My Japan trip April 2018

[guigui]

I am going on another game hunt in the summer in Japan.

Lots have changed in the Japanese collecting world since 2018. Including the prices that have gone even further up. Around 2005 I sold Harmful park on here for around $150.

My itinerary is 3 days in Tokyo, 3 days in Osaka. Staying in Akiba and Den Den Town. I might meet up with some youtubers who live out there (if they agree).

I realize by this stage of 2023 that many of you have moved completely away from tangible game collections, but thats where my heart is.

If you want a vlog/pic fest/update on my trip and collecting chime in. I will make a video this time and upload it on the youtube.

I will be walking along lots of random streets. I have Akiba and 6 train trips around the precincts in my itinerary. I'm taking a jumbo suitcase and a few hundred thousand yen.

I will be buying on a condition scale, not a price scale. I have no interest in profit or getting a mega deal, just want what I want.. thats the way I roll.


I have a new found fetish for Famicom games.

Are you taking orders for fellow shmup forum collectors ? Seeking some JP Saturn games here.

[neorichieb1971]

You should consider purchasing your yen now as it's cheap. No crystal ball, of course.

I have already bought Y160000 about a week ago but the price of Yen dropped so I would have gotten Y166000 today, but it is what it is.

I'm not getting cash this time, I decided to get a Visa Revolut card on orders from my wife. As we recently went to Amsterdam and she demonstrated how easy it is to use. You just connect your native account to the Revolut card and can control the amounts, the currencies thats on it from an app on your phone. The exchange is near enough 1-1 with xe.com. I think I paid Y50 commission for £1000. Of course Japan is a cash centric country, but the card works in all ATM's and if you have Yen on your revolut, no charges are incurred from using ATM's. I actually wrote to them and got that confirmed. I will be taking cash of course, just not 100's of 1000's of it.

Are you taking orders for fellow shmup forum collectors ? Seeking some JP Saturn games here.

I've made a list for myself and my purchasing won't necessarily match whats on my list because I am buying on condition, not price.
Buying for others would be a tricky thing because depending on the console for condition of cardboard boxes vs CD cases, on the basis of ebay prices sometimes being close to the shop prices I am not sure if the benefit would outweigh the complications and cost. I will also be boycotting Wii, Wii U and Xbox/360+ because I have zero interest in those consoles. If you've ever been to Japan and you cannot read Japanese the only way to check every game is by pulling out the spine to see what the cover looks like, and there are literally millions of games in every shop.

If you want to investigate in your own time you can use these references on price points -

Mandarake - https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/?lang=en (Quite expensive, but has a website.. you might have to use google to translate into Japanese to get the results you want)

Nin Nin - https://www.nin-nin-game.com/en/ (Website in English. I've never had a problem with them, but reviews on service seem to be on the bad side overall). I bought mostly new games but I did get Thunderforce IV MD and Gleylancer re-issue with no problems, but looked like new as well.

https://www.superretrobros.org/ - This site claims to import for you and has a decent amount of Japanese stock. You can fill in a form with what you want and they will get it for you if you agree on cost. I have not used this site.

There are 3 youtube channels I watch regularly to see whats in Japanese shops via their game hunts -

https://www.youtube.com/@RetroReWire
https://www.youtube.com/@MadPanicGaming (Offers a Patreon service and will buy whatever you want as long as your patreon amount has accumulated to the cost of what you want)
Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/join/KidShoryuken

https://www.youtube.com/@ScruffyLookinRGB

If you want to exchange in private messaging here as a fellow collector, buyer I am open to a chat. (edit, I just saw you're looking exclusively for Saturn games Doh..). Saturn games might be doable.

[GaijinPunch]

Of course Japan is a cash centric country, but the card works in all ATM's and if you have Yen on your revolut, no charges are incurred from using ATM's. I actually wrote to them and got that confirmed. I will be taking cash of course, just not 100's of 1000's of it.

Cards are finally becoming more acceptable. Not sure about small shops in Akihabara, as they'd seem to be hold outs, but I actually saw a small bar using an iPad and a card reader as if it was some hipster shop in America or something a few years ago. Splitting a meal with credit cards doesn't seem so prevelant though.

166,000

This is basically nothing in the grand scheme. FX are quite volatile now, although nothing like what they were 6 months ago. The upside to buying now is you'd be locking your yen in now which is definitely weak. The consensus is that then yen will slowly strengthen to at least close to normal value over the coming months, as most other countries are expected to chill out w/ the interest rates. Could go either way but I've locked in 2 years of my sons tuition already, for reference.

[neorichieb1971]

Are you still out there?

I thought you went back to US.

Yeah Y166000 isn't a great deal but it's about 40 percent of my projected budget. My wanted list exceeds that amount by a bit.

I will be trying to procure Lickle, Doremi, Spriggan Powered, Harmful Park, Sparkster, Little Ralph.. The list goes on. That list is already more than I spent in 2018.

[GaijinPunch]

I am, but kid back there in a private school - very affordable compared to US private school prices but not free, so I've locked in some yen.

[neorichieb1971]

Locking in some Yen has cost me a lot. The Yen is tanking hard at the moment.

If you're reading this and want some Japanese shit, go for it.


At this rate the Yen won't be worth F'all if it keeps falling.