During my last Akihabara trip for the Tokyo PC I was asked by a newcomer to 
Japan whether
there was a possibility to participate to "some degree" at "Yahoo Japan!
Shopping", "Rakuten", or "kakaku.com" since his Japanese reading skills
weren't up to date yet. I couldn't, but I have told him that some knowledge
of katakana/hiragana. and some additional ideas would get him to the items
he was looking for. It's sometimes even hard to find things for native
Japanese if they don't know the proper term for the item! There were other
people in the past who have asked whether there was an easier way than
spending many hours in Akihabara, and finally saving very little for the
whole effort of window shopping.



OK, here is how I found out yesterday when my correct Japanese input didn't
return anything, although there should be plenty on the Internet.
I stumbled into a local denki store, spotted a couple women sitting/lying in
those huge massage chairs. One chair was still free, so I decided to try it
myself. After I found out the most comfortable settings, I must have fallen
asleep. Finally I was woken up by a salesman since another customer wanted
to try this model.
I knew the model number, the high price (445,000 yen), but not the
manufacturer's name. Back at home, I wanted to know how much these gadgets
were sold at discount prices. "Massage chair" in katakana was found for
products from National but not from the other unknown maker. Then I googled
for the model number, got very much in return, and was really surprised what
I have missed over the years. and probably wouldn't want to know how much
more I have paid to Yodobashi or Bic Camera altogether.

Here are some of the outlets, but there might be more:



http://kakaku.com

http://shopping.yahoo.co.jp/

http://www.bestgate.net/

http://www.rakuten.co.jp/



If someone knows more of these outlets, please share them!!!



Open one of the mentioned sites and type the model number in the empty cell
at the top. Once this is done, hit Enter, and you'll find the item, its
picture, the shop, address, phone number and the price! The rest should be
no problem.
Check all these outlets since one can be better than the other, depending on
the item. Believe it or not, the 445,000 yen massage chair (called "medical
chair" by this manufacturer) was 268,000 yen at one shop. That's a stunning
177,000 yen (speak: one-hundred-and-seventy-seven yen)!
I even found my desired Casio EX-Z850 for 400 yen less than before (now
32,200 yen; 49,800 at Laox).
It's really worthwhile     to search all of the outlets if the article cost
a bit more, and you are not in the league of Bill Gates.



And now I can only say: Happy Shopping!




----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Unrestricted-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups
----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----