Japan

I'm returning to Japan at the end of next month, and was wondering about how one might find an Omron LUNA 88k2 (have a mk1). (Maybe an '040 model, if one came up.) I've been to Akihabara, and while these items might be in a shop somewhere, I can't imagine visiting *every* shop there...

So for those more familiar with life in Japan, any suggestions on how I might go about locating one of these? I only know a little phrasebook Japanese at this point, FWIW.

Appreciate any and all suggestions, pointers, and tips.
--S.

These are very rare even in Japan. But you always can get Sony NEWS, NEC EWS etc.

Nuts. Oh well - thanks for the feedback.

I enjoyed a brief encounter with the 68k-based NEWS workstations. One of those might be fun too... Any hints toward finding a 68k or MIPS version? I'm thinking about this because I believe I have a second ~50kg bag allowance, but only expect to take one suitcase with me.

maybe spamming the emails addresses of the surrounding shops might work, assuming email-based customer support is still a thing. Or leaving badly translated voice-mails after closing hours(?)

i tried checking the .jp whitepages for computer societies, but it was rather ineffective, yielding poorly optimized web-crawler results.

smj wrote: Nuts. Oh well - thanks for the feedback.

I enjoyed a brief encounter with the 68k-based NEWS workstations. One of those might be fun too... Any hints toward finding a 68k or MIPS version? I'm thinking about this because I believe I have a second ~50kg bag allowance, but only expect to take one suitcase with me.

You can check http://auctions.yahoo.co.jp - there aren't listing right now, but I've seen 4-5 ews4800 affordable listings in the last few months.

kokoboi wrote: You can check http://auctions.yahoo.co.jp ...

Ah, thanks! That leads me to http://buyee.jp/ via a banner on the Yahoo! Japan page, which presents the same auctions within an English site. Helps a bit, even if the listing contents aren't translated. Their model is to bid on your behalf and then arrange shipping, so this might have some general appeal depending on the rates.

When I sifted through what remains of Akihabara I did not find a lot of older computers. There was some MSX things but I saw more NEC PC-98 stuff than anything.

smj wrote: Nuts. Oh well - thanks for the feedback.

Just be thankful the vintage hardware gods have blessed you with a mk1 Omron. Some of us have none

kramlq wrote: Just be thankful the vintage hardware gods have blessed you with a mk1 Omron. Some of us have none

I humbly acknowledge the truth of what you say. I was indeed very fortunate back in 2002...

But this seems like the best opportunity I've had to date to find other Japanese workstations, so I've got to make at least a small effort...

smj wrote:

kramlq wrote: Just be thankful the vintage hardware gods have blessed you with a mk1 Omron. Some of us have none

I humbly acknowledge the truth of what you say. I was indeed very fortunate back in 2002...

But this seems like the best opportunity I've had to date to find other Japanese workstations, so I've got to make at least a small effort...

Definitely. Please post some info/pics you do find any - it would be interesting to see CMU Mach 2.5 in action, or UniOS.

smj wrote:

kokoboi wrote: You can check http://auctions.yahoo.co.jp ...

Ah, thanks! That leads me to http://buyee.jp/ via a banner on the Yahoo! Japan page, which presents the same auctions within an English site. Helps a bit, even if the listing contents aren't translated. Their model is to bid on your behalf and then arrange shipping, so this might have some general appeal depending on the rates.

FWIW, I use Rinkya for this, since I import a lot of Tomy Pyuuta (Tutor relative) games and peripherals. Their commission is not cheap by any means, but they ship fast and they're very easy to work with.

Oh bummer, I just missed this post - I guess the trip already happened?

Anyway, after 10 years in Tokyo I moved out of Japan to SoCal (LA) so I can't be of any local help anymore, just throwing this for the future reference...


There are very few shops in Akiba left with used stuff, one is just near the station (roughly here - 35.698252, 139.772083) but all I saw there were used MAC's and maybe one X68000, nothing "rare".

There is an interesting shop called "super junk" - mostly electronics but sometimes other random stuff pops up - 35.698559, 139.770187

Another shop is right on the corner here 35.700389, 139.769372 - they have some gaming and retro stuff.

Sometimes shop chain "hard off" has retro hardware - there's one just near the one mentioned above.

Yahoo auctions might be the best bet - but you need to be a paying member to buy items over 5000 JPY directly. Sellers would never deal with shipping abroad (I was always the exception), locals are very protective and one time I even got a neutral comment saying that I was probably a foreigner judging by how I treated the buyer..

I *hate* buyee - I do know that they provide useful service and enable buyers from abroad, but since I did offer international shipping I didn't want to go through middle-men... Buyee is so weird - once *they* bought 2 or 3 items from me at the same time and asked precisely to ship them in separate packages and write some long ID strings on the box (which means they brainlessly forward packages abroad).


Cheers

Thanks for the tips. I'll try to check these places out the next time I head over there.