Thanks, @Rowena, @frayderike and @Radish8 
I feel embarassed but educated now xDD
Consider me joining anyway though, I’ll try my best to progress enough until April!
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Apparently BookWalker is often slightly cheaper and the quality is higher - but I’m not sure how Calibre-friendly it is, or how easy it is to de-drm for your personal archives (I couldn’t even find what file format they provide).
I bought a few Japanese-language books on amazon.com, but now I use amazon.co.jp because the JP catalogue is bigger, it’s easy-ish to buy the books, download the actual files (if linked to a physical kindle), and the azw format can be de-drm’d and converted to any other format with Calibre for my personal archives.
It’s annoying needing a separate amazon.co.jp account and a VPN, but you don’t need a Japanese credit card. I did end up buying a super cheap second hand kindle just to get access to the file downloads though – because if you just associate iPad/PC apps with your account, you can deliver the books straight to the apps, but not download the actual azw files. And switching between accounts on a physical kindle is a pain…(“special offer” ads came back on mine)
I haven’t tried Kobo JP, I’m not sure how easy that is (I do buy on Kobo FR though, I like the ePub format).
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Thanks for the reply. I’ve looked a Bookwalker a bit before, and I don’t think they allow downloading books at all. You can only read them in the web or mobile app. I’m sure if I go digging through temp directories the files are there somewhere, but they may be in some proprietary format.
I didn’t realize you needed a VPN for amazon.jp. I thought you could just create a new account and be good to go.
I think I’m going to buy the first one on bookwalker and see how it goes. If I don’t like it, I can research the other options.
Yeah I use a VPN for amazon just to make sure I don’t get blocked – I’ve seen posts of people complaining about getting blocked because they’re outside Japan (I guess amazon protects themselves because rights work differently in different countries). Apparently you don’t need to use one every time though…
I’d be interested in your experience with BookWalker!
I started reading before I finished Genki I and it was just about doable, with a lot of puzzling. If you get demotivated easily, I’m not sure it’s the best introduction to reading, but I think it can be done.
As for eBooks… Kindle and Kobo can be de-DRM’d easily, Bookwalker not at all. I also find the Bookwalker reader really annoying to use. I personally stick with Kobo because Kindle sometimes compressed images, I’ve read.
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Hi! I have a question about Kobo JP eBooks: do you need a separate JP account / VPN / forwarding address / Japanese credit card?
(I really wish these forums had threaded replies, I feel like I’m derailing the thread, sorry about that 
)
I’ve only downloaded the free Shin Chan volume, but that required none of those things!
edit: come to think of it, I did make up a Japanese address 
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It’s not a problem at all ^-^
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This thread is about getting people into reading Japanese books - info about accessing Japanese e-books is wholly pertinent to that goal.
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I’ve asked here on Kitsun about collaboration…
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Japanese vs Other Region accounts: You do need separate accounts to buy from both their Japanese store and a non-Japanese region store. There is a feature to combine logins, but the intended use is to combine two or more separate logins from one region. (I combined a US account and a Japanese account and after a while that ultimately broke my ability to buy anything from the US store until I contacted support and it took a while for them to fix it and get my accounts unlinked again.)
You can easily log out of one account and into another on the Kobo app or desktop software, but you lose all your downloads, and have to redownload them again when you log back in to the prior account.
VPN: I am in the US, and I do not need a VPN.
Forwarding address: You do need a Japanese address and phone number. I used a random Japanese web site that generates real-looking fake addresses and phone numbers and have been able to use the service without any issues. Your experience and results may vary. Buyer beware.
Japanese credit card: I don’t own a credit card, but I do have a debit card that can be used on MasterCard’s system. It works for me just fine with Kobo. (For reference: My debit card works with Nintendo’s Japanese 3DS eshop, but does not work with Nintendo’s Japanese Switch eshop.) My credit union has a (very small) international fee tacked on to my Japanese Kobo purchases.
File format: Kobo uses EPUB format. However, files are saved as DRM’d “KEPUB” format. I use a program I bought for $50 that strips the DRM from any Kobo books I download into the Kobo Windows desktop application. It’s possible Callibre can handle this, but I couldn’t get it working.
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This looks fun, and I think it’ll line up perfectly with my studying with the more relaxed pace and the breaks.
I’ve never joined a book club here before, I’m excited to try this! Do I have to have read the pages by the start of the week or the end of the week? For example, should I have read pgs 6-10 by April 6th? Or start reading them on the 6th?
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Thank you so much for the detailed information! The process looks quite similar to my current one with amazon (including similar pitfalls), and I assume that once you’re set up it’s quite fine.
I already have a (free) process for de-DRM’ing protected ePubs from the FR store (only for personal archives - I happily buy books but the freedom to use any device is important to me). I use Adobe Digital Editions to get the real ePub and Calibre to de-DRM and manage books on my devices.
I might try and get set up on Kobo, and compare the quality of a cheap manga I already have. Thanks again!
The latter - April 6th is the start date for when we start to read pages 6 - 10. I will post the discussion thread for those pages on the 6th, and people will be able to discuss those pages throughout the week.
Glad to have you with us! 
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Oh! I meant to ask people - how did you find the breaks between stories for Kitty Detectives?
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I’m interested in trying this. (Though I clicked the different option in the poll, because I also do very much like clicking things)… I’d love to get it as an ebook, but I’m wondering which format bookwalker and Kobo sell the ebook as. I’ve got an ereader that reads ePUB, not kindle format.
Hope someone can help!
There’s was a short conversation about this further up - looks like Kobo definitely uses ePUB, and the DRM can be removed fairly easily, while BookWalker can’t (I’m not totally clear whether they use ePUB format, but I think they do - hopefully somebody can confirm).
Also, the second option is “I just like clicking things”, implying that you like clicking things but don’t want to read the book, whereas the first option involves clicking and wanting to read the book 
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Great 
even though I didn’t have any problems reading along according to the schedule, I was glad to get a break or two in between, especially around holiday season.
Oh can you maybe add a link to the club thread in the first post? (Just wanted to quickly get to the thread by clicking when I noticed there’s no link in the first post.)
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Ahaha, I was already editing the OP to do this when you posted 
I thought the conversation about eBook format had taken place in the club thread, and I too was irritated to find there was no link when I wanted to check 
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Thanks. I’ll try Kobo then!
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