DSLR in akihabara/pricejapan and kakaku

Im travelling to Tokyo in June/July this year and I'm planning to buy a Nikon D300 digital SLR. I was planning to order this from amazon.co.jp and have it delivered to my apartment cause I found that amazon.co.jp has the cheapest price i found (cheaper than yodobashi and bic camera). However, after using pricejapan and kakaku, I found that its actually a bit cheaper to buy in some select shops in Akihabara.

My question is, how accurate are the prices on pricejapan and kakaku? are they upto date? I was going to order the item from amazon BEFORE i arrive in tokyo so it will be at my apartment when i arrive (had arranged it with my hotel) but if Akihabara is cheaper then I would just wait till i get to Tokyo and buy it in Akihabara. Im not worried about manuals cause i can get the english manuals from the nikon website, but my main concern is if the camera has english language in the menu setups (which it should have, can anyone confirm?)

I'm not sure about the accuracy of Kakaku's prices but I can confirm that the D300 has English menus.

The prices on Kakaku are accurate on a day to day basis. This means the price posted late evening on EACH DAY on Kakaku was accurate for that day.

The next day's price may be slightly different however.

I've gone into a shop with the previous day's price, and I've actually bought it for slightly cheaper!!!

Even if the cameras are in Kakaku, you need to be able to find the shop. Some of the easier shops to find(they have maps on their websites) are Wink, Outlet Plaza & E-Trend. PC Bomber is more difficult to find, but it's often very cheap.

......
Nikon D200 with 18-70mm lens cheapest at Akihabara is 131,700 yen
Nikon D300 with 18-70mm lens cheapest at Akihabara is 180,000 yen

Canon 40D with 17-85mm IS 132,000 yen.

Canon 40D with 18-55mm IS 113,000 yen.

You would need to be able to find these shops though!!!

hey thanks for your reply! thats very helpful indeed. now that i know kakaku is upto date i can buy in store when i get to tokyo instead of ordering from amazon. I assume the shops like Wink and Outlet Plaza etc.. sell them brand new?

I was actually checking out Wink on the map before and it doesnt seem that hard to find. I've been to Akihabara before and most of these shops seem to be just off the main road where the huge LAOX is.

where is pc bomber though? do you have map or directions?

Now that I know Kakaku is upto date, would you recommend me buying from Amazon.co.jp and have it delivered to my apartment or should i wait until i get to tokyo and then head to akihibara? I assume these shops in Akihabara has extra equipment like 72mm filters for lenses etc? thats the reason i wanna get it from amazon so i can get little bit extras. i dunno if these shops will have it.

actually, you wouldnt happen to have an english map for the area of akihabara would you? one that can show me where WINK and the other shops are?

i stumbled across this at the right time...

im wanting to buy the canon 40d...
so akihabara seems the place to head...
where is pc bomber located at? i can't even search there website let alone find out an address...

The website of PC Bomber shop is http://www.pc-bomber.co.jp/shop/contents/index.aspx and I think very easy to see the location is to copy "東京都台東区上野５丁目８−５" this address and paste and search on the http://maps.google.co.jp site.

nice.

I just found something interesting. PriceJapan.com actually sells the electronic items worldwide. They find the cheapest prices in japan and they go and buy it for you and send it to wherever you live, all you pay is the price for item and additional 5% fee. But then theres DHL delivery which isnt too much if your item isnt heavy and then theres the problem of customs when it enters your country.

so i was wondering if its worth it to buy from pricejapan or just wait till i get to tokyo and go look for the item myself in akihabara? PriceJapan gets most of its prices from Kakaku and nearly all the shops on Kakaku is in Akihabara, Im just worried that the shops might be hard to find in akihabara (even though ive been there before). What do you think?

forgot to say, the reason im considering ordering from pricejapan is because i dont want to get to Tokyo and find the cheap prices in the little shops in Akihabara and then get told that they have ran out of stock. On the pricejapan website they say that it could happen easily but does anyone know if the likelihood of items being out of stock is high?

If you find that the shops are out of stock on that day, then use PriceJapan to deliver TO YOUR HOTEL.
There's no use getting them to deliver to your home country if you don't have to, otherwise you have to pay for their fee (4000yen or 5%), plus shipping. This could add up to 10,000 yen to the price.

Yeah ive considered getting pricejapan to delivery to my hotel. I emailed them and they said they usually take the order for home delivery 5 days BEFORE i arrive in tokyo.

Problem is that If i decide to go check out the shops in akiba once i arrive in tokyo and find that its all sold out, i cant order from pricejapan because i wont have enough money in my card or paypal balance because ill have the money with me in cash!

And if i keep the money in my account and withdraw over there, i wont be able to withdraw over £1000 in one go.

quite a dilemma. Im trying to weigh it all up, which is best: akihabara, pricejapan or amazon. I would really like to go get it myself in akiba, but im just worried about finding the shops (which im thinking shouldnt be too hard since all the shops are within the area so i must be able to find it, even if it takes me all day!) and if they are out of stock in the shops. since you said the prices on kakaku are very accurate i guess i dont have to worry about going in there to hassle the price, im assume thats the price they sell it straight out for.