Re: AKB Fans in Australia? I normally use CDJapan anyway. As far as I know, YesAsia seldom comes with any shop-specific bonuses (like photos, posters, etc.). In any case, I just go with EMS where possible (not FedEx/DHL, but faster than airmail/SAL), unless I'm not in a hurry. Delivery should be around 5 days (to Melbourne at least; shorter by a day approx. for Sydney and not sure for Brisbane).
Re: AKB Fans in Australia? Thanks for that! Not too preoccupied with extra bonuses, its just that CDJapan ran out of limited editions
Re: AKB Fans in Australia? oh! an Australian S48 thread. never thought existed. well, greetings from a place that is too far from everywhere and hates daylight savings.
Re: AKB Fans in Australia? Hahahhahaha. True true and Welcome Although we have an alright time zone for streaming their concerts. Some ppl have to wake up 2-3 in the morning to watch their streams. Which part of Australia are u from?
Re: AKB Fans in Australia? Wait where do we live stream? Ohh and CDJapan has the cheapest shipping to Australia
Re: AKB Fans in Australia? YouTube, usually. Not necessarily. EMS for orders of more than one item seems to be better with HMV in my experience, as far as Australia is concerned. Yeah, I ordered the regular edition instead. Figured that limited editions aren't really necessary anyway in hindsight: I've left Japan already ( ) and hence the national HS ticket (the only major differentiator between the limited and regular editions) would be useless for me.
Re: AKB Fans in Australia? I once bought from HMV 2 magazines, cost me about $55 because they charged separate shipping for both I read the fine print that said shipping costs could change without notice but i really didnt think they would double it, it was already very expensive. I recommend you never use them... cdjapan have always served me well, you pay what's displayed! This is regarding shipping to Sydney
Re: AKB Fans in Australia? That's probably because you may have selected the option that they ship separately as soon as each is available. If you combine the orders and ship them as one package, although you'd have to wait until the latest item in your order is released, then they wouldn't charge you separate shipping.
Re: AKB Fans in Australia? HMV is better than CDjapan ONLY if you are bulk buying cd's other than that CDJ is fine. Never get a CD from HMV if there is a poster bonus...they fold it whilst compared to CDJ where they roll it up in a tube with more packaging material.
Re: AKB Fans in Australia? Going from what I posted here, I did a bit more searching around the Australian iTunes Music Store. Looks like you can also get NMB48's music officially via iTunes, too. No need to jump through loops to get a Japanese iTunes card and open an account if all you're after is their music (and don't care for their special bonuses and what not). And no more excuses for MP3 DDLs off the interwebs either =p I'll just clarify what has now been available through the local Australian iTunes store: HKT48 (Universal - all) Minami Takahashi (Universal - all) NMB48 (Yoshimoto - Type N/M/B of their album, but only Theater Edition for their singles) Perfume (only their Universal-released stuff, not their earlier Tokuma Japan ones) Passpo (see above) Kyary Pamyu Pamyu (Warner) No luck for other (48-group) artists (well, except for Sugar Rush but that's a special case...). Note that for other Universal Music Group artists, it's only their latest releases (I'm guessing) that they're starting to make available worldwide (US/Canada excluded) - and then it's only some artists - so don't expect their entire back catalogue to be made available for purchase. This means no SDN48. Having said that, that's not to say they won't (in fact, I could find a substantial amount of ET-KING releases...). Also, specifically with regards to NMB48, the album is a little bit more expensive (by, assuming FX parity of late, AUD$3) than what iTunes Japan are selling for. Individual tracks, however, are cheaper by 30c - this applies across the board.
Re: AKB Fans in Australia? Thanks for that, its quite interesting. Certainly great to see more legal ways of buying Asian music thats easy for everyone to do!
Re: AKB Fans in Australia? YesAsia does cheapest shipping actually. It's free lol. YesAsia is fine, I've only ever had one problem with them when my Flying Get CD a few years back came cracked, but that's it from YEARS of ordering from them. They are fine, and I've had to ring their helpline a few times and they are super nice and helpful. No complaints at all. CDJ is great too but if I can get free shipping I will take it ahah.
Re: AKB Fans in Australia? yesasia's 'free shipping' comes from the product price. eg sayonara crawl for $20 instead of $15 at cdj. If you buy two thats already $10 more than cdj and that sort of pays for the shipping already. cdj SAL shipping is only 700yen too...
Re: AKB Fans in Australia? Hi everyone! I am a newbie here. Ive been idol fangirl ever since I'm 16/17ish, but haven't got the courage to join forums to talk about it. I live in Perth and usually download AKB videos/DVDs at my own pace, so I'm not exactly a die hard fan (I don't know everything) but I have to admit I love idols very much! I'm a DD too, so I like everyone but I exceptionally like Miichan and Akigori. Hope i can get along with everyone!
Re: AKB Fans in Australia? I plan to graduate from AKB this year, but until then there's one more Brisbane resident here.
Re: AKB Fans in Australia? Three times actually (all for Nemousu TV SP). But only to those places that the Japanese first think of when they think of "Australia" - i.e. Far North QLD, NT outback. Twice in Cairns (2009? and 2011) and once in Darwin (2010). And once in NZ (2012). If that even counts...
Re: AKB Fans in Australia? To where? Sydney? Melbourne? Unlikely. Too little demand here for mainstream J-Pop; if Kyary Pamyu Pamyu couldn't even make it despite an announcement, I highly doubt AKB48 will be any different. Having said that, I have heard from certain sources that some organisations did try to get them to come here once a few years ago but those plans fell through. Don't quote me on this though - this is just hearsay from what I've heard.