Hi ozbargainers! It's coming to the end of my Japan trip and I would like to know what do you guys think are the must buys in Japan! I realise there is an existing thread https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/105843
but that's from 2013. Let's hear the updated list;-)
What to buy in Japan (2018 version)
Johnny L on 18/03/2018 - 22:52
Comments
- 1
- 2
Where were you looking? T-shirts will usually be about $70AUD. You should be able to flip for about $110-160AUD on eBay depending on the popularity. Try and buy items separately so that you can sell them with the shopping bag and receipt.
Supreme doesn't sell through any other retailers only their own stores. They have limited stores in USA, Japan, England, and France and you can only buy from their online if using an address and credit card from one of those countries, even then stock on the online store is limited.
As mentioned by MissG the stuff you saw was most likely fake.
Is this for real, cos i'll stock up for sure when i go.
Really real.
Thursdays is when they put out new items. If you wanna make some good cash line up from the night before (Hey it's a unique experience lining up with all the hypebeasts) as the popular stuff will sell out straight away.
You can check out www.highsnobiety.com to see what will be releasing and get an idea of what will be popular. If there's a North Face x Supreme collaboration those are always popular and you can make a good return on investment.
Thanks for the tips. I look forward to my supreme shopping spree.
Go to hard-off and buy second hand electrical for a few dollars, in immaculate condition ;)
Akihabara it is then :-)
Oh, that particular hard-off only has music equipment :(
And Akihibara in general, is overpriced now. Worth going to a maid cafe though.
Agreed, unless there's a specific item/range which you want which you weren't able to order or try beforehand such as specific accessories (eg iPhone case, Surface accessories - since Surface devices seem really popular there!), etc…
Avoid the one in AKihabara. The best Hard-Off's to go to are the one in the residential areas. Cheaper prices and often a better range.
What is a hard-off and maid cafe?
Hard-off is just a second hand store, bit like cash converters. it originated as book-off which dealt with second hand books, they extended their range and started to open hard-off to sell all manner of "hard" goods from clothing, golf clubs, to video games and consoles, etc…. The thing that makes hard-off(or any second hand goods in Japan) stand out from our cash converters are that the Japanese take good care of their stuff, they often keep all the original packaging and boxes, so when they sell it off, they are often in immaculate, like new condition.
Maid cafe is just a french maid theme cafe, where they staff are dressed as french maids(ones you see in anime) and treat you as if you were their master. In most cases they are very innocent and no the place if you want to act sleezy.
Buy a body pillow, but make sure to get the two way tricot (top of the line) material. It'll be worth it.
I'm guessing I have to buy a certain device to complete the body pillow too?;-)
I know nothing dirty. A simple $25 pillow from Big W or Target is all I know.
Mitsubishi delica L400. Virtually free in Japan, sell for $10-15k here
A whole van?! That's another level right there lol
More than 1 if possible
Are there any import duties? And how much would shipping be?
High end alcohol is pretty cheap compared to oz. Be careful of importing limits.
Homeaffairs.gov: "If you are aged 18 years or over, you can bring 2.25 litres of alcoholic beverages duty free into Australia with you, regardless of whether you are travelling as a passenger or crew member. All alcoholic beverages in accompanied baggage are included in this category, regardless of where or how they were purchased."
make sure your not stopping by another country or you may get caught out. e.g. malaysia is only 1 litre per person… luckily we snuck through. the aus trip leg was 2.25 litres so not an issue.
It's a good question. Ten years back there would have been more stuff you can "pick up" but nowadays not much. BIC camera building might find something? Otherwise you know hmmm try maid cafes while you are there? Can't really pick that up and come back here mate.
I thought I wanted to experience maid cafe until I YouTubed it. I don't think I'll survive the cringe haha
Honestly, I was taken there by my girlfriend, and it felt pretty cringey. 80% guys (most of them on the older side), one of them had a photo book with him filled with photos of him and the maids… You even got an ID card stating that you were a "Level 1 Master", or something of that ilk.
Good desserts though.
4/10
I would rather a hedgehog cafe
The experience is pretty mediocre and it's pricey as well. I'd consider it a once off 'adventure'.
