Living together in a new apartment

 久しぶりだね。

Yeah, it's been about two months since my last post, and I have been busy.

I was planning to do post about renting apartments in Japan, but before I knew it, my fiance and I have moved into our new apartment. Perhaps I will do that post another time.

Having lived in LeoPalace apartments for most of my time here in Japan, it's hard to describe what it's like to be able to cook in a decent sized kitchen. It also feels weird sleeping in a separate bedroom.

Rent is actually cheaper than my last apartment, considering we are splitting the rent. Even if it was just one of us, it is only a little bit more expensive than the previous apt, but there's just way more space. Even better is that internet is free. It's a basic plan, but given that neither of us plays games online or uploads videos constantly, it's just fine.

In terms of location, it's a little further away from the train station, but still near. But the best thing about the area is there is a lot going on. Plenty of restaurants, shops and even a mall nearby. City hall is within a reasonable walking distance, but because it's closed on weekends, there is fortunately the citizen's service centre. I went there last weekend to give my notice of moving in to the city. Luckily, there was hardly anyone there, so my registration and residence card were processed within the hour. In addition, my regular gym is near the station, which is much more convenient than taking the train every time I wanted to go. While it is a smaller branch, it has just about everything I need for training, though I still think the one in Tsurugashima is the best one I've used so far.

However, moving together with my fiance also brought some problems to light: I have way too many Gunpla for my own damn good - I didn't realize I had another two boxes that I never bothered to open after moving to Saitama 3 years ago. At my fiance's suggestion, I've sorted through what kits I will keep, what I will send back home, and what kits I will sell. Deciding what ones to send back and sell was actually surprisingly easy. It's what I wanted to keep that was the most difficult. To make it easier for me, aside from one kit, the rest are all kits that I haven't built yet. They are also kits I want to customise in some form or another, and they are kits that I have really wanted to build for some time.

I also have some Transformers figures that I sorted through, both official and third party. I decided to keep two of my Iron factory figures. Sadly I will be sending City Commander/Ultra Magnus back to Australia. The ones I want to keep will be Miko the Hunter/Windblade and Rush beats/Jazz. Possible review idea in the future? I still Rushbeats represents the best legends Transformers figures Iron Factory produced at that time. I'll get in to a rant about that once I get around to reviewing it.

We are still adjusting to our new home and new life. But in any case, we can now finally focus our attention on getting married.

自分の好きなネットショップ (My favourite online stores)

私はガンプラなど買うとき、ネットショップはめっちゃ便利だ。

Recently, I have decided to put a stop to buying new kits, having recently gotten engaged. I have been meaning to put this together for quite some time now, but for one reason or another, I never got around to doing it.

But I figured I would write about where I have been buying my kits since I started living in Japan. While there is always the option of going to a physical store to buy kits, unless you happen to live somewhere with easy access to major geek hubs like Akihabara, or Osaka's DenDen Town, usually stores are limited to the most recent series, or what has been reissued recently. If you looking for an older kit that hasn't been reissued, you might have some difficulties here. Enter the online stores.

While there are other online stores out there, below are the five that I have used when it comes to shopping for model kits online.

Amazon

Amazon is usually my first choice when it comes to buying regular release Gunpla kits, because most of the time you can get current or recently reissued model kits at a good price (if not cheaper). Whenever something has been sold out at my local store, I take a look at Amazon shortly after to see if it's available there.

However, I must warn you that for very popular or highly anticipated kits, you may find yourself looking at inflated prices, especially if you are looking for a kit on the day of its release. In those cases, I would suggest you keep refreshing for the page and hope someone is selling the kit at retail price, and that you are quick enough to add it to your cart to purchase. Be aware of those scalping model kits (those that sell model kits at significantly higher prices), as nothing seems to be done about it - at least on Amazon Japan anyway.

Amazon also does sell P-bandai kits, but from my experience they are way overpriced - sometimes selling at 3-4 times more than the P-bandai prices. I understand that P-bandai kits have limited runs, and that demand is much bigger than supply, but that reasoning can only go so far in justifying the high prices. Fortunately, there is another site that I will talk about shortly that addresses this problem.

Rakuten

Rakuten is a bit of a weird one. It's basically like Amazon, but operates purely for the Japanese market. Though if I were to sum Rakuten up, it would be... overpriced. 

While it is generally more expensive compared to Amazon, the keyword is generally. I have managed to purchase kits and games at prices that have been cheaper than what Amazon offers. Hell, a while ago, I managed to get my hands on an Ichiban Kuji campaign version of the Master Grade RX-78-2 version 3.0 (unopened) at a surprisingly good price, and that campaign was from a few years ago, meaning it's not something one comes by easily. In addition, I was able to purchase the HG Gundam Livelance Heaven at a very reasonable price, cheaper than what Amazon was offering at the time. 

