I don't know about books in Belgium, but there are loads places, that you can download HQ raw manga + Novels. Here are a few sites I use:

http://www.jcafe24.com/ <-Need to sign and get one post, but they have pretty much everything
http://gotlurk.net/ <-Need to use IRC to download

I would imagine it would be quite hard to buy raw manga + novels outside of Japan (Well, without it being really expensive)

Hello,

I usually order things from amazon.jp in great quantities. This helps mitigate the shipping costs somewhat. It's especially interesting for manuals, textbooks etc that might cost 45 euros in europe but around 20-30 in japan. They also ship very fast (I received my order in less than 7 days).

bk1.jp is another good bookstore in Japan to order from. I prefer it to amazon, because you get shipping options, no added cost to shipping, no handling fees, a point club, gift certificate promotions, coupons, etc. I find it's a better deal. They ship worldwide. The site is all in Japanese, with no English help, but that's part of the Learning Experience.

The last few times I've ordered, they've been running a promotion where if you buy 10,000 yen or more of books, you can get a 1,000 yen gift certificate. I've gotten 3 of those already. The downside is that they show up randomly and expire in a month, but if you have a backlog of books you want and you're patient, you can save money. Also, if you can't read Japanese well enough, you won't know where to click after ordering to get your gift certificate! So there's incentive to study right there.

Hya hotkiller

"Super Store Tagawa"
This is like a bookshop in the front, and they have loads of manga, learning books, magazines, and literature of all kind.

Further at the back in the entrance hallway is the entrance to a small store where you can buy all sorts of  Japanese food, snacks, etc.

http://maps.google.be/maps?ie=UTF-8& … 14&t=m

Then there is the Japanese Cultural and Information Center in Brussels.


Check out their calendar. They have 1 movie each month which is free. The main hall entrance there is always some kind of exposition. Right at the entrance near the doors there is a bookshel where you can pickup free copies of a beautiful magazine called "Nipponia". It's in French, but if you like Japan you will certainly like it, huge colour photos. Then there is a large library where you can borrow books, videos, DVDs and CDs, magazines. I can't remember if there were mangas. You can even ask them to send you that "Nipponia" magazine they'll take your address and mail you the magazine for free.

ファブリス : That "Super Store Tagawa" also looks really interesting but I got two questions about it:
1) How are prices there?
2) Is there a metro station near there?

Thnx anyway, I'll probably go there somewhere this month.

@hotkiller : prices are ok as far as I remember, their main customers are the Japanese community from Brussels.

Metro: your best bet is from metro "Lousie", its at the end of the main yellow axis north west in that google map I linked to, from the pinned Tagawa Store. Some trams will turn right into avenue de Charlerio, so your best bet is to walk from Louise until the main junction, and wait there at the next tram stop. That way you can jump on any tram coming and they 'll take you along Avenue Louise and you go down 2 or 3 stops later, near "chaussée de Vleurgat". If you have loads of $$$ there is the nice Tagawa Restaurant nearby too

Hotkiller, if you are interested I have got piles of Kokoro, V Jump and Weekly  Shonen Jump lying around in my library. I go back to Belgium every so often and can easily post them.

See the list there: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key= … p;hl=en_GB

Michael