Do you import Japanese light novels? If yes, what service do you usually use to purchase them?
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@the-green-death said in Do you import Japanese light novels? If yes, what service do you usually use to purchase them?:
Man, there used to be a Kinokuniya ten minutes from my apartment in Orange County, so so bummed when it closed. Then this year my favorite Japanese tea supplier shut down its American options, the slow decline of physical retail spaces is depressing. Honestly, there’s almost no stores in the OC that I’m interested in anymore beyond Barnes and Noble and Games Workshop stores.
I still remember I used to order my books from SasugaBooks (based in Cambridge, Massachusetts) roughly 10-20 years ago, and even visited their booth at Anime Weekend Atlanta... They closed for good in 2010 I think, and I had to switch over to amazon and bk1 (which became Honto).
Anyway, if there's a Kinokuniya in Atlanta, I'd definitely visit there like at least once a week... Alas, it wasn't meant to be.
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Ok so possibly silly question, where can I purchase the Japanese version of the light novels? I think i want to use the series to learn to read Japanese. Starting from vol 1 part 1 of course :D This series is inspiring to say the least.
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Hello I have moved your post from the Bookworm topic to here.
You may be able to find the answer in this topic p, otherwise someone will hopefully be able to give you an answer.
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@Willowrose The first page lists a number of responses. I still use Amazon Japan and eBay, but Amazon has increased the shipping from 950 to 1300 or more yen per 700 yen book...
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@Willowrose just buy ebooks on amazon
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I looked on Amazon but can only find the English version of the series I am after, unless I am way doing this wrong.
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Here is V1 on Amazon JP
Edit: I believe they are also doing some kind of reprint under the To Books Junior label?
Hopefully @hiroto could shed some more light on that, is the new To Junior Label reprint easier to read, or simplified in anyway?
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Ahhh thank you!!! It only ever showed me english version on Taj Amazon.jp site before.
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@Rahul-Balaggan
The junior edition is a version with furigana so it's easier for younger people to read it.
Compare the preview of the Junior edition (https://viewer-trial.bookwalker.jp/03/8/viewer.html?cid=6050829d-228d-4b38-904d-dba1a397d1e9&cty=0) to the regular version (https://viewer-trial.bookwalker.jp/03/8/viewer.html?cid=dc74df88-0644-445b-a652-ae1f60d999db&cty=0).
Each Junior edition is half the size of a regular edition, so while they have volume four coming out in June that's still only Part 1. They also have more illustrations than the regular edition, for example in the second Junior edition there is an illustration where the kids are hunting shumils in one of the side stories form the first (regular) volume. In the first regular volume there were 09 black and white illustrations, while in the first two junior editions (which covered the same story content) there were 11+8=19 black and white illustrations, furthermore the junior editions have little manga pages at the end which is something we only see in the regular editions from volume 7 onward. -
In that case to me, it seems like the junior edition would be the better one to get for people who are starting to learn Japanese.
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@SomeOldGuy This has gotten really annoying lately. I've still got all my recent purchases for the old price, but in future I will only order in bulk. It simply isn't worth it anymore to buy only one, or two books.
💖Always be yourself, unless you can be a unicorn - then be a unicorn!💖
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@Clarabelle There's sort of a sweet spot around 10 volumes, I think. Since the first book has way higher shipping costs than the first one, ten books is about where additional books stop making much difference. And once I had 14 books on an order and they didn't use any plastic wrap, so the stacks were loose in the box and a few were damaged. This has made me gunshy about ordering too many at a time...
Translator for Discommunication and Last and First Idol. (Not Bookworm.)
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@doceirias I don't care that much about damaged books, I'm not that hard of a collector. I already got a few damaged books (the obis are nearly each time in tatters, but so what, I don't need them), but since I don't handle my books with kid gloves (you really need to see my oldest manga, a true collector would drop dead from seeing it) I'm not that worried about it. Quite some time ago I cared about this, but now I can only laugh while looking back at it.
💖Always be yourself, unless you can be a unicorn - then be a unicorn!💖
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@Clarabelle I'm not talking mangled obi (those are garbage anyway, I take 'em off and throw them away the second I unpack) but straight up covers folded in half and pages mangled.
Translator for Discommunication and Last and First Idol. (Not Bookworm.)
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@doceirias I've experienced this too, but like I've already said, a true collector would probably scream, but to me it's enough to own them. Of course, if there are pages completly ripped through it's another matter, but I can live with small tears on the pages and folds in the cover, or in the whole book (each time I managed to straight them out again).
I've seen far worse in my local bookstores, you don't believe what they sell as new. I simply had no other choice than becoming tolerant to such matters. Either I want them, or I don't. -
@SomeOldGuy Out of curiosity, does bookstoron also create auctions for books out of print/used, if you ask them? There are some books I really want, but unfortunately you can’t get them new anymore and so far, I haven’t found any auctions for them.
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@LurkingMcLurk wow thats actually something I was looking for. Light novels filled to the brim with furigana. Seems like I need to go on a shopping spree.
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@BookPrincess said in Do you import Japanese light novels? If yes, what service do you usually use to purchase them?:
does bookstoron also create auctions for books out of print/used, if you ask them?
If they can get access to them, they have for me. It doesn't hurt to ask if they have them available, since their eBay auctions seem to only be a fraction of what they have. Just pick one of their auctions and send a message to the seller.
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@Rahul-Balaggan said in Do you import Japanese light novels? If yes, what service do you usually use to purchase them?:
new To Junior Label reprint easier to read, or simplified in anyway?
Only difference of the text is the ruby. I saw the author tweeting that it was tempting to go through it again to do cleanup editing but at the end it was deemed to become endless amount of work so she gave up.
I'm rather surprised by that because this label is definitely targeted for elementary schooler reader. I'm not sure how parents would answer if the a kid asks "what is flower offering?" for some of adult themed topics.