Despite my thoughts on Rakuten being overpriced, I would not be so quick to dismiss it either. You can find some things through this service at some competitive prices, and not just Gunpla. As a result, whenever I'm looking for things to purchase at Amazon Japan, I always have a tab open for Rakuten also. 

Hobby Search

This is something that I check frequently, but I do not purchase from often. I think the last time I purchased from this store was 2 years ago.

They frequently sell reissues of Gunpla, but I find they sell out again rather quickly, so it's clear that this is also a popular online store. For some of the very popular kits, they do a lottery where you register, and have the chance to win the right to purchase the kit. If you've lived in Japan, this kind of lottery system is pretty common where you win the chance to purchase something, rather than winning the product itself outright.

I have bought a few kits from here in the few instances where I could not find a particular kit at a good price at any of the other online shops I use. This is also the store I used to purchase the Real Grade Hi V Gundam, on release day and happened to completely sell out across the country

Premium Bandai (P-Bandai)

Any Gunpla fan not living in Japan (and even those living in Japan) will most certainly groan in frustration at the mere mention of Premium Bandai (or P-Bandai).

For those that do not know, Premium Bandai is an online store that sells products exclusive to its site. In the case of Gunpla, they sell colour or re-tooled variations of regular released Gunpla kits, or release kits of certain obscure mobile suits that may not have that much demand, or showed up very briefly in their respective anime/OVA/film. Examples including the HG Conroy Haagensen's ECOAS Jegan, a very slight retool of the regular release HG Jegan D-Type ECOAS version. These days however, P-bandai also release kits that many would argue should have been a regular release - examples including the HG Gundam Rose or Gundam Maxter from Mobile Fighter G Gundam, or even the HG Gundnode and HG Demi Garrison from the Witch from Mercury line. Even Cucuruz Doan's Zaku was strangely a P-bandai release, despite the mobile suit being one of the main features of the Cucuruz Doan's Island film - and it keeps getting many reissues long after the film was released. Hell, they released the Mercuius and Vayeate from Gundam Wing, with many asking "Why?"

Aside from the odd choices of what is considered a P-bandai release these days, another issue is the timeframe of when you can preorder the kit, which is 12:00 PM JST. For many highly anticipated P-bandai kits, you may have just a few minutes to put your order in before it is all sold out. To make matters worse, even if you are on the P-bandai website in preparation to put your order in, the high volume of visitor traffic may sometimes lead you to missing out. In those cases, your only hope is that P-Bandai will do another run very soon, which is sometimes the case.Even if you are unfortunate and miss out, there are still other options, with many physical stores and online stores selling P-bandai kits after market, though expect to pay a little more.

Kind of related, but I find it funny that I had an easier time purchasing the HG Gelgoog Menace (standard colors) from P-bandai than purchasing the regular release Gelgoog Menace (Lunamaria's custom), despite the numerous reissues since it was first released in March this year. I have searched both online and in physical stores, and have had no luck finding the kit at a reasonable price.

Surugaya

This is something that I have only just started using this year. I am kind of cheating adding this to the list, as Surugaya is also a chain of physical stores where you can buy and sell games, DVDs, figures and even model kits. As each store in Japan is going to have different stock, their website lists every store in the country that stocks a particular product. In addition, for many of their products, you have the option of either buying it second hand (中古) or, if applicable, you can checkout their market place where you can sometimes get products either close to - or even cheaper than - retail price. 

I have managed to even get my hands on the P-Bandai HG Gundnode for almost the same price than if I purchased through P-bandai directly (which I missed out on preorder for), including delivery fees. The P-Bandai HG Demi Garrison (at the time of writing this) is also at a very good price. If you are after P-bandai kits that are either not being reissued, or if you just missed out on the pre-order and prepared to wait a little longer for it to show up on Surugaya, I strongly recommend checking it out over the other online stores that I have listed. There's a pretty good chance that you can get what you are after at a reasonable price.

However, compared to other online shops I have used, Surugaya is the only one I have noticed that does not allow you to pay at a convenience store.

There you have it, that's the list of online shops I use... or used for purchase Gunpla in Japan. If you are living in Japan and looking to get your Gunpla (or general model kit) fix, I would recommend using multiple online shops to make sure you get the best deal. It can be a bit of a pain having to set up accounts and monitor multiple online stores, but しょうがない, it can't be helped. Of course depending on where you live, physical stores may be an option, but stock may vary depending on place to place, with smaller, rural towns generally having less stock compared to major cities.

Target gets Gundam Model kits ahead of Japan?

