Where to buy Japanese items?

[CupidStrikes]

If you're anywhere near London, there is also the Japan Centre, JapanBooks, Tokyo Toys and a few other stores in the city which sell Japanese stuff. Japan Centre and JapanBooks are at Piccadilly, and the other is just down the road at Trocadero. It has a big sign outside with Naruto on, and that might save on shipping..?

If you're buying licensed merchandise, I've heard that TokyoToys have sold bootlegs before, so if goods being official is important to you, be vigilant or give them a miss  Same is true of Forbidden Planet.

[Taffeta]

The same is pretty much true of anything being sold outside of Japan, sadly. I admit, I don't spend a lot of time going to that store, because it doesn't sell the merchandise I'm interested in and most all the stuff I buy comes from Japan itself because the fandoms I follow are not really mainstream or even translated, but I have seen it. I haven't been aware of it in Trocadero, but I can't be 100% because it's not really my kind of store. The only mainstream anime/manga I follow(ed) is Bleach and they never make merchandise for the characters I like, anyway xD.

Japan Centre is pretty reliable, though it has fewer "anime/toy" related items. Mitsukoshi has sadly closed so it's no longer an option, and JapanBooks does have some of this kind of stuff (if you can find the new store) but as the name suggests, it is book/manga orientated.

[Sonata]

*jumps out of nowhere*

Actually, there is another place in the UK to order kawaii stuff from !!

www.artbox.com

I used to work for these guys before. They add new stuff regularly :3

Also, http://www.dreamybows.com/ is really rad.

*disappears into the darkness*

[CupidStrikes]

The same is pretty much true of anything being sold outside of Japan, sadly. I admit, I don't spend a lot of time going to that store, because it doesn't sell the merchandise I'm interested in and most all the stuff I buy comes from Japan itself because the fandoms I follow are not really mainstream or even translated, but I have seen it. I haven't been aware of it in Trocadero, but I can't be 100% because it's not really my kind of store. The only mainstream anime/manga I follow(ed) is Bleach and they never make merchandise for the characters I like, anyway xD.

A lot of the time it's cheaper to import it, too I've only seen TokyoToys at cons and they tended to carry the exact same stuff aaaaall the other vendors had. Makes it a night if you're after something a bit unusual :/

[Taffeta]

The same is pretty much true of anything being sold outside of Japan, sadly. I admit, I don't spend a lot of time going to that store, because it doesn't sell the merchandise I'm interested in and most all the stuff I buy comes from Japan itself because the fandoms I follow are not really mainstream or even translated, but I have seen it. I haven't been aware of it in Trocadero, but I can't be 100% because it's not really my kind of store. The only mainstream anime/manga I follow(ed) is Bleach and they never make merchandise for the characters I like, anyway xD.

A lot of the time it's cheaper to import it, too I've only seen TokyoToys at cons and they tended to carry the exact same stuff aaaaall the other vendors had. Makes it a night if you're after something a bit unusual :/

Yeah, I don't really like all that stuff, either xD which is why I guess I don't pay attention to what they have and whether it's real...

I'm unfortunately addicted to Yahoo.jp, amazon.co.jp and CDJapan and other sites where I can get Neoroma/Seiyuu related stuff *sigh*. But it's worth it. And, in fairness to my wallet, I do get a lot of my academic books from Japan cheaper that way, since I can get them second hand for a reasonable price. Even if it does mean I have a huge pile of books about early mediaeval warriors in Japanese now waiting to be read...and annotated. *sigh again*.