Peter in Japan (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} j_list) wrote,@ 2005-01-05 17:17:00 |
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Wed, 5 Jan 2005
One could write a book studying the psyche of gaijin living in Japan -- for example, the "three states of eye aversion" they seem to go through when it comes to looking at other foreigners around them. There are many gaijin from countries like America, England, and Brazil who appear regularly on Japanese TV speaking fluent Japanese and giving an "outsider's view" on things -- it's common for one of the commentators on a news show to be a foreigner, for example. Foreigners living in Japan often hate these TV personalities, if for no other reason than because their Japanese is better than ours. Among the foreign-born "talents" you can see on TV here are Wikki-san, a Sri Lankan man who passed the entrance exam for the famous Tokyo University even though he's a foreigner and who's become a spokesman for tsunami disaster aid in the past few weeks; Patrick Harlan, who speaks his annoying macho English on NHK's hit English study show "Eigo de shabera-night"; and the eternal Dave Spector, former ABC television producer who become the most famous American in Japan, appearing on hundreds of variety shows (he dyes his black hair blonde because it makes him look more "foreign" on television).
During my time in Japan, I've had certain "gaijin shocks," real out-of-body experiences that you could only have in this country. American Football is followed by some Japanese fans, and I managed to find a game being broadcast late at night -- half an hour into the action, I realized I'd been listening to the sportcasters give the play-by-play commentary in Japanese without even noticing it. There have been other times when I found myself quite surprised by something, such as when I had that first dream in Japanese, or realizing I understood what the opening words to the Mr. Roboto song meant ("Thank you, Mr. Roboto, until we meet again...Thank you, Mr. Roboto, I want to know your secret"). Once, while eating pancakes, I couldn't find a fork so I made do with chopsticks, aware of how silly I'd look to friends back home. Finally being able to read the "sake" (sah-KAY, rice wine) character on Dr. Sane's "spring water" in Yamato/Star Blazers was another enlightening experience for me. Ah, it's fun to live in Japan!
Breakfast cereal is one of the major staple foods in the U.S., and it's slowly growing in popularity here in Japan, too. It was slow going, though -- Japanese consumers preferred Japanese food, like fish, miso soup and natto (fermented soybeans) to what looked to them like "bird seed." Now, several brands of cereal compete for share the Japanese cereal market, lead by Kellogg's, who markets Corn Flake, Corn Frosty, Choko-wa (chocolate loops), Genmai Flakes, and recently, Fruits Loops (the "fruits" is a fluke of Japanese phonetics). Unfortunately, Kellogg's products are very expensive here -- about $4 for a box that contains only 2-3 American-sized bowls of cereal, so I usually choose Ciscorn or Calbee's cereal products when I go shopping. Another option for gaijin living in Japan is to order supermarket cases of American cereal from the Foreign Buyers' Club in Kobe (http://www.fbcusa.com) -- it's a convenient way to buy food from back home, if you don't mind having 12 boxes of Cheerios sitting around for a year.
At J-List, we consider it our mission to bring you lots of amazing products from Japan. Instant noodles in a cup are a popular food here, and we've received requests to carry these products on the site. Well, we've got some great Japanese noodle items on the site for you! Please see our first offerings, Akai Kitsune (delicious instant udon noodles), Midori no Tanuki (traditional Japanese buckwheat noodles with tempura) and yummy yakisoba (the Japanese version of chow mein). All are very easy to make -- just add boiling water. Because these are full cases, they're quite large, and must be sent via EMS (shipping time approx. 4 business days, fully trackable). Happily, a box of these instant noodles isn't heavy so the shipping is not expensive.
We're very sorry for the delay with the Lasonic region-free DVD players, which have been backordered for some time due to delays with the manufacturer. We are happy to let you know that we have gotten in the new DVD-7050 in stock, however. This new high-end DVD player lets you play DVDs from all regions, including PAL discs from Europe on North American TVs, and it's got lots of great features. It also plays DIVX and MP4 video files burned onto DVD-R media, allowing you to archive movies onto DVDs and watch them at your leisure in full TV quality. DIVX format movies are popular all over the Internet and this is a great player for viewing the movies. If you have one of the two backordered DVD players on order and want to change to the new unit, just let us know.
