I finally got mine from a reliable seller on eBay. I've been buying from him for years, very small premium over cost and shipping. For those interested in Japanese coins sometimes it seems buying the annual catalog is silly. The prices shift in a glacial fashion, and the only thing that seems to change is the cover. This year is meh btw IMO...it features the Olympic commems, with the mascot. I'm sure the mascot is quite kawaii in real life (so to speak) but doesn't translate to an interesting numismatic item (IMO). Now, that all said, the catalog does have one feature that changes every year. Buried in the back will be a couple pages devoted to something a little more in depth. One year it was yen varieties, another the 50 sen. Not scholarly or complete, but interesting. And google translate is usually enough to wade through it. This year are photos of patterns, so if that is of interest to you, this might be the year to buy a new catalog. And oddly enough, the USPS (or perhaps the Japan Post) decided to check that the book rate/'printed materials' designation was not being abused. Fortunately the seller had tucked the copies (I bought 2, one for a friend) in a cardboard sleeve so no damage. I've never had a package literally cut open this way.
You are probably buying from the same Ebay seller that I have. I don't usually buy a new copy every year, but I am curious about the mintage of the Reiwa versus the Heisei coins, so I might just order twice in a row for the first time. And - you know someone else who wants one? Wow... I don't even know any other coin collectors, much less anyone interested in Japanese coins.
Maybe so, it's Arrowtokyo. I've been buying from him for years. And even met him once at the Tokyo coin show years and years ago. His price is very reasonable above cost and shipping. And funny update. I sent him a photo and it turns out he shipped it that way. Apparently the only parcel post via the Japan Post requires that.
I'm surprised you got the book in regular air mail. A few months back when I needed to get something mailed from there, what would normally cost about 30 - 50 ballooned up to 100+. This was due to limited shipping and had to be shipped by UPS (if I recall correctly)
All started as internet friends, though I've met a few at coin shows now . It's been tough. Auction house I have bid with is still strongly recommending FedEx. Which is $$$. I was happy this arrived which is why I jumped on it. The seller is very good about not over pricing!
I feel ya. At my local coin club, if I'm not talking to them about U.S. coins, all I get is a glazed stare.
Has anyone tried Kinokuniya (usa.kinokuniya.com) in New York or Edgewater NJ to obtain the annual catalogue? I am fortunate that I can ordered all my Japanese language books (not only coin catalogs) locally and have them in less than a week. I too feel for you as my coin club is very U.S. centric. Although when I combine my story with a U.S. coin story ears perk up.
I have visited the Kinokuniya store in San Fransisco. That is definitely worth a visit. They have locations in many major cities, but the one in San Fransisco is huge. I think I roamed around in there for 3 hours. I might have bought a few things. I couldn't find a JNDA in the store, but I haven't searched for it online. I've ordered other things from them and found their service excellent. The 2021 JNDA came up when I searched for "貨幣" but "JNDA" returned nothing and "コイン" returned only 1 coin book, but not the JNDA. JNDA
魚の下着: You have got to be kidding us right! I'd like to know the origin of this name. BTW Kinokuniya does not carry a lot of books on coins in the U.S. stores. If you do have a particular book on Japanese or Asian coins you want and is printed in Japan, you can order through them. I use Kinokuniya primarily for language books as I am kept current on what's happening in Japan.
