Brought to you by our resident Muchoman, Sanma.

Written on 29/1/01

The problem for people who go to Japan with the intent of buying anime, is that they don't meditate on what they want to purchase. The second someone arrives in Japan and they see a poster of their favourite anime for $50, they buy it. *looks at poster in room of Naru* God knows I did.

Sanma's Tips

1. First of all, when it comes to buying anime, ask yourself these questions:

Does it have something to do with your favourite series?
Will there be a use for it when you get back to Australia/home country?
Can you make a use for it when you get back to Australia/Home country?
Will it work in Australia (if it is a NTSC tape, different region coded DVD, or the power supply is different)?
Is it worth what you are paying for it?

Of course, you wouldn't want to waste your money on something that you can't use when you get back home. Shop wisely.

2. If you are looking for manga specifically, they are the easiest of all to find. Find any store that has this kanji over it  :本 If you can't read it, click here. These are the book stores, where they have series after series of different Manga. If it isn't on the shelf, ask an assistant. Most can speak enough English to understand, but if not, refer to the bottom of this page.

3. Make sure you can actually READ the manga. No use in buying a manga which is full of kanji and you can't read it. The best choice for people who can read hiragana and katakana is to get a version (if there is one) of the particular manga which has the hiragana and katakana written on top of the kanji (eg. Rurouni Kenshin and Love Hina).

4. Now, if you are looking for videos to purchase, most of the ones you will get your hands on will be raw Japanese.  The places to find videos are the big anime stores, but make sure at home you have an NTSC video player. Don't worry though, most video machines made in the last few years should have this feature built in. The videos you pick up in Japan will most likely not have been released in America/Australia yet.

If you are looking for more *AHEM* adult anime titles go to an anime store and hit the 'basement' button. ^^;;

5. There isn't obvious anime plastered all over the streets. I actually didn't find an anime shop until we reached Kyoto, which was probably because the days before we had only done travelling. But when you do find these stores, you hit jackpot. Some anime stores are a few levels high, each level specialising in one area, DVDs, CDs, VHS, etc.

These are the stores where you spend the most money. I spent close to $230 in the hour I got lost in the 4 storey Kyoto anime shop. When shopping for anime, budget like all hell. Don't, I repeat, Don't take all your money with you. Take as much as you WANT to spend on anime at that time. There are other anime stores in Japan, and you will most likely find what you want at another store too.

6. You can also get anime figurines in those machines which are filled with little toys. Costs around $2 and the claw machines are fairer than the Australian versions. :)

Useful Currency Conversions

$700 = Y39000
$100 = Y5590
$50  =  Y2795
$10  =  Y559
(at least at the time of writing)

Useful Phrases When Shopping

Sumimasen, *anime title* wa arimasuka? - Excuse me, do you have *anime title*?
Kore wa ikura desu ka? - How much is this?
And when you walk into any store, the assistant will say
Irashaimase!
Don't worry, it scared me too.