Gaming A matter of Import, What's the best way to buy from Japan?

[Sir Auron]

I've been drooling over a couple of Japanese PS2 games for the past couple of days, and since they are more than likely never going to be localized, I've been wondering, what have you guys found to be the best site to import games from?

...Venus and Braves...
Damn you Namco! :animecry:

and also does anyone know which site still sell final fantasy x international that comes with the bonus disk ?

[Kamuro]

I'm sure japanese game's have some kind of import export site you could buy from, I guess it depends on the game, I've only bought a few things out of country, and its definitely expensive, I don't think I've been let down yet though, just make sure to read reviews, walkthroughs, etc. of the game to make sure its something your interested before you actually go through the process of buying it, it just takes awhile to find the right provider

[Purple Haze]

toysnjoys.com has a good selection of import games. I bougfht a US. hack outbreak from and it got here within a week. It also has the FFX International version.

[Semjaza]

There's a lot of places, but they're all of varying quality. I tend to import from eBay because you usually get the best prices.

Try these places:

[url]http://us.yesasia.com/en/index.aspx[/url]
[url]www.otaku.com[/url]
[url]www.lik-sang.com[/url]

Unfortunately, most places charge a lot for shipping. It's not cheap to send even a CD or DVD out from Japan to another country. A lot of these places charge more than retail for the items as well, regardless of how old they are.

So again, I recommend eBay. I've gotten some nice imports for decent prices for all sorts of systems.

[James]

[color=#B0251E]I've only ever purchased from one place, when it comes to importing from Japan. That was at Lik-Sang.com.

Basically, shipping [i]is[/i] quite expensive, as Tony mentions. However, Lik-Sang do offer free shipping with some specific products (though this does depend on the product). Still, it really depends how long you are prepared to wait.

The upside of Lik-Sang, from my own experience, is twofold. One, there are a ton of payment methods - more than I've seen elsewhere (I am forever thankful for their bank transfer option). Also, you get tremendous quality in terms of the service. Even their packaging is very solid and high quality - in fact, whenever you order an item, you even receive a bunch of glossy Lik-Sang stickers. In other words, there are a few small touches that give the whole thing a good quality feel.

So, I'd recommend them on my own experience; I found them to be highly reliable and to offer plenty of options and services. If you do end up buying from them, at least you have seen a strong endorsement from someone else who has used them. But whatever you go for should be fine - I think eBay is definitely a good option if you want a cheaper used item particularly (and cost can be a big factor with online purchases from Japan, as indicated).[/color]

[Sir Auron]

thanks all of you for the reccomendations. Because im going to buy a few ps2 rpgs that will never released for the US version, such as Tales of Rebirth, Tales of Symphonia and perhaps Radiata Stories.

[Semjaza]

[quote name='Sir Auron']thanks all of you for the reccomendations. Because im going to buy a few ps2 rpgs that will never released for the US version, such as Tales of Rebirth, Tales of Symphonia and perhaps Radiata Stories.[/quote]

Well, we don't really know that yet. Namco has said they likely won't bother with the PS2 version of Symphonia, but that's understandable. Every preview of it in the past has not been very impressive: worse graphics and some added stuff that really is of little consequence. I don't see why anyone would bother importing it, especially when you need good Japanese knowledge to read any of it in the first place.

Nothing has been said about those other two one way or another. I'd wait till E3 passes and see what's been announced. Rebirth has a good chance since Symphonia did rather well here on a system that's generally considered a lost cause for third parties. Logic would dictate it would do even better on PS2. As for Radiata Stories, I expect an annoucement for it. It did very well in Japan and it's not something that's beyond US RPG audiences.

Sometimes RPGs aren't announced for US release until months after their Japanese counterparts have already been in stores. I'd not jump to conclusions just yet.

[Tatsubei Yagyu]

Yea. I wanted to import Naruto Ps2 Games, but it looks like they're coming where... I so unsure, someone help me... :animecry:

But and way, another good place to go is Play-Asia.com.