This is a supplement to my previous posts about buying stuff from Japan. Even for stores that offer English versions of their sites (Amazon Japan, Mandarake), using titles and keywords in kanji/hiragana/katakana will usually get you the best search results. Fortunately, getting the title for a specific Japanese series isn’t hard as long as Wikipedia has a page on it, but figuring out the keywords to narrow your search for specific goods can be more difficult. Below are some of the most common merchandise terms, along with some others that may be of use for the overseas otaku.
アクリルスタンド=acrylic stand (a character/image cut out of acrylic that stands on a base)
バッジ=badge (usually a pin back)
ブロマイド=“bromide (a photo or print, usually of an actor or character)”
カレンダー=calendar
ケース=case (phonecase, etc.)
クリアファイル=clearfile
コースター=coaster
コラボカフェ=collaboration cafe (a tie-in cafe that usually includes limited edition goods)
コスプレ=cosplay
フィギュア=figure
イラストカード=illustration card (a bonus given with manga or other goods)
色紙=shikishi (a thick paper board used for illustrations)
キーホルダー=keyholder/keychain
リトグラフ=lithograph
ノート=“note (notebook)”
ぬいぐるみ=nuigurumi (stuffed toy)
パンフレット=pamphlet/programme for a show, movie, or performance
ピン=pin
ピンバッジ=pin badge
トランプ=playing cards/“trump”
ポストカード=postcard
ポスター=poster
シール=“seal (sticker)”
下敷き=shitajiki
スマホクリーナ=smartphone cleaner (a small piece of special cloth)
ステッカー=sticker
ストラップ=strap (usually a charm on a cord used to decorate phones, etc)
Welcome to my updated guide to ordering through Suruga-ya using the forwarding service Tenso. I hope people don’t mind me taking the images out, but I thought that a text-based approach would be more helpful to people reading it over a range of devices.
If this sounds like a pain, you’ll probably be happier just using a proxy service, although this tutorial should still be of use for searching the site. However, once you get the hang of it, it’s not hard. Ordering yourself also eliminates the possibility that a sale will end before the proxy service is able to process your order, and at least reduces the possibility that an item will be sold out before you get it (Suruga-ya's items are available online and in-store, so there are no guarantees).
A couple of things before we start:
•Buy at your own risk. I’ve ordered from Suruga-ya numerous times without any problems, so it’s not exactly brain surgery. That said, I can’t stand over your shoulder and check your work, which means that any mistakes you make are your own and you’ll have to fix them yourself. So basically...
•...use common sense. Read all of Tenso’s rules, double-check your information when signing up for your account, think twice about buying something if you’re confused by the product description (you can’t return it after you receive it), and, overall, use a proxy service instead if you don’t feel confident buying things from a website in a language that you’re not proficient in.
•There may be mistakes because I am *not* fluent in Japanese (not even close).
•Suruga-ya takes PayPal from international customers, but I’ve read that they no longer accept international credit cards. I’ve also read that “adult” products cannot be purchased without a credit card, but you’ll need to do your own research on that topic (Tenso, for its part, prohibits buying “obscene articles” through its service).
•You should be able to use most of this guide if you’re using a different forwarding service, but you may have to do a little extra work
•This is accurate as of July, 2018. If you’re reading this several years from now, things may have changed (they’ve made several updates to their website just recently and will likely continue to).
Still here? Then continue under the cut to get started.
First, sign up for an account with Tenso, a Japanese mail-forwarding company. Make sure you read all the information about their fees, shipping options, prohibited items, etc., before you sign-up (I’ve seen people who were turned off by the identity verification part, in particular).
After you’ve done that, go to the ‘My Page’ section. There will be a box at the top that says ‘[Your Name]’s Tenso address,’ with a link at the bottom that says ‘How to enter your Tenso address.’ Click on that; there are several helpful examples, but all you need is the top one labeled ‘General Guide.’
