Domo Arigato Juno...and Kenchan

[p.opus]

If you are in this forum, you either have or are contemplating importing something directly from Japan...

If you haven't already, may I recommend Juno at bidservice.jp. His website is Bidservice.jp - Juno's Japan Bid and Buy Agent Service for Worldwide. and his email is juno@bidservice.jp.

I recently purchased a Yamato 2 cell from yahoo japan auctions and my experience with Juno was fantastic.

He was prompt in all of my email responses, he put in a bid immediately and even somehow was able to get the item I won over the weekend and had it shipped out by Sunday night his time.

My item arrived 3 days later in fantastic condition. I had some minor damage to a plastic latch and the plastic casing during shipping, but this was mostly cosmetic and the function of the latch was easily performed by a strip of strategically placed duct tape. No harm...No foul.

The cel front was in amazing condition and it works flawlessly.

While I'm at it, I would also like to shout out the seller of my cel, who from my experience provides high quality merchandise in great condition. His name on Yahoo.jp is Kehchan_n900i_with_n503is. Weird screen name, but if you buy something from him, you can be sure it will not be junk.

I suggest you read the sticky in this forum on how to search and find items on Yahoo.jp. Also, if you don't know Japanese, you can use the google translate site to translate your search term (machine name) to Japanese since searches in english will reveal...butkus.

Don't let the prices on yahoo.jp fool you. This IS an EXPENSIVE endeavor. My Yamato 2 cel sold for about 3800 yen ($38.00), but with Juno's fee's (11%) and shipping from the seller to Juno...the price ballooned to $75.00...Add on top of that another $145.00 for shipping from Japan to the US and you can see a 40 dollar cel became $220.00 when it was all said and done. You can decrease your shipping costs by 40% or more by choosing to ship it by boat, but it will not be insured and you will wait 4 to 8 weeks instead of 3 to 5 days.

Finally, be aware that if you purchase a Pachinko or Pachislot directly from Japan, it is unlikely to be wired for use in your country. You will need to factor in the cost of a transformer and associated wiring so that you can convert your house current to the 24VAC these machines are normally designed to run on.

If you have access to a more regional reseller like Akimono or Five Brothers Trading Company here in the US, your best bet is still to go with them as they will likely be less expensive in the long run, and most likely will have already wired the machines with the necessary transformer to perform in your area.

Remember, Yahoo.jp is not like craigslist as a place to hunt for bargains, but rather a method of last resort for getting something that is extremely hard to find in your area.

However, if you are going to jump in, than going with Juno and Kenchan is a great way to go.