You love a japanese artist or group or japanese music in general and you want to support the artists you like and be able to watch their lives, music videos and listen to all the music they released? Today I want to give you a little shopping guide based on my personal experiences. I do buy a lot of japanese CDs, DVDs and merchandise so I really know what I am talking about and I hope I am able to help you with buying stuff yourself.
Let's start of with the online shop I use the most. It's an online shop called CDJapan (click on the logo to go to their page). It opened in 1997 and I bought there the first time in 2011. If I can buy an item on this site I most probably will. In total they already send me 386 packages.
What can I buy on there?
Like the name says you can mostly buy CDs on there but also DVDs, all kind of magazines, manga, books, toys, games, apparel, stationary and more. They really have a huge amount of items on their website. Sometimes you can also buy merchandise, for example they collaborate with H!P and you can buy photos of some of their groups, as well as their magazine dvds and other merchandise.
What shipping methode is availible?
One of the reasons I stuck with CDJapan is their varity of shipping methodes. You can choose between many methodes like e.g. the fastest but most expensive one "EMS" or "FedEx" or the cheapest one that also takes the longest "SAL". I usually take SAL because I don't mind if the items take longer to come here and I want to spend as less as I can on the shipping.
What are their packages like?
I am very happy with their packages. They always send the items in a cardbox, which protects them very well already. Of course the items are also in bubblewrap and there is always green paper that will give extra support. So far I never had an item come here broken.
What paying methode is availible?
I always use PayPal but as you can see there is a good varity of payment methodes and you can also pay via postal money but I never tried it so I don't have experience with it.
What is their service like?
Most of the time I am in contact with them they are really friendly. However I once had a negative experience with their service. I wanted to cancle an order but they told me I can't. (Therefor you should know that was around a time I cancled a lot of items... >-<) I was really angry at that but also kind of understood it so I didn't go against it and you know what in the end I was happy the order didn't got cancled. However I still think it's not ok to not allow someone to cancle an order, no matter how often that person cancles orders. If the item would have been in the shipping process already, that would have been another story of course but it wasn't. If that ever happens again I will not leave it this way. However this happend only once and all in all I am really happy with their service.
What are their prices like?
They sell the stuff for the normal price of the item, there is no extra fee on the items. It's as if you would go into a store and buy the cd, dvd, whatever. However have in mind that japanese CDs and co. are normaly quite expensive.
Anything else to know?
They have a great point system. Evertime you buy something you get points for it and one point equals 1 yen. You get points for your birthday and each three month you can get extra points depending on how much money you spend in these three month. Also if you spend a big amount you get extra points as well. Here is everything in detail.
Another awesome thing about this shop is that you get the external bonuses with the items you buy. They are totaly free, like they would be in a shop, and can be a poster, a clear file, a postcard or similar. You get these extrenal bonuses only with the first press version of a cd but it really is an awesome extra.
The next one is the first shop I discovered and the one a lot of KPop fans might know. I buy there only once or twice a year, basicly only when I can't get an item on CDJapan anymore but they still have it listed on YesAsia and when they have their big sale because sometimes you can get some items super cheap and even items that are normally not availible anymore. I often buy Johnnys cd from their sale because they often have the dvd version ans they are reduced up to 50%.
What can I buy on there?
You can buy CDs, DVDs, books, merchandise and more on YesAsia. They collaborate with some japanese artists e.g. Koda Kumi and Ayumi Hamasaki and sell their merchandise on their website. That is a great thing because it's usually really hard to get your hands on concert goods and similar. Another thing is that you can get not only the japan versions of the cds but also the taiwanese or korean ones, these are always less expensive and have pretty much the same quality as the original japanese version.
What shipping methode is availible?
At YesAsia you can choose between standart shipping, which is free if you buy items for over 39US$, or the express shipping, which is pretty expensive. If I buy there I usually take the standart shipping and the shipping time varies a lot. Sometimes it only takes up too 2 weeks for a package to come here but most of the time it takes MUCH longer. I once waited for 2 month but that's also because in my country pretty much all packages coming from Hong Kong will go to the tax office first.
What are their packages like?
I am not really happy with their packaging because they send it in bubblewrap and a plastic bag and I often get slightly dented soft cases and once had a broken jewel case coming here.
What paying methode is availible?
As you can see they also have a good varity of payment methodes but again I only use paypal so I can't say much about the others.
What is their service like?
I can't really say much about this. I only once wanted to return a broken cd and they were really friendly. What I don't like is that I got the amount of the cd just as a credit on their website, so I didn't really got my money back.
What are their prices like?
They are always a little more expensive then the actual price of the item and if you want to get the external bonus (that usually comes free) you need to pay extra for it, thought they often don't have these bonuses.
Anything else to know?
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Next one is HMV which is very popular in Japan. They have HMV only items of certain artists and often have special external bonuses coming with the item if you buy from their store. This is the reason I buy their sometimes.
What can I buy on there?
You can buy CDs, DVDs, books, games, magazines and similar on HMV. Like I said before they have HMV only items on their e.g. the first three singles of DISH// are HMV only cds. You can only buy these at their store. Also if an aritist they collaborate with releases a new CD or DVD they often have a special HMV version of that CD or DVD. Another thing that is quite unique is that you can buy tickets at HMV. I never bought a ticket on there so I don't know if it really works if you live outside of Japan but I guess it does. Also because they are a actual store in Japan they sometimes do have merchandise on their webiste that you can't easily get.