Next, go to Suruga-ya. At the top of the page, to the right of the search bar, you’ll see a blue icon next to the word ‘サインイン (sign in).’ Click on it. [If you’re trying to do this on Suruga-ya’s mobile site, click on ‘マイページへ/to My Page’ under the logo.]
✸Creating an account/signing in:
On the right, you’ll see two boxes for signing in. The top says “e-mail address (メールアドレス)” and the bottom says “password (パスワード ).” Once you’ve entered those, you can click on the orange button and you’re in. If you’ve forgotten your password, click on the link below the password box (パスワードをお忘れの方はこちら) to reset it.
On the left, you’ll see two buttons allowing you to sign-in/create an account with either your facebook or Google account. If you’d like to do that, go ahead, but I can’t guide you. To create a wholly new account, click on the white button below those two (新規アカウントの作成) and follow the steps below. [mobile users: the white ‘new account’ button is right below the orange ‘sign-in (サインイン)’ button]
✸ Account creation: fill in these steps one-by-one. If an error occurs when you try to submit, copy the warning text and paste it into Google translate to troubleshoot.
Note: several of the text boxes specify that you must use half-width characters (半角英数). If you don’t know what that means, you probably don’t need to worry about it. If you do know what it means, you should use half-width characters when entering your e-mail and password (copy and pasting your Tenso address takes care of the rest).
✸メールアドレス (確認)=“E-mail address (confirmation)”=re-enter your e-mail
✸パスワード=“Password”=must be between 6-12 characters (No mention of whether symbols or spaces may be used in addition to letters and numbers, so keep that in mind when creating your password)
✸パスワードの確認=“Confirm Password”
This next part is where things get a little more difficult.
✸お名前=“Name”=this line has two input boxes. Japanese users would enter their name in kanji, but international users can use the Latin alphabet here (or whatever alphabet you use, although I can’t guarantee the site supports all of them).
—姓=“Surname/last name”
—名=“First name”
✸フリガナ=“Furigana (i.e, not kanji)”=here, you’ll need to write your name in katakana. You can use this page to get the katakana spellings.
—セイ=“Surname/last name”
—メイ=“First name”
For the next several lines, you’ll want to refer back to your Tenso address. Tenso’s general guide and Suruga-ya use the same order and kanji labels, which is really handy in filling this out. I’ll also include the label translations, just in case.
✸郵便番号=“Postal code/zipcode”
✸都道府県=“Prefecture”=this one should auto-update after you input the zipcode
✸市区町村=“Municipality”
✸番地=“Address/unit number“
✸ビル・マンション名=“Building/Apartment name”
✸電話番号=“Phone number”
Hard part’s done! The next section is optional: it lets you sign-up for e-mails about product categories, which I never do, so I’m going to skip it.
Scroll down, and you’ll see a box containing the site’s terms of service. Copy and paste them into Google translate and give them a read; they’re pretty straightforward and it only takes a minute to go over them. Below that, it will ask you if you agree to the site’s terms and want to continue your registration (規約に同意してアカウント登録を行いますか？), followed by two buttons.
✸はい=“Yes”=click this button to finish your registration
✸いいえ=“No”=click this button to cancel your registration
That should do it, although you’ll still need to confirm your account by clicking on a link in an e-mail they’ll send you. After that, it’s time to shop.
✸Searching/categories: In most cases, you’ll need to search using Japanese characters (i.e., kanji, hiragana, katakana) to find what you want. Try checking wikipedia/fan wikis/Anime News Network, etc. if you want to find the Japanese title for a manga/anime. Searching for stuff is pretty easy; just enter what you’re looking for in the purple search box at the top of the page. The default is to search all categories (全商品), but you can refine that with the category menu to the left. The categories are games (ゲーム), DVD/video (映像ソフト), music (音楽ソフト), toys/hobbies (おもちゃ・ホビー), PC software (PCソフト), books (本), electronics (電気製品), food/food premiums (食品・食玩), miscellaneous goods/accessories (雑貨・小物), and doujin (同人).
