BUYING GOODS
One of the hardest part of being a foreigner Jpop Idol fans is to find how to buy goods or get some at a low-price. Because unlike Japanese Fans, you can't just go to the event and get a cheki or use your credit card and your adress on a shopping website. You also have to deal with expedition fees and customs.
So here's a little guide to teach you all you need to know to buy the goods of your favorite idols !
Let's start with a presentation of the websites used by Dreamboats groups for Online Events.
Those events were instaured during the pandemic as physical events weren't possible anymore. We're hoping for them to keep going even after the pandemic since it's a great chance for foreigner fans to create a bound with idols and get cheki, signs or interactions.
Limista
Limista is used for Online Signkais. During those, by buying one set of three CDs of the current Single, you can get a Bromide (A printed picture of the group/your oshi) signed by your oshi. Sometimes it's a white pannel instead, but it's mostly bromide lately The price of a set is 5 100 yens for Fudanjuku with taxes and the local expeditions fees.
The signature process is filmed and broadcasted on YouTube (on the group channel or on Limista Channel) live time. The signkais are always archived so you can watch it later (handy since we often have an important time difference with Japan). When you place your order, you can leave a little message to your Oshi that he will read when he's signing. That allows you to have a little bit of interaction with them. Also, you can choose between writing your name in cursive letters or in katakanas (the idol will copy you). Some people like to write it in cursive letters to see the idol's cursive writing.
Limista is great for foreigners since it accepts international credit cards, unlike some others. However, Limista doesn't take care of international expedition, so you have to use a proxy service like Tenso (I'll explain everything about Tenso below).
Fudanjuku and Euphoria both uses Limista. Fudanjuku mostly signs on Bromides and Euphoria on Chekis. Ael mainly uses Teichiku for Signkais.
If you can afford it, take the chance to get a sign ! There will be less and less online events as the pandemic gets better, so grab your chance ! We're hoping that groups will keep holding one or two online events for each single but it's not a guarantee !
Also, depending on your oshi, be careful and try to order quickly when a SignKai is scheduled. There's a maximum number of sign for each member, and if your oshi is one of the most popular member (Kensui and Masaki currently), their signs might be sold out after a few days. For Wara Asu, they both sold very quickly.
One of the great things with Fudanjuku is that when you pay for a sign, you're sure to appear in the broadcasted video. Your name will be called and you'll see your oshi signing your bromide. There are group where there's a lottery deciding which name will be called in broadcast and which ones will receive their signs at home without seeing their names called.
Teichiku Online
Teichiku is used for Online Cheki Photoshoots and Online Signkai by Fudanjuku and Ael. An online Cheki Photoshoots follows the same process than a Signkai, except that instead of having a signed bromide, you get a Polaroid Picture. Since it's a polaroid, it's an unique picture and it's taken as your oshi/your two favorites members/the whole group (depending on your choice when you purchase the set) pronounces your name.
Just like Limista, the photoshoot is broadcasted on YouTube on the group channel live time. They're also always archived so you can watch it later as well. You can't request a pose or anything and the website declines all responsability if you don't receive the exact same Cheki than the one took during the photoshoot (chekis can get mixed and you receive someone else's) as long as you get the member you paid for. However, it's pretty rare for it to happen so you can try it out with peace in your mind ! Sometimes, you can get a different picture than what you saw during the photoshoot because they had to retake it (if the idol's eyes are closed or if it's blurry for example).
UPDATE : Teichiku Online now accepts foreign credit cards and doesn't block Tenso adresses anymore. So you can use it freely like Limista and SpaceEmo. That's a great progress in the awareness of foreign fans by the staff !!
When you're on your chosen event's page, click on the blue "＞＞ご注文はこちら" to go to the product page and to be able to put it in your cart. You don't need an account on this site, but you need to fill the adress (Japanese adress so Tenso) after. Here's a guide to do it !
