animerevue

Glico Bakery Pretz Flat Style -- Melon Bread Flavor

A wonderful Japanese snack, certainly the most likely snack to be eaten by the J-List staff in the afternoons when we get hungry, this is a great new Melon Bread Flavor that we're sure will be a huge hit with our customers. Lightly salted pretzel sticks from Gilico, these are a fantastic and wonderful treat, which are happy to be able to make available to you outside of Japan. Each box contains four sealed packs of 20 flattened pretzels each. The whole J-List crew has a new favorite afternoon...

Hi-Chew ~ Green Apple

A delicious flavor of Hi-Chew, the soft taffy-like tasty treat from Japan! This is Green Apple, and it's just delicious. Peter is known to go down into the stock room every few days and "liberate" some of this great treat. Each package contains ten individually wrapped soft candy pieces. (More like this) (Direct link to this product)

Otoko Kaoru Mens Fragrance Gum

A new gum that will get your breath smelling like a real man should, here's Otoko Kaoru (Men "Fragrance") by Kracie. A delicious extra rose menthol flavor that will add a kick to your tastebuds when it counts. Sugarless and only 46 kcal. (More like this) (Direct link to this product)

Otoko Kaoru Mens Fragrance Gum

A new gum that will get your breath smelling like a real man should, here's Otoko Kaoru (Men "Fragrance") by Kracie. A delicious extra rose menthol flavor that will add a kick to your tastebuds when it counts. Sugarless and only 46 kcal. (More like this) (Direct link to this product)

Japanese Barley Tea - Mugi Cha - 40 pcs cold & hot water type

Ahhh mugi cha! If you've ever go to Japan in the summertime, and like tea, odds are you will be drinking mugi cha (barley tea) at some point or another during the fierce summer blaze. Known as a typically seasonal drink in Japan, mugi is like the lemonade of the cultural folk-mind of Japan. It's got a light and easy-to-drink flavor that quenches you deeply when your "throat got dry" (as they say in Japanese). Really easy to make -- just pop one of the packets into a pitcher of cold water and it...

Glico Mini Pretz -- Honey & Butter

A wonderful Japanese snack, certainly the most likely snack to be eaten by the J-List staff in the afternoons when we get hungry, this is a great new Honey Butter Flavor that we're sure will be a huge hit with our customers. Lightly salted pretzel sticks from Gilico, these are a fantastic and wonderful treat, which are happy to be able to make available to you outside of Japan. A new mini version that's perfect for kids lunches or storing away in your bag for a quick treat. Each box contains...

Living in Japan, it's always interesting to observe the various "when worlds collide" moments that come along every once in a while. I remember back when J-List's Tomo came to work here, nine years ago. Like many Japanese who grew up in the postwar period, Tomo has always had a lot of respect for the music culture of the West, and he basically taught himsef English by translating and memorizing songs by the Stones and Led Zeppelin. I don't think he ever expected to meet an American who had done the opposite, embracing Japanese pop culture in order to learn his language, as I've done. One day we were talking about the classic 1972 song "Alone Again (Naturally)" by Gilbert O'Sullivan, which a student of mine had ironically played at her wedding, not understanding the words. I was sure was a Beatles song for some reason, and I'll never forget the look of utter shock on his face that an American could get a fact like that wrong. Ever since coming to Japan I've loved onsen, Japan's volcanic hot springs, and I've been to dozens all over the country. When Tomo told me that he almost never went to hot springs, I was equally shocked that a person could live here and not love the bathing culture as I do. It was quite an educational experience for both of us, and these days, he goes to hot springs and I know more about Gilbert O'Sullivan.

Japan is preparing to host the 34th G8 Summit, to be held at beautiful Lake Toya in Hokkaido this July. One thing you learn early on about Japan is that it's extremely pleased to receive recognition from the nations of the West, and whenever events like the Nagano Olympics or the 2004 World Cup draw near, there's a flurry of construction as Japan makes itself look good for all the foreign visitors. Japan is extremely pleased to be hosting the other major nations at the summit this year, so much so that it's issuing commemorative 500 and 1000 yen coins to mark the occasion -- you'd think it was a World Expo all over again. The summit will be held in one of the most beautiful and least-spoiled parts of Japan, a decision the government no doubt made to help bring attention to the environment.

Visitors to Japan will encounter many strange and wonderful sights, from thousand-year-old temples and five-stories pagodas to vending machines that manage to take up less than ten inches of space along narrow Tokyo streets. While prices in Japan are often quite reasonable -- we took nine J-List staff members out for Indian Curry and naan bread to welcome a new employee today, and it only cost $100 -- the opposite is sometimes true. For example, virtually all forms of media are pricier in Japan than they are in the U.S., with music CDs still costing around $30, and a video game in a ge-sen (game center) setting you back $2. Gas is expensive, too, currently up to $6.25 a gallon or so. Then there are those mysterious honeydew melons you see in produce shops which cost a mind-blowing $60-80. Japan being Japan, there's more to this high price tag than meets the eye, and these high-end fruits are nearly always purchased as gifts for individuals who have helped you out recently, given to bosses to butter them up for larger bonuses, or exchanged between companies. The bar for ridiculously priced fruits was raised this week, when a pair of exquisite melons from Yubari, Hokkaido (the Mecca of melons in Japan) fetched an unbelievable $24,000 at auction. The high purchase price helps local melon farmers doubly because the news generated by the new price record will no doubt generate a lot of extra interest in these high-grade melons all season long.