Update: I’ve found that you can use romaji to search for many titles. For example, if you type ‘Naruto’ into the search bar, then ‘ナルト’ will indeed be the first suggestion that comes up. Convenient, no?
✸Advanced search (詳細検索): this link is to the right of the search box. I honestly don’t use it, and it would be a hassle to go over all the options, so I’m skipping it for the most part. It does, however, allow you to search by ISBN, JAN, control number (管理番号), or standard code (規格コ-ド), which is useful.
The next three setting are found right above the product listings.
✸R-18 products: you have three options for displaying adult (アダルト) goods---show (表示), hide (非表示), and show only (のみ). Please be aware that some forwarding and proxy services have rules against buying or shipping adult goods for international customers.
✸Show sold-out goods (品切れ): ON or OFF
✸Sorting (並べ替え): default is “開連順,” which is basically sorting by relevance. The rest are cheapest first (値段が安い順), most expensive first (値段が高い順), newly added/updated first (更新の新しい順), newest release date first (発売日の新しい順), and oldest release date first (発売日の古い順).
✸Item status: these appear in green next to the item’s category/right below the product image.
—“Newly arrived goods (新入荷)”
—“Price-cut (値下げ)”=; after an item has been at the store for long enough, they may lower the price
—“Increasingly popular (人気上昇中)”=this accompanies a price increase
✸Release date (発売日): self-explanatory
✸Sold out (品切れ): If you have “show sold-out goods” set to “ON,” this will appear in red below the release date. Sold-out goods will also be shown if they can be purchased through one of the new “other shops” that Suruga-ya is listing on their site,
✸Condition: these markers now appear before the price—”new (新品)”, “used (中古)“, and “pre-order (予約)”. The kanji directly after the price means “including tax (税込).” Sometimes, both a new and used version of a product may be for sale at the same time, so you’ll see two prices; be careful to add the version you want to your cart. Suruga-ya also includes the “list price (定価)” below the store price. If you see “Rank B (ランクB)” in a product title, that means that it has more serious condition issues, so pay attention to the description.
✸NEW “Other shops (他のショップ)”: Suruga-ya seems to be trying an Amazon Marketplace-type scheme where they also give you prices for items that are available through affiliated shops. This is below the “list price,” and it’s a link that takes you to a page to compare prices/see vendor ratings/etc. Even if you have “show sold-out goods” turned to “OFF,” you will still see items listed if they are only available through a third-part seller. I haven’t used this option yet, so I can’t tell you exactly how things work out,
✸Adding items to your cart/wishlist: On product pages, there’s a big orange button with a cart that’s for...adding the item to your cart. The button below it with a star is for adding it to your favorite list. If the item is sold out, you’ll see a green button that allows you to add it to your backordered items watchlist.
After you add an item to your cart, you’ll get a pop-up with two boxes. The blue one basically says “keep shopping,” while the orange one says “continue to check-out.”
✸ Cart/checking out: when you’re ready to check-out, click the big orange button (注文画面に進む/proceed to order page) on the right side of the page. You can also delete (削除) items or move them to your favorites list (お気に入りリスト). The shipping prices are in a gray box on the right. You usually get free shipping for orders over 1500 yen, but the threshold may be lower during sales.
The next page is a list of more of their site policies. Open up Google translate again and look them over. Most of it isn’t really important, but some of it you may find useful, such as how they package items for shipping or when they process orders. At the bottom, click “はい(yes)” to continue if you accept these policies.
On the next page, you’ll see your personal and shipping information displayed, followed by several payment options. Make sure PayPal is selected. Click on the orange button at the bottom (ご注文内容なにの確認へ /confirm the contents of your order) to continue. You’ll see another page with all the details of your order; if everything looks right, click the orange button (決済情報の入力へ /enter payment information) again to proceed to PayPal to authorize Suruga-ya to charge your account (they don’t actually charge you until your order is shipped). That should be it.