SpaceEmo
SpaceEmo is an Ikebukuro Live Hall which proposes online events on its website. Most of them are Online Cheki Photoshoots. It's used by Fudanjuku, Euphoria and sometimes even Ael (like for Haruki's 2020 birthday). The best part of SpaceEmo is that the Online event starts with a mini-live which is free. Even if you don't participate in the event, you can create an account and take a free ticket to watch it. For us who can't see the idol perform live often, it's a really great opportunity. Mini-lives mostly have three songs and they often reveal the new Single's main songs there. Once the mini-live is done, there's a break (which is often a bit long, around 15-30 minutes, so you can relax and take a break). Once the broadcast starts again, the Online Photoshoot starts.
Just like other Cheki Photoshoot, you have to buy a 3 CD set costing 5 100 yens on the site to get a Cheki. You can choose between solo shot, pair shot and full group shot. The photoshoot starts with group shot, then duo shot and then solo shot. They call your name, takes a pose and then the photo is taken. If you're a foreigner, you can either write your name in cursive letters and see how they'll pronounce it or write it in kanas to be sure that it'll be prononced right. Idols sometimes have trouble pronouncing our names and it's cute.
The event is broadcasted on SpaceEmo's website. Click on the free mini-live ticket in your cart to have access to it, since the Cheki Event is part of the live. Videos don't get archived for a long time like on YouTube so watch it live if you can or watch it on the following days.
SpaceEmo accepts foreign credit cards, but just like Limista you have to use a proxy-service like Tenso to be able to order since it doesn't take care of international expedition.
Let's now talk about the proxy-services and buying-and-proxy services that I mentionned !
But first... What do those words refer to ?
A proxy-service is basically a company who gives you an address where you can receive your packages and who takes care of sending it to you abroad. Of course, this service leads to fees, because you’ll be paying the local expedition fees for the package to join the society, the manutention fees and the shipping fees to send it to your country (which can be pretty expensive). The most popular is Tenso.
With a proxy-service, you're the one doing everything. You go to the website, pick your product, buy it with your card and just enter the adress and phone number given to you by the company. But with a buying-and-proxy service, it's different. You show the company which product you desire to buy and they do the transaction for you, receive it to their stockage area and then ship it to you. There are various company who propose this service like ZenMarket or Buyee.
For websites like Limista and Spaceemo, you just need a proxy-service. But for websites Mercari who are restricted to Japanese people only, you will have to use a buying-and-proxy service.
Tenso
Tenso is very useful on websites like Kdash Store (to buy official goods) or Limista and Spaceemo (to join online events like other Japanese people). However, it can’t do anything for you if your event is on Teichiku’s website.
Creating a Tenso Adress is pretty easy (since it’s available in English) and free (you’ll only be paying the manutention fees once a package arrived to the stockage area, you’re not renting an address or a mailbox - I believed it was how it worked at first). However, it’s recommended to create your account a little bit before your order since you’ll have to undergo a few verifications (proving where you live with a proof of residency, the first package will be shipped to the address which is on the document, it’s only afterwards that you’ll be able to change it). As long as those verifications aren’t done, you can receive packages but they can’t be shipped abroad.
On Tenso, you’re the one who write the custom declaration most of the time. For this you have to check and write the nature and prices of the items who are in the packages and choose a category (Purchase, Gift, Personal Effects, Others, …).
If choosing “gift” can lower the risk of paying customs, it’s not a guarantee to not pay them, so be careful of the potential additional fee that it represents (which is pretty important most of the time as it’s almost equal to the TVA of the package and can be half the price of the package). You’re also the one who gives the value of the items. Putting a value inferior to the real one lowers the amount you’ll pay if you’re hit by customs, but if the package is lost your insurance will base itself on the price you wrote on the declaration. To avoid customs, it's adviced not to gather more than 8 CDs in the same package. Sometimes, it's better to pay a few more euros for two packages than to pay customs. Also, if you pick the AIR shipping, you most likely won't have to pay customs, it's pretty rare. As there are currently delays due to the corona, AIR can be faster than EMS.
