Books, Magazines & Comics from Japan

What formats do Japanese books, manga and magazines come in?

A fixed set of formats that Japanese listings name instead of describing, and the format decides the size, the weight and where it is sold. 単行本 (tankōbon) is the standard collected manga volume; 文庫 (bunko) is the small paperback format for novels and some manga reprints; 新書 and B6 are the sizes most manga volumes use; 雑誌 (magazines) are weekly or monthly and often come with a 付録 (furoku, a bundled item); 画集 and 設定資料集 are art books and production art books; 写真集 are photo books; and 同人誌 (dōjinshi) are self-published works sold through specialist shops. Japanese bookshops and marketplaces deliver inside Japan only; OneMall supplies the Japanese address and yen payment and forwards from our Japan warehouse.

What does 全巻セット mean, and is it the cheapest way to buy manga?

A complete run of a series sold as one lot, and for shipping it is the sensible way to buy manga from Japan, because books are priced on weight and one lot ships once. 全巻 (zenkan, all volumes) listings on Mercari, Yahoo Auctions and Suruga-ya state the volume count, whether the set is 完結 (the series has ended) and the condition of the set as a whole. Sellers also use まとめ売り for bulk lots of mixed titles.

• 全巻セット / 全○巻 — complete set / all N volumes
• 完結 / 以下続刊 — series finished / still ongoing
• まとめ売り — bulk lot
• 初版 / 帯付き — first printing / obi strip present
• 文庫版 全巻 — the compact edition as a set

How do Japanese sellers describe the condition of used books?

By the specific flaws that paper shows, starting with 日焼け (sun fading on the spine or edges). ヤケ, シミ and 折れ are fading, stains and creases; 書き込み means writing inside; 帯 and カバー state whether the obi strip and dust jacket are present; and 裁断済 means the book has been cut for scanning and is no longer bound. Shops such as Suruga-ya and Mandarake add a rank; private sellers describe.

• 日焼け / ヤケ — sun fading
• シミ / 折れ / 汚れ — stains / creases / marks
• 書き込みなし — no writing inside
• 帯付き / カバー付き — obi strip / dust jacket present
• 裁断済 — cut for scanning; not a bound book
• 美品 / 良品 — fine / good condition

Where are Japanese books and manga sold?

New from Amazon Japan, Rakuten Books and the specialist shops — Animate for manga and magazines, and dōjinshi shops whose product pages can be pasted as links; secondhand from Suruga-ya and Mandarake with shop grading, and from Mercari and Yahoo Auctions for complete sets and lots. Magazine back issues with their furoku appear on the marketplaces after the issue sells out.

Can dōjinshi and adult material be shipped from Japan?

Dōjinshi ship as books; adult material depends on your country. OneMall's prohibited items list does not restrict printed matter, but customs rules on adult content differ by destination and some countries prohibit its import, so check your own country's rules before ordering material marked 成人向け or R18. Ordinary dōjinshi and manga ship as ordinary books.

• 成人向け / R18 — adult content; check your country's import rules
• 全年齢 — all ages
• 同人誌 / 同人誌セット — dōjinshi / dōjinshi lots

What does shipping books from Japan cost?

Weight, almost entirely, because books are dense: a complete manga set is one of the heaviest parcels a proxy sends, and a single art book is manageable. At order time you pay the yen price, OneMall's service fee, shown before you confirm, and the seller's domestic shipping if charged; when the books reach our Japan warehouse you choose an international shipping method and pay for it, and for heavy parcels the slower methods are the ones to compare. Buying a set as one lot rather than volume by volume saves both domestic and international shipping. Import duty, if your country charges it, is collected on delivery.

Estimate shipping with the OneMall calculator →

Which Japanese search words find manga and magazines?

The title in Japanese plus the format word. Titles are searched as Japanese sellers write them, so use the Japanese title rather than the English localisation; add 全巻 for sets, 初版 for first printings and 付録 for magazine bundles.

• Japanese title + 全巻 — a complete set
• 単行本 / 文庫版 — format
• 初版 / 帯付き — first printing / obi
• 雑誌 付録付き — magazine with its bundled item
• 画集 / 設定資料集 / 写真集 — art books, production art, photo books
• 同人誌 — dōjinshi