I had read a lot of negative reviews about jlist, moreso on other sites than here, so I only made a relatively small order to see what my experience was like before committing to a larger stash of all of those fantastic goodies they've got on there.
So, I purchased:
A bento box
An absolutely adorable bag for that bento box
Some cute cup things to go in it
And
Their Popin' Cookin' Gummy Sushi Set (how could I resist?)
I think all of these things were reported as "in stock in Japan," but I think that perhaps the Popin' Sushi one wasn't. But anyhow...

It took about a week for my order to ship, which would make sense if they were waiting for my one item to come in as my instructions were to wait until all of my items had arrived before shipping rather than ship in separate orders. Then, two weeks later, the items arrived at my doorstep. I was away at college, so wanted to wait until I had seen everything before reviewing, but I've looked everything over and it's all just fine, and just what I wanted!

I used the cheapest shipping method, as well, so I wouldn't have been at all surprised if my items took me 3-4 weeks to get to me after shipping a bit late. But nope, the whole transaction took about 3 weeks total, which, all things considered (namely the fact that international shipping ALWAYS takes longer unless you're one of those people that does all they can with their mailing choices to make it super-express) is okay with me. I now have an adorable start to my bento box hobby!

So, I never had the need to contact customer service, so I can't say anything about that. But the fact that I didn't need to is pretty great too. I'll definitely be going there again if I can't find the bento stuff I need at a more local place, or just in general if I want some cool bits of Japanese culture in my life!

Peter Payne has been running the jlist.com and jbox.com sites for about fourteen years now, so the name is well established in the West. Or at least on the West Coast, as the company has a branch office in San Diego, down in southern California. But the heart of the business is in Japan and it caters for anyone with a love of Japanese pop culture, an interest in Japanese traditions, or a need to educate themselves in the language and customs of the Japanese. The "j-list" version of the site contains a lot of adult material including Hentai and Bishojo material, of which more in a moment. But there is also a filtered, family-friendly PG rated version of the j-list site at www.jbox.com and that's where you should be heading if you're reading this review and you're under 18. http://www.jlist.com has an over-18 notice on the homepage and offers you the choice of visiting http://www.jbox.com instead. You choose.

Jlist's main appeal - aside from the adult material - is to westerners who love collecting those small examples of modern Japanese culture that amuse, amaze or confuse us folks over here in the civilized world. Such as black chewing gum, for example. And there's a comprehensive range of Mimikaki, or traditional ear cleaners, to satisfy anyone's desire to emulate the frequent ear-cleaning that the Japanese are apparently obsessed with. There's a wide range of Tees, including a very Japanese "Expel the Foreign Barbarians" shirt (not sure where in the USA you'd want to wear that one) and another with the characters for "Now accepting applications for a Japanese girlfriend". Cosplay outfits abound. There's a pretty good selection of Japanese snacks, sweets and candies, traditional Japanese items, calendars, magazines, and of course Manga, now highly popular with us western otaku (fans, and more than fans. The translation is insufficient).

All of this would make j-list worth a visit, and makes j-box worth a visit if you aren't in the market for the more adult Japanese interests. If you are, there is Hentai, or adult pornographic anime (animated movies) here, there are adult calendars and magazines, and plenty of adult manga (cartoon books) as well. The site does make very clear that it will not display or distribute any images that are intended or appear to be of under-18's. And although there's no legal obligation for the site to say so (Japanese law doesn't ban the use of under-18 characters), that's good, and right, even if it might confound the large section of the Japanese porn market that revolves around pubescent schoolgirls. In fact most Japanese manga and anime porn, which we call "Hentai" in the west, does revolve around or feature schoolgirls, even if they are claimed to be 18 or over. Come to think of it, you'd be hard pressed to find anything Japanese, porn or otherwise, that doesn't feature at least one incident with a female of indeterminate age dressed as a schoolgirl.

But a drawing is a drawing, and frankly there's not going to be a huge difference between a drawing of a 16- or 17-year old and a drawing of an 18-year old, or of a 20-year old dressed as an 18-year old. So please, be aware that regardless of any well-meaning assurances, there may be images in the adult manga section that you could easily believe to be a sort of kiddie porn even if they aren't. But this is not a porn site by any means, it's not shadowy or distasteful and the adult material is only a part of a much wider and more interesting range. One man's porn is another man's People looking for the hard stuff currently have about ten million other websites which will fulfil their more specialized needs, they aren't going to be around here.

The site is also known for its selection of dating-sim games, a type of Japanese computer game that really doesn't have any equivalent in the West. The player finds himself in a series of situations in which he has to choose the right responses, in order to complete a quest, win the hand of a heroine or, in the more erotic games, achieve something less romantic and more physical. At least I think that's about right, I've never played one myself. And western translations of the Japanese experience tend to leave something wanting. But the Japanese seem to love the concept and it has lately branched off to produce BL games, also known as yaoi, which I'll leave you to find out about for yourselves, and a variation for girls which features bishōnen, attractive but androgynous boys.

To wind up, there are further categories of items which include bento equipment and Japanese accessories for iPods and MP3 players from the ELECOM company. If you sign up for the free newsletter it arrives regularly in your inbox with some interesting tales of life in Japan, often worth a read, and it keeps you up to date on what's new, and what's in or out of stock.

I'm sorry for the lengthy review but being a Japanese-focused site there are some foreign concepts and language that need to be explained. I haven't got all you need to know in here, so I recommend using a source such as Wikipedia to research anything you find on the j-list site that isn't clearly explained.

I'm fortunate in happening to live close by a huge Japanese supermarket and a Japanese bookstore, and a couple of miles in the other direction I have Japanese household goods and novelties, more stores and food too. So I'm pretty well covered for things Japanese. Even so, there are many items stocked by j-list that I can't buy here. For most people, your visit to j-list will be the first time you've seen items like this and it'll be the only way for you to get them, so if you're otaku, or otherwise hooked on things Japanese, this is a resource that you're going to bookmark and return to.

You may like to research these terms at your own risk: otaku, cosplay, hentai (and "H games"), bishōjo, eroge, yaoi, bento.

Oh, and buy Pocky. Everyone loves Pocky.