You look for a name, not a title
This is the first thing that throws people. In Japan, editions are classified and sold by artist name. Titles change from one edition to the next, are rarely translated, and are no help as a reference point.
Our catalogue follows that logic: several categories are named directly after an artist, with everything that exists under that name gathered in one place — Ichika Matsumoto, Rara Kudo, Shoko Takahashi, Sakura Miura, Aika Yamagishi. If you know the name, start there: it is the shortest route.
One detail that saves time: Japanese names are written in either order depending on the source (given name then family name, or the other way round). If a search returns nothing, try the reverse order.
The three formats, and what they really are
- DVD — the most widespread format in the Japanese catalogue, often the only one available for older editions.
- Blu-ray — recent editions, often released alongside the DVD.
- Photobook (写真集, shashinshū) — a book of photographs, published and bound, sold in bookshops in Japan. It is not a spin-off item: it is a work in its own right, with a publisher, a format and a page count.
As for publishers, the photobooks and magazines in our catalogue come notably from Kodansha, Wanimagazine, Core Magazine and Hit Publishing — Japanese publishing houses, not import labels.
Regions and formats: to check before ordering
This is the technical point that causes the most disappointment, and there is nothing specific to our catalogue about it: it holds for any disc bought in Japan.
- A Japanese DVD is zone 2 and uses the NTSC standard. Zone 2 also covers Europe, but NTSC is not the original European standard: most recent players and television sets handle it, the oldest ones do not.
- A Japanese Blu-ray is region A, which covers Japan and the American continent — not Europe, which is region B. You need a multi-region player, or a computer set up accordingly.
- Sleeves, booklets and menus are in Japanese, and Japanese editions generally come with no subtitles in any foreign language.
A photobook raises none of these questions: it is a book.
Censorship comes from the law, not from the publishing house
Every edition sold legally in Japan is blurred. This is not a publisher’s choice, nor a quirk of one title: article 175 of the Japanese penal code requires it, and it applies to the whole domestic market.
In other words, a disc bought in Japan is blurred whatever its origin, and an edition that was not would not circulate legally there. Better to know it before ordering than after.
What the catalogue also contains
Beyond discs and books, the catalogue includes figures from Japanese manufacturers — SkyTube, Alphamax, Union Creative, Daiki Kougyou —, magazines, and a section of items from established Japanese brands such as Tenga and Sagami.
Everything is imported from Japan, in the original Japanese edition. Items restricted to adults are just that, and sales are restricted to persons of legal age.
In short
- Look by artist name first, and try the family name / given name order reversed.
- Check the region of your player: DVD zone 2 NTSC, Blu-ray region A.
- Expect Japanese and the absence of subtitles.
- A photobook avoids all these constraints.
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