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Mikakutoh Charcoal Roasted Coffee Candy

Here's a great new hard candy from the Kasugai candy company. A delicious treat of stone roasted coffee bean flavored candy. Wrapped in individual packets, these candies will stay fresh for a long time. Super delicious. Beloved by the entire J-List staff. Approximately 30 pieces per bag. Jun recommends! (More like this) (Direct link to this product)

Happy Halloween from J-List. Halloween is one of those "American" holidays (although originally Irish and Scottish) that has a way of working its way around the world, and although Japan doesn't exactly need an excuse to engage in cosplay, what with their strong tradition of dressing in anime costumes and all, awareness of October 31st grows here year by year. Raising kids who are part of two countries has always been a challenge for my wife and I since we want them to really be a part of both, which means (on the American side, at least) having a cultural awareness of things like trick-or-treating and Scooby Doo and being able to sing the School House Rock songs (they can). So we've gone out of our way to make trips to the U.S. for Halloween and Thanksgiving, not on our regular travel schedule, although it was a lot easier to do when the kids were small and didn't have the pressure of school to deal with. This year we decided to be traditional, and carved a (fairly ugly-looking) Jack-o'-lantern. We had a bit of culture shock when I asked my mother-in-law for a candle to put inside the pumpkin: the only ones she had in the house were the long candles for lighting at the family's Buddhist altar in remembrance of the dead...which is actually closer to Halloween's original meaning, if you think about it.

Ramen is one of the most famous "Japanese" foods around, although its history in Japan isn't very long, having been imported from China in the Meiji Era. While instant ramen has proven to be a revolutionary product, allowing the cost of a meal to brought way down in price, readers who have never enjoyed "real" ramen in a good restaurant are missing out. The basic type of ramen familiar to most people is shoyu, made with a soy sauce-based soup, although there are other varieties, including "salt" (a clear soup sold under the tastier-sounding "chicken" moniker in the West) , "tonkotsu" (white "pork bone" broth), and sura-tanmen (think "sweet n' sour ramen"). Another popular type of ramen is miso, the delicious soy bean curd that my mother thought was peanut butter when she saw it, which is one of the "meibutsu (famous things) of Sapporo in Hokkaido. Right now, the Sapporo Ramen Company is running a commercial featuring a beauty pageant in which different brands of ramen compete in for the title of "Miso Universe," a great tribute to the current Japanese Miss Universe.

One constant source of fascination and confusion for me since coming to Japan has been trying to understand Japanese women. Like the country itself, they're incredibly complex, and can just as easily delight you as leave you scratching his head in confusion. First, Japanese females generally tend to be calm, cool and good at planning ahead. Sometimes (from the standpoint of my over-exuberant American self) they can seem rather emotionless, and the thought has occurred to me that I know what it's like to be married to a Vulcan from Star Trek. "Lack of spontaneity" is another label you could apply to most Japanese females I've known: when I went to Europe I brought a backpack, a Lonely Planet book and a credit card and played everything else by ear, which shocked my wife, who so loves to plan every minute detail of a vacation ahead of time. I've mentioned before that Japanese females often seem to have problems with constipation, which no doubt arises from eating rice three meals a day. Japanese females also seem to be subject to chills, and the Totoro Lap Blankets made by Sun Arrow are no doubt used by more than a few OLs ("office ladies," i.e. female company employees) trying to stay warm with the air conditioning on around them. Japanese females often seem to have some rather strange and inexplicable fetishes. For example, several women I've known have loved pulling my chin hairs out by the roots, and have begged me to not shave for a few days so that they could rip my hairs out with tweezers -- totally bizarre. Although they can be confusing to men, learning a little about the care and feeding of Japanese females can certainly have its rewards.

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

Mikakutoh Charcoal Roasted Coffee Candy

Here's a great new hard candy from the Kasugai candy company. A delicious treat of stone roasted coffee bean flavored candy. Wrapped in individual packets, these candies will stay fresh for a long time. Super delicious. Beloved by the entire J-List staff. Approximately 30 pieces per bag. Jun recommends! (More like this) (Direct link to this product)

Kanji Entry Pen for Elementary School

The brand Magic Ink has a long history in Japan, and everyone is familiar with these versitile markers. The magic lies in this marker's ability to write on anything -- plastic, glass, metal, wood -- and especially paper, leaving a clean bold line. This set of two black markers are instantly familiar to Japanese, as they are the kind of pen Elementary students use to practice writing with. This set contains one thin line and one thick one (the thin one used for writing in small spaces, the large...

Lifting of Nakadashi -- Mihiro

Mihiro, a former softcore nude idol seems to feel more comfortable with the title of being an AV superstar with each passing production. Delving into something that she's never done before, she allows a privileged few to enjoy the experience if ejaculating inside her tight love hole (nakadashi) to make this ground breaking production possible. A production by Max-A that has all the Mihiro trademarks included, from her loving gaze and pause just before she quickly devours your penis with a smile...

Cosplay Fetish Academy *Preorder*

Pentium 2 300 Mhz or faster PC Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/Vista, 700 MB disk space This game is not yet shipping. Preorder now for free shipping when it is ready. My name is Ryouji, and I'm just an average student at Seiai Academy. I live my days happily with my twin cousins Shana and Yuuki who are staying at my house to go to the Academy as well, but one day at the end of summer vacation our lives are changed for ever. Stopping by the shrine where Yuuki worked part time as a miko priestess after...

The Great Lesbian -- Yuka Haneda

Yuka Haneda is a wonderful AV Idol who has an amazing way of coaxing her AV costars to bring them to orgasm. Constantly capturing the attention of her fans using her large all natural breasts, she's a woman that is desired both by men and women alike. This lesbian themed title has her teamed up with two other AV Idols acting as rich sisters that are introduced to a male suitor, who finds himself attracted to the middle sister (with Yuka being the youngest). Finding herself being jealous of this...

Felix Gum Box

One of the most often-requested items at J-List, this is the cult classic favorite Felix the Cat gum! Featuring the famous cartoon cat on every piece individually wrapped piece, it is a cool and funky way to enjoy blowing bubbles in Japanese style. With it's strong strawberry flavor you won't be able to resist this great item! This is a full pack of 60 pieces, shrink-wrapped for extra freshness. Also, mixed in with the normal pieces of this delicious gum are "lucky" pieces with special messages...

Morinaga Okinawa Black Sugar Caramel

Another wonderful treat from Japan, this is the famous Morinaga Milk Caramel, a delicious classic dark caramel with over 100 years of history, dating back from the Meiji period. Each box contains 12 delicious caramels. A great item with a delicious taste and long history. This is "black sugar" flavored caramel made with a special blend of black sugar grown in Okinawa. A wonderful and unique Japanese taste that J-List has been trying to make available for years -- now we finally have! If you eat...

Make a Wish! ~ Temple Bell Strap with Fortune

A great bell strap for your bag or mobile phone that looks just like the wishing bell that you can find in Japanese temples. Includes a fortune in Japanese just like the ones you can get when you make a donation at the temple. Throw some money in, pray for something (make a wish), and ring the bell! Good for keeping the good luck flowing. (More like this) (Direct link to this product)