does need to be a Japan address but it doesn’t have to be ‘fake’…I have a Forwarding service connecting overseas customers and Japanese online stores [tenso.com] account that I use (not that often) but Tenso does give you a valid Japan address if you need one… nice service to order things you can’t get from sellers that don’t ship overseas (a jp ebay seller, a random online store that only ships within japan, etc…)…and turned out to be super helpful for sending all the random omiyage when I was in japan by takubin and then aggregating all of it and shipping home instead of trying to carry everything around and then pay for luggage… it wasn’t cheap but it was hella convenient will definitely do it again for the next japan trip…
Oh yeah, definitely useful if you do more physical shipping. I just wouldn’t use it enough to justify it.
doesn’t cost anything to setup an account… originally I wanted a few things I couldn’t get shipped outside japan some little things…a collectable hokkaido mug …
then found a complete set of out of print manga in like new condition ebay japan but can’t ship outside japan…doesn’t get used often but it is extremely helpful when I do use it…
when I was in Japan thought heck…maybe I can use it when traveling and turns out it worked great…found it so helpful getting all the gifts back and takubin is so cheap … just save things up and every few days buy a box from the hotel and pay a small amount, even from hokkaido to tokyo…and done… I got good at filling out takubin forms in japanese [have heard you can use english now but never tried]
That surprises me. I kinda just assumed it had a cost to have that… maybe I’ll have to get it then.
you only pay when you ship stuff…oh and something they do now that originally thought was sneaky (but overall sort of depends)…haven’t checked the rate a while but a long time ago they would charge you in yen…they stopped doing it and force native currency with the card of the country being used… in my case us dollars…but what they don’t really tell you and you can only figure out if you pay close attention to the exchange rates … (pretty sure it’s 3% but it’s fixed)
they do have a sort of hidden conversion fee built in (it’s not excessive) but basically that conversion makes the charge in native currency so you get zero benefit using a CC that doesn’t have foreign fees…better to use a card with cash back, miles, or other benefits… since it’s in USD, no foreign fees and you can get your rewards on those purchases.
looks like they still don’t disclose it…
but if you check the actual market rate…compared with what they bill…there absolutely is a fixed conversion % tacked on… think it’s 3% but it’s been a while…was ticked in the beginning because it’s sneaky and really should be disclosed…but now eh I use my a credit card that has the most benefits…since there is no foreign conversion fees so you don’t need a foreign no transaction fee card and can at least get the 1.5% cash back on purchases or whatever miles or else you earn…
that’s kind of the only thing about tenso I felt a little miffed by…but when I have gotten packages checked in and had a question, they will take photos and email you so you can verify what arrived and or if there is a problem, something is damaged they can help coordinate returns… overall it’s a good service…just not for every day when cdjapan will ship most everything I want/need direct dhl.
I’m curious, which has the best interface for reading between Kindle app and bookwalker? also could you send me a link for the download of the right app on apple if you can find one on google? I’m not sure and it seems I’m in the wrong app maybe. Edit: found the correct app by going on the official website, I saw it but thought it was some broken app since it only had 4 reviews
Anyways, here’s a quick review of the devices I used:
- Kindle Oasys: I found the kindle uncomfortable AF for reading mangas due to lag in zooming in and out, and also to move inside the page (the biggest kindle is quite small) it takes forever, I mean, that thing has the latency of a 1998 computer, and paper experience is fine only if you read roman characters .
- Phone: The kindle app on the phone (5,8" display) was still shit despite zoom being quick, because there is a sort of reset to full page animation that resets full page view again whenever you switch app like when you go to check the dictionary app (which I do continuously)… may seem like nothing but I find it quite frustrating… and the worst is that moving inside the zoomed page (you’re going to zoom a lot) is simply broken, keeps randomly bringing you back to full page for no reason i you don’t do extra precise movements…
- Tablet: best manga experience I had till now - except from reading the paper copy @shuly is reading mangas on the kindle app of the 12,9" iPad pro, everything is instantaneous and you don’t really need to zoom because that iPad is gigantic. Only downside is that kindle’s interface and options related to moving between pages/modifying characters is extremely limited (for what I could figure out). This may be the most normal thing in the world but to me is just incredible that, given the gigantic manga industry in Japan (and in the rest of the world) they yet don’t allow you to do such things as interacting with the actual text and modifying - for example - characters font and size, or simply even just allow you to select text and look it up - to say one. For the kindle the text is just part of the picture, and I know there are some limits like stylistic choices of the mangaka/producer and also the size of speech bubbles, but still there are some workarounds for that and the experience can still be improved by a lot…
- Apple Books app: this is my favorite reading experience overall, the app is incredibly well made, unfortunately there is near to zero options for original language mangas (yet a surprising quantity of english translated mangas) but for books, both english and japanese (at least with a VPN but never really checked a lot of japanese titles there) it allows you to customize every parameter, things like (obviously) background style, font, text size and distance between rows and even single words, moving between pages animations or simply providing a continuous page and just scroll down… and much more.