After your order is placed, you’ll get a confirmation e-mail as well as a notification on your My Page staying that your order was received. If any of your items are sold-out (their items are for sale in their physical stores as well as online) they’ll apparently send an e-mail asking you to contact them and confirm that you still want them to mail the rest of your order. This hasn’t happened to me yet, so I can’t say how that works, although I’ve seen people write that they just used Google translate to create a reply and it worked fine (probably best to write something short and simple). The e-mails that I’ve received have all been basic ‘here’s what you ordered, don’t respond to this’ messages that you always get when shopping online.
Now you get to play the waiting game. Orders can take more than a week to ship, so be patient.
Below are some additional bits of information that you may find helpful while shopping.
✸Time Sales
Suruga-ya often has "time sales (タイムセール)” that usually last 1-2 days and only apply to certain categories/items; the amount of money that you have to spend to get free shipping may also be lowered. If there’s a time sale on, there should be a banner at the top of the site with the date(s) and time range (usually 12:00-23:59 JST) for the sale. Items that are part of the sale will have ‘タイムセール’ written in green above their price on search pages.
✸My Page/account page (マイページ)
—お知らせ一覧=notice list (the most recent ones appear on your my page by default). The 3 types of notices you usually get are that your order was received, that your order is being prepared, and that your order was shipped.
—ご購入履歴=purchase history
—売却履歴=sales history. This applies to people who have sold items to Suruga-ya. Not applicable to people outside Japan.
—見積履歴=estimate history. This applies to people who have sold items to Suruga-ya. Not applicable to people outside Japan.
—閲覧履歴=browsing history
—入荷リスト=(backordered) goods received list. If you’ve added items to your backorder list, they’ll appear here if they’re now in stock.
—入荷待ちリスト=backorder list. You can add sold-out goods to this list so you’ll be notified if they’re restocked.
—お気に入りリスト=favorites list, which includes the following options:
••新しいお気に入りリストを追加する=add a new favorites list (click 新規登録する button to confirm)
••商品を追加するお気に入りリスト=add items to favorite list (use the drop-down list to select which list you want items to be added to by default)
••カートに入れる=add item to cart
••入荷待ちリストに追加する=add item to backorder list
••リスト名を集編する=change list name (click ‘変更’ to confirm change)
—速報メール確認·変更=confirm/change mail notifications
—登録クレジットカード確認·削除=confirm/delete credit card information. Not applicable to people outside Japan. I think.
—身分証画像を更新=update ID card image. Not applicable to people outside Japan.
—本人確認番号の登録·削除=register/delete personal identification number. Not applicable to people outside Japan.
—登録情報確認·変更=confirm/change registration information (name, address, e-mail, etc.)
I don’t know why it took me so long to search for a way to do it...I’ve been scrolling back through my posts like a dork. Thank goodness for stack exchange
Yes, there is a quick and easy way.
If your post has the following permalink
http://account.tumblr.com/post/xyz
then your edit page is here:
http://account.tumblr.com/edit/xyz
You just change "post" in the URL to "edit". Note that this does not work if you put something after the post ID (for instance: http://...../xyz/my-post).
So you wanna buy stuff from Japan? Some hints, and a proxy/forwarder roundup
It's easy enough, although expensive. I've gathered together thoughts on the services that I've used, as well as a couple that have been recommended to me, since people have asked for help in the past (I don’t get anything in exchange for reviewing these services, just so you know). Always make sure to read the company's site carefully and make sure you understand all the fees, rules, and restrictions before you bid/buy. Also, the services listed here may not be available for all countries---please do your own research to make sure that you can use them.
Last updated: February 2022
COVID reminder: shipping services are still being affected by the impact of the coronavirus on air travel, although it varies by location. The most expensive international shipping methods tend to be the ones that are still available now.