What shipping methode is availible?
If you live outside of Japan you can only use EMS as a shipping methode. It's super fast but also pretty expensive.
What are their packages like?
Their items always come in an paper envelopes (these typical EMS envelopes) with a little bit of bubble wrap. I am not really happy with this because I don't feel that the items are well protected this way, especially when you live far away and the package has to go on a long journey. I once received a damaged jewel case, thought only once so far.
What paying methode is availible?
When you live outside of Japan you can only pay via credit card. I hope they will add something like PayPal one day.
What is their service like?
I never had to interact with their service so I don't know.
What are their prices like?
They have the normal prices of the items on their webiste.
Anything else to know?
They have a very easy cancelation service on their website. You don't have to write them but you can cancle items directly on their website. I think that's really comfortable.
Regarding amazon you can either buy on the japanese amazon (amazon.co.jp) or on the amazon of your own country. You might be suprised how many japanese items you will find on the amazon in your country and sometimes those are much cheaper then other shops (and you can buy the items used, which is a risk sometimes but SO much cheaper). However since I don't how what you can find on your countries amazon I will only tell you about the japanse amazon.
What can I buy on there?
You can get pretty much everything you can get on every amazon all over the world, just the japanese products. So you can get, CDs, DVDs, books, appearl, stationary, kitchen & dinning stuff and so much more. You search for an japanese item, try to find it there. However not all items are being shipped outside of Japan. As for CDs and similar, there sometimes happen to be amazon versions or you get a special external extra when you buy the CD on amazon.
What shipping methode is availible?
Living outside of Japan you can only use EMS which is very expensive but super fast.
What are their packages like?
Like HMV the usually send their items in the typical EMS paper envelops. I am not a big fan of them because I don't feel that they protect the items well. However I never recieved a damaged item by them.
What paying methode is availible?
When living outside of Japan you can only use a credit card to pay at amazon japan.
What is their service like?
I don't know since I never had to get in contact with them.
What are their prices like?
They have the normal prices of the items on there. However you can often find many items being reduced a lot and sometimes are more than 50% reduced. I like to buy there when I am in Japan because this way the shipping isn't much expensive and the items are much cheaper then I would find them in a store in Japan.
Anything else to know?
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The next one is Buyee. It's not an online shop but a shopping service. So far it's my favorite online shopping service. You can use it for bidding on items on Yahoo Auctions Japan and buy on various online shops. This way you can get a wide range of items, well pretty much everything you would like to have, if yu can find it online.
What can I buy on there?
Like I already wrote you can buy pretty much everything you want to have from Japan. As a JMusic fan it's gorgeous because you can get lot's of merchandise that you normaly can't get outside of Japan. I mostly use it for doing auctions or for buying at Suruga-ya. Which is a japanese online shop you can get many stuff like photocards, photos and sometimes even towels.
What shipping methode is availible?
They have a big variety of shipping methodes availible. From EMS to SAL.
Be aware the first shipping from the seller to the Buyee warehouse will be charged together with the shipping to your place.
What are their packages like?
You can get extra protectiv packageing which is really good but even without the extra protection I feel their items are well protected. They usually ship in cardboxes, which alrady gives good protection and they add either bubble wrap or paper to give extra protection.
What paying methode is availible?
As you can see there is quite a variety of peyment methodes but like always I mostly use paypal so I can't tell abou the others.
What is their service like?
I never had to interact with the service.
What are their prices like?
First of you should be aware that a shopping service is always more expensive then buying at a shop directly because of different reasons. First of a shopping service always has a handling fee, as well as some other fees sometimes. Then there is the double shipping you have to pay. First the items get shipped to them and then from their warehouse to you. Also they have special services you can add which will be more expensive if you use them. For example you can add a service that will make them look at the item that arrives, to check wether the item is ok, if not they would contact the seller and would solve the problem with him/her. However I never use this service nor any other extra service of them because I don't feel the need. So all in one you might pay double the price for an item when you buy it with a shopping service but if you want to get an item that you can't get otherwise it's totaly worth the price. For example I got myself a t-shirt of Boys And Men Kenkyuusei which I wouldn't have gotten any other way.
Anything else to know?
I absolutly recommend getting their add on if you e.g. buy on Suruga-ya. It makes the whole shopping process much easier.
[Private Shopping Services]
At least there are private shopping services you can use. These are less expensive then e.g. Buyee but since these are privat persons it can take a while for them to answer your request because of course they have their own live as well and are mostly just one or two persons only. However I am super thankfull for them because they can get you pretty much everything. Sometimes you have to pay a little more to get some special item but if it's something you really badly want to have you are willing to pay the price. Something I love to use a privat shopping service for is concert tickets. I love small events and you can only get their tickets on special websites that can only be used in Japan and therefor it's great to have a person within Japan to buy you those. Also sometimes you might find them very nice to talk to because they are not just a staff of a big company but a privat person. Here are two private shopping services I love to use.
That's it! I know there are a few more sites you can use internationally e.g PlayAsia but I never bought on these so I of course I will not include them on this list! However thanks for reading!
Do you guys buy CDs etc? Where do you buy from?
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