News has been going around that the High Grade Gundam Breaker Battlogue model kits have been released in Target. A quick search on Target's online shop does confirm this. What's interesting about this, is that these kits haven't been released in Japan yet. In fact, Japan doesn't start getting those kits until November this year.

While the caption by gunpla collector is most likely tongue and cheek, there's also a chance there will be people who will gladly take advantage of a month's head start on Japan, and start scalping these kits. 

Not quite sure if I will purchase any of these kits, though I will admit that the Live Lance Heaven, Command Quanta, and Perfect Strike Freedom look pretty cool. If I do purchase any, it will probably be a toss up between Live Lance and Command Quanta.

(Hi)New Gundam kit sold out in a day

Kind of following from an earlier post about an apparent shortage of Gunpla, I thought I would talk about the recent release of the Real Grade Hi-v Gundam, and how that sold out on the very day of it's release (last Friday). What surprised me the most was seeing images in the above video of people lining up for hours just to get their hands on a regular release Gundam. Just a reminder: this is not an event exclusive, or even a premium bandai limited run Gundam kit - this is a kit that (was) being sold in all stores. 

This kind of thing seems to be in response to a few things: first, as I mentioned in the past, the Wuhan virus has led to more people finding a hobby that they can do at home, leading to an increase in Gunpla purchases. Consequently, supply doesn't seem to be able to keep up with current demand, leading to people missing out, and a lot of people still scalping kits at a significantly marked up price (with the RRP being 4500 yen, and scalped prices are going for around 10,000 yen - in one instance on Amazon Japan, I saw it selling for as much as over 20,000 yen!). Second - and while I didn't follow news of this closely at the time - this seems to be a reaction to the recent releases of the High Grade UC Nightingale, and Master Grade Eclipse Gundam, with both kits also selling out in Japan fairly quickly, and this time people didn't want to miss out - which, unfortunately, happened anyway. Even with limiting it to one kit per customer, stores just didn't have enough of the product for everybody.

According to the Bandai Hobby Site, they will be doing at least two more reissues of this kit, with the first one being in November, and the next being in January 2022. 

As for myself, I was lucky enough to be able to order one through Hobby Search. I was working from home last Friday afternoon, and started keeping an eye on many online shops, including Amazon and Rakuten. By pure chance, I saw that Hobby Search was accepting orders for the RG Hi-v, and was able to put my order through before it sold out a few minutes later. To be honest, I was going to try my luck at my local Yamda Denki store on the day of release, but I was fortunate enough to see a window of opportunity to get the kit online.

Speaking of Yamda Denki, I went there after school today to check out the model kits section, and the amount of product available for purchase has dwindled significantly. Obviously no RG Hi-v, but I noticed that it's not limited to just model kits, but there was also very little variety left in toys in general - and from what I've heard, this shortage is happening for many other products, including printers (my girlfriend and I were looking to get a printer earlier, and the staff warned us of the backlog of orders, even if we decided on a printer there and then.)

This will probably be the last kit I will purchase for this year - aside from the P-bandai High Grade UC Messer F-02, and trying my luck with the Ichibankuji Gunpla campaign that will be starting later this month. But besides those, I've got a pretty decent backlog of kits that should last me well in to next year.

Gunpla shortage?

 

Prior to watching this video, I didn't think there was much amiss regarding Gunpla (GUNdam PLAstic model kits for those not familiar). Since there aren't many places in my current city to purchase - as far as I know, only my local Yamada Denki sells Gunpla - I simply dismissed the apparent absence of Gundam kits as the store being slack in stocking new Gunpla. However, after watching the above video, it seems to be a nationwide issue. The video does a better job of explaining the causes of this shortage - mostly the Wuhan virus being the main reason for the increase in gunpla purchases. With more people staying at home, more people are looking to take up new hobbies to keep themselves occupied, and gunpla is one of those hobbies that is pretty accessible to all, especially with the types of kits being produced these days. If I knew of this issue earlier, I would have gone out and purchased the HG 00 Sky Moebius sooner. Sadly, I held off on it, and even the reissues earlier this year did not include Moebius in the line up - plenty of other Re:RISE kits were included though, including the Core Gundams and the armor parts and weapons. 

As a result, it means I need to keep a sharp eye on when Gundam kits will be released and hopefully get my hands on them before they sell out or appear on online stores at inflated prices. I'm hoping to be able to purchase the RG Hi Nu Gundam that's scheduled to be released in September. I know my Yamada Denki will be stocking this, and I was lucky enough to be able to get my hands on the RG Evangelion Mark.06 last month by keeping a close eye on my local Yamada Denki. However, I think the RG Hi Nu Gundam will probably be more sought after over the Mark.06, so I should brace myself for disappointment also just in case.