Gundam, lots and lots of Gundam.
Genmaicha. I believe I bought mine from Kyoto station. My all time favourite tea. :)
Both times I have been to Japan I ended up buying LEGO, it was ridiculously cheap compared to local markets, I deboxed it and just had the loose baggies padding out my luggage.
This is surprising to hear! The last 2 times I was in Japan (2015 and 2016) I found that LEGOs in general were either relatively the same price if not some times more expensive than it is in Australia after currency conversion and discounting the tax.
Mind you though, the exchange rate wasn't great being at 88JPY and 85JPY to the AUD respectively.
Do you remember where you got them from? Heading to Japan at the end of year, and wouldn't mind picking up some LEGOs this time around if it can be had for a bargain =D.
Thanks.
Go to a Don Quijote store and pick up some suntory alochol can drinks, lollies. Bring a packet of Mevius menthol smokes back to aus.
Audio equipment, Japanese knives, Models (Lego etc.), Retro gaming consoles, Tea
zojirushi thermos bottles, I got mine on my trip in 2016 and love it, I use it everyday and it keeps things cold/hot for ages!
Go to Tokyo Hands for stationary, I love the Japanese Pilot pens but they'd cost me about $6-$8 each in australia, and only about 100 yen in Japan, stock up!
Pokemon centre goods, Ghibli, if you like building stuff check out Kigumi, you can get there here too, but again, much dearer.
I personally perferred Ikebukuro over Akiba, but check out places like K-books, animate, Donguri, Mandarake for retro games and goods, kiddy land for licensed goods, disney store, Village Vanguard was an awesome store to visit as well, retro goods as well as books, manga, licensed goods, etc.
If you're into tech goods, a massive selection of laptops, phones, cameras and lenses at BIC Camera. I loved it there. It helped me decide on which laptop I wanted to buy. I honetly wish I bought an additional lens there as well.
How is communicating with locals over there? Is there a language barrier?
You still need to have google translate around
You can get by with very basic phrases, and a lot of the places in metro areas will have english speaking citizens.
This, I speak very very limited Japanese (those that can't form sentences, mostly from animes) and I could find my way no problems. Anything more complicated than basic communications u would still need google translate, but other than that I had no problems. I could read chinese, which is their kanji, that helped a bit tho
I learned how to say, thank you, sorry, and yes whilst I was there. Had no issues with anything (except for figuring out how to get the first train out of the airport to our AirBnb).
I only knew thank you, sorry, sashimi, sushi, takoyaki, chahan, ramen, okonomiyaki. Well you know the idea lol
The hardest part for me was to understand prices when paying at cashier, but they always give me calculator with price entered. Also, when asking for direction, make sure you read the name of places you want to go in Japanese, not English was of reading Japanese, they will happily point, take you there, or draw you a map.Did they give you an unpleasant or patience-less look when trying to communicating or are they friendly with foreigners? Thanks.
They are very friendly! Even to the point of looking guilty when they don't understand you! Don't worry 😊
Company called Calbee make a potato chip snack called Jagabees. Load up on those, they are amazing.
waifu
your waifu is trash.
Tobacco and square watermelons
How long are you in Japan for if you don't mind me asking? You might get a chance to see the cherry blossoms.
I'm heading home tomorrow! I got lucky coz it so happens that cherry blossom blooms early this year, so I got to see them, it's so beautiful:-)
Really? Where did you see them? I know they are blooming early but I haven't seen many yet (I live in Yokohama).
Hakone, I think it was somewhere close to Hakone station. It was a random spot and we just stopped to take pictures
it's snowing today. I hope it won't delay your flight and that you enjoyed your trip to Japan.
Old nikon film cameras…a lot of them.
Best places to buy?
There are heaps of camera shops around Japan, but the 2 that I like are located in Tokyo.
- Fujiya Camera in Nakano, http://www.fujiya-camera.co.jp/2015taxfree.shtml (the duty free page is the only one that's in English. Be warned that you may be promoted with something in Japanese, it's asking if you want push notification, grey button is "ask later(no)" blue button is "accept")
- Map Camera in Shinjuku. https://www.mapcamera.com/html/worldguide/english_page.html
Brilliant, heading there in May and will check them out. Thank you.
