Greetings from J-List

"Overseas dramas" are as popular as ever here in Japan, and thousands of fans follow American series like Damages or Boston Legal by renting DVDs from shops or watching the episodes that are broadcast on TV, usually late at night on NHK. There are many concepts in these courtroom dramas that must be hard for Japanese viewers to follow, however, due to the differences in the legal systems of Japan and the U.S. One of these differences -- the lack of cases being heard by a jury of average citizens -- will be changing soon, as the Japanese government prepares to roll out its "lay judge" system in 2009. Envelopes have been mailed out to 295,000 citizens informing them that they've been chosen as potential jurors in the new system, meaning that they can be called upon to appear in court to start hearing cases. The new system, in which groups of six jurors and three professional judges will decide the guilt or innocence in serious crimes like murder or arson, has been put in place in part due to Japan's embarrassment at its sky-high rate of convictions of 99%. The idea of whether average Japanese citizens can perform the duties of American-style jurors is a complex one. On the one hand, there is the school of thought that the group-minded Japanese might find themselves going with the opinion of the larger group for social reasons, rather than because they genuinely think the person in question is guilty or innocent. On the other hand, I've known many contrarian Japanese who would likely take an opinion different from everyone else just to show how headstrong they can be, which would cause all kinds of problems. Will the lay judge system work? I'm frankly not sure, but I think it'll be a useful exercise for every Japanese who takes part in it.

An era has come to an end in Japan: the "0-Series" Bullet Train, first launched back in 1964, has made its last run as the venerable series is officially brought out of service. It was during Japan's heady postwar growth period that the government made a proposal to build a high-speed train line to handle the increasing passenger load on the Tokaido Line between Tokyo and Osaka, and slowly things got under way. With the impending Tokyo Olympics only a few years off, the project was kicked into high gear so that the line would be opened in time for foreign visitors to oo and ah over. It was a big success, and the speedy trains helped improve Japan's international image like no other symbol of the postwar period. The 0-Series is considered the Mother of the Bullet Train by rail fans, and all told they've traveled enough miles to circumnavigate the globe 30,000 times -- wow! Tickets on the last 0-series were snapped up in record time by train otaku who wanted to be present on that last journey, and as the train pulled out, hundreds of fans were there with cameras to record the moment. During my years as an ESL teacher I had many students who loved train more than anything, and after school vacations they'd have all kinds of interesting stories for me about taking a long trip to some rural corner of the country to ride their favorite train.

Like most countries, Japan has its unsavory elements, including organized crime. Japan's version of the Italian mafia are the yakuza (YAH-koo-za), a name which literally means "8 9 3" and refers to a losing hand in a traditional Japanese card game. The yakuza have almost four hundred years of history dating from the Edo Period, when the nation was closed off to outside influence and able to grow free of the wars that had plagued previous eras. While yakuza gangsters have been seen as defenders of the weak in popular lore, in reality they're very smart criminals with excellent organizational skills who operate various businesses, from illegal high-interest loans to shady drinking establishments in Tokyo's Kabuki-cho district where simply sitting down can expose you to an exorbitant fees. Yakuza are famous for their incredible full-body tattoos, a popular art form in Japan, and I've certainly seen more than my share of these, despite the "no tattoos allowed" sign. Although yakuza are gangsters, they're usually very polite, and it's considered good form for a well-connected person to have a few yakuza friends, just in case you ever need them. Yakuza are often associated with Japan's famously loud right-wingers who drive around in huge trucks blasting World War II era songs and, occasionally, the theme from the classic anime Space Cruiser Yamato. There's a whole subset of the Japanese language used by these gangsters, and part of the fun of living in Japan as a foreigner is seeing how good I can get at speaking the dialect.

J-List is just bursting with great products that would be appreciated by the special people on your shopping list this year, from anime calendars to plush toys to prepainted figures to bento and wonderful Japanese snacks. To celebrate Black Monday, we're doing something special: giving a $25 discount for any purchase of $200 or more. Considering the huge number of outstanding products we've got in stock, it'll be easy to pick $200 worth of great calendars, toys, figures and other items for the people on your list (or yourself). Offer good Monday and Tuesday! To get the discount, just enter SPECIAL2009 in the shopping cart's 'coupon' and click the 'use store credit' button.

