Glefty5 ........... How frustrating must that be !! ...... you live in Japan ..... speak the lingo ...... but can't buy wonderful japanese guitars on YJ .
I'll put a link at the bottom , but basically these guys have a site that lets anyone , anywhere , bid (in realtime) on any YJ auction.
You deposit an amount of money (via PayPal) you wish to use to bid on that item (guitar).
Their site then bids on your behalf (instantly) ....... if you win the auction the item is sent to their warehouse (inTokyo) from the seller.
Once it arrives with them they will email you giving you various options regarding shipment method and if you require the guitar to be professionally repackaged (1200yen & recommended ). It works like a dream , very slick ....... If you don't win the auction click for a refund....I've bought seven guitars in the last 18 months .... delighted with every one of them ......
Obviously there are costs involved : Their fee for auction is: 800yen + 8% of final bid
local delivery to them from seller: 1500 to 1800 yen in most cases
bank charges : 300 yen
optional professional repacking (expertly done) 1200 yen
surface mail handling (not always applicable) 1750 yen
tax charged by seller (not always applicable) 262 yen
These bump the cost of your guitar up , however these guys are unique in that they are willing to ship your axe via surface mail (sea) ..... it's slow but very cheap (5100 yen or £41 sterling to UK ) takes 4-6 weeks....... All of my guitars have been shipped this way and all arrived in perfect condition with no damage to packing box.
The link to the site is here:
http://www.jauce.com/faq/?View=entry&EntryID=112To get to bass guitars from that page click on : Hobby & Culture
then click on: Musical Instrument & Equipment
then click on: String
then click on: Electric Bass
then click on: Body
You now have thousands of lovely basses to drool over ........ finding a lefty though does require some searching & patience.
My tip for lefties is don't trust the "lefty" filter ..... it often doesn't work ...... you will need to trawl through all listings for that particular brand which means looking a lots and lots of right handers. ....... some of my best 'finds' have come from trawling the 'others' section where the brand has not been specified by the seller.
Glen...... I don't see why they will not ship to you in Japan if you explain the foreign creditcard problem ...... Nichido is very quick to respond to emails.
The Winwindo guitar site is slightly confusing to first time users ...... It's a small selection of guitars that Jauce are selling themselves , It's not the main YJ auction site.
Meanwhile I've GOT to stop buying guitars ..... I really have to .....honestly ......no going back ...... I'm going to Cold Turkey this time....................... ....................... ..................unless someone knows of another lefty motion .