Last month I went to Japan on holiday. Like anyone interested in Japanese culture, alongside the beautiful scenery and culture this fantastic country has to offer, I was keen to visit the various stores specializing in used otaku goods. I was hoping to bring home some of my long-desired items along with some cute fumos, possibly at a decent price.

This post aims to help you optimize your fumofumo search while in Japan, and almost guarantees you can buy an original, new fumo at standard price.

Used fumofumos in Japan: current state of the market

As you may imagine, used fumofumos can get really expensive, even in Japan.
To have an idea of how expensive they can get, visit the Radio Kaikan building at Akihabara and stop at KBooks floor (keep in mind that you will probably visit this building anyway, as it houses the official AmiAmi store).
Near the down escalator some fumos are displayed together. The minimum price I could see was 13000 yen for less popular characters, while Remilia was priced 23000 yen.

So, is it impossible to buy used fumos in Japan?
The right answer is: it depends on the location and on your luck.

Obviously, Akihabara and areas in Tokyo surroundings are full of tourists now. Japanese stores exploit this and tries to mark up the price as high as they can.
Depending on your itinerary, you may happen to visit less touristy spots. In these places, spotting a fumofumo at a decent price is much more likely.

Of all the used-good store chains, Surugaya and Lashinbang where the one with the highest fumo appearance rate. I did not see fumos at Book Off or Mandarake. Fumos can usually be spotted in the showcase near the entrance of the shop, or near the specific series area (e.g. Touhou fumos near Touhou merchandise). 99% of the time, you will find them in a showcase.
Here are some of my considerations:

• Always exploit the tax-free shopping. In Japan, buying at least 5000 yen of goods in a shop allows you to request a tax exemption (if the store is equipped to do so). Tax are set at 10% of displayed price (sometimes taxes are included, like in Surugaya and Lashinbang stores, sometimes not like at Mandarake). More on this later. (Note: I do not know how the tax-free process will change in next months, but I hope what I described above is still valid).
• Always look for the tag near the fumos. If "イタミ" or "キズ" is written, it means there is some sort of damage. In some case it may not be easily visible, so always ask the staff to show you the damage.
• 20cm size fumofumos are the most likely to be found. I have not found any other fumos in bigger size, except for this one below. Look at the affordable price.
  

  

• In the same Sendai Lashinbang store, I found a Hong Meiling fumo at 12000 yen. Even though i really like this character, I did not buy it as the price was not great and there was some visible damage.
• In Nagoya's Lashinbang I found Marisa, Patchouli and Maribel. The price where in the range of 12000 yen or more.
• If you're looking for Touhou fumos and plan to visit Mount Fuji or its surrounding, definitely stop by Shizuoka if possible. Shizuoka is home to the biggest Surugaya store in Japan (flagship store), alongside the biggest Surugaya videogame only store. These two stores are 1 minute on walk from each other. You can easily lose hours searching for your favorite series' goods. For fumos, visit the Surugaya Videogame store. This store contains a large Touhou only section, with plushes, figures, doujinshi cds and games. A dedicated showcase holds around 20 fumofumos at different prices. Prices started from 9000 yen to even more than 15000 yen, depending on the character. In particular, I found a Rin fumo for 9000 yen and a Chen fumo for 11500 yen.
  

  

• Other Surugaya's may keep different fumos. In theory, by looking at the Surugaya Japanese website, you may identify