One thing you don't hear very often when speaking English is someone saying, "Wait, what's the subject of your sentence? Oh, okay." But in Japanese, a language that often omits the subject since it's understood by both parties anyway, it's possible to be in the middle of a conversation and suddenly need to verify what the other person is actually talking about. While cutting down a sentence like "Shall we go to lunch now?" to just "Go?" may sound odd to English speakers, it's usually not a problem in Japanese -- if you were talking about someone specific going somewhere, you'd put that in the sentence, but if the meaning is obvious from the context, it makes sense to shorten things. I've noticed that when Japanese speak English they sometimes use the wrong third person singular pronoun, saying "she" when talking about a man and so on, and this seems to be related to the fact that in their native language they never have to consciously specify a gender-based pronoun for a person when referring to them. There's nothing more embarrassing than when the invisible Japanese subject causes you to lose the thread of what's being said around you, and one skill smart learners master early on is how to B.S. others, making them think you're following along when you have no idea what's being said. Phrases like
so desu ne, which should mean "Yes, that's so," but often means nothing at all, are a good place to start.
Without a doubt, one of the most enjoyable things about living in Japan is taking in all the funny English that comes my way. Although mistakenly-used English is often the result of translators with more self-confidence than actual linguistic ability, a lot of amusing English comes in the form of products sold by companies that can presumably afford to hire native speakers to check things. Some of these wacky product names are known to people outside Japan, for example, the most popular brand of powered milk for your coffee is Creap, short for "creamy powder," and
Pocari Sweat, which brings to mind the image of floating on a cloud (
pokkari) after a hard day's exercise. (Note: the product contains no sweat ^_^) Some other products that have caused snickering by gaijin living here have included Beaver and Woody, two separate air conditioning systems sold by Mitsubishi, which apparently has some wise guys working in their new products department. Japanese snacks are often named strangely, with Crunky, Asse or
Meltykiss being good examples. Some other funny-sounding products that I've seen include Birdy, a canned coffee apparently aimed at golfers; Toyota's Carina ED, which was taken out of the market when ED came to stand for something else entirely; and the popular homogenized fish sausage from the Maruzen Corporation with the unbelievable name of Homo Sausage. Ah, Japan, don't you ever stop being so wacky.
The world is officially in "Holiday mode" now, and Japan is no exception. Here you can celebrate the season in a unique way, with your very own solid gold statue of St. Nicholas. A famous shop in Tokyo's Ginza area is selling the 24-carat gold image of "Santa-san" (as the Japanese usually call him), complete with a gold-mesh bag full of gold coins, to well-heeled collectors. The idea is that owning something made of gold will bring good luck, although it seems to me if you can afford the $1.8 million for the golden Santa you've already had more than your fair share. The Japanese have historically been big fans of gold -- Hideyoshi Toyotomi, who rose from a peasant farmer to the de facto ruler of Japan, built a tea room made of gold -- and you can see that many of the
omamori and other traditional good luck charms that J-List sells have gold imagery incorporated into them in some way, for example the gold coin (called a
koban) around the neck of the famous Lucky Cat.
J-List has more than 4000 excellent reasons to check the site this weekend, as we're just loaded to the gills with great products and gift ideas for your loved ones, from Totoro blankets to plush toys to delicious Japanese snacks to our Japanese T-shirts and warm hoodies and more. J-List has the fun and exciting items that the people on your list will really love and remember all year long. We've beefed up our stock of virtually every product we carry and have also added extra staff, allowing us to ship items out to you as quickly and efficiently as possible. Let J-List help make this a really great Christmas for everyone important to you this year!
Here are today's "really cool products" that I've picked out for you, out of the 30+ new items we've added to the J-List sites. Note that some products may be "not safe for work" but that all links will allow you to redirect yourself either to the J-List or JBOX.com websites. To see all the J-List products, check out
J-List or the
JBOX.com updated products link.
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Ryuk Statue ~ Death Note -- Craft Label. Wow, this is a really amazing figure from Japan's famous JUN Planning, the evil-looking demon Ryuk perched on a rock, with his black feathers poised behind him. A huge figure that will really look great wherever you display it -- it even has real fur around he collar! |
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Green Tea Snack Set. Japanese snacks made with matcha (aka green tea powder) are a huge hit with J-List customers, so we decided to make a new set of delicious snacks that you can sample. This set includes just about every really outstanding green tea J-Snack you could want.
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THOMAS the Tank Engine Bento Set. Thomas the Tank Engine is famous all over the world -- my son and I read through all the original books when he was younger and we just loved them. Now Thomas fans can get their bento mojo on, with this outstanding 2-tier bento set that's self locking, and also features chopsticks w/ case.
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Lots of 2008 Calendars. We've restocked a dozen or more anime, JPOP, cute Japanese idol, traditional and other calendars for you. This is the final restocking of a lot of these calendar items, so browse now before the special calendar you want is gone forever.
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Hello Kitty Totable Lap Blanket. This is really something special -- two different Hello Kitty soft blankets that come rolled-up with a handle, so you can carry them like a handbag, then unroll it when it gets chilly. Great item that's very limited in stock, so if you like it, we recommend you get it sooner rather than later.
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Reversible Hanten (Winter Kimono). If you were to ask me what my top ten favorite things were from Japan, one would be the hanten (HAHN-ten), essentially a puffy and warm short kimono used to keep warm in the winter. I live in mine, and am really glad to have these excellent hanten coats in stock for you.
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Nihongo Journal Nov. 2007. I personally learned a huge amount of Japanese from the pages of Nihongo Journal (I would -- I am not kidding -- take it to the public bath and study while soaking, to the amusement of the Japanese people around me). This is the excellent new issue, loaded with study materials for all levels.
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Kanu Uncho 1/7 Figure Kerberos Project Black & White version ~ Dragon Destiny *Preorder*. Another really outstanding cast off figure has been posted for preorder -- see this elegant figure on the site now.
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Giant Totoro Plush Toy. We've gotten in some great Ghibli items, including the "really big" Totoro plush toy, the ultimate item for an anime fan.
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My Neighbor Totoro Umbrellas. Also, we've restocked the *awesome* Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service umbrellas, extremely well made with real wood handles and shafts, a treasure for any Hayao Miyazaki fan. Trust me, if you love Totoro you need to check these out.
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Christmas Sunshine Buddies, More. An excellent item for the Holidays, we've gotten in the solar-powered Christmas Type Sunshine Buddies which never needs batteries as he spread cheer o'er the land.
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Mihiro Style. Mihiro is one of the most elegant AV stars in Japan, getting her start at the age of 18 as a soft core model and shocking everyone by going fully pro when she turned 20. Here is a great photomag dedicated to her loveliness.
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New Manga Volumes. Got some great new "H" manga for you today, including Aigan Masochist by the famous Umekichi, with lots of tentacles and more, as well as a great book about a school tutor with really big "oppai."
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Velvet Skin ~ INO Art Works. Outstanding art book in stock today by veteran bishoujo game designer INO, who shows you his incredible characters as you've never seen them before. Gorgeous full-size images for you to gaze at and love.
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ZENRA NIPPON JIN - Yellows Style Japanese. One of the most famous photobook series in history is Yellows, which documented the natural bodies of 100 Japanese photographically. Now SOD has an "ero" tribute to this great work, of course taking it to a whole new level, like they always do.
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