Note about total fees: make sure you take into account the shipping methods that services offer, as well as consolidation fees, not just the initial buying/bidding fees. Shipping costs can add up fast. Buying something cheap and tiny and then realizing that you’ll have to pay $20 to have it shipped because a company only uses EMS is not fun. Ditto paying 1000 yen in consolidation fees.
If you’re planning on buying books: using a service that offers Printed Matter Airmail or SAL may save you a decent amount of money. The weight limit is 5kg as long as you’re only ordering books/magazines/catalogues, and it seems to be about ~$20-$25 less than having to ship using EMS. AFAIK, White Rabbit Express offers the registered version, and Noppin offers unregistered, but always double-check before ordering.
★Do I need to use a third-party service?
Here are a few shops that allow you to buy directly from Japan without paying a middleman.
Amazon: if you have the ISBN or EAN/JAN of something specific you’re looking for, you may be able to order it directly from a Japanese merchant through your country’s Amazon marketplace.
Amazon.co.jp: Amazon Japan ships some items internationally, and they even have it set up so you can browse the site in English and Chinese in addition to Japanese. Items that are eligible will say ‘This item can be delivered to the United States’ (or, ‘アメリカ合衆国にお届けできま’) below the price/availability information. You can see their international rates here. In my experience, many of the vendors on Amazon Japan’s marketplace do not ship internationally, though, so you’ll still need to use a proxy/forwarder in those cases. Also, Amazon accounts from servers outside of Japan don’t work here, so you’ll have to create a new one.
CD Japan: Japanese music, DVDs, books, games, figures, and other goods. Nice range of shipping options, good service.
BOOK☆WALKER: Kadokawa’s official online store for buying digital manga, light novels, books, and magazines. The English site offers translated versions, but you can also buy Japanese books/magazines from the Japanese site even if you have an international account (tutorial here). Paypal is not, for some reason, accepted for items with ‘bonuses’ like certain magazines (credit cards can still be used, but you may incur a fee).
Books Kinokuniya: you can order a decent selection of newer Japanese books/manga through the US Kinokuniya branch’s website, and the shipping is a flat $8 for orders ($50+ ships free). They will also help you with Japanese magazine subscriptions. Use kanji/hiragana/katakana titles and keywords for the best search results.
Mandarake: new and used goods from a variety of categories, not just anime/manga merchandise. Use kanji/hiragana/katakana titles and keywords for the best search results. Only catch: you can’t have items from different branches of the store shipped together, so keep an eye on the location of items (FYI: White Rabbit Express says they can still order from Mandarake, too). Good service, and everything I’ve bought from them has been in decent condition.
AmiAmi: figures, character goods, etc. Nice range of shipping options, good service.
★Proxy services
These companies will buy items for you from shops like Amazon Japan, or bid on auctions at Yahoo Japan (and sometimes others)
Some general item weights for using fee calculators: CD/DVD=125g, manga/light novel=150-230g, Figma/Nendoroid=230-300g, kimono=750-1000g. If you can find an exact weight for what you want, even better.
JAUCE:
☆Service fees: overview, detailed examples of shopping fees
☆Service fee calculator: here, but only for auctions
☆Notes: My original proxy service, although I haven’t ordered from them since they lowered their fees. I would look carefully at their shopping service fees before placing an order. Their shipping options are limited to EMS, SAL (no small packet), surface mail, and FedEx.
Noppin:
☆Service fees: auctions, shopping (scroll down to see examples)
☆Service fee calculator: no
☆Notes: A good service. I’ve used them a couple of times with no problems and I know people who have used them for years who also recommend them. I wish they offered registered small packet, though, and the website was more difficult to navigate than it should be.
