Strangely enough, you can learn a lot about Japan through its first and second person pronouns: there are several of each for use by different individuals depending on the "TPO," or time, place, and occasion. For the pronoun "I" you could choose from
watashi (私, formal, used more often by women, also read わたくし),
boku (僕, semi-polite, usually used by younger males), and
ore (俺、OH-reh, mainly used by "manly" men); and words for "you" include
anata (あなた、formal, used by women more often than men);
kimi (君、familiar, used by guys to their girlfriends or by anyone talking to a younger person, and just because the character also means "Emperor" don't think it's okay to use this word with him); and
omae (お前, oh-MAH-eh, again, a "macho" sounding word generally used by guys). This last word is especially interesting since it basically asserts the superiority of the speaker over the person he's speaking to, a concept that doesn't exist in English, at least openly. When a man uses the word
omae to a female he's got a relationship with, the implication is that the girl "belongs to" him in a romantic sense. This generally will make some girls swoon with affection, while others -- those who speak more English and have lived outside of Japan -- may be offended by being thought of as an object to be possessed. I once got in quite a bit of trouble when I accidentally used this word with a friend's girlfriend soon after arriving in Japan. Who would have thought that words like "I" or "you" could be so complex?
J-List's manga and photobook meister Yasu just got back from a trip to Hawaii, where he spent a week with his wife and two daughters. Hawaii is, of course, a major destination for Japanese travellers, and the monthly number of tourists from Japan is tracked as if it were an economic indicator like the Consumer Price Index. In a way, Hawaii is perfect for Japanese tourists because it's a part of the U.S. without being all the way across the Pacific, so it's a lot more accessible. Also, the high amount of Japanese fluency at hotels and other places frequented by tourists makes the place a lot less threatening for travelers who might otherwise be overwhelmed. The most popular island with Japanese tourists is Oahu, which has plenty of beaches for fun seaside activities, and during peak times of year the place is fairly brimming with J-tourists. The history of Japan and Hawaii have been intertwined for a long time, starting with waves of immigration of Japanese workers at sugar plantations in the 19th and 20th centuries. Now, there are more than a few actors and singers active in Japan who grew up in the Japanese communities that comprise 16% of the local population of the state. I guess being a Japanese raised in Hawaii adds an "exotic" flavor, and being fluent in English can't hurt a person's career, either.
I've talked before about how the Japanese can be quite superstitious at times. Don't cut your fingernails at night, or you won't be able to be with your parents when they die. If you see a hearse, you should hide your thumbs inside your fists, or the same thing will happen (this is due to the fact that the word for thumb in Japanese means "parent finger"). Don't whistle at night, or snakes will come an get you. When you sneeze twice, it means someone is gossiping about you, a joke that pops up in anime quite a lot. If you see a spider in the morning, it's good luck, so don't kill it. Don't sleep with your head facing north, as only dead people do this, and never pass food from chopsticks to chopsticks. If you want to check the weather tomorrow, throw your shoe as far as you can; if it lands sole down, it will be sunny, but if it's on its side, it will rain. Here's another superstition for you: supposedly, it's good luck for a man to carry a hair from his girlfriend's, er, nether region in his wallet when playing sports or gambling. We're not so sure about that one, but anything is possible with the Japanese.
J-List sells many
fun and unique T-shirts that make use of Japanese kanji, hiragana and katakana in their designs. We've always been fascinated by how the Japanese adapt their 3000+ writing system to a standard computer keyboard. We love the way Japanese keyboards look, with the kana characters printed on each key, and decided to make a
T-shirt featuring this cool design. Shirts for guys and girls are both posted on the site right now.
Here are today's "really cool products" that I thought were especially noteworthy. Note: the J-List links below may be for adult products and should probably be considered "not safe for work" (a yes/no verification screen will be displayed to filter products from our mature site). To see all the J-List products, check out
J-List or the
JBOX.com updated products link. We also recommend watching our
"new products" RSS feed
| | Dengeki G's Magazine Sep 2007. Dengeki G's focuses on all the really pretty characters in anime, video games and so on. Man, they really know how to create "kawaii" characters. |
| | GACHAPIN x MUKKU Gel Magnet -- Face type . Kawaii characters from Japan. These are the gel-filled magnets, but we've got plenty of other items on the site. Gachapin is a baby dinosaur and Mukku is his yette friend. |
| | R2-D2 Wastebasket. Basically, my dream trash can. I am hoping they make other droids, like R4-D4. That would be cool. |
