Yahoo Japan Auctions

[majick47]

Has any members sucessfully bid/won items on Yahoo Japan? The best I can do is convert yen to dollars and look at the have photos of listed items for guidance. The cost of shipping large items might not make it practical but for smaller/lighter items it would be a chance to obtain some difficult to find items. I followed Dons trip to Japan and wonder if the shop he visited had some items of interest.

[glen]

One of the used equipment stores Don visited, Hi-Fi Do, has an english version of their website:
http://www.hifido.co.jp/indexe.html


I tried to order a back issue of StereoSound that they had listed. But they replied that had been sold. I guess they would have been happy enough to sell it to me if it had still been in stock.

They have a monthly email newsletter you can subscribe to with interesting blurbs about equipment they have for sale and a long running notes from an audiophile searching the Akihabara for vintage parts to build experimental amps and trying out classic audio equipment.

But ordering from Japan does seem like the long way around, even though there is an appealing symmetry to bring some of that vintage stuff back to it's country of origin. Their prices often reflect quite a premium for old American equipment and a more economical alternative would probably be to snag something off of ebay here before it got shipped over there.

I had more success ordering a book from Amazon Japan's English version:
http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/browse.ht...8&node=1094656

even though their English web pages were not as well developed. I think they may more geared for Japanese who want to use English to search for books published outside of Japan. But they had the book I wanted in stock and it arrived safe and sound.

Shipping was not cheap, something like $15 for a $30 softbound book if I remember correctly.

[majick47]

Glen thanks for the info re Hi-Fi-Do. I'm looking for a few small odds and ends, not large components etc. I have a Yamaha PX2 turntable circ 1982 and its missing a couple small accessories. Recently I purchased a couple small items from a Ebay seller in Japan and the shipping was reasonable. I'v been watching Ebay but no luck so far. next stop Japan.