Since I have a Kindle Fire, I’ve only really used the Kindle app. I’ve previewed things in Bookwalker’s web version, and the interfaces seem identical to me, but you’re going be the one who now has experience with both, so you’ll be better able to tell which one you prefer. I’ve stuck with Kindle because it’s what I used for English ebooks, so I kept with the familiar interface.
Japan is very much still a paper-oriented society. The fax machine is still alive and well over there. That we even have high-quality scans of manga to read digitally (since ultimately, that’s what digital manga are; they are just images. This isn’t a Kindle-specific limitation; every digital manga is essentially just a scan) is honestly a surprise given that environment. The reason why you probably have any options with English-language manga is because they probably superimpose the English text on the image, so the app developers let you manipulate that, but making text that already exists in an image accessible is a pain. Like you say, there are ways (my new phone detects text and lets me copy it from images, for example), but I wouldn’t hold my breath for that to happen naturally in apps that are meant to cater to the Japanese market. They don’t have to stop and look up the same way a learner would.
Ultimately, the only way I see those kinds of things happening would be if somebody developed an app with those kinds of features that catered to learners, but I wouldn’t envy anyone that task (especially because you’d either have to get the rights to sell things directly or else you’d have to expect your users to be able to remove DRM from things they purchase elsewhere). There’s a reason our good friend ChristopherFritz uses what he uses with that complex set-up he’s got going on. I suspect it’s simply the best choice given the limitations.
I can say that the Kindle does allow a good amount of customization for proper books, as well as selecting text, customizing size, etc. It really is just manga that has the limitations by virtue of format.
No fucking way wow, there was a time where I imagined Japan as an incredibly technologically advanced country, but lately I’m finding out all this… for example I just found out that only recently (during COVID period) it started adapting to electronic payments… I’m genuinely surprised… because even Italy for always having been a lot behind with technology (except major cities like Milano, Roma, Torino, Bologna and few others) is quickly adapting lately
True, but I imagine (and I really hope) this will happen in the next 5-10 years, I can imagine benefits for non-language learners as well
Building such an app is an interesting idea, I wonder if it’s not already in the making somewhere.
Anyway, after spending literally 3 hours with the Apple care support I think I dound the ultimate solution to all my problems. As I had previously done for amazon to use my kindle with manga, I created a new fully japanese apple account, exited my current one in the apple Books app, signed in with the new one and now I have like everything in japanese, I could find every single manga and book I looked for… only thing is, japanese apple store doesn’t accept bank accounts that are not opened in the japanese country, and the only alternative payment method is phone operator credit (not viable solution), so I just purchased a 3000¥ itunes card from a website and used the credit to buy stuff, best solution for my situation
Volume 12 is up and going!
Volume 13 thread is ready for this weekend!
Looking to branch out to other series by this mangaka?
There are some volumes free through 8/22 (then the freebies go away):
- あしたは土曜日 1
- からかい上手の高木さん 1–3
- からかい上手の(元)高木さん 1–3
- くノ一ツバキの胸の内 1–3
- ふだつきのキョーコちゃん 1–2
- 恋に恋するユカリちゃん 1–2
This year’s September issue of Shogakukan’s Monthly Shonen Sunday magazine announced on Saturday that Sōichirō Yamamoto’s Teasing Master Takagi-san (Karakai Jōzu no Takagi-san) manga will end in the magazine’s November issue on October 12.
Source: Teasing Master Takagi-san Manga Ends on October 12 - News - Anime News Network
Not sure how everyone else feels, but I am happy to know we’ll get to read an ending of some sort.
bitter sweet, but glad to hear hopefully they will get their happy ending, or at least tagaisan will
Surprise upset ending: Nishikata ends up with Yukari, and the もと series actually a work of fiction by Takagi to cope with her loss.
Edit: If we don’t learn their given names, we riot?
I have the torches and pitchforks ready.
My biggest worry is that two chapters won’t be enough time for a good (as in well-made) ending.
Definitely bittersweet!
As much as I kind of wish it could go on forever, realistically I’m happy that we’ll get a proper ending rather than it just fizzling out at some point in the future.
Absolutely.
Volume 14 is up!
Volume 15’s discussion thread is now live!