Yamazaki or Hashuku Whiskey. Easily flip for double the price at least or enjoy it yourself.
Thanks for all your input guys! I went to most stores mentioned above, and ended up over budget (x2….) being a true ozbargainer, I can proudly say they're mostly bargains. Most honorable mention is don quijote, geeze that store has almost everything. Beware of the long queue at the tax free counter tho, I had to go back twice because it was just too long…
Matcha KitKat
Toyota Century
panasonic ion hair dryer, modhair hair curler, a few other electronic items suitable for overseas use.
From Donki, Bic Camera
I usually go in the morning to avoid the long queuesRoyce chocolate is pretty special. Must be kept cold though so needs ice packs to bring home
They sell it in Chatswood Westfield (Sydney) now. There's a Royce store inside near the Anderson St entrance on the Hurricane's Grill side.
A friend brought us two boxes of chocolate and matcha Royce chocolates years ago direct from Japan and yes, they taste pretty special!
Last time I was there I bought a Denon DP300F turntable for about $230, cost me $70 to ship back and $20 for the step-down transformer and still came well under the price they were here (over $650). In fact most of their vinyl stuff is cheap there, so its definitely worth a look.
If you prefer not to spend so much on branded teas, go to a grocery store / supermarket and pick up some local Matcha/Green Teas including Genmaicha, Hojicha etc. Their local equivalent to perhaps what you find here such as Lipton Green Tea or even T2 stuff, are much better. And it is not too expensive for a box of say 20 bags.
And since you are at the grocery store, grab random chocolates/biscuits etc.
Also pick up some of those miniature bottles of Yamazaki/Hibiki/Hakushu from convenience stores - they are relatively cheap and awesome as gifts to friends and families.
i usually buy rice toppings in daiso, Jagabee potato chips
Retro video games!
Womens nickers in vending machines. Found mine in Akihabara top level. at the back of porn store.
Watches are pretty cheap. bought about 4 when i was there.Dunno if it's already been said but the Nikka Samurai whisky can only be bought at Narita duty free afaik. It is 5000yen but the resale is like $$$$.
Nick's sell for $400.
https://www.nicks.com.au/nikka-gold-gold-samurai-armour-helm…
Whether it's a good drop? Who knows.
Is it legal to resell alcohol? Where so people sell it? eBay?
If you can pick me up lots of model trains and tracks that would be great.
Don't know if you are interested but saw a rich Chinese guy got a trolley of Hibiki 17/Yamazaki 18 from the airport duty free shop
we got a couple of 1000 piece jigsaw puzzles as souvenirs one of the entire train system and the other of sushi.
watches
Definitely loads of tea if you drink green tea. hojicha etc. Snacks and food is an obvious one if you want ot be typical tourist.
ON the alcoholic side if you arent' fussed about the top aged whisky you can just grab bottles of the no age statement from convenience stores. for example you pay $30-40 (3000-4000 yen) for most of the chita, miyagikyo etc. i saw it being sold for $80 something here on an advertisement for a liquor store and so forth.
also try uniqlo. i found the japanese uniqlo shirts and pants suit me. the same product in other uniqlos around the world are sized different. it might be the same for you?
At Tokyo Station (Marunouchi) you can get regional snacks and regional kit kats. Handy because obviously you don't have to go to the region to get the exclusive flavour. My suggestion is nagoya cakes from Nagoya France which are boxed in 12 ( 6 chocolate 6 green tea) they have blue packaging with a chefs hat Imagine Italian sponge finger but soft with a delicious filling. The station is a great place to stock up on food souvenirs.
I'm after stuff like Guess Jeans, Polo Ralph Polo shirts, Adidas originals, Microsoft Surface Pro ?
Where would I find them for cheaper in Japan ? in Tokyo or Osaka ? Which shops ?
- 1
- 2
anything supreme has a great resale value
im going in two weeks ;D