Japan, made easy.

What I do

Run into any of these?

I can help with all three.

Find it in Japan

No idea which shop has it? Start here.

Type a series or a brand and I'll send you straight into the Japanese shops that stock it — no Japanese needed. Found something? Send me the link and I'll take it from there.

• Mercari and Yahoo! Auctions are private sellers — they need a Japanese address and account. I bid and buy for you.
• Knives, including kitchen knives, can go to some countries and not others. Ask me before you order one.
• Shop not listed here? That's fine — if it's a Japanese site, I can almost certainly buy from it.

Sound familiar?

If it's for sale in Japan, I can get it for you.

How it works

Eight steps, two payments. Here's exactly when.

I can't work out the shipping until your item is here on my scale. That's the whole reason for the split.

1. 01

   Send me a request

   A link, a photo, or just a description — any of those works.

2. 02

   I send you a quote

   Within two business days, itemised, with a payment link in the same email. Nothing is charged until you use it.

3. 03
   Payment 1

   Items, domestic shipping, service fee

   I only buy once this clears. Never before.

4. 04

   I buy it

   You get the order receipt.

5. 05

   It lands — I weigh and measure it

   Photos of the real thing, plus its actual weight and size.

6. 06

   I email you the shipping cost

   Not an estimate — the real number, with a few shipping options to pick from.

7. 07
   Payment 2

   International shipping and packing

   I send you the weight, the number, and a second payment link.

8. 08

   I pack it and ship it

   Within two business days, with packing photos and your tracking number.

• Every parcel is tracked. I won't use untracked shipping, even when it's cheaper.
• Customs duties and import taxes aren't included. You pay those to the carrier on delivery.
• Shipping goes on whichever is bigger: actual weight, or volumetric weight (L × W × H ÷ 5000). Light but bulky things cost more than you'd think.

Shop online

Just send me a link. Even from shops that won't ship abroad.

Most Japanese shops only deliver inside Japan. I'll take delivery here, then send everything on to you.

• Flea-market and auction sites open up once my second-hand dealer licence comes through. I'll say so here when it does.
• Domestic shipping is charged at cost. Buying a few things from one shop keeps it down.

Shop runs · Tokyo 23 wards

If it never goes online, I'll go and get it.

The large proxy services are built on automation, so they can only buy from websites. Store exclusives, pop-ups, gachapon and stock that never makes it online need someone to physically walk in.

• I shop twice a week, and there's no travel fee.
• Need it by a specific date? That's a JPY 4,000 rush fee.
• If it's sold out when I get there, the JPY 3,000 still applies — I'll send you a photo of the shop.
• Outside the 23 wards — Kichijoji, Tachikawa, Yokohama — I can't go. I'll look online instead.

Lost property

Left something behind in a Japanese hotel? I'll get it to you.

Japanese hotels are good at keeping your things safe, sometimes for months. What they almost never do is post them overseas — the customs paperwork is in Japanese and nobody at the front desk wants to take that on. That part I can do.

1. Contact the hotel yourself first and confirm they still have it. This part only works coming from you.
2. Ask them to post it to your representative in Tokyo. I'll give you my name, address and contact details to pass on.
3. Send me the hotel, your dates, and what you left, using the form. The ¥3,000 to start is paid at this point.
4. I take it from there, in Japanese. They post it to me, and if it arrives cash-on-delivery I pay that end.
5. Once it reaches me I photograph it, so you can confirm it's the right thing.
6. I weigh it and send you one figure: the shipping plus the remaining ¥3,000. You pay, and it goes out with tracking.

• I can't handle passports, ID, cash, cards, bank books or medicine. For those, go to your embassy or deal with the hotel directly.
• Anything on the can't-send list stays on it, even when it's yours already. Those are airline rules, not mine.
• The hotel can be anywhere in Japan — Kyoto, Osaka, Hokkaido. It all happens by post, so it isn't limited to Tokyo.
• Left it somewhere other than a hotel — a station, a restaurant, a taxi, the airport? Ask me. What's possible depends on who's holding it.

Tell me what you left

Hello

I'm Natsumi. Born and raised in Tokyo.

I buy things in Japan for people overseas — from Japanese websites, and from actual shops here in Tokyo.

Ask me to track something down in a shop and I know which part of town, which floor, and which shop keeps what. I know how to ask the staff. When a listing is vague, I can read the fine print and check.

Don't know what it's called, or where to find it? Send it over anyway. Tracking things down is half the job.

What it costs

A base fee, plus 5% of what the items cost. That's it.

I don't count items. One thing or twenty, the fee for an order works out the same way.

The item price, the payment fee, and both shipping costs are money that passes straight through me to the shops and the carriers. None of it is mine. The service fee is the only part I earn.

Worked examples

Here's what the bill actually looks like, for all three services. The international shipping figures are Japan Post's published EMS rates.

• The 5% applies to the item cost only — not to shipping or packing.
• Asking for both online and in-person buying? Each base fee applies, but the 5% is charged once, on the total.
• There's a 3.6% payment fee — exactly what Stripe charges me, so I can't discount it.
• Item prices and domestic shipping inside Japan go through at cost. No markup.
• Everything is billed in Japanese yen. Your own card issuer converts it, so their exchange rate and any foreign transaction fee are between you and them.
• International shipping follows my rate table, and I confirm it once your item lands.
• This is a launch period: these rates hold for the first 50 orders.

What shipping costs

These are Japan Post's own published EMS rates.

Not my numbers — you can check them on Japan Post's own site. For heavier or bulkier parcels, courier is often cheaper, so I'll compare both and tell you which wins.

• Shipping goes on whichever is bigger: actual weight, or volumetric weight (L × W × H ÷ 5000). Light but bulky things cost more than you'd think.
• Packing starts at JPY 300. Reinforced packing is JPY 1,000 per box if you want it.
• Customs duties and import taxes are on top of this. You pay those to the carrier on delivery.
• Not in one of these three countries? That's fine — I'll look it up when I quote you.

What I can't send

Better you know before you ask.

Some of this is my own policy. The rest is banned outright as dangerous goods on aircraft.

Where people get caught out

Spelled out up front, so nothing surprises you later.

FAQ

Questions I get