 Greetings from J-ListWednesday, September 8, 2010 Japan is an expensive place, and travelling inside the country can be costly, although there are some good ways to keep travel costs affordable. I recently suggested that anyone traveling inside Japan consider minshuku, a kind of local version of a youth hostel or a bed-and-breakfast that might offer a more authentically Japanese experience than lodgings picked from a guidebook for foreigners. There are some other inexpensive ways to stay in Japanese cities, too. Like the 24-hour saunas found near the train stations of most major urban areas, where you can take a really excellent bath and get hot in the sauna, then pull up a corner of floor and sleep in the "relaxation room" with a hundred or so other yukata-clad men. (Hope you don't mind snoring.) Or try Japan's famous capsule hotels, which give you a cozy space with everything you need except room to stand up in. Each will set you back around $35 a night, unbelievably cheap considering you're in the middle of a big city like Tokyo. One note, the sauna establishments will be for men only, and 90% of the capsule hotels I've seen have also been male only, although a few do have a floor for women to stay on.  
If you come to Japan, try staying in a "capsule hotel"; Japan is running out of children as its birth rate falls. The subject of Japan's shrinking birth rate -- called shoshika in Japanese -- is something I write about a lot, since it's talked about often in Japan. While most modern democracies have low birth rates, Japan's is among the lowest with just 1.22 children per couple, which compares with 2.05, 1.66, and 1.89 for the U.S., U.K. and France. But why are so few babies being born in Japan? Well, there are many different trends at work, including the hyper-urbanized world where most Japanese live today, the changing roles of women in society, and the ongoing effects of Japan's long economic crisis. People definitely get married and start having children later than they used to, too -- back when I arrived in Japan in 1991, it was common for girls to worry about being "Christmas Cakes" if they didn't get married by the age of 25, since no one wants to buy a Christmas Cake after December 25th. With so many options available to Japanese people these days, this kind of thinking is unheard of now. Japan's stressed-out society doesn't help the situation either, and I know of several women who are undergoing fertility treatment to get pregnant. But J-List's staff isn't taking the problem Japan's falling population lying down. No, we're doing our part to raise the population, and we've got good news: Tomo, the J-List employee who keeps our site stocked with interesting DVDs, Blu-Ray discs and other products, is the proud father of a new son, little Motoharu, who was born safely to his mother yesterday. Congratulations to the proud parents! We're overjoyed to announce that the first 2011 anime, J-POP, idol and other calendars have been posted for preorder to the J-List site. From this year's dynamite Studio Ghibli calendar -- which always features brand new art from the studio's films -- to dozens of other awesome anime, music and idol calendars, there's no better way to bring a little bit of Japan into your home all year long. Click to view them all!
Today's New Items
|  New 2011 Anime Calendars Yay! The 2011 anime calendars are officially available for preorder, and as usual J-List has a huge lineup of amazing items for you, including all the Totoro and Ghibli calendars. View Product | | |  And JPOP & Sexy Idols Too The most beautiful idol singers and models make their way to your wall or desktop in 2011 with this new batch of calendar preorders, up today. See the sexy Yuko Ogura and more! View Product |  Animage Sep 2010 Full back to back coverage on all the greatest anime of the month? Check. Stylish perfect-bound archival format? Check. New sneak peeks at Ghibli anime and more? Check. Get Japan's trusted anime news, artwork and extras straight from the source! View Product | | | | |  Restocked Artbooks The popular anime Seitokai no Ichizon goes 3D now, with these cute Nendoroid-like figures packaged in this special boxed set, with an artbook. What an awesome idea. View Product |  Awesome Star Wars Products from Japan J-List has tons of Star Wars items from Japan, from traditional Star Wars items to the R2-D2 gum bottle to our Light Saber chopsticks. See fresh stock of those traditionally themed tenugui towels, so cool! View Product |  Anime Cosplay Products Restocked See more cosplay items on the site, including super-cute PE uniform (called buruma or "bloomers" in Japanese), the uniform from ToHeart plus the classic Red Ribbon Gray Sailor Uniform. View Product | | |  Tales of Symphonia One Coin Figures Fans of Tales of Symphonia will be pleased with this offering by the folks at Kotobukiya. Part of the One Coin Figure collection this is a basic set of six prepainted figures that look great. View Product | |  New Japanese Snacks Today's new J-snacks include Kameda Edamame Light Crackers, Lotte Fit's Gum (the one with the YouTube dance), plus...Gummy Donuts? View Product |  Restocked Ukiyoe Food Drops Candies Also, see fresh stock of the really cool ukiyoe traditional "Food Drops" candies, which combine famous art from the Edo Period with awesome candy. Also enjoy Soy Sauce, Potato Chips and Gyu-Tan (Beef Tongue) flavors! View Product |  Rose Kimono Pattern Bento Box The amazing artistic sense of the Japanese kimono comes to your lunch on the cover of this beautiful new bento box. Check out our full line of bento accessories today. View Product | | |  Other Restocked Bento Items Then see some fun items for your bento life, including our Monkey-shaped Furikake Bottle for bringing your favorite condiments with your lunch, the Microwave Heart Shaped Egg Maker and more. View Product | |  Totoro Plush Toys Restocked See fresh stock of some cute Totoro no Sanpo (Take a Walk with Totoro) plush toys, including both Totoro colors and the cute Makkuro Kurosuke (Soot Sprite), which shakes when you pull his string. Also the Fox Squirrel from Nausicaa and Laputa! View Product |  Portable Paper Soap ~ Take anywhere! Washing your hands in public restrooms is no fun if there's no soap. Never run into this problem, thanks to the portable "paper soap" we've restocked today -- the thin sheets turn into strawberry or apple scented soap when you wash. View Product | | | | |  Evangelion iPhone 4 Case *Preorder* Ever wanted to have a portable Eva plugsuit along with you for those hard to handle Angel attacks? Now you can, with these classy cases for your iPhone. One for each of your favorite characters to choose from! View Product | | | |  Restocked Snacks for Today Morinaga Hi-Chew in several popular flavors! Meiji Kireito Lemon Gummy! Mini Assortment! Traditional Bontan Ame! Meiji Pucca in Banana Milk flavor! Tsubu Rock Strawberry Gum! Lots of good stuff. View Product |
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