I get my manga at: http://www.yesasia.com/us/en/home.html

Shiroi wrote:

If you spend more than $39 the shipping is free. I always spend more than that, so I don't know what the shipping is normally.

It says, free shipping internationally.  Now I'm starting to second guess it with what you said.  >_<  I hope it's free!

-Arisu

blackbrich wrote:

Kinokuniya
is my favorite by far. I usually pay around 8 per manga and shipping is based on amount ordered. It goes from $6-$11. Over 100 dollars is free shipping. I usually do larger orders to cut down on shipping. I live in the US btw.

I tried this website, but I wasn't able to figure out how to finish my buy.  It only says to send it to a store from what I saw, and I don't live anywhere near those stores.  TT-TT

-Arisu

I'd go with Yesasia, free shipping for over $39 as stated above. Each item says "Related Promotions" next to it'll say eligible for free shipping if it is--and most are. There's a huge amount of stuff for like $5.99 and they ship pretty fast.

I admit they Kinokuniya is not the most user friendly website, but ill attempt to explain.

I had to use them because most of the manga I wanted were volume 1 that YesAsia didn't seem to stock anymore.

1. Go to Kinokuniya and select your country. I assume USA.


2. Click the link that says Japanese Books to make sure you actually search within Japanese and not English


3.Search for a book that you want. I used One Piece as an example.
Sidenote: I reccommend searching for the book on Amazon.co.jp, finding the ISBN, then searching the ISBN here because Amazon's search is much better


4. Note the book icon, it means that the book is available in a USA store. If it doesn't have it means it either is in Japan or they don't have it in stock at their stores at the moment


5. On the right side is the list of stores where it is available and the price is in red. I used the New York store for this example.


6. Note the top says New York, San Francisco etc. These are the different stores that you are ordering from. When you select your books they are all shipped from the same store.
Also if the options are in Japanese, there is an option for English.


7. On the order page you need to check the button that says "Credit Card payment upon delivery". Then you put down your delivery information down as well.

Last edited by blackbrich (2012 May 13, 5:14 pm)

Yay!  I'll be able to buy two!  I've decided on Kamisama Hajimemashita and Yumeiro Patissiere!  Than you Blackbrich, you've been a big help with figuring out that website!

-Arisu

blackbrich wrote:

Yeh store doesn't matter, they'll ship anywhere.  I've order from San Fran, New York, LA, and Seattle so far. I live in Auburn, AL and near nothing. lol. I'd much rather walk into a physical store.

No problem. I'm glad I could help, because I avoided them for a year thinking they didn't deliver lol.

Same here!  I don't care for online stores very much, especially when I can't very much trust too many things online...  It takes me a while to believe things will work out with something I've tried for the first time.  That's why I'm sooo happy for the trustworthy recommendations.  <3

-Arisu

chamcham wrote:

One of the big advantages of an online store is the huge inventory.

Physical stores simply can't hold as many books as an online store
(which can have large warehouses full of books). For retail stores,
space is limited and so they can only put so many books on their shelves.

There is a Sanseido bookstore (japanese bookstore chain) in Chicago.
That's probably the closest physical Japanese bookstore near your home.

Store: http://www.yelp.com/biz/sanseido-book-s … on-heights
Pics: http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/buZ42UZj … Ch68iapVjA

I've ordered from Kinokuniya before and haven't had any problems.
They have physical bookstores in the following US cities:

New York City, New York
Los Angeles Little Tokyo, California
San Francisco, Japantown, California
San Jose, California
Seattle, Washington
Costa Mesa, California
Beaverton, Oregon
West Nyack, New York (closed)

Well, that's why I'm going to use Kinokuniya.  Though, I have to wait until tomorrow because I still need a little more cash before I can go ahead and buy them.  Otherwise, I'm soooo ready to get my first Raw Manga.  YAY!

-Arisu

And that's the reason why living in the Southeast sucks.
Though there are Korean and Vietnamese bookstores near my parents place.

If you ever have any plans to visit Japan, just plan to stock up on manga there. It's dirt cheap. Used bookstores sell them for like 100 yen per book.

nohika wrote:

I will say, that probably isn't the best habit to develop (answering people using Japanese words, or even working them into your conversation). It really makes you look like a weeaboo and will make more serious students of Japanese (as well as normal people) despise you. And will annoy your teachers.

Edit: Plus, if you miss a meaning/get it incorrect and it ends up being more offensive than you'd think, it ends up being just a nasty situation.

I don't to sound rude to you ever, but I don't really care how anyone who is/n't learning Japanese cares.  I'm learning so much better when I actually say it out loud and want to use it in verbal sentences.  Without that motivation, I wouldn't be learning the language at all.

Now, I also belief that the fluent people out would also have to deal with it too, because no one learns things without falling a few 100 times before becoming an expert. 

Otherwise, I'll be sure to politely apologize for being rude...

-Arisu

Does no one else use amazon.co.jp?  The shipping is admittedly crazy expensive, and the surcharge per book does suck, but if you plan things out well, you can get books for a fairly reasonable price. 
The trick is to buy a large amount at once (at least $100 worth of books), and to look for bundles of entire series.  When you buy an entire series in a bundle, the surcharge applies to the entire bundle instead of per book.  You can expect to pay $6-$10 per book once you've added in the surcharges and shipping fees.
Right now though, Book Off is the greatest thing ever.  Whenever I go to Vancouver, I have to visit Book Off at least once.  For example, they had the entire Hana Yori Dango series (34 books) for $70 CDN.  The majority of the books there are $2, and they look brand new.

I would also recommend not answering people in Japanese.  Unless they speak Japanese themselves, it will become really irritating really quickly.  Why not find a language exchange partner to practice speaking with instead?  That way they can correct you, and you can carry on a full conversation with someone who will want to answer you in Japanese.  If you get Skype on your computer and start posting on Lang-8, you'll have no problem finding people to talk to.