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March 29, 2006 1:02 PM Subscribe
Anyone (non-Japanese-speaking, not based in Japan) have experience buying from Amazon.co.jp?
I'm interested in buying a limited-edition art book originally printed in Japan which would cost upwards of US$250 from all the sellers I've checked in the U.S. (where I am), Canada, and the UK. Amazon.co.jp resellers have it listed for about ¥7000 (or approximately US$60, which even with international shipping charges would be a relative bargain).
The main problem is that despite the kind attempts of Amazon.co.jp to translate some parts of the site into English, my complete unfamiliarity with Japanese and my limited success with converting some pages into Babelgrish are making this process (beginning with simply registering in their system) kind of difficult. Does anyone have experience/advice with this sort of thing?
I'm interested in buying a limited-edition art book originally printed in Japan which would cost upwards of US$250 from all the sellers I've checked in the U.S. (where I am), Canada, and the UK. Amazon.co.jp resellers have it listed for about ¥7000 (or approximately US$60, which even with international shipping charges would be a relative bargain).
The main problem is that despite the kind attempts of Amazon.co.jp to translate some parts of the site into English, my complete unfamiliarity with Japanese and my limited success with converting some pages into Babelgrish are making this process (beginning with simply registering in their system) kind of difficult. Does anyone have experience/advice with this sort of thing?
Best answer: we ordered from amazon.jp back in feb... it was a bit of a challenge until i installed the firefox gtranslate extension... works like a charm (one line of text at a time)... btw: shipping via dhl was surprisingly quick.
posted by RockyChrysler at 1:27 PM on March 29, 2006
posted by RockyChrysler at 1:27 PM on March 29, 2006
I've placed orders over the phone before with the Kinokuniya store in New York, and it's gone quite smoothly.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:31 PM on March 29, 2006
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:31 PM on March 29, 2006
It's actually fairly easy to order items from Amazon Japan. The shopping cart and checkout interface can be toggled to English. Just follow these steps:
1. Click on "Help" or "Your account" in the upper right corner. These buttons should be labeled in both Japanese and English.
2. You should see a question near the top of the page which asks "Would you like to see this page in English?" Click where instructed.
Once you do that, portions of the shopping interface will be displayed in English throughout the site. You can then create an account, log in, add to cart and checkout with ease.
Product information, however, remains in Japanese. I don't have the gtranslate plugin, but I do have rikaichan installed. This plug-in can get a bit unstable at times, so toggle it on only when you need to use it.
Shipping usually takes about a week or a week and a half to arrive.
posted by NemesisVex at 11:31 AM on July 25, 2006
1. Click on "Help" or "Your account" in the upper right corner. These buttons should be labeled in both Japanese and English.
2. You should see a question near the top of the page which asks "Would you like to see this page in English?" Click where instructed.
Once you do that, portions of the shopping interface will be displayed in English throughout the site. You can then create an account, log in, add to cart and checkout with ease.
Product information, however, remains in Japanese. I don't have the gtranslate plugin, but I do have rikaichan installed. This plug-in can get a bit unstable at times, so toggle it on only when you need to use it.
Shipping usually takes about a week or a week and a half to arrive.
posted by NemesisVex at 11:31 AM on July 25, 2006
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posted by elsar at 1:17 PM on March 29, 2006