Maybe this post should be in the How-to section, but anyway I start it here.
For those of you in Japan, especially if you're in living in middle-of-nowhere (maybe I'm the only one...), I'm just posting this to be your future reference for your purchasing. In Japan, there's a big corporate chain photo store called "Camera-No-Kitamura", which is like Ritz Camera in the U.S., kind of cheesy, but I've found this store in my area to be the most reliable source of getting the stuff I need for printing. Try one in your area if you think it helps.
You can get almost of all Kodak, Fuji, and Ilford products, since these products are in their store catalogue, and you don't have to pay for the shipping like you normally do (if you do). And the prices there are competitive with the ones from other stores such as Yodobashi and Bic Camera. If you're using Fuji paper both FB and RC, no matter where you go, it's almost the same price anyway. At Kitamura, it only takes less than a week to get it once you place your order.
One of the issues I had before was getting a new bottle of selenium toner because it's highly toxic and poisonous and in this country requires my ID to buy it, so I couldn't get it from some place else by shipping. And it's in the liquid form so that means there's no luck to get it from international sellers like B&H (I haven't checked, though).
In Tokyo, Ginichi sells it, but for me to get there just for that is a pain, and I have to pay for my transportation, which is over 20,000 yen or roughly about 200 USD for a round trip by bullet train. Or I have to pay about the same amount for driving highway for the highway toll. Not desirable. Osaka is closer, but when I called a couple of stores there they didn't even want to tell me if they sell it or not.
The closest store I thought I could go and buy was Top Camera in Nagoya. I had bought one bottle there before, which I'm still using, but they have changed their policy and you have to order a dozen at the ninimum now. But the Kitamura in my area, which is only 30 minutes away by driving has got me two bottles of selenium toner pretty quickly with no hustle. After doing all the research and getting frustrated so often, in the end I was like, what the f---! But I don't think anyone would guess that kind of store would carry such an item.
The point I'm trying to make is, try your local store(s) one more time. You never know what you can get this time. And by doing that, you will be helping the local business(es) in your area, too, which is a woderful thing.
For those of you in Japan, especially if you're in living in middle-of-nowhere (maybe I'm the only one...), I'm just posting this to be your future reference for your purchasing. In Japan, there's a big corporate chain photo store called "Camera-No-Kitamura", which is like Ritz Camera in the U.S., kind of cheesy, but I've found this store in my area to be the most reliable source of getting the stuff I need for printing. Try one in your area if you think it helps.
You can get almost of all Kodak, Fuji, and Ilford products, since these products are in their store catalogue, and you don't have to pay for the shipping like you normally do (if you do). And the prices there are competitive with the ones from other stores such as Yodobashi and Bic Camera. If you're using Fuji paper both FB and RC, no matter where you go, it's almost the same price anyway. At Kitamura, it only takes less than a week to get it once you place your order.
One of the issues I had before was getting a new bottle of selenium toner because it's highly toxic and poisonous and in this country requires my ID to buy it, so I couldn't get it from some place else by shipping. And it's in the liquid form so that means there's no luck to get it from international sellers like B&H (I haven't checked, though).
In Tokyo, Ginichi sells it, but for me to get there just for that is a pain, and I have to pay for my transportation, which is over 20,000 yen or roughly about 200 USD for a round trip by bullet train. Or I have to pay about the same amount for driving highway for the highway toll. Not desirable. Osaka is closer, but when I called a couple of stores there they didn't even want to tell me if they sell it or not.
The closest store I thought I could go and buy was Top Camera in Nagoya. I had bought one bottle there before, which I'm still using, but they have changed their policy and you have to order a dozen at the ninimum now. But the Kitamura in my area, which is only 30 minutes away by driving has got me two bottles of selenium toner pretty quickly with no hustle. After doing all the research and getting frustrated so often, in the end I was like, what the f---! But I don't think anyone would guess that kind of store would carry such an item.
The point I'm trying to make is, try your local store(s) one more time. You never know what you can get this time. And by doing that, you will be helping the local business(es) in your area, too, which is a woderful thing.