One could write a book studying the psyche of gaijin living in Japan -- for example, the "three states of eye aversion" they seem to go through when it comes to looking at other foreigners around them. There are many gaijin from countries like America, England, and Brazil who appear regularly on Japanese TV speaking fluent Japanese and giving an "outsider's view" on things -- it's common for one of the commentators on a news show to be a foreigner, for example. Foreigners living in Japan often hate these TV personalities, if for no other reason than because their Japanese is better than ours. Among the foreign-born "talents" you can see on TV here are Wikki-san, a Sri Lankan man who passed the entrance exam for the famous Tokyo University even though he's a foreigner and who's become a spokesman for tsunami disaster aid in the past few weeks; Patrick Harlan, who speaks his annoying macho English on NHK's hit English study show "Eigo de shabera-night"; and the eternal Dave Spector, former ABC television producer who become the most famous American in Japan, appearing on hundreds of variety shows (he dyes his black hair blonde because it makes him look more "foreign" on television).
During my time in Japan, I've had certain "gaijin shocks," real out-of-body experiences that you could only have in this country. American Football is followed by some Japanese fans, and I managed to find a game being broadcast late at night -- half an hour into the action, I realized I'd been listening to the sportcasters give the play-by-play commentary in Japanese without even noticing it. There have been other times when I found myself quite surprised by something, such as when I had that first dream in Japanese, or realizing I understood what the opening words to the Mr. Roboto song meant ("Thank you, Mr. Roboto, until we meet again...Thank you, Mr. Roboto, I want to know your secret"). Once, while eating pancakes, I couldn't find a fork so I made do with chopsticks, aware of how silly I'd look to friends back home. Finally being able to read the "sake" (sah-KAY, rice wine) character on Dr. Sane's "spring water" in Yamato/Star Blazers was another enlightening experience for me. Ah, it's fun to live in Japan!
Breakfast cereal is one of the major staple foods in the U.S., and it's slowly growing in popularity here in Japan, too. It was slow going, though -- Japanese consumers preferred Japanese food, like fish, miso soup and natto (fermented soybeans) to what looked to them like "bird seed." Now, several brands of cereal compete for share the Japanese cereal market, lead by Kellogg's, who markets Corn Flake, Corn Frosty, Choko-wa (chocolate loops), Genmai Flakes, and recently, Fruits Loops (the "fruits" is a fluke of Japanese phonetics). Unfortunately, Kellogg's products are very expensive here -- about $4 for a box that contains only 2-3 American-sized bowls of cereal, so I usually choose Ciscorn or Calbee's cereal products when I go shopping. Another option for gaijin living in Japan is to order supermarket cases of American cereal from the Foreign Buyers' Club in Kobe (http://www.fbcusa.com) -- it's a convenient way to buy food from back home, if you don't mind having 12 boxes of Cheerios sitting around for a year.
At J-List, we consider it our mission to bring you lots of amazing products from Japan. Instant noodles in a cup are a popular food here, and we've received requests to carry these products on the site. Well, we've got some great Japanese noodle items on the site for you! Please see our first offerings, Akai Kitsune (delicious instant udon noodles), Midori no Tanuki (traditional Japanese buckwheat noodles with tempura) and yummy yakisoba (the Japanese version of chow mein). All are very easy to make -- just add boiling water. Because these are full cases, they're quite large, and must be sent via EMS (shipping time approx. 4 business days, fully trackable). Happily, a box of these instant noodles isn't heavy so the shipping is not expensive.
We're very sorry for the delay with the Lasonic region-free DVD players, which have been backordered for some time due to delays with the manufacturer. We are happy to let you know that we have gotten in the new DVD-7050 in stock, however. This new high-end DVD player lets you play DVDs from all regions, including PAL discs from Europe on North American TVs, and it's got lots of great features. It also plays DIVX and MP4 video files burned onto DVD-R media, allowing you to archive movies onto DVDs and watch them at your leisure in full TV quality. DIVX format movies are popular all over the Internet and this is a great player for viewing the movies. If you have one of the two backordered DVD players on order and want to change to the new unit, just let us know.
