animerevue

7 Day's 7 Colors -- Yoko Kumada

Yoko Kumada's Fans are going to be really happy with this new entry in J-List's Yoko Kumada photobook collection. The queen of gravure idols shows here in various cosplay situations along with some stunning and always elegant bikini pictures. Dressed up as a sexy nurse, office lady, bride, cute schoolgirl, wearing a China dress or acting as a maid, Yoko is always wearing a nice bikini as underwear and shows her porcelain skin to the camera for awesome captures shots of which you'll never get...

7 Day's 7 Colors -- Yoko Kumada

Yoko Kumada's Fans are going to be really happy with this new entry in J-List's Yoko Kumada photobook collection. The queen of gravure idols shows here in various cosplay situations along with some stunning and always elegant bikini pictures. Dressed up as a sexy nurse, office lady, bride, cute schoolgirl, wearing a China dress or acting as a maid, Yoko is always wearing a nice bikini as underwear and shows her porcelain skin to the camera for awesome captures shots of which you'll never get...

Queen's Gate -- Iroha (Samurai Spirits)

Legend tells of a young man living on the outskirts of a small town in Edo-period Japan who one day saved the life of a crane wounded by a hunter, bandaging her leg and setting her free. Feeling indebted to the kind young man she returned to him in the form of a mysterious girl, calling him danna-sama (husband) and swearing to devote herself to him. This girl of legend was reborn as Iroha in the popular SNK fighting game Samurai Spirits (Samurai Showdown), and now she comes to the world of the...

Yuko's Secret Room ~ Yuko no Himitsu no Heya -- Yuko Ogura

Although she has a cute and petite small body, Yuko Ogura (aka Yukorin) is a towering persona, standing head and shoulders above all other sexy swimsuit idols in Japan. A major bikini idol and all around cutie, she is the subject of this excellent new hardcover photobook of all-color pictures. Featuring the starlet at her best, she is dressed in a light fare of swimsuits, summer fashion, and otherwise simple clothing. Wearing her raven hair long and straight, she creates an atmosphere of...

I wrote before about how, in the complex world of obsessive otaku culture in Japan, there are (for example) fans of Japan's various city towers, who love to travel to Yokohama's Marine Tower or Osaka's venerable Tsutenkaku Tower (the name means "Tower Reaching to Heaven") and fill scrapbooks with pictures and ticket stubs from their journeys. This odd tower fascination is part of a larger general tendency of Japanese to feel natsukashii (nats-kah-SHEE) or nostalgic, about the past, especially the early or middle Showa Period (1925-1989). There seems to be no end to things the Japanese can feel nostalgic about, and there's even a well developed otaku culture that worships the old city busses used in the postwar period, like the charming bus the father rides in on in My Neighbor Totoro, as well as a fondness for those old covered shopping streets that used to be so important to commercial life in Japan, but which are now largely dilapidated. When J-List's Yasu first came to work for us, we took him to Yukara, a delicious local restaurant that opens at 11:30 pm, and their food is so good that there are dozens of people lining up to eat even at that late hour. (It's kind of an official initiation for J-List employees to go there and eat.) While we were standing in line, Yasu walked up and down the street admiring the run-down houses in that part of the city, many of which didn't even have people living in them anymore. While some might just see ugly old buildings, he was fascinated with the kinds of construction used back when the houses were built, including the wooden sliding doors or the large recessed areas by the front doors (genkan), which were often bare earth rather than concrete or tile as you'd have today. I can understand the Japanese fascination with cool old things -- I personally have an odd compulsion about pictures and postcards of Disneyland and Las Vegas from the 1960s and 70s which I can't explain. 

So, what do you feel natsukashii about?

Between studying Japanese for four years at SDSU and living here for 17, I've pretty much got the Japanese language down. I've actually forgotten a large part of what I studied over the years, especially written kanji, since the great convenience of computers that let you select the right character by hitting the space bar means that almost no one writes kanji as well as they used to, including both Japanese and foreigners like me. Although I'm functionally fluent in the language, I've learned something odd, that it's often better to speak English in some situations. The other day I was at the public bath with my son (it's called Yura no Sato, which translates as Village of Hot Water Relaxation) when one of the other bathers struck up a conversation with me, asking me where I was from. He'd just finished an interesting trip around the world, visiting China, the Middle East and Europe, and was planning on going to the U.S. next. While my long years of studying tempted me to speak Japanese with him, instead I spoke only English, since I knew that getting to practice his language skills would really make the man's day. Speaking English instead of Japanese can open doors that might not otherwise open for you. Once I speaking with a Japanese female airline employee at a ticket counter about about the possibility of an upgrade to business class, and I received a somewhat cold reaction to my suggestion when I spoke in Japanese to her. I decided to ask at another counter run by the same airline, this time speaking polite English and batting my "gaijin Bambi eyes" as best I could, and darned if I didn't get that upgrade. My wife tells me that if I want to yell at someone for something, it's much more effective to do it in English -- it seems that angry words just carry more impact in English than in Japanese.

By the way, Aya Ueto is really cute.

One thing you learn about Japan pretty quickly is, what a seasonal place it is, with people doing different things at different times of year. It's summer now, time to enjoy traditional activities like listening to the soft sound of fuurin (Japanese wind chimes) as the wind blows in and watching fireworks at the Tanabata Festival while people mill around wearing yukata and eating shaved ice. If you are male and live with a female, you can expect to have your share of what I call "air-con wars" over what temperature the room should be, with females shivering at anything below 27 degrees C (80 degrees F) while males like me instead prefer that the temperature be cold enough to see your breath. Summer is also the season to eat one of my favorite dishes, hiyashi-chuka, essentially cold ramen-style noodles in a tangy sauce, with things like scrambled egg, ham, crab and cucumber on it, a dish I've never come across in the U.S., although it must be available at some Japanese establishments. Restaurants only offer this dish in the summer months, and when summer is over it's off the menu, letting you know that the season has finally ended and Autumn has arrived. While I'm never too sad to see the heat and humidity of Japan's summer go, seeing that hiyashi-chuka is no longer available at my favorite restaurant always brings a tiny pang of sadness to me.

Here are today's "really cool products" that I've picked out for you, out of the 30+ new items we've added to the J-List and JBOX.com sites today. Note that some products may be "not safe for work" but that all links will allow you to redirect yourself either to the J-List or JBOX.com websites. To see all the J-List products, check out J-List or the JBOX.com updated products link.

Cos-Friends

In a great follow up by the brand new label Expotion, here's a cosplay themed title designed to cater to the hidden otaku in you. Recruiting the talents of Yuria Namiki and Hitomi Kuramoto, adorable cosplayers with an unquenchable thirst for sex. Three sizzling chapters fulfill their (and our) desires as they take on the roles of famous anime characters, turning them into live action fuck doll versions. Miku Hatsune, School Days and other characters all performing luscious sexual services from...

Virtual Sex 4 Hours

Million brings to you a nonstop collection of one on one loving by their most famed AV actresses in a fantastic virtual sex themed production. Putting you in the drivers seat, you get to experience their services first hand as they take on roles as your loving girlfriend or dedicated professor to make sure you're fully satisfied. Everything from virtual fellatio, doggie style sex, girl on top sex, and more that make it feel like as if you personally video taped this session are featured inside...