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Shop Visit in Japan: What I Check, What You Get and What It Costs
Some Japanese shops cannot be judged from abroad. They do not ship overseas, they do not answer email, or their real range is on the shelf and not on the website. A shop visit is the simplest way to find out what is actually there.
Short answer: For €28 (about ¥5,000) per shop, I go to one Japanese shop in your place, take at least twenty photographs, ask your questions at the counter in Japanese and report back the next business day. You do not have to buy anything. The visit is the service.
When a shop visit is the right tool
- The shop will not ship abroad, so nobody outside Japan has seen the shelf.
- The shop does not reply to email, or replies only in Japanese.
- You want to check that something is really in stock before you pay for it.
- A second-hand shop, where the stock changes every week and the website never does.
- A maker’s showroom or factory shop with no catalogue and no price list.
What you get
- At least twenty photographs: the shelf, the price tags, the item from more than one side, and the shopfront.
- Your questions answered: up to ten per shop, asked in Japanese and written back to you in English, French or Spanish.
- What was there and what was not: stock on the shelf, sizes, materials as labelled, and the tag price with and without consumption tax.
- The report by the next business day.
If you prefer, we can do the visit as a live video call, so you see the shelf yourself and I ask the staff as you go. Tell me when you book.
What it costs
| Item | Fee |
|---|---|
| One shop, up to two hours on site | €28 / US$32.50 / C$45 (about ¥5,000) |
| Transport | Passed on at the amount paid, with receipts; once per trip, not per shop |
| Visit within 48 hours of your request | +50% |
| 2–3 shops on one request | −10% on the visit fee |
| 4–6 shops | −15% |
| 7 shops or more | −20% |
Read this before you book
- Photographs. Whether I may take photos inside is the shop’s decision. Many Japanese shops say no, or allow the item but not the shelf. If I am refused, I describe what I saw in writing, and the fee stands because the visit happened.
- Buying. The fee covers the visit, not goods. If you want something bought while I am there, that is personal shopping: 25% of the first ¥30,000, 20% of the part from ¥30,000 to ¥100,000, and 15% above that, agreed before I pay anyone.
- If it is not there, the report says so and, where the staff can tell me, why. That is a complete answer, and it is often the one that saves you a wasted order.