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Japanese Products...Where to buy?!?!

smoke

後輩
18 Feb 2005
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I don't know if anyone can help me here, but i'll give it a go.
Does anybody know of any online shops that sell...well, all things japanese!? sort of like an online megastore!
I live in the UK and i only know of one shop in london that does quite a few things but its about a 12-15 mile journey for me so an online store (which is based in the UK preferably!!!) would be ideal!
I'm especially after some magazines...i believe they are called Smart Girls and/or Love Smart. they were recommened to me by a friend who is a photographer and i know they have pictures of lovely looking ladies, but i don't know much more than that!

any help welcome (by the way, i've tried e-bay)

Peace. ✌️
 
StackPath

If they don't sell it no one will. They have such a vast array of Japanese products that if you can't find it here you're probably out of luck. They have everything from manga and Lotte Black Black gum to Japanese girls and boys High School Uniforms! ($150!) :LOL:

Attn Admin: They should be advertising on this forum.
 
ok.
i've tried amazon.co.jp and i did order a magazine there but for some reason it was unavailiable (the cancellation e-mail was in japanese so i don't know why).
jlist is very cool but by being an american site i have to use my credit-card (which i should have cut to pieces months ago!!!)
ebay is cool, but i can't find the magazines i'm after. i did find one copy but got outbid at the very last second (i was at work at the time and couldn't check the item!)

i'm gonna try amazon again...but any other suggestions are REALLY welcome!!!!!

Peace
 
I've used ebay for a lot of things, and amazon.jp.co. The only problem with amazon is the fact my japanese ain't good
 
For books & magazines, I recommend...

smoke said:
I don't know if anyone can help me here, but i'll give it a go.
Does anybody know of any online shops that sell...well, all things japanese!? sort of like an online megastore!
I live in the UK and i only know of one shop in london that does quite a few things but its about a 12-15 mile journey for me so an online store (which is based in the UK preferably!!!) would be ideal!
I'm especially after some magazines...i believe they are called Smart Girls and/or Love Smart. they were recommened to me by a friend who is a photographer and i know they have pictures of lovely looking ladies, but i don't know much more than that!

any help welcome (by the way, i've tried e-bay)

Peace. ✌️

Well, for books and magazines, my favorite place is Asahiya Bookstores in Los Angeles. Their telephone number is (310) 575-3303. Their fax number is (310) 575-4122. And, lastly, their email address is [email protected].
 
ArmandV said:
Well, for books and magazines, my favorite place is Asahiya Bookstores in Los Angeles. Their telephone number is (310) 575-3303. Their fax number is (310) 575-4122. And, lastly, their email address is [email protected].

I should mention that although the website is in Japanese, they do speak English at their store and if you emailed your query, they will respond.
 
Figured I'd pile on this thread. Anyone know of an AFFORDABLE place that will forward items other than books. Perhaps stuff that Amazon sells but won't ship abroad? Namely games and software. I found quite a few mail forwarding services, but they're all quite expensive, and almost all of them will ONLY ship EMS ($$$).
 
GaijinPunch said:
Figured I'd pile on this thread. Anyone know of an AFFORDABLE place that will forward items other than books. Perhaps stuff that Amazon sells but won't ship abroad? Namely games and software. I found quite a few mail forwarding services, but they're all quite expensive, and almost all of them will ONLY ship EMS ($$$).

Maybe I'll look into doing this as a sideline.

You need to be aware that part of the reason the mail forwarding services are expensive is that the Japanese postal service is expensive. This is one of the reasons I have never really looked into selling J-junk on ebay. I figured the shipping charges would probably put most people off.
 
You need to be aware that part of the reason the mail forwarding services are expensive is that the Japanese postal service is expensive. This is one of the reasons I have never really looked into selling J-junk on ebay. I figured the shipping charges would probably put most people off.

Think again. :) Japanese postage is actually pretty cheap... even international is cheaper than most people think. You can send a single CD by airmail to the US for 330 yen and the packaging runs mere sheckles, and even with prices as cheap as they are, foreign buyers will always come back since you've basically got access to "anything they want".

I did the J-Junk on Ebay... I think I can say I was one of the founding members... at least in terms of games. I made about 25% of my annual salary two years in a row from that on the side. Then everyone else started doing it, drove the prices on Ebay down. :( These days, depending on what you're selling, you can make a good 20-30%... a sustainable business if you have enough turnover.

Anyways, I was referring to those companies fees -- they don't include Japanese kokunai postage. The cheapest I found was 18,000 yen per year, plus whatever the postage costed. EMS only, and only 1 shipment per month. I currently have friends to get stuff for the most part, but I need to keep it limited as they're just doing it as a favor for free. There's not a ton of stuff I want, but I'd feel guilty if they got 5 parcels a month.

I guess what I need is specialized. I have a Japanese bank account, so can do everything on my own. Most people don't mind shipping abroad if you can actually do a local furikomi... for the few that do mind, I have them posted to a friend. Nonetheless, i would like the possibility to fallback on someone that would basically accept packages and re-address them for a reasonable fee per package. Pretty low maintenance.

If you're thinking of getting into it, I could probably give you some pointers. One is that it can be time consuming if you're not careful. Also since there are surrogate bidding companies (ones that charge an arm and a leg) you need to use them as a good place to keep your prices lower than. You also have to know your product quite while. Otherwise people will start asking, "can you locate [something extremely rare] for [very little money]???!?!?" Annoying.
 
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