 Greetings from J-ListWednesday, March 17, 2010 One way to make sense of Japan is by understanding the concepts of wabi and sabi, two words which sum up much of what makes Japan special to outsiders. These ideas -- which are closely tied to the Japanese tea ceremony -- are a bit hard to pin down in English. Wabi essentially means sober refinement or the beauty that can be found in simplicity and imperfection, while sabi is the austere serenity that comes with the passage of time, allowing us to appreciate how an object has aged. Although they sound like concepts only Zen Buddhist monks would concern themselves with, they come up in daily speech surprisingly often, like when Yasu and I were admiring the outside of an old abandoned house built during the Showa Period, and he said, "Isn't this house cool? It's really wabi-sabi!" The Japanese fascination with haikyo, or the ruins of our supposedly modern age, is definitely linked to this. I often see a tendency for stories in Japanese film and anime to follow this simpler "less is more" aesthetic view, like Eve no Jikan, an anime about a coffee shop where humans and robots can interact as equals, which has no plot to speak of other than the interesting characters we meet there. Another example might be the "Endless Eight" arc in season two of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, in which Haruhi (who is a God) wishes summer would never end, and so the last week of summer repeats over and over again...for a total of 15,532 times (although we only see eight of these repetitions). While many fans outside of Japan were angry about having to watch the same events eight times, albeit with entirely new animation and visual design for each episode, the avante-garde concept was somewhat better received by fans here in Japan.  
Nestle's Kit Kat has become the official snack of test-takers in Japan; poor Yuki had to relive the same week 15,532 times. Since Japan has very little in the way of natural resources, education becomes one of the most important factors in pushing the country forward. While I'm not always happy with the educational system here in Japan, I can say that the Japanese people pour a lot of passion into educating their kids, at least more than I observed growing up in California. One way Japan gets better results is by getting students to be competitive about their studies. In most junior high and high schools, the ranking for the top 10-20 students in a class are displayed for all to see, and I've seen my son put in extra effort specifically because he wanted to get a higher rank than his rival in the class. I made use of competition when preparing for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, too: I was studying with a Chinese friend of mine, and I made up my mind that I was going to get a higher score on the test than her, which is no small task for a "white boy" gaijin. (Chinese people can read all Japanese kanji for "free" even though the pronunciations for kanji and the meanings of English loan words confuse them.) My rivalry as motivational tool worked great, and I beat her score by ten points. Another way Japan gets kids to be more serious about their studies is the juken or "entrance exam" system, which requires students to prepare for a year or more for a single test that will determine what university they go to...or what high school. Yes, since high school is not compulsory in Japan, the high school system acts like a miniature version of the university system, with students competing to get into different high schools depending on their academic level and personal goals. My son has set his sights on a science-centric high school which is quite difficult for him, which means he'll be studying his butt off to prepare for the test next February. It's actually quite a big change for our family, as I almost never get to see my son (who is just 14) any more, plus we have to drive 30 km to the neighboring city to pick him up. While I'm proud of him for setting a goal for himself and working towards it, I'm kind of sad that I can't do fun stuff with my son as much. When students go off to take their important tests, mothers will give them a box of Kit Kat, which sounds similar to kitto katsu, which means "you will surely win" in Japanese.    
J-List considers ourselves a "Wonderful Toybox of Things from Japan" that mirrors everything that's cool about Japan, and in addition to toys, anime figures, magazines, artbooks and other products, we carry plenty of traditional Japanese items. Like our extensive lineup of bento boxes, which feature many beautiful examples of Japanese design like the Blue Rabbit x Moon Bento Set, or the many Hello Kitty bento products we stock. We have a lot of Lucky Cat products...and even some Lucky Frog ones, which really add something new to your home or office. Finally, there are the products you might not have known existed until you stumbled across them on our site, like the custom kanji hanko stamps that we sell, making it possible to get your own name in kanji.
