Ah, the Japan proxy service. I never imagined that I would use such a service for myself. And it’s all in the name of my love for the Yowamushi Pedal fandom.

That was what happened to me when I decided to get Yowamushi Pedal: Spare Bike Vol 1.1 manga.

Why it’s Vol 1.1, you wonder? Well, it’s the first volume of the manga but with a different cover. Thus, the label Vol 1.1.

I knew about the manga days after the pre-order for the limited edition manga already closed. But for some reason, Animate decided to open the pre-order once again.

Since the limited edition of the manga has Toudou Jinpachi on the cover, it made sense for me to get the manga.

What can I say? I’m Toudou fangirl.

Sure, I can go and get myself the regular edition of the manga. After all, the content is the same. The only difference is that the regular edition has Makishima Yusuke on the cover.

If you’re into Yowamushi Pedal, then you understand why they were releasing the same manga but with a different cover. You can’t have the first volume of the manga without Makishima’s rival, Toudou.

Just to let you know that it was a long time ago. I still love Yowamushi Pedal to this day. It’s just that it’s not as much as it used to be since Toudou already graduated after the Inter-High arc is over. And that means I won’t see him that much.

As much as I want to buy the manga, the problem was Animate doesn’t ship overseas at that time.

If you want that exclusive DVD, Blu-ray, and manga that was only available at Animate, then the answer is to use the Japan proxy service.

To be honest, the idea of using a proxy service to buy stuff from Japan got me feeling a little antsy. But I was glad that everything turned out to be okay.

The Japan proxy service in a nutshell

In a nutshell, yes, Japan proxy services can indeed help you with buying anything you want from the stores that don’t ship overseas.

In fact, some proxy services can help you with the fan club registration as well.

For the most part, many proxy services will require you to send them an inquiry about the items that you want to buy first. And then they will get back to you with the total amount you have to pay.

The total amount you have to pay will be the price of the item itself, the delivery fee to their address, their commission, and also the shipping fee to your address.

Some Japan proxy services such as Tenso allows you to submit your request with a click of a button. All you need to do is to register and submit your request from your account.

What you need to watch out for when using the proxy service

Just remember that the commission will vary from one service to another. And the commission tends to be per item for the most part.

Some proxy services are transparent when it comes to how much they’re charging you for the commission per item. You can then use their commission to calculate how much does it cost for you to get the items shipped to you.

The service that you come across doesn’t mention anything about their commission? Just send them an email with the link to the item and they will get back to you with a total cost.

That was what I did when I came across this proxy service website that didn’t mention anything about their commission.

By the time they got back to me, I already used another service to buy the manga.

Even if I decided to wait, I doubt that I would use them since their commission fee was rather high compared to the service I decided to use.

It’s fine to shop around to look for the proxy service that suits your budget. The last thing you want is you have to pay more than what you already thought you would be paying.

The proxy service I ended up using

To be honest, I’d like to recommend CDJapan since they also have a proxy service in addition to their usual retail business.

But if you’re like me whose goal is to buy a limited-edition manga, that can be a little too expensive.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the fact that you can add the item that you requested to the cart along with the items that you want to buy at CDJapan.

What’s more, the item page isn’t just live to you. But it’s also visible to other people as well.

If you’re interested in buying the same thing, that can save you the hassle of having to contact CDJapan since other people already made the same request.

So, why don’t I recommend you to use the CDJapan proxy service?

Well, it’s because their commission is high.

It makes sense if the item you want to buy is on the pricier side. But if you’re buying something that is on the cheaper side, then you’ll be spending a lot just on the commission alone.

If I don’t use CDJapan, then what I use to buy that limited edition Yowamushi Pedal: Spare Bike manga?

Well, I use Treasure Japan to buy the manga. Not only they have a similar system like Tenso. But their commission is affordable too.

My experience with Treasure Japan

I like how easy it is for me to submit your request to Treasure Japan since they already have a form for submitting your shopping request once you create an account with them.

Upon submitting your shopping request, you have to pay for the items first. But the amount that you have to pay is only the actual cost of the items themselves. You only need to pay the rest of the amount later when the items already reached them.

I was in disbelief when I received a notification that they already preordered the items. The thing was I just submitted the order a few minutes ago.

Once the items already reached them, they will request you to submit a shipping request so they can calculate the shipping cost based on your preferred shipping method.

When they have calculated the shipping cost, they will send you the quotation based on the cheapest shipping and the rest of the amount you have to pay.

I don’t know why, but shipping from Japan to Malaysia is a lot cheaper if you use EMS rather than Registered Airmail. I’m so not kidding about this. Even shipping using FedEx from Japan is way cheaper compared to using Registered Airmail.

Yes, it’s no longer the case nowadays. But back then, I’d better off using EMS or FedEx instead of the Registered Airmail since it was so much cheaper.

Since I used EMS, I got my manga a couple of days later after I paid the balance to them.

Will I recommend Treasure Japan? Of course, the answer is yes.

If you’d like to have a look at the service, you can take a look at it right here:

Treasure Japan: Japan Proxy Service

Just to let you know that Treasure Japan doesn’t pay me for writing about them. I’m writing about it here as a way for me to share my experience with using their service.

Will I ever do this again?

I do have a plan to use the proxy service again since the items that I want are only available at Yahoo! Japan. But it’s not going to be a frequent thing, though, because of how costly it is.

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Here’s the link to the book:

Trigger Locked Book 1: The Mind Control Assassins

Trigger Locked Book 2: A Silent Killer

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