How to buy from Japan
Most of the shops and lotteries listed on Hatsukore ship within Japan only. This page explains the routes overseas collectors commonly use, what they cost, and how to read the listings on this site. Hatsukore is an information site, not a seller — always confirm price, stock and conditions on each linked page.
The short version
- Online pre-orders and store pages (items tagged 🛒 Online (JP)) can usually be ordered through a proxy shopping service that buys and forwards for you.
- Online lotteries often require a Japanese address, phone number or store app, so entering from overseas is frequently not possible — check each entry page.
- In-store items (Ichiban Kuji at convenience stores, in-store raffles, event venues) cannot be bought directly from overseas.
How a proxy shopping service works
A proxy (also called a forwarding or buying service) orders from Japanese shops on your behalf, receives the parcel at its warehouse in Japan, then ships it to you internationally. The usual flow:
- Create an account with a proxy service.
- Paste the Japanese product page URL into the service (or search inside the service’s own marketplace view), and pay the item price plus the service fee.
- The service buys the item and receives it at its Japan warehouse.
- You choose an international shipping method and pay the shipping cost.
- The parcel is forwarded to your address.
Widely used services include Buyee, ZenMarket, FROM JAPAN and Neokyo. Each has its own fees, supported shops and rules — compare before you order.
What it really costs
The sticker price on a Japanese shop page is not what you will pay in total. A proxy order usually adds up like this:
- Item price (JPY, as listed)
- Domestic shipping inside Japan (shop → proxy warehouse)
- The proxy service’s fee (per item or per order — see each service’s fee page)
- International shipping (by weight/size — often the largest extra cost)
- Import duties or taxes charged by your country, depending on the value
Expect the total to be noticeably higher than the listed price. Also note that some product types — aerosols, some batteries, liquids — can be restricted for international shipping; the proxy service will tell you at checkout.
What you can and can’t get from overseas
✅ Online store pre-orders and purchases. Items marked 🛒 Online (JP) are ordered on an official Japanese online store or draw platform we have verified. Most ship within Japan only, which is exactly what a proxy solves. Whether a specific shop accepts proxy orders is decided by the shop and the service — the proxy will tell you if it cannot buy an item.
⚠️ Online lotteries and raffles. Many Japanese retail lotteries require a domestic address, a Japanese phone number for SMS, membership in the store’s app, or even purchase history at that store. Some proxy services offer lottery entry for certain platforms, but this varies — read the entry conditions on the linked page before counting on it.
❌ In-store only items. Ichiban Kuji and similar kuji are mostly drawn physically at convenience stores and hobby shops. In-store raffles and event-venue goods (pop-up shops, collab cafes) also require being there. Listings without the Online (JP) tag are unverified — many of them are in-store only.
Reading Hatsukore
- All dates and times are JST (Japan Standard Time). A deadline like “Aug 25, 23:59 JST” is earlier in your local time — in most of the US and Europe it falls during the daytime of Aug 25 or earlier.
- Months are always spelled out (“Sep 5”) to avoid the 9/5 vs 5/9 ambiguity. A label like “Sep 2026” means the source only announced the month, not an exact day.
- Date TBD means the source has not announced a date. Japanese text on a card is quoted from the source as-is — we do not translate product names, because English fan communities search by the official Japanese or romanized names.
- For lotteries, the date shown is usually the entry deadline when the source states one — the item page’s date heading says which it is.
- Prices are shown in JPY as listed (e.g. 850円 = ¥850). “1回850円” on a kuji means ¥850 per draw, not the price of a prize.
Glossary
- Ichiban Kuji
- A ticket-style prize lottery sold at convenience stores and hobby shops. You pay per draw and always win one of the prize tiers (A-Prize, B-Prize, …). The Last One Prize goes to whoever draws the final ticket.
- Kuji / online kuji
- “Kuji” is simply “lottery” in Japanese. Online kuji platforms let you draw on the web and ship the prizes — usually within Japan, so a forwarding address or proxy is needed.
- Lottery (抽選)
- For high-demand items, Japanese retailers often sell the right to buy by lottery: you enter within a window, winners are drawn, and only winners can purchase.
- Pre-order (予約)
- Ordering before release, first-come-first-served. Popular items can close early.
- Restock (再販)
- A re-run of a previously sold item, often announced with its own pre-order window.
Hatsukore lists publicly announced release, pre-order and lottery information. We are not affiliated with the shops running each sale, and conditions can change after we list an item — the linked official page is always the source of truth. ← Back to the schedule