will all eletrical shop got vat refund?

i intend to buy this items, may go around tokyo for it, let say if i got this in any shop in tokyo, is it most of the shop will able to refund me 5% VAT or only certain shop does it? is it better to go for those individual small shop or big chain store like big c?

http://kakaku.com/item/K0000027536/

http://kakaku.com/item/K0000055862/

thanks

is it most of the shop will able to refund me 5% VAT or only certain shop does it?

No, only certain shops are licensed to sell duty free. It's generally the larger shops that typically sell to lots of foreigners such as the electronic shops around Akihabara.

is it better to go for those individual small shop or big chain store like big c?

I would buy from small shops as things usually costs way more than 5% more at Bic Camera or Yodobashi Camera than it does at the small shops. For example, I just bought a gf-1 myself and it was 60000 yen from a small shop listed on kakaku, but 90000 yen for the same thing at the big chain stores. I saved 33% instead of a tiny 5% consumption tax deduction.

Fyi, try to buy the camera soon as I noticed the prices of the gf1 seem to be on the rise and are higher than when I bought mine three weeks ago.

Hi,
i just want to buy gf-1 also, may i know where you bought? is there any memory come with it? i looking for the 14-140 lens also, but hardly get any shop list in kakaku, all is online selling only.

thanks

i just want to buy gf-1 also, may i know where you bought?

I bought it at an online retailer listed on kakaku. If you don't have a mailing address to send it to then you will unfortunately not be able to utilize most of the cheapest listings on Kakaku.

is there any memory come with it?

No but memory is cheap. Prices have really come down lately and you can find 2gb cards for under 1000 yen, 4gb for around 1500 yen, and 8gb for around 2500 yen. Often you can find them cheaper than that on the back streets of akihabara.

i looking for the 14-140 lens also, but hardly get any shop list in kakaku, all is online selling only.

The major retailers carry it. I've seen it at bic and yodobashi for example and it was quite a bit more expensive just like the body. I think it was around 85000 yen.

One thing to note, which hasn't been said so far...

The domestic Panasonic GF1 will have Japanese language only. You cannot change it to English.

Also, generally speaking, the 14-140mm lens is the kit lens with the GH1. It's a large sized lens, which effectively negates the advantage of the small size of the GF1.
That lens can be found for about 70,000-75,000yen, while the GH1 WITH that lens can be found for less than 100,000yen.

So GF1 body only is around 50,000yen, plus 14-140mm lens is a total of about 120,000-125,000yen. The GH1 is much better value!!

my local version here allow the function change with the language you want, there are 4 or 5 choices include arab, chinese, thai , english etc.
if the one sold in Japan is without this function, i do not think will i buy it.
can anyone double confirm again?

thanks

液晶モニター上に侮ｦされる言語侮ｦを日本語以外には切換えできません。

i found this from their japan's web, it seems really only Japanese is available.......

I know this for a fact.

I have tried the GF1 and it only has Japanese language on the Japanese domestic model. My Panasonic G1 is the same.

Panasonic changed this around mid year 2008, so that ALL Panasonic domestic Japanese models have Japanese Language only.

I can confirm this as well as I have a Japanese model gf1. Its a slight bummer, but saving 50% over an english model was more important in my buying decision.

Sandy is right on with his recommendations considering the 14-140mm lens. It totally negates the advantage of the smaller body size, and personally my nikon d90 with 18-200mm (which is the equivalent range to the 14-140) runs rings around the panasonic at a comparable price and overall size.

That said I can't put enough praise on the panasonic with the 20mm pancake lens. The gf1 in this config really raises the bar for point and shoot cameras which is the role that it serves to me.

At more than double the price (here in the UK), it is a bit surprising that the Panasonic 14-140mm only offers an F/4-5.8 aperture whereas the Nikor 18-200mm lens offers already F/3.5-5.6.
For that price you would expect it to offer F/3.5 throughout the whole zoom range, or so.