FROM JAPAN Blog: Japanese Auction & shopping proxy service

Where to Find One Piece Merchandise from Japan

One Piece is the most notable sign that manga is still alive and popular even as overall sales of manga has been on a downward trend in Japan. In 2010, One Piece broke the record when it sold 3 million copies of its first edition. Volumes 64 and 65 sold more than 4 million copies and required a second run due to the demand. The overall sale of One Piece copies is 40 million, making up 6 percent of all manga sales. Other mangas like Naruto and Full Metal Alchemist don’t even come close to the kind of sales One Piece enjoys.

(more…)

One Piece x G-Shock: The Perfect Collaboration

G-Shock watches, which offer high resistance to vibration and gravitational shock, are geared toward people with intense, highly active lifestyles, like sports, hiking, and military use. Since the G-Shock began in 1983, it has been an in-demand watch. Less than 10 years after its first model was launched, Casio has sold over 19 million units worldwide. Last year G-Shock celebrated its 30th anniversary, and one of the reasons for its longevity is that the brand regularly issues limited edition timepieces and collector’s watches.

(more…)

Where to Buy Doujinshi

Buying Doujinshi (Image Source: amiamiblog.com)

Finding good doujinshi is often a cause for major headaches. This is especially true for international buyers due to the limited numbers of available stock, even within Japan, causing many foreigners to head to Japan just to get their paws on a doujinshi by their favorite circle.

(more…)

Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) Doujinshi

Attack on Titan Characters (Image Source: orendsrange.com)

(more…)

Kuroko’s Basketball (Kuroko no Basuke) Doujinshi

Kuroko no Basuke has been extremely popular with mainstream readers, particularly women. It has had many doujinshi spin-offs, largely due to the seven male leads, which means a big opportunity for male-male pairings. The frequent reference to Kuroko as being a shadow helps push the matter further. As such, the fan clubs of the franchise are composed almost solely of fujoshi (females with an obsessive fascination for male-male pairings).

Kuroko no Basuke doujinshi
(more…)

What Is Doujinshi?

Doujinshi are usually self-published works made by amateurs to the publishing scene, but published artists are also known to dabble in doujinshi as a way to release works that aren’t otherwise suitable for general publication. They can be divided into two main categories—originals and spin-offs of existing works in the market, though the latter seems more common in recent years.

What Is Doujinshi

(more…)