Today's New Items
Tuttuki Bako ~ Magic Finger Box The hottest item in Japan right now is called Tuttuki Bako, pronounced "tsu-tsu-ki bah-ko," or Poking Box. Put your finger inside and watch as a "digital" finger appears, allowing you to interact with all kinds of objects inside. It's oddly fun, and you won't be able to stop poking your finger inside! View Product	Comptiq Nov 2008 A super new issue of Comptiq, the magazine dedicated to manga, games and anime culture. From info on Haruhi Suzumiya to a wonderful Lucky Star feature and hundreds of pages of manga, this is a real winner. Free stuff too, including posters and a Fate/stay night pencil board. View Product
Lynn Minmay Figure ~ Macross Being a card-carrying old school anime fan makes me pretty happy about this Lynn Minmei figure from the classic 1984 film, Do You Remember Love? This gorgeous figure is in stock now, ready for your order! View Product	Myojo Nov 2008 Myojo is the magazine for all fans of "Johnny's-kei" men, referring to stars attached to the legendary Johnny's Entertainment talent agency. See KinkiKids, V6, Kat-Tun, Arashi and much more. Why not consider a revolving subscription so you never miss an issue? View Product
"Ninja" Solar Powered Relaxation Toy Everyone loves ninjas, and ninjas that help you relax are so much the better. This ninja nods his head up and down through the miracle of solar power, and never needs batteries. View Product	Code Geass Queen & Knight vol. 2 See vol. 2 of the Code Geass Queen ("for boys") and Knight ("for girls") official doujinshi anthologies, which compile (all ages) manga stories about the characters from the series. View Product
HANA-ZEN Bento Sets Red & Black We're posting two really nice complete bento sets to the site today, which feature images of strawberries remixed in a modern yet traditional Japanese style. Both bento boxes are 2-tier and come with everything you need for a great Japanese boxed lunch experience. View Product	Tanka About Love SAKE Cup Set of 5 Sake is more fun when enjoyed with friends, and this is an outstanding set of five cups (not four, because that number means "death" in Japanese) featuring traditional Japanese art and short poems (tanka) about love. View Product
Restocked Anime Calendars See fresh stock of Macross Frontier, Code Geass, My Neighbor Totoro and the awesome Osamu Tezuka calendars for the coming year. We're already seeing several of the calendars that we've been carrying this year start to sell out -- don't let your favorite calendar pass you by! View Product	New Japanese Snacks As usual, we've got the newest delicious snacks from Japan, including new Milk Pocky for 2009, new Air In Puccho strawberry soft candies, and Hokkaido Chocolate Potato, the original chocolate covered potato chips! View Product
Hello Kitty Oil Absorb Paper We're posting some handy sheets for removing excess oil from your face. The packages of sheets are so cute, featuring "Little Devil" Kitty-chan and my own favorite, "Hippie" Hello Kitty. View Product	Hello Kitty Aroma Ball, More Also, we've gotten some more in for you, just in time for Christmas. See our Hello Kitty Aroma Ball, super for putting in your car or at your desk, as well as the popular Hello Kitty DS Lite Pouch, the best place to put your DS. View Product
SF Movie Selection Star Trek vol.1 If you've got Star Trek fans on your list, you should consider the awesome Konami Star Trek SF Movie Selection series, which presents incredibly detailed models of the most popular Ships of the Line. We've dropped our prices on these sets so you can surprise someone special! View Product	Lucky Star Nendoroid Puchi Also, I just love the Puchi Nendoroid figures because you get so many well made figures for displaying on your desk, shelf, and they're solid and pleasant to play with, too. See fresh stock of both full sets as well as individual figures, great for stocking stuffers. View Product
Fate/Stay Night Figures & More See fresh stock on some great Fate/Stay Night items, including the fabulous Figma of Rin, who you can pose in many interesting ways on your desk. Make her battle with Saber! View Product	One Piece Soft Eraser Then: why erase with a normal, boring eraser when you could use this awesome One Piece one instead? Very well made plastic eraser that won't leave crumbs around your desk. View Product
Hiragana Times Dec 2008 NO. 266 Read about world events or local Japanese culture in both English and Japanese with Hiragana Times, a fantastic study tool. The new issue is in stock. View Product	Ghost in the Shell Bilingual Manga This bilingual version of the original Ghost in the Shell manga is one of our longest-selling products, a fantastic total bilingual version of the manga that started the popular franchise. Features a brand new translation and all altered pages from the English version corrected. View Product
Restocked Bento Boxes, More We've restocked my favorite line of bento boxes by Nikyoro, the awesome Japanese lunchbox maker that never runs out of ideas, including the UFO Shaped Tight Bento Box and the Bread Shaped Bento. Also, see their gorgeous portable chopsticks. View Product	Traditional Japanese Calendars We just love the gorgeous traditional photo and art calendars we sell every year, and this year our lineup is great as always. Today we've restocked the new Tea Garden calendar, filled with beautiful images of Japan's famous gardens in all seasons, our smash hit Lucky Cat art calendar, and more. View Product
Sitting Jiji Plush Lg Kiki's Delivery Service Jiji the black cat from the Hayao Miyazaki classic Kiki's Delivery Service is one of the most popular characters ever to bring from the Studio Ghibliverse, and we love the little guy to death. Here's fresh stock of the largest Jiji plush we've ever carried. View Product	Studio Ghibli DVDs Then: Tomo has restocked virtually all of the region 2 Studio Ghibli releases, approved by Hayao Miyazaki himself. See My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, The Cat Returns, If You Listen Closely, and one of my own favorites, Ocean Waves. View Product
AKA-BEKO ~ Lucky Folkcraft Red Cow Strap 2009 is the Year of the Cow, which means cow-themed traditional items are very popular in Japan right now. Enjoy this attractive strap which you can put on your phone, camera, keys, Nintendo DS etc. which will bring you good luck all year long. View Product	Wacky Japanese T-Shirts in Stock Remember that J-List carries our unique kanji T-shirts, with great designs based on anime or characters that are popular in Japan. Right now we're having a great buy 3, get 1 free sale in which we send you a surprise shirt if you get 3 or more of our regular shirts, hoodies or hats. Browse our selection now! View Product
Kimono Hime Kimono Hime (Kimono Princess) is the excellent magazine dedicated to Japan's kimono culture, filled with pictures of great kimonos worn in Japan today. See fresh stock of several issues. View Product	Restocked Traditional Items Giving cool traditional Japanese items is a good way to make an impression this year. Today we've restocked our flint-and-iron magatama amulet, traditional towels with the God of Wind and God of Thunder on them, and more. View Product
Bilingual Books See more "bilingual books" from Japan, which present both English and Japanese content side by side, so you can compare and contrast both sides. See 100 Tough Questions about Japan and the bilingual Doraemon manga! View Product	Books on Bento, Ramen J-List carries hundreds of bento boxes and related accessories, but we also have great books to help make your bento life better. See fresh stock of several books showing great examples of bento lunches, as well as our 2009 Ramen Guide in Tokyo. View Product
Emi Kizaki 1/8 Figure Swimsuit ver. *Preorder* Linebarrels of Iron is an anime of the Science Fiction genre, and this is a new figure from the series. Preorder her loveliness now! View Product	Restocked Snack Items Finally, we've got another large selection of newly restocked snacks, including Meiji Mushroom Mountain (little chocolate cookie mushrooms) in White Vanilla flavor, Doraemon Shaved Ice Gummy, Praline Toppo, Glico Giant Caplico ice-cream shaped chocolate, and the popular Felix the Cat bubblegum. View Product

