Electronics in Osaka and Tokyo

Hi, we will be visiting Den Den Town and Akihabara on our trip next month. I was wondering if anyone had any tips about shops which sell products with English Operating Systems? We are looking at buying a camera and a laptop. Thanks in advance!

I have been to Den Den Town, it seems a bit quiet and not that I expected. Much better visiting Akihabara, lots of selections.

They usually charge 1,000 yen for an English operation manual.

For English cameras, the majority of brands have English built in, except for Sony, who is a pain in the butt when it comes to regionalizing their products. You should be able to play with the product at the store, and the first thing I try to do is set it to English. I recommend Canon point and shoots, and they definitely all have English. Don't worry about the manuals because you can get those online for free.

As for computers, you'll have a really hard time finding anything with an English OS. Also, they keyboard layout is slightly different, and prices are not cheap. You can often find better computer deals outside of Japan, and the only reason I'd buy a Japanese laptop would be to get a specific model that isn't released overseas. Also think about warranty issues.

Now your other option would be to buy International Models which will be in English and have English manuals and an international warranty. You pay a lot for these those and they can be more expensive than in your home country.

btw, where are you from and exactly what are you looking for?

Gotta say, buying a camera + laptop in Japan is the dumbest thing on the planet if you can find the same model in the USA and can buy it in the USA. Far cheaper most of the time, esp. with sales.

eg. Black Friday 2006, the day after Thanksgiving, had a $199 Toshiba notebook on sale at Microcenter.com.

2007 BF is coming up in two weeks, and it's likely you'll get the same or better deal then as well.

VS. Notebooks in Japan that are still $600+ to start.

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Cameras - fatwallet.com/c/18/
Usually lots of deals on cameras here that make them cheaper than elsewhere, and on BF, you'll see things like 12MP Kodak digicams for $200 at Sears this year.

thus, if you can buy on BF, you'll win win win!!

Otherwise, stop over at Bic Camera or Yodabashi in Akihabara, and compare vs. online prices at http://kakaku.com/ and
http://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/
before you buy to get the best deals on Japanese priced models.

Also, look at Bic's, Yodabashi's, and Sofmap's sale ads that they have at the door. If you can buy on listed sales, you can get a decent deal that way as well, but still higher than the USA during BF sales.

Hi all, thanks heaps for the replies. I probably should have said that I am from Australia. With the strong Aussie dollar at the moment, cameras seem to be cheaper in Japan by about 25%. I think I will scrap the idea of a laptop (too tricky) but anymore advice on cameras would be much appreciated!

Yodobashi cameras has a huge store in Osaka kita right across form JR Osaka station North Exit. you can also go there from Minami by taking the Mido-suji subway line.
They have a whole floor of nothing but cameras and yes most can be set to English. but in most cases you have to download the English booklet yourself. kind of pricey if you do it in a Japanese computer cafe.. .
buying in Japan means that you get the latest models but you can't benefit from serious reviews as we get in the USA, UK ,etc. the latest camera isn't necessarily suited to your needs...how will you know as you can't reall try it.. Your call..

What sort of camera do you want?

Digital SLR, tiny pocket camera, ultrazoom, waterproof, etc??