RE: .jp .de  domains have any value ?
I have been to Japan, too.
A lot of the English words there are used interchangably with Japanese, like, for example, in Japanese television it is common to see a character say something like, "Lucky!" I think that it would be very difficult to break into this market without understanding of the language or culture, and I would not recommend buying or selling .jp or .co.jp domains based off of English words unless you see them in a Japanese television program with a strong following and you know that it will generate a profit. Otherwise, there are too many variables to consider and you may end up wasting time and money.