I saw some Japanese language site, in Japan which sold
effects, even the same ones sold in the US, for
reasonable prices, but that is not what I paid
attention to.

After seeing an appearance of "cigarette through card"
in a Japanese magic store on TV (forgot the name of
that place too), I looked up magic stores online.

The ones I've seen with good selections (I've made
sizable purchases from three sites myself, for pickup
when I go home), would be happy to ship
internationally, for reasonable rates. If you are
comfortable shopping for magic goods online at home,
you can do it from Japan, too. I still say good books
and what he puts together himself could give your son
tons of material.

There are just too many sites available, but after some
hours of looking, I bought from:

http://www.amazon.com and http://www.amazon.co.jp
(of course) for books. read reviews in English at the
US site. just insert "com" instead of "co.jp" in the
url for each book.

http://www.magictricks.com
they claim over 1,500 effects in stock. took me hours
to look at just tricks for beginners.

http://www.abra4magic.com
original effects, and nice little demo videos

http://www.penguinmagic.com
some awesome stuff I've seen professionals use on tv,
and more I have never seen. nice large size demos.

Very reasonable. Except for a couple of videos,
including Banachek on bending metal, didn't spend more
than about ten dollars on any one effect. I'd love to
do card through window type effects to freak some
people out, but that's too much.

I'm going to have some fun with fire when I come back
to Japan.