J-list Blog

Japanese Lacquer Style Serving Tray - Black

Add some Japanese traditional style to your hospitality with this delightful laquer-style serving tray. Decorated with rabbits and sakura blossoms for that natsukashii (nostalgic) feeling of walking through the falling sakura blossoms during the hanami (cherry blossom viewing) season. It's a fleeting time in Japan and a beautiful display of nature that Japanese people enjoy with heartfelt cheer. This purchase is for the Black version. (More like this) (Direct link to this product)

My Neighbor Totoro -- Totoro No Sanpo ~ Makkuro Kurosuke

Measuring 6.5 cm (2.5 inches) tall, this cute pocket replica plush vibrating toy, is a godsend for Studio Ghibli fans of all ages. Recreating the Makkuro Kurosuke (Soot Sprite) in great detail (large eyes and soft fur), Nibariki-Tokuma Shoten produces a cute toy that is irresistible. To make him "walk" pull the ring gently and set him down on a flat surface. He'll zip his way across to you or a friend! Perfect for Miyazaki fans. (More like this) (Direct link to this product)

Escalayer Figure ~ Beat Angel Escalayer -- Alter

Hentai fans will certainly enjoy this blast from the past from the Beat Angel Escalayer Hentai OVA. Taken straight from the anime, this is Sayaka Kouenji the protagonist and defender of the Earth whose powers are derived whenever she gets... ahem... excited! This fantastic PVC figure turns your dreams in to reality, being able to see Sayaka in full 3D form, completely painted and ready to be displayed right out of the box. Perfectly posed with her skirt flowing in the air, which can be cast off...

JiJi "Kacha Kacha" Music Box Keychain ~ Kiki's Delivery Service

New from Sekiguchi, these Studio Ghibli kacha-kacha music boxes are windable joy for Ghibli lovers. "kacha-kacha" is an onomatopoeia that can be used for the sound of a capsule toy falling down the machine after you turn the coin nob -- hence the term "gachapon". We've got lots of great Totoro items from them and these are no exception. Each music box has a character and a matching tune from the anime, with some kacha-kacha pieces inside the box that rattle around when you move the box. This...

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 and JBOX.com sites today. 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.

Have you ever noticed that when two groups occupy a similar space, rivalries emerge? Whether you're talking about Mac vs PC, Coke vs Pepsi, or the national rugby teams of Australia and New Zealand, each party will try as hard as they can to win against their hated rivals. The top two private universities in Japan are Waseda and Keio, and like Harvard and Yale, the schools have a rivalry that goes back to their founding a century ago. Keio University was founded in 1858 by Yukichi Fukuzawa, a visionary who travelled to the U.S. to study education at Brown University; he also promoted public education of all children and launched an influential early newspaper. Waseda was launched in 1882 by a former samurai named Shigenobu Okuma who had been taught English by a missionary in Nagasaki using the Bible and the Declaration of Independence as his study guides. Today the rivalry between the two schools is fierce, with Keio students mocking the name of Waseda for containing the characters for "rice field" and laughing at the many used book stores that can be found around the campus, implying that the students are too poor to buy new books, while Waseda-ites dislike the snobbery of Keio's wealthier students. Everything comes to a head twice a year with the So-Kei (Waseda and Keio) baseball match, which is watched by so many students that classes at both schools have to be cancelled. The rivalry between Waseda and Keio extends far beyond the current generation of students, since many members of the government are alums of the two schools. When Japan moved to update the faces appearing on its currency a few years ago, Prime Minister Koizumi (a Keio alum) made darn sure that no one removed Mr. Fukuzawa from the 10,000 note, which was the only bill that didn't get refreshed.

Spend a little time in front of a TV in Japan and you'll see more than a few interesting "talents" (tarento), which is a generic word for any comedian, actor or other famous person who appears on TV regularly. These TV stars come in all shapes and sizes, from super cute models like Aki Hoshino and Yuko Ogura, to Speedo-wearing comedian Yoshi Kojima whose signature joke (shouting sonna no kankei ne! or "But that doesn't matter right now!" as often as possible) became a national past-time, to exotic gaijin talents like Bobby Ologon from Nigeria. One star who's been seen on J-TV quite a bit lately is Natsuko "Gal" Sone (SOH-neh), a 5'4" Japanese girl who could probably eat more than you or I could in a dozen meals. A professional "gluttonous eater" who has competed in several competitive eating contests in Japan as well as Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, she has a seemingly endless ability to wolf down sushi, ramen, or mayonnaise pizza (her favorite food). You can usually find her appearing on one of Japan's many variety shows, chatting with the hosts while casually shoveling more food down her gullet. Usually when I watch Japanese TV, I'm on the lookout for yarase, or faked content designed to make for interesting viewing at the expense of honesty, but Gal Sone seems to be the real deal since she eats everything in full view of the cameras. Despite her huge appetite, she weighs only 95 lbs (43 kg).

It's natural for the Japanese to be more skilled at some things than folks in the U.S. or Europe. For example, the Japanese are certainly better at performing detailed, meticulous tasks such as designing small machines or perfectly painting Gundam models, and are also very creative when it comes to making new English words (Meltykiss, yum). Similarly, the Japanese seem to have an aesthetic sense that I think most Westerners lack, an ability to arrange something as mundane as food in a way that brings out its bi (beauty, pronoucned like "bee"), as you can see with bento and other types of Japanese cuisine. Another area the Japanese definitely excel at is dealing with the cramped and crowded spaces that are all too common here. At the Comic Market, the doujin convention held twice a year at Tokyo Big Sight, around a half million people need to make their way into the halls and find the artist circles whose books they want to pick up. Buying comics from popular circles means standing in line, which is extremely difficult to do when there are thousands of people milling all around you. Somehow, though, a line manages to form despite all the chaos, with the last person in line politely holding a sign that indicates that this is the place for new people to line up. One of the most important virtues for a Japanese person to have is gaman, the ability to endure an unpleasant situation, and you can really appreciate a society in which everyone understands the importance of being polite to others when there are that many people around you.

My Neighbor Totoro -- Totoro No Sanpo ~ Makkuro Kurosuke

Measuring 6.5 cm (2.5 inches) tall, this cute pocket replica plush vibrating toy, is a godsend for Studio Ghibli fans of all ages. Recreating the Makkuro Kurosuke (Soot Sprite) in great detail (large eyes and soft fur), Nibariki-Tokuma Shoten produces a cute toy that is irresistible. To make him "walk" pull the ring gently and set him down on a flat surface. He'll zip his way across to you or a friend! Perfect for Miyazaki fans. (More like this) (Direct link to this product)

My Neighbor Totoro -- Totoro No Sanpo ~ Makkuro Kurosuke

Measuring 6.5 cm (2.5 inches) tall, this cute pocket replica plush vibrating toy, is a godsend for Studio Ghibli fans of all ages. Recreating the Makkuro Kurosuke (Soot Sprite) in great detail (large eyes and soft fur), Nibariki-Tokuma Shoten produces a cute toy that is irresistible. To make him "walk" pull the ring gently and set him down on a flat surface. He'll zip his way across to you or a friend! Perfect for Miyazaki fans. (More like this) (Direct link to this product)