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Searching Japanese Sites for Merchandise |
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Friday, 01 December 2006 |
I have found a very good method for searching for merchandise on sites like Amazon Japan. (Amazon Japan is one of the few sites I know of in Japan that ships to the United States). When I go to such a site, I usually am looking for Sentai related stuff, so I will use such a search as an example.
First, you need to install the Japanese language pack for your operating system. For me, that is Windows XP. Go to Control Panel (Classic View) >> double-click Region and Language Settings. In the window that pops up, click the Languages tab. Click the checkboxes that say both "Install files for complex script and ...blah blah blah," as well as "Install files for East Asian Languages." Then, after the install process is done, reboot your computer.
Then, go to Wikipedia. If you are wanting to find items related to Abaranger, search and find the Abaranger page. Copy and paste the Kanjii (Japanese Characters) that represent the show's title (they will be in parenthases). Copy everything up to the ",-" .
Then, go to Google Translate and use the url input box (the one at the bottom of the page). Type in the site you are going to be searching. For example here, I will type in "http://amazon.jp." Then, make sure that "Japanese to English BETA" is selected in the translation option box. Then, hit "go."
Once the translated site is loaded, simply copy and paste the Kanjii characters into the search box. Your results will come up. Don't forget that the translation may be a bit rough.
Should you choose to buy anything, you must register, and don't forget the conversion between your currency and that of the Japanese Yen.
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There is an easier way to buy stuff from Yahoo! Auctions Japan. You go to Rinkya, a Japanese Auction and Shopping service. You pay a deposit (minimum $100) and can bid up to 5x that amount. You simply then search in English, and bid your items. Rinkya will then pay, and ship the item to you after it is shipped to them. Pretty sweet!
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There are sites like Discount Anime DVD.com, which do have Sentai.
Of course, for techno toys, see Dynamism.
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