hundred-year-old Buddhist temple. Japan is also home to some amazing desserts, and if you visit you'll probably discover some new taste treats. Japan's dessert world can be divided into two groups: 和菓子 wagashi, Japanese sweets such as taiyaki (a fish-shaped pastry common in anime) or kompeito star candy; and 洋菓子 yohgashi or Western sweets, a word which covers everything from German baumkuchen cakes to Belgian waffles to custard-filled cream puffs, which naturally come in Rilakkuma and Totoro-shaped versions. Japan's world of Western sweets includes an amazing sponge cake from Nagasaki called Castella with about 500 years of history behind it, as well as a vast world of patissier cakes sold at high-end shops inside Tokyo Station. But the king of all Japanese desserts is an egg custard/flan pudding with caramel sauce the Japanese call purin (pudding), which is extremely popular.

One theme I write a lot about is how there's exactly one "correct" way to do things in Japan — a correct way for students to sit at their desk while in school, a specific stroke order that every kanji character must be written in, and so on. There's even exactly one correct way to hold chopsticks, though my family often comments that my son holds his chopsticks in an "odd" way, and when he got a girlfriend, there was real discussion about how he should hide his strange chopstick holding method from her to avoid embarrassment. I came face-to-face with Japan's "universal correctness" when the time came to get my Japanese driver's license, which required me to drive a special course while checking dozens of specific points in the exact order, which was basically like learning to play a level of Mario Bros. while blindfolded. Perhaps the symbol of doing things the "proper" way in Japan is 正座 seiza, lit. "proper sitting," which is how you sit when doing martial arts, tea ceremony and so on.