Does anyone know a good resource to buy Japanese novels in the US? I'm not really into Manga or that kind of thing. I never have been into graphic novels, etc in the US, either. So I have trouble finding stuff that will hold my interest.

In English, I do like current fiction - and have read some good Japanese translations (Miyuki Miyabe, etc). Where could i find something like the Miyuki Miyabe novel called All She Was Worth in the US? Either mail order or Los Angeles is probably easiest.

http://www.bk1.jp let's you import stuff quite cheap.

http://www.sasugabooks.com/ is your new best friend.

Amazon.co.jp

They charge a premium on shipping though, so you should order lots at one time. See if you can combine orders with a friend.

There are also Kinokuniya and Bookoff stores in certain US cities.

Yes Asia offers free shipping on orders over $39.

Amazon.co.jp used to be OK but they recently put their rates up to a ridiculous level. It's currently $30 per shipment to the US with an additional $3 charge per item. So if you order ten books you're paying $60 just to get it delivered to your door. With so many sites offering free shipping these days, it just isn't worth it.

I've actually never ordered books overseas. I just buy a ton when I'm in Japan or get someone to mail me some. There is a BookOff about 3 hours away though (30 minutes driving, 2 hours boat, 30 minutes driving) if I was desperate.

Jarvik7 Wrote:I've actually never ordered books overseas. I just buy a ton when I'm in Japan or get someone to mail me some. There is a BookOff about 3 hours away though (30 minutes driving, 2 hours boat, 30 minutes driving) if I was desperate.

Same here, my girlfriend sends me huge boxes filled with books if I want to ^^

So to give the best suggestion for the topic: Get a Japanese girlfriend or friend who can send you the stuff

Kinokuniya has stores in NYC and LA. Other stores on the west coast, too. There's also a Book-off in NYC, too. I sometimes buy stuff from the Kinokuniya in NYC and have it shipped via UPS for $7. They mark up the books a bit, because they have to pay shipping from Japan, but they have a good selection. It's about 1 month or so behind what you'd see in Japan.

Otherwise I buy from BK1 and have it shipped SAL. Usually cheaper than Amazon.jp, and no handling fees. You should do the math before you place an order, though. It may be cheaper sometimes to go with Amazon, maybe other times to go with BK1. Major downside to BK1 is that they don't calculate shipping for you until your order actually ships, so you need to be a good estimator of how much your package is going to weigh, then use their calculators.

Either way, having anything shipped from Japan is going to be expensive if you're impatient.

rich_f Wrote:having anything shipped from Japan is going to be expensive if you're impatient.

Yes Asia deliver in 6-12 business days for free. Only a madman would pay $30 + $3 per item to get something shipped 2-3 days sooner.

Ordering stuff from Japan on eBay is also quite cheap most of the time.

harhol Wrote:

rich_f Wrote:having anything shipped from Japan is going to be expensive if you're impatient.

Yes Asia deliver in 6-12 business days for free. Only a madman would pay $30 + $3 per item to get something shipped 2-3 days sooner.

Ordering stuff from Japan on eBay is also quite cheap most of the time.

eBay doesn't exist in Japan, so your selection is limited to people who have brought stuff back from Japan and people intentionally trying to sell to foreigners. YesAsia also has a pretty limited catalog.

http://www.sekaimon.com/

OP asked for "current fiction [...] something like Miyuki Miyabe" which YesAsia caters for.

It's not a specialist bookstore but neither is it "limited".

there is no ebay here, but yahoo auction is going strong

Jarvik7 Wrote:I've actually never ordered books overseas. I just buy a ton when I'm in Japan or get someone to mail me some. There is a BookOff about 3 hours away though (30 minutes driving, 2 hours boat, 30 minutes driving) if I was desperate.

Hm, are you still in Edmonton? Your location says you're in Japan.

I'm in Victoria for a few more weeks then back to Japan.

Do you have a nearby library that stocks Japanese novels? Mine does, and as they're borrowed rarely, I can extend for months. I've never had to buy one.

onafarm Wrote:Do you have a nearby library that stocks Japanese novels? Mine does, and as they're borrowed rarely, I can extend for months. I've never had to buy one.