From Japan:
☆Service fees: basic overview, more detailed version
☆Service fee calculator: yes
☆Update: From Japan has now implemented a 300 yen PER ITEM fee, replacing the old per order fee (if you’re ordering multiples of the same item, you get a bit of a break). I’m sure they had a good reason for this, but it makes using their service for large orders extremely expensive (sometimes they’ll offer coupons that can offset this a little). White Rabbit Express may now be a better deal, in those cases. I still recommend them in general, however, especially for auctions.
White Rabbit Express:
☆Service fees: overview
☆Service fee calculator: yes, although you need a specific item URL to use it (the fees page has clear examples, if you're just curious)
☆In-store pick-up: yes
☆Notes: Very easy to use, good customer service, nice range of shipping options (including the lower-cost ‘printed matter’ service), and the ability to shop at lots of sites, including some that other proxy services can’t handle; so far so good. Their fees are handled a bit differently than other sites, so you may end up paying more for some things than you’d expect. However, it’s all clearly laid out on the order page, so you won’t be surprised later. Also offers package forwarding (see below). One caveat: I don’t recommend them for auctions, since their fees are higher than others and they don’t offer live bidding.
Update: WRE has updated their fees again. The per-item fee for Mercari is now $10, and their service fee is 9.9%.
Buyee:
☆Service fees: overview
☆Service fee calculator: yes, scroll down to the bottom of the fees page (keep in mind this doesn’t included domestic shipping)
☆Notes: Buyee is now officially partnered with Mercari, which had banned proxy services (although WRE was still buying from them). Some items that I’ve looked at on Mercari’s website still say ‘only available in Japan,’ however, so you may still find yourself needing WRE. I finally tried buying something from Mercari through them, and the plan, payment, and service fees ended up being 1000 yen, which isn’t bad.
Buyee is run by the same people as Tenso, and some Japanese stores seem to favor them. One big negative is that they won’t allow combined shipping from sellers on YJA/Mercari to make it easier for them to track items, so you’ll have to pay to have items shipped individually (which possibly also means you’re paying multiple wire-transer fees, although it’s not mentioned). The number of other stores you can buy from through them is limited, and they charge consolidation fees. They offer good shipping options, though, so there may be times when you’d want to use them.
A note about buying from Mercari using proxy services: Since Mercari requires more work than other sites to make purchases, there can be a big delay between when you place an order and when it’s actually purchased. For starters, WRE says they usually process orders within 1 business day. If something gets listed on a weekend, you just have to hope it’ll still be there Monday. Also, some listings require the buyer to contact the seller before an item can be purchased, which can further delay things.
★Forwarding services
These companies allow you to buy items directly from Japanese shops by assigning you a Japanese address, which saves fees over proxy services. It may not be possible to order from some sites this way, though, especially using foreign credit cards. AFAIK, no Japanese auction sites are compatible with forwarders. You’ll also need to verify your identity, due to a Japanese law.
Tenso:
☆Service fees: overview (enter your country then find “Click here for shipping and handling fee breakdown” above the chart if you’re looking to compare fees)
☆Service fee calculator: no
☆Notes: Very easy to use, good customer service; I’m pretty happy with them so far. If you want to have your items shipped small packet, I would be wary of consolidating packages if their pre-combined weight is within a couple hundred grams of 2kg, though; I don’t think I’ve had a package from Tenso that weighed *less* after consolidating, but it depends on what you’re buying, too.
White Rabbit Express Blackship:
☆Service fees: overview, their fees compared to Tenso’s, shipping fee calculator
☆Notes: WRE has changed their forwarding service. Now called ‘Blackship,’ it has new, lower fees, which they claim are more affordable than Tenso’s (as always, what you pay depends on what you buy, so ymmv). Sounds promising, but I haven’t tried it yet.
★Tutorials/helpful links:
☆ My guide to ordering from Suruga-ya using Tenso
☆Ordering from Sanyodo with Tenso, by marry-me-ishida-sui
☆Guide to Tenso x Toranoana, from Memory's Aria
☆Forwarding Services & JP shops that take Int'l cards, from the MyFigureCollection.net forum (may not be up to date)
