Hi,
Does anyone have experience buying from Japan? There’s a lot of decent second-hand gear in prices better than in the UK. Sellers have thousands of good reviews from all around the globe. It’s just the fact if something goes wrong it’s a bit of a bother to return it.
I live here and wrote a guide 
It’s a few years old but still relevant
I’ve bought several from there but in person. Amazing instruments, quality and service.
This might sound dumb, but you might well be better off booking a cheap flight from the UK, make a holiday of it and hand carry a couple back. You get to experience Guitar Street and have a good ol’ play with a mind-blowing amount of basses. @howard ’s thread is still very relevant and bang on.
Customs charges will be eye-watering if you import. I looked into buying one from Spain and having it shipped here; it’s 20% of the total cost of the instrument plus shipping cost i.e. if the bass is £1,000 and shipping is £200, you’re looking at £240 minimum. Things become more complicated (expensive!) if, say, you buy an instrument from Japan that’s made in the US.
It also depends what you want to buy. Japanese instruments are awesome. Also, if you want an American made Fender, they’re about half the price of here.
Here’s my thread on my shopping experience in Japan in December last year:
Customs… I didn’t take that into account. Well, that changes a lot. Still worth considering if I find a bargain
It’s literally impossible to not find a bargain
Be sure to add 20% to the total cost and you shouldn’t be a million miles out.
I’m not sure I understood what you mean. Aren’t the customs charges the same whether you bring a bass from Japan with yourself than if you buy it through the Internet? The shipping costs would be enormous, but aren’t the customs charges the same?
Probably it is much nicer to travel there, because it would be an interesting experience and there would be so much interesting things to see, to experience, to eat and buy. I have never been to Japan, but I imagine if I went there, I would certainly come back with at least one bass, lots of fountain pens and tea! 
Yes and no. The customs charges would be the same, or at least they ought to be, but the difference is that if it’s shipped, you WILL pay customs charges. If you hand carry a bass through the red channel, you might get charged depending on how strict the customs officers are, what mood they’re in and your attitude towards them. If you hand carry through the green channel, then if you’re not stopped you don’t get charged. I hand carried two through last year and my wife had the other, we weren’t stopped.
In very general terms, the customs officers know exactly what and who they’re looking for, often working on intel gathered over a period of time. They’re not interested in a typical person carrying a musical instrument.
Now, in no way am I encouraging anyone to fly overseas every week and hand carry half a dozen bass guitars home every time. Personally, (and this is only my personal opinion based on my own experience) I think buying a bass and hand carrying home is a risk worth taking.
I love Japan and I’d live there if I could and I cannot recommend a trip there highly enough. The only problem is that you’re likely to meet @howard and he’ll make you buy at least three basses. He’s a bad influence 
As for fountain pens, I have a not insignificant Montblanc collection of various writing instruments, and they might well be cheaper there as they’re imported and the exchange rate is pretty awesome in our favour.
Everybody keep saying that!
I watched some videos about the music shopping centers in Tokyo and they are very impressive! Overwhelming, even! So many choices!
I like Pilot fountain pens, and my favourite is a Pilot Custom 823, which I bought from a Dutch shop thought the Internet. In Japan it would have been a lot cheaper. I sometimes watched YouTube videos about Japanese stores, and there were some huge stores with unbelievable assortments of fountain pen inks. So many different inks. The choices are endless! And things which can’t be found anywhere else. Japan seems to be a paradise for people who collect things!
They do have some very weird and wonderful items there. My wife picked me up some water bottle specific, ice lump makers for Christmas from there. When I train, I like my intra-workout drink to be particularly cold and normal ice cubes melt too quickly, even in an insulated bottle. These weird ice trays produce two cylinders; in the front elevation, they’re hexagonal shaped, about 45mm maximum diameter and about 100mm long. They’re amazing and can last all day. Never seen anything like them elsewhere.
When we were there last year, this lunatic department store called Don Quixote (you seriously have to go there!) had bags of Kit-Kat chocolate bars in the the widest array of flavours ever.
I also bought a couple pairs of Adidas shoes at almost half the price of here.
Seriously, Andrea. Go. JFDI. People often say life is too short. I don’t think it is, but one day we’re gonna be dead for quite a while!
I missed out on this because I was concerned with shipping and tarrifs.
Still regret it four years later.
If that was a lefty, I’d be all over it like a fat kid on a cup cake. I’d go to Japan and get it myself though. Or I could ask my wife to bring it back for me if she was heading out there anytime soon, even if it meant me and my plums would no longer remain united as one.
It looks beautiful. But I’m sure something different but just as beautiful will come along eventually!
It looks like a Bacchus Woodline? Yes these are everywhere here
Depending on which one you get they range from about $650 (~485 GBP) to $1800.
Deviser (their parent) is a cool company, a classic acoustic guitar maker. Another famous line they own is Momose, which are usually extremely high quality Fender-shaped instruments, but also some originals.
I don’t.
Between in person and help over the interweb he made me buy 4 (at least, may be 5-6)
Yeah those Aerodynes add up fast
In that case, I’m going to wear a wig and dark glasses next time I go to Japan!
Yeah that’s a nice looking Woodline! Bacchus are great.
Oooh
