can I buy Japanese eBooks outside Japan? - Page 2

camtosh · 08-15-2012, 03:11 AM

This was in the Japan Times this morning:
Despite flaws, Rakuten is 1-0 against Amazon in Japan's e-book wars

By AKKY AKIMOTO
Rakuten, Japan's largest online shopping mall — and a head-to-head rival of Amazon Japan that also hopes to expand its business globally — launched its first e-book reader, the Rakuten Kobo Touch, on July 19, getting the jump on the long anticipated Japanese release of Amazon's Kindle.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nc20120815aa.html

It is mainly a recap of what happened with the KT introduction in Japan to date, concluding with a question as to how soon a Japanese Amazon Kindle will be in Japan? Depends on the publishers' whims.

jeepark · 08-31-2013, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tanuki

update about shopping ebooks at kobo: It works! I was able via VPN Tunnel to buy eBooks using a Japanese Address with a Swiss Credit Card. You will need a Rakuten Account to buy books btw.

I'm also looking to buy ebooks from Japanese Kobo. Can anyone tell me if there's a separate place to enter the card's billing address or will I have to go with the Japan address as the billing address? I'm asking because I'm thinking I can use hotel address as my Japan address, but my credit card company may decline the charge if the billing address doesn't match what I have on file.

woe · 09-01-2013, 04:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeepark

I'm also looking to buy ebooks from Japanese Kobo. Can anyone tell me if there's a separate place to enter the card's billing address or will I have to go with the Japan address as the billing address? I'm asking because I'm thinking I can use hotel address as my Japan address, but my credit card company may decline the charge if the billing address doesn't match what I have on file.

The easiest way to get around this is to use PayPal. Kobo won't (can't?) verify the registered location of a PayPal account the way it will a credit card.

taming · 09-01-2013, 10:03 AM

My experience buying from different countries using kobo has been that I can use the same credit card, with no changes, but a postal address in the country whose store I am buying from. This works for US and Canada with a Canadian credit card. The issue with Japan may be different.

jeepark · 09-01-2013, 03:04 PM

Thanks for ideas, guys.

As far as I can see, Rakuten Kobo store doesn't have a Paypal option. The only options are major credit cards and the billing address is restricted to Japan only in both Rakuten user profile and the per-order credit card data entry form. I can only hope that the mismatch between the entered billing address and my address on file with the issuer is not going to trip me up. I wouldn't be surprised if they used an entirely different verification system, because of how insulated their storefront is from the normal Kobo store.

Ladyrixx · 09-02-2013, 09:44 PM

I was able (with a proxy server) to buy a British book from the UK Kobo store. (I didn't want to wait the six months to buy it here...) They obviously don't check the physical address, since I put down that I lived in the BBC Television Centre.

For payment options, I used a gift card that I bought online. Would doing something like that help you get your Japanese books?

AiiroMercury · 01-25-2018, 10:48 AM

I see that it's been a while since the last post but I'm having the same problem. I'd like to buy these books from the rakuten store but I cannot put japan as living country and I don't know how to change the geo position of my computer...can you help me please?

Tanuki · 01-26-2018, 02:11 AM

Hello AiiroMercury; according to my wife Rakuten is no longer checking geo position. You should be able to buy the books worldwide.. have you tried with your home address?

AiiroMercury · 01-26-2018, 04:15 AM

It says that the books I'm trying to buy are not available in my country. So I was thinking to put a fake japanese address on the site, but Japan is not in the list.

AiiroMercury · 01-27-2018, 11:45 AM

Update: I did it in the...I managed to create a japanese account on amazon and bought the book from the kindle store. Now I can read them on my kobo!!

Question Mark · 01-27-2018, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AiiroMercury

Update: I did it in the...I managed to create a japanese account on amazon and bought the book from the kindle store. Now I can read them on my kobo!!

Thanks for the update. That is very useful to know.

Last summer when I was in Japan, I was unable to purchase any Japanese ebooks from Kobo. I did a factory reset inside Japan, opened up a Japanese gmail account and an account with Rakuten/Kobo Japan using my sister-in-law's address. Was able to set up the accounts without a hitch, but couldn't purchase any ebooks. My wife tried the same on her Kobo and couldn't manage to get it to work either.

Guess we'll just have to go the Amazon route.

I assume you used Calibre to convert the kindle editions to epub format. Did that work out well with the Japanese script?

AiiroMercury · 01-27-2018, 06:21 PM

I went on amazon.co.jp and created an account...then in the settings I put a japanese address found on google maps!! after doing this I was able to buy the kindle books!! in order to read them on kobo I did this way:
1 installed kindle app on computer and dowloaded books on pc
2 I took the ebooks.azw3 files from the computer directory and put them in calibre
of course the books are protected via DRM so I removed the DRM using a plugin
3 usually i convert ebooks in epub but with japanese character was a mess, so I converted them in pdf and they work perfectly!!

Question Mark · 01-27-2018, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AiiroMercury

usually i convert ebooks in epub but with japanese character was a mess,

That's what I was afraid of. Darn.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AiiroMercury

so I converted them in pdf and they work perfectly!!

Good to know. However, I assume that you can't use Kobo's Japanese lookup dictionary with the resulting PDF file.

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated.