NSFW / 18+ Products.
DMM DVD Aug 2008 DMM is a lovely professional magazine of from the AV industry, filled with top name stars like Mai Haruna, Akiho Yoshizawa, Ruru Amakawa and more. You get *3* DVDs in this special issue, including a full AV release in its entirety. View Product	Kanal 1/7 Figure Designed by Shunya Yamashita Shunya Yamashita is the top name in Japan's illustration and figure world these days, and we've gotten in the latest figure based on his works in: a gorgeous cast off of Kanal, rendered in a large 1/7 scale. In stock now! View Product
New Hentai Manga Got some quality "H" manga volumes in stock today, including Inwaku Megamorphose, a gorgeous offering from that blends cosplay, maids and fantasy heroines in a great mix of stories. Then for fans of the enigmatic "gals" of Tokyo, who tan themselves so that they're almost black, see the super new Black Gals Discipline Slaves. View Product	Restocked Manga Got some awesome manga volumes back on the site, too, including Hatsu Inu 3, Hitomi's Clinical Records 1 & 2, Transformation vol. 3, Swing-Style vol. 2 and the gorgeous Witchcraft. View Product
Gigapulse Chouko Cast off Figure *Preorder* The two figures we're posting to the site now are highly recommended for collectors of high-end rope-play collectables. They are cast-off and fully detailed! View Product	Sex Cheering!! -- Rei Mizuna We've fallen in love with this super-cute Rei-chan, who loves to do anime cosplay for her fans, starting with a super Asuka from Evangelion -- delicious! A red-hot new starlet from Alice Japan. View Product
24 Hours Anytime and Anywhere -- Ruru Amagawa I am a fan of this series because it's so innovative. They put the poor girl inside an apartment that's rigged with hidden cameras, and she never knows at what hour of the day she'll be called upon to perform, making it very impromptu and fun to watch. View Product	Camel Toe Sports See real marathon champion Shion Sumina star in her first AV, a wonderful new release from Team Kawasaki. Gorgeous action, and wonderful zenra sports. View Product
Shemale Secret Agent Gorgeous "New Half" Miruku (Milk) Aima plays a bad-ass secret agent in this new offering from Soft on Demand. Great action for fans of this popular Japanese genre. View Product	Akiho Yoshizawa's Blu-Ray Akiho-chan is beautiful enough to look at in DVD, but in the high resolution of Blu-Ray's 1080p she's simply stunning. Enjoy her popular releases, which have been restocked on the site today. View Product
Finally, Many Restocked DVDs Finally, enjoy some outstanding "ero" DVD items, including Nana Sakura's Futanari Shojo, Zenra Standing Ecstasy 4 Hours with the most powerful device known in the JAV world, the Denma, Hotaru Akane's popular History 4 hour release, and more. View Product

Now is a great time for you to to use J-List's "wish list" feature, that makes it easy for you to save various items you'd like to check out later so you won't forget them. Products can be moved in and out of your wish list to your shopping cart easily, and you can make your wish list available for public viewing by checking the appropriate box, so friends, family, blog readers etc. can see what you'd like them to get for you. You can even make comments beside each product so they know why you think it's cool, what size you'd need, etc. I love to watch the Recent Wish List Additions RSS feed to see what people are adding to their public wish lists and what they're saying about them.