That's a good idea. The Little Tokyo branch of the LA public library should have plenty of Japanese books. Also there are several BookOffs in the LA area, so just go there and get whatever's cheap.

Tobberoth Wrote:http://www.bk1.jp let's you import stuff quite cheap.

Does bk1.jp offer free shipping for a lightweight order? I just recently ordered from them for the first time and purchased 5 manga books. Shipping by SAL was free, but was that because it was my first order or what? I was expecting to pay some shipping, but they arrived at my doorstep a few days ago. I received 5 manga books for about 1,950円 total. (That was so much better than buying 2 of those same books from Kinokuniya, which were both around 5 dollars plus 7 dollars shipping (18 something total.)

KREVA Wrote:

Tobberoth Wrote:http://www.bk1.jp let's you import stuff quite cheap.

Does bk1.jp offer free shipping for a lightweight order? I just recently ordered from them for the first time and purchased 5 manga books. Shipping by SAL was free, but was that because it was my first order or what? I was expecting to pay some shipping, but they arrived at my doorstep a few days ago. I received 5 manga books for about 1,950円 total. (That was so much better than buying 2 of those same books from Kinokuniya, which were both around 5 dollars plus 7 dollars shipping (18 something total.)

Just curious.
How long did it take to ship via SAL?

I think it depends on where you live, but for me who lives in the U.S., I placed my order on 5/21, it shipped 5/22, and I received my order on 6/2 (couple days ago). It took less than two weeks, and I was surprised. I am certainly look forward to placing another order when I need more literature to plow through. The prices simply cannot be beaten.

That's odd. Usually BK1 will charge you for shipping. Don't get too used to that... you may get a nasty surprise when you go and order 10 tankubons... Even SAL starts to get expensive when you go past 2Kg.

Interesting - didn't know there was a BookOff in LA. Been to the one in NY occasionally, but was just really looking for videos at the time.

Anyone used the service Tenso? Seems like a good way to forward stuff from Amazon.jp orders, general Japanese mail order, etc. Quite reasonable prices.

Gonna go check out some local stores, otherwise will try YesAsia, etc.

Thanks,

KREVA Wrote:

Tobberoth Wrote:http://www.bk1.jp let's you import stuff quite cheap.

Does bk1.jp offer free shipping for a lightweight order? I just recently ordered from them for the first time and purchased 5 manga books. Shipping by SAL was free, but was that because it was my first order or what? I was expecting to pay some shipping, but they arrived at my doorstep a few days ago. I received 5 manga books for about 1,950円 total. (That was so much better than buying 2 of those same books from Kinokuniya, which were both around 5 dollars plus 7 dollars shipping (18 something total.)

Usually they don't write the shipping cost in the confirmation email, because it's determined by the weight of the items. Have you compared the amount written in the mail and the actual sum that was charged to you?
Then again, shipping to the US may be different from that to Europe.

bk1 is awesome! I always get two confirmation emails, one when I order and one when my order was shipped. Only the second one has the shipping cost included.

And if you look on the actual box, BK1 will usually write the cost of shipping in pencil on it, too.

Shipping anything from Japan is expensive. To the US is cheaper than to Europe, though.

Tenso... make sure you know all the charges they're going to hit you with to transship your Amazon stuff. It may be a deal... it may not. I'm curious to find out. If domestic shipping from Amazon.JP is free, then yeah, it's probably worth it, depending on what Tenso is going to charge you to reship it. If they charge handling fees and reshipping fees, then it'll be cheaper to just use BK1.

Then again, BK1 will save you the trouble of going through a 3rd party.

But if you use Tenso, you'll be able to get stuff from Amazon.JP you can't usually get shipped overseas. (All the good non-book, non-CD stuff. Damn you, Amazon!)

I do know that Tenso charges fees to bid on auctions for you. Can't remember what they were, though.

One place I have found that may be of use is http://www.sasugabooks.com. Haven't ordered anything yet cuz I'm still working on rtk1 so I can't say much about them.

But it may be worth looking into.... Seems like they have a good selection of stuff.

Edit:

Hehe... Just realized that someone else already suggested it.