Ordering Light Novels and CDs Direct from Amazon Japan

Up to now I’ve always used a proxy service when buying from Amazon Japan. They do offer a lot of direct shipping, but only for a limited set of categories. Recently I found out that galge OSTs and light novels can ship direct now, so I figured I’d give it a shot.

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Sorry, wrong image.

This is the one:

Three items in the order, and the catch is they have to be sold directly by Amazon.

Amazon Japan shipped it out fast, and then I got a notice from DHL telling me to register and declare what was in the package.

I’d done this before with some other forwarder, but this time there were way more requirements…

Before, you just wrote stuff like “one book,” “one disc.” This time not only do you have to write that, you also have to write the actual titles of the disc and the book, and translate them into Chinese…

Holy shit. What I bought was the OST for Imouto Paradise! 3. How the hell am I supposed to translate that?! The novels are fine, but this is a nukige OST!

I sat there for ages, and in the end there was nothing for it—I had to get a little literary with it.

Submitted!

Approved! Holy shit!

Arrived!

And it wasn’t even slow. After the tax refund the shipping was cheap too—all in all, way cheaper than using a proxy.

Just be careful: if what you’re buying isn’t sold directly by Amazon Japan, you can’t use direct shipping. Also… even if it is direct, you’d better pick stuff that leaves you some room to translate…

Imouto Paradise! can be rendered as “A Sister in Heaven,” but good luck trying to translate something like “Natsuiro Mitsuase” or “Imouto o Yogoshita Kioku”…