Buying Equipment / in Japan

Sub-page of BuyingEquipment

Information on ordering go-equipment directly from Japan and some physical stores.

Online shops

Kuroki (Hyuga City, Miyazaki)

A nice place to order is Kuroki Goishi Ten Co. Wide Selection of high quality boards, bowls and stones (slate & shell only). Seemingly good prices. [ext] http://www.kurokigoishi.co.jp/english/index.html

Customer Recommendations:

Todd Sprang: I give the highest marks for customer service to this company My wife purchased a special grade kaya board from Kuroki Goishi for my birthday; however, when I opened the box, two thin cracks had developed where the wood was joined. I took pictures and emailed Mr. Hirotaka Kuroki about it, and he explained the cracks probably developed due to the humidity differences between Japan and the US. But beyond that, he offered to replace the board with one that had been aged longer at no cost, and did not ask for me to return the cracked board! Kuroki Goishi is the place to buy! -

Hugo F: Todd Sprang is right: kurokigoishi may be the best place to buy go equipment. I live in France and i ordered a 11cm goban wih legs. The board got damaged during transportation. I showed Mr Kuroki pictures of the board. He sent me another board at no cost and he explained to me how to repair the first board. I know where I will buy stones and bowls to complete my set. :)


See also Customer's Voice on the website: [ext] http://www.kurokigoishi.co.jp/igoblog/cat02/

Aoyama (Tokyo)

hnishy: Another candidate is [ext] Aoyama Gobanten near Shinjuku. Delivery by EMS and payment by PayPal. 'Aoyama' is the owner's name, not the placename. He was a chessplayer in his youth and has some working knowledge of English.

lkdavn: I have made two recent purchases from Aoyama Gobanten (over the internet from California). Delivery by EMS and payment by PayPal worked very well. High quality items and very nice experience.

Timmytoe: Ordered four pairs of Tengen go bowls(Same as used in Nihon ki-in) and the contact with Aoyama was great! Like the 90s looking homepage. Sent from Japan 2023-01-05 received in sweden 2023-01-10 by Fedex.

marmez?: We have shopped from our club (EU/PL/Szczecin) 3 times now and always the packing for shipping was perfect, until we made a video of the unpacking, because it is a work of art. [ext] Unpacking the package. From Covid the shipping was via Fedex. Contact via email has always been problem free and very friendly.

lkdavn, I meant to add this for awhile. This also a great shop to visit if you are in Tokyo. Aoyama-San was great to visit and talk with. I was on a business trip and was able to take the time to stop in. Fine inventory of both Go and Shogi. I came away from my visit with a fine set of Shogi Pieces and board.

Maruhachi (Tokyo)

Maruhachi Gobanten now has an English site: [ext] https://www.maruhachigobanten.jp/en/index.html. Accepts Paypal.

Ohkubo (Tokyo)

MarkD: A good shop in the Shinjuku area is Ohkubo Gobanten, prices not too high: [ext] http://igo-shogi.game.coocan.jp/

Mahasattva: The owner of the Ohkubo Gobanten is very welcoming but does not speak English, although I managed to communicate with a mixture of sign language, a smattering of Japanese words and general good humour! His stock is wide ranging and cheaper than the Ginza Go centre. He only stock wooden gobans, no magnetic travel sets and similar "modern" equipment.

Miwa (Nagoya)

[ext] Miwa Gobanten (Japanese). Appears to be at the high quality end of the market. You can use Google Translate on the site by selecting 英語 in the top-right field.

The Nihon Kiin Shop

The Nihon Kiin has an official shop on Rakuten platform: [ext] http://www.rakuten.co.jp/nihonkiin/ It's not clear they ship abroad or not.

Shodan Imports

See Shodan imports (Defunct?).

Yahoo Japan

Go Boards and stones can be purchased from Yahoo Japan readily through the www.rinkya.com buying service. The process is convoluted and the shipping costs from Japan are steep. Inspecting go boards on Yahoo Japan is a delight. They are likely though to have the corners dinged when shipping. Used boards are 1/3 to 1/2 what they sale for on Ebay and in great numbers. A good deal of retail sellers sale through Yahoo Japan at higher prices for new go merchandise.

You should be discouraged from actually trying this. If there is interest I could post a how-to.

URL [ext] https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/category/list/2084036420/ (new link)

gG: It seems like on ebay, nobody is willing to ship internationally.

Additional Costs

Customs

Taylor: I bought a board, bowls and stones in Japan recently and paid no duty on them when I brought them back to the U.S. As far as I can tell there is no U.S. customs duty on board games, unless imported from Cuba, Laos or North Korea. See page 2 of [ext] chapter 95 of the U.S. tariff schedules.

gG: Japan Customs does not collect any duty and tax from outbound shipment.

Kris: But you might need to pay tax in your home country (I was charged 20% VAT when importing into Belgium).

Masuran: I recently bought a great Go set from Kuroki Goishi. It was sent to Belgium for a total cost of 181EUR (equipment + shipping) and I only had to pay 9.90EUR for customs. So not sure if the 20% (or 21%) VAT is always applicable.

Shipping rates etc.

A 13kg Package (Table Board, Stones, Bowls) from Japan to Germany takes approximately 1 Week at a charge of 21000 Yen (160 EUR) and 6 to 8 weeks at a charge of 7800 Yen (60 EUR)

Go stones ,Gosu,and Gosu box gross weight about 7kgs to Europe. You can choose one of the following transportations. EMS(Air) 12,300JPY takes about one week. SAL(Air) 9,400JPY takes about two weeks Ship 5,100JPY takes about 7 to 9 weeks Go board Katsura size 60 with Kiri coverand cloth cover Gross weight about 23kgs EMS (Air) 33,100JPY SAL (Air) 21,650JPY Ship 11,300JPY

Physical only stores

See also Japan Cool Places.

Thrift Stores

Tamsin: If you don't mind buying second-hand equipment, you can often find free-standing gobans in second-hand shops at very reasonable prices. For example, when I was in Nikko last summer, I found a "Recycle Shop" (as the Japanese call it) that offered a goban and stones for 10,000 Yen. I would have bought it had it not been the beginning of my holiday (meaning I did not know yet how well my money would last) and it would have been a bit bulky to carry around with me. Admittedly, these items will be scratched and the stones chipped, but often they're still very usable and acceptably attractive to look at. And it would not be too hard to repair and restore used equipment by yourself. The Japanese do not like second-hand things, as a rule, and that is why second-hand goods in Japan are often very cheap.


Buying Equipment / in Japan last edited by lkdavn on November 8, 2023 - 23:33
RecentChanges · StartingPoints · About
Edit page ·Search · Related · Page info · Latest diff
[Welcome to Sensei's Library!]
RecentChanges
StartingPoints
About
RandomPage
Search position
Page history
Latest page diff
Partner sites:
Go Teaching Ladder
Goproblems.com
Login / Prefs
Tools
Sensei's Library