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Greetings From J-List

2/6/2012

I hope everyone in the States enjoyed the Superbowl. Unfortunately Sunday in the U.S. is Monday morning here in Japan thanks to the time zone differences, which kind of makes it hard for expat gaijin to get into the spirit of things properly. Although the Japanese are generally open to importing just about any aspect of contemporary culture from the U.S., the rules of Ame-Futo (as American Football is usually abbreviated here) are confusing to most people, and the sport doesn't have a lot of critical mass here. Surprisingly, there is a small professional American Football league in Japan with team names like the Asahi Soft Drink Challengers, Panasonic Impulse, the NEC Falcons -- even our favorite computer peripheral company Elecom has a team, the Elecom Kobe Finies. The national championship for the league is the "Rice Bowl," and I went to watch a game just for the lulz once, because how often do you get to go to an American football game in Japan? I noticed that the Lingerie Football League had started broadcasting games late at night on Japanese television -- this seems right up Japan's alley, and I'm sure it can only increase the popularity of the sport in the future.


Japanese TV commercials are fun; "American Football" is not huge here, though there are fans.

While not nearly as lavish as the Hollywood-level TV commercials created for the Superbowl, Japanese "CMs" are a lot of fun to watch. My impression of American commercials is that they're often very talky ("and if you act now, get $1000 cash back or 2.5% APR on a 60-month loan, some restrictions apply..."), overtly stating features and benefits. Japanese ads are likely to be simpler in concept, for example a sporty car driving through a desert while a beautiful woman flies overhead in a helicopter, or a family that has a cow living in their refrigerator which gives them fresh milk whenever they want it. Sometimes Japanese commercials can get quite deep, like the long-running Boss Canned Coffee series in which Tommy Lee Jones plays a space alien here to observe Earth culture, or a series of ads about a "magic elevator" that stops at different floors, where a writer, a musician, a kabuki actor and other persons of interest are waiting to discuss philosophical questions ("What does it mean to be alive? Learning not to be afraid of making a fool of yourself every once in a while") over a cold glass of Asahi Super Dry.

A few more thoughts on Japanese TV commercials. First, they're more honest. If a given brand of toothpaste will only remove 98% of plaque from your teeth on average, the animation in the commercial will always make sure to leave a tiny bit of CG dirt on the teeth, to avoid making a claim the product can't back up. Like many countries, Japanese companies in Japan are forbidden from directly comparing themselves to other company's products, which changes the way the benefits of different products is presented to viewers and removes some of the negativeness. And in the super-connected Internet era we live in, nearly every commercial ends with a web search box showing related search terms being entered through a computer keyboard. This is a "call to action" to get the viewer to get off his butt and proactively start to seek information about a product or service, and it's the most over-used device in Japanese advertising today.

J-List is having a fun February Sale this month, giving you 2x J-List points on all awesome chocolate products all month long, including Pocky, Kit Kat, Meltykiss, as well as TENGA, Hello Kitty Shoulder Massagers and other stress toys. Best of all: get an $10 store credit when ordering $100, or $25 store credit for ordering $200 or more via EMS shipping. That gives you a great reason to add another case of Green tea Kit Kat or Pikachu Chocolate Hearts to your shopping cart!

Today's New & Restocked Items

LED Light Umbrella

LED Light Umbrella (Blade Runner Style)

Walk the rainy night streets with a saber of light, like those seen in popular sci-fi movies about the near future, possibly involving runaway androids and/or flying cars. We love bringing wacky product from Japan to our customers, and we're sure this new LED umbrella will be a hit! VIEW PRODUCTS

Gift Wrapped Hello Kitty Red Tin Bucket Snack Set

More Amazing Hello Kitty Products

Today we've got a large assortment of Hello Kitty Valentine's Day treats waiting for you, like candies, chocolates, cookies and cakes. Some even come with cool gifts, like Hello Kitty tins or Hello Kitty keychain donuts, and the Hello Kitty trash . Kawaii!, a great for giving this February 14th, or any time! We liked the Hello Kitty trash can a lot especially, and you can hold your stuff in it after you've eaten the cookies. VIEW PRODUCTS

New and Restocked NSFW / 18+ Products

Otokonoko Little Devil ver. Comic Anthology

Otokonoko 'Trap' Comic Anthologies

For our joso (aka "trap") fans, we have this great two-part comic anthology focusing entirely on cute crossdressing boys. Whether you like your traps reluctant and embarrassed or proud and seductive, you're sure to find what you're looking for in this labyrinth of forbidden lacy delights. As someone on Twitter said about our shimapan for men, "because why the hell not?" VIEW PRODUCTS

National Idol Unit SODINGO All Stars

Finally, a Huge Restocking of Ero DVDs & Blu-ray Discs

Enjoy a great restocking of our most popular JAV releases, including Sara Shimatani 100 cm H Cup debut and Rin Kajika Super Body Transfer Student, Tsubomi and Momoka Nishina 8 Hours, Maria Ozawa's awesome recent releases, Lesbian Night Crawling, plus parody AKB48 that look just like the real thing, yet do awesome things for their fans. VIEW PRODUCTS