Today's New Items
|  Anime Shakugan no Shana II We love Shana of the Blazing Eyes, designed as she was by Noizi Ito, who also gave us Haruhi. This just-released fan book documents everything about the Shana anime series for you. View Product |  Afternoon Dec 2009 Then, I'm a huge fan of Afternoon, the elegant and super thick monthly magazine that is so cool, Oguie from Genshiken wants to draw manga for it .Enjoy a new 1000+ issue, posted to the site. View Product | |  Kanji Practice Flashcard SALE Good news -- we're having a big SALE on the White Rabbit kanji flashcards, which are frankly the best way to learn Japanese we can think of. The Kanji Poster is included in the sale, too. View Product |  Monster Hunter Hunting Card Artbook Monster Hunter is the popular video game line by CAPCOM, loved by fans both for its fun gameplay as for the gorgeous art the series has always maintained. Here's a great artbook for fans. View Product |  Restocked Anime Artbooks J-List has a huge stock of artbooks from Japan's top artists, and today we're restocking some of them for you. I'm a big fan of the Bakemonogatari Official Guidebook and the Pixiv Fantasia offering. View Product |  Rilakkuma Deco Mouse This year has really seen a boom in "DECO" fashions, which means things decorated with bright and flashy colors. Here's a great USB computer mouse featuring Relax Bear made out of colored jewels -- awesome! View Product | |  GATSBY Quick Moving Mist ~ Three Types When the commercial starring Japanese heartthrob Takuya Kimura and a cute little dog went viral on the Japan blogging scene a few days ago, we were inundated with requests for this product. We have it for you now! View Product | | |  Happy Buddha Pen Large ears are considered to be good luck among the Japanese, who believe that good luck and especially money will "flow into the ears." This is a seriously wacky pen that features the Great Buddha of Nara with ears you pull down to release the two pens inside. View Product | | |  Delicious Snacks from Japan Fun new snacks from Japan today. We have two new flavors of delicious Meiji Copan rusk like snacks, a positively yummy Oreo Chocolate Bar in Strawberry Milk flavor, plus a limited flavor of Choco Ball from Morinaga. View Product | |  Metal Mode Stylish Bento Set Here's an elegant bento lunchbox with a top made of stainless steel, for a super modern look that you will really love carrying with you. Remove the metal lid and it's a standard bento box that's microwave safe. View Product | |  Awesome Japanese Sandwich Makers Remember when you were a kid when you hated eating bread crusts? The Japanese feel your pain, and have developed amazing sandwich cutters which remove the crusts and "seal" your sandwich for you. Several types restocked. View Product | |  Kinchaku Bento Bag by Sanrio Wow, these Hello Kitty, My Melody and Little Twin Stars cloth printed bento bags are great -- carrying your lunch has never been so much fun. All new designs for 2010. View Product |  Hello Kitty Special BENTO Making Set Then: get the most popular Hello Kitty bento accessories ever with this handy set. You get the Hello Kitty onigiri shaper, furikake sprinkling bottle, vegetable cutter, boiled egg shaper and more. Restocked today. View Product |  More Totoro Bento Boxes Another day at J-List, another opportunity to type the magic words "Totoro bento boxes" which always makes me happy. Both of the new "Totoro in Flower Garden" bento boxes are restocked. View Product | |  Mousse-chan Fuwa-Fuwa Paper Clay Set When we started carrying the Mousse-chan kami-nendo ("paper clay") fun toy sets, we had no idea they’d be this popular. You take the included molds and make different things, like jewelry or little cakes, which you can dry and display. Several mold sets and clay refills have been posted to the site today. View Product | |  Little Little ~ by Rokuko A sweet fairy-tale manga with yuri themes, which we've posted for you. This is an interesting manga because it's presented with almost no words, but only images. View Product | |  Restocked Traditional Things from Japan J-List always stocks cool traditional items from Japan that you never expected to find. Today see the Sushi Non-slip Chopsticks, Green Hello Kitty 3D Kimono Frame Picture, Hand Carved Boxtree Ear Cleaner, and beautiful "Maiko" style decorated combs. View Product |  Fun Good Luck Charms from Japan Also, got some great authentic omamori good luck charms in red and blue, plus the "Make a Wish Temple Bell" phone strap that's just like those bells you ring before praying for good luck at a Shinto shrine. View Product |  Money of the Edo Period Also, the gold coins used in the Edo Period were oval shaped, called koban, and we've restocked two different replicas that are really great. View Product | | |  Awesome Restocked J-Snacks Finally, enjoy some of our most popular Japanese snacks restocked, including Doritos Tuna and Mayonnaise and Wasabi Mayonnaise, Japanese Kit Kat, Fuwarinka Rose Essence Gum, Kompeito traditional 5 color candy, Meiji Sushi Gummy, Baked Toppo plus Morinaga's awesome caramels in Green Tea and Okinawa Black Sugar. View Product |
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