The good point of Tenso is that you’re the one placing the order, the society just receives your packages and ship it back to your real address, so you can be sure of what you bought and not entrust a total stranger with who’s going to be on your Cheki.
On Tenso, the “package consolidation” means putting a few packages’ content in one single package. It can help lower the expedition fees.
ZenMarket
ZenMarket basically buys your items, takes a 300 yens margin on each product, ships it to its stocking area and then ships it to you. It’s very useful to buy on Rakuten Japan, Amazon Japan, Yahoo Shopping or websites like that. It's also possible to use it to join in Teichiku Online Events.
This website is very intuitive and available in 11 languages. You just have to create an account, copy/paste the product address into the site and add it in your cart. The site will send you a quote (once they’ve checked the price, the availability of the product and that it can be shipped abroad and the quote has their margin in it and the local expedition fee estimation) and then you just have to pay or cancel the order if it’s too expensive. Once you’ve paid, you just have to wait for them to buy the item and receive it to their stocking area to pay the international expedition fees.
Keep in mind that the making quote can take up to 24-48 hours. Buying the item as well. Once you give them the money, they can take 48 hours to buy it. If you want to use it for a Teichiku Event (where there's a due date and everything) you have to be quick.
A good point of ZenMarket is that they often do giveaways on their Twitter Pages and promotions (like 5% cashback on Rakuten, or 36h without margin on the purchases). There’s also a free insurance with the package and you don’t pay manutention fees like on Tenso or Buyee.
Buyee
If you want to buy second-hand goods from the marvelous website Mercari (very useful for old Chekis or low-price merch), you’ll have to deal with Buyee. Similar to ZenMarket, it's run by the same company than Tenso. You can use it for a lot of websites, but since there's a partnership between Mercari and them, you have to use Buyee if you want to buy something on Mercari from abroad. I tried to create a Japanese Account to use Tenso (which has less fees) but it failed. The demand was rejected because "Mercari is made for internal Japanese use exclusively" or something like that. Maybe with a VPN it could work, tell me if you tried !
The main problem with Buyee is the high fees. Consider that you’ll have to pay 1 000 yens more than the price shown on the site if you want the object to be insured, or only 500 yens without any insurance.
After that, you can modify your quote like on Tenso (picking Gift, Personnal Effect, but without being able to modify the prices since they did the purchase themselves and know how much it costed) and choose to consolidate your package or not (putting the content of multiple packages in one single package to try to lower expedition fees).
However, you can also buy official googs directly, without them being second-hand !
K Dash Shop
K Dash Stage Shop is the official site where new goods are released and where older goods are still available. DreamBoat, Ael and Euphoria goods are also there. When a new Tour is announced, goods will be shown as a preview on the site (markedas soldout since the sales aren't open yet). For the Singles 2020 Tour, Halloween 2020, the Christmas Live Santaku Laus and Kokuhaku, by adding more than 4 000 yens of merch from the Tour (items from former members of former events don't count in the 4 000 yens), you could have a cheki with the members of your choice (solo shot/two shot/group shot).
They'll probably do this again for other events.
Talk Port
Talkport offers you the opportunity to chat with your oshi in a video call ! Fudanjuku started using this service in December 2020. To participate, you need to buy a set (5100 yens) and then you can choose the exact hour of the call. The call lasts 1 minute only. For the Funfare album, a call costs 3700 yens so it's less expensive. By buying the A pack at 6500 yens, you get a 2 minutes long call.
The site is very accessible to foreigners as there's even an english version.
Now that you know everything, have fun and treat yourself with your oshi's goods, some DVDs, a Cheki or signs !!
But please keep in mind that not buying merch or not being able to afford it doesn't make you a bad or an invalid fan.
However if you can afford it, try to support the group by buying goods or DVDs of the live. To help the group spread across the world and people who like the group to understand the songs, International fans share a lot of content together (DVDs content, MVs, recordings of Nico Nama lives, ...) for free, but if you can try to buy some stuffs to show your support and help the group grow it would be great to do so !