AiiroMercury · 01-27-2018, 07:24 PM

Unluckily no, it is impossible to use the dictionary function!! but it's strange because after the conversion in epub if you open the book in calibre or in sigil you can read them perfectly but then they don't work on kobo!! until now the only solution that I have found is to convert them in pdf!!

davidfor · 01-27-2018, 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AiiroMercury

Unluckily no, it is impossible to use the dictionary function!! but it's strange because after the conversion in epub if you open the book in calibre or in sigil you can read them perfectly but then they don't work on kobo!! until now the only solution that I have found is to convert them in pdf!!

Send the book to the Kobo device as a kepub. My understanding is that the kepub renderer has better support for Japanese.

Otherwise, it could be a font issue. I believe you should be using one of "Kobo Tsukushi Mincho" or "Kobo UD Kakugo", or sideloading your own font. Or make sure the font is embedded in the book.

Note: I'm not an expert on non-English usage one these devices, the above is based on what I see here. One of the people here with more experience will probably pop in soon to correct me.

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08-15-2012, 03:11 AM	#16
camtosh Enthusiast Posts: 38 Karma: 40448 Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Tokyo Device: Kobo touch	This was in the Japan Times this morning: Despite flaws, Rakuten is 1-0 against Amazon in Japan's e-book wars By AKKY AKIMOTO Rakuten, Japan's largest online shopping mall — and a head-to-head rival of Amazon Japan that also hopes to expand its business globally — launched its first e-book reader, the Rakuten Kobo Touch, on July 19, getting the jump on the long anticipated Japanese release of Amazon's Kindle. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nc20120815aa.html It is mainly a recap of what happened with the KT introduction in Japan to date, concluding with a question as to how soon a Japanese Amazon Kindle will be in Japan? Depends on the publishers' whims.

09-01-2013, 10:03 AM	#19
taming Trying for calm & polite Posts: 4,012 Karma: 9455193 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Mostly in Canada Device: kobo original, WiFI, Touch, Glo, and Aura	My experience buying from different countries using kobo has been that I can use the same credit card, with no changes, but a postal address in the country whose store I am buying from. This works for US and Canada with a Canadian credit card. The issue with Japan may be different.

09-01-2013, 03:04 PM	#20
jeepark Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2013 Device: kobo glo	Thanks for ideas, guys. As far as I can see, Rakuten Kobo store doesn't have a Paypal option. The only options are major credit cards and the billing address is restricted to Japan only in both Rakuten user profile and the per-order credit card data entry form. I can only hope that the mismatch between the entered billing address and my address on file with the issuer is not going to trip me up. I wouldn't be surprised if they used an entirely different verification system, because of how insulated their storefront is from the normal Kobo store.

09-02-2013, 09:44 PM	#21
Ladyrixx Groupie Posts: 152 Karma: 585496 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: Astak EZ Reader Pocket Pro, Kobo Mini, Nook Glowlight 2, Kobo Forma	I was able (with a proxy server) to buy a British book from the UK Kobo store. (I didn't want to wait the six months to buy it here...) They obviously don't check the physical address, since I put down that I lived in the BBC Television Centre. For payment options, I used a gift card that I bought online. Would doing something like that help you get your Japanese books?

01-25-2018, 10:48 AM	#22
AiiroMercury Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 5730 Join Date: Jan 2018 Device: Kobo Aura V 1	I see that it's been a while since the last post but I'm having the same problem. I'd like to buy these books from the rakuten store but I cannot put japan as living country and I don't know how to change the geo position of my computer...can you help me please?

01-26-2018, 02:11 AM	#23
Tanuki Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 8852 Join Date: Jul 2012 Device: none	Hello AiiroMercury; according to my wife Rakuten is no longer checking geo position. You should be able to buy the books worldwide.. have you tried with your home address?

01-26-2018, 04:15 AM	#24
AiiroMercury Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 5730 Join Date: Jan 2018 Device: Kobo Aura V 1	It says that the books I'm trying to buy are not available in my country. So I was thinking to put a fake japanese address on the site, but Japan is not in the list.

01-27-2018, 11:45 AM	#25
AiiroMercury Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 5730 Join Date: Jan 2018 Device: Kobo Aura V 1	Update: I did it in the...I managed to create a japanese account on amazon and bought the book from the kindle store. Now I can read them on my kobo!!

01-27-2018, 06:21 PM	#27
AiiroMercury Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 5730 Join Date: Jan 2018 Device: Kobo Aura V 1	I went on amazon.co.jp and created an account...then in the settings I put a japanese address found on google maps!! after doing this I was able to buy the kindle books!! in order to read them on kobo I did this way: 1 installed kindle app on computer and dowloaded books on pc 2 I took the ebooks.azw3 files from the computer directory and put them in calibre of course the books are protected via DRM so I removed the DRM using a plugin 3 usually i convert ebooks in epub but with japanese character was a mess, so I converted them in pdf and they work perfectly!!

01-27-2018, 07:24 PM	#29
AiiroMercury Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 5730 Join Date: Jan 2018 Device: Kobo Aura V 1	Unluckily no, it is impossible to use the dictionary function!! but it's strange because after the conversion in epub if you open the book in calibre or in sigil you can read them perfectly but then they don't work on kobo!! until now the only solution that I have found is to convert them in pdf!!