WIRED Staff
Culture

Slideshow: Fix for Japan Pop-Culture Addicts

Finding more than , anime DVDs and headbands on J-List.com, visitors can get some insight about why Japanese pop culture is so delightfully wacky. Wired News interviews J-List proprietor Peter Payne. By Xeni Jardin.
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For those in the under-18 age group, J-List offers a variety of toys, calendars and food items.

See related story: Fix for Japan Pop-Culture Addicts

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Under the "Japanese snacks" category of J-List, one finds "Lotte Black Black Gum: A great chewing gum with a strong, minty flavor that's designed to give you a lift and wake you up, this popular gum is loaded with caffeine."
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Hentai

-- sexually explicit anime -- now accounts for about half of J-List's sales.
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bukkake

and Race Queens (the ultrastylish, slender girls who promote F-1 racing in Japan).
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This Hello Kitty "shoulder massager" has been discontinued in Japan, and J-List "is happy to report that we've obtained stock" of this wacky adult pop-culture item.
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Kanji Quiz Toilet Paper is advertised as "an extremely extraordinary item, toilet paper with the power to teach! For those who prefer to 'sit in the library' this great paper can provide ... hours of fun and prepare them for that pop quiz in Japanese class the next morning. Three different methods of learning are provided, 'multiple choice,' 'reading' and 'philosophical fill-in-the-blank.'"
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Many niches specific to Japanese adult entertainment feature actors dressing up as waitresses, stewardesses and anime characters. The home sewing manual pictured here promotes a Japanese youth obsession, gothic/Lolita fashion.