(Some links in post not worksafe.) In today's Wired News, I interview Peter Payne, founder of J-list. They sell products for all ages, but in their adults-only section you'll find everything from "Cup o' Pussy" sex toys to "Poop Aid" and "Kanji Quiz" toilet paper to adult computer games to porn DVDs that combine the time-honored themes of bukkake and car-racing (cover snapshot below). Along the way, Payne offers some insights on why Japanese pop culture is so delightfully wacky. Oh, and he schools us on the history of bukkake. Hint: It's all Macarthur's fault. Snip:
It's hard for non-Japanese to understand why something becomes popular, or is perceived as delightful or funny in Japan. In the Japanese language, describing the color green — a green stoplight for instance — they say "blue." Looking around this country through the eyes of a gaijin — a foreigner — things are just different.Take the bad words, for instance — even the letter "h" is loaded. If a guy grabs a girl's breasts in a Japanese porn video, she might say "H!" with a Japanese accent — like, ACH-ay. That's because H is for hentai, sexually explicit comics. It's like saying, "Pervert!" So, "H-suru" in Japanese means "to have sex." You don't want to actually say "have sex," so it's like saying, "do it."
