Pretty much every high end thing I look at from Japan is about $1000 less or so fight now.
Looking at bari saxes, thousands and thousands less!!
Dangerous.
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All of the chains I mentioned sell saxes as well 
Kurosawa probably the biggest selection.
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Yes, I did. I picked up a Fuji Gen BMJ-R and a hard case. Exchange rate at the time was 148 Yen to the dollar. I showed the sales person (who spoke English very well) my passport and he waived the sales tax.
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Cool. They are a great shop, my favorite to browse when I am in Ochanomizu.
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Thanks Howard for this informative post!
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@matt.g.ward.esq came in with an excellent tip for niche finds… basically if you are looking for something rare and/or expensive enough you can retain a pro to find it. He recommended Danny Stewart at BassJapanDirect.
His prices look really reasonable to me and I could even picture myself using his services for something truly rare, because I really hate playing phone tag in Japanese. He ships overseas and in general looks to me like he is running a great business.
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イイネ 
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What an amazing resource, @howard! Thank you for putting together such a comprehensive, thorough, and valuable series of posts. Bookmarked!
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My pleasure! Happy to enable GAS in others
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Exactly what I’ve been looking for. !!
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Yeah, it wouldn’t make sense for most purchases but if you are tracking down something rare or very expensive it could save a lot of time and hassle.
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I’m in the 'states and currently contemplating a Japanese purchase but…do I need to visit the U.S customs web site for an overview on duties/VAT or whatever fees are charged for imports? is there a general "rule of thumb " on fee’s ?? … or did I miss that somewhere in this thread? Thanks for the insight into buying from Japan @howard .
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More than that, its quite simple.
Under $800 - no duty
Over $800, ~4.3% (think of it as half sales tax, at least if you live in NY, lolol)
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I bought a Fujigen (FGN) from Reverb seller Kurosawa Music a few years ago, transaction was very simple and shipping from Japan was within a few days, including customs. My only issue is buying some of these Japanese brands is sight unseen, there’s no local way of trying these out before hand.
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Nice! Excellent brand, and Kurosawa is a great chain. Glad they make it simple with a reverb shop.
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That is true, but the build quality is superior, and easy enough to change pickups if the sound isn’t quite there, you have a great foundation
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I would say it will be safer than ordering from Sweetwater - in my experience here it’s unlikely a reputable chain will let a bad instrument out the door. But @rfreiberger has a good point about the sight unseen part - you won’t know if you like the instrument until you try it. Same goes for any mail order, but returns are prohibitive in this case and for MIJ the warranty most likely only covers usage in Japan.
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I should preface any reply I make to a mail order post that I am totally comfortable with mail order because I have little other choice living where I am.
Also GC and it’s subsidiaries are also a good choice, you have a 45 day window to drive up to a store and return mail orders no hassle. So if your local GC doesn’t have it, order it. Forgiving return policy
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Yeah, for buying from overseas, returns are not really a thing for the price ranges we are talking about.
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Thanks @howard but
Seriously, life would be a whole lot easier and sweeter if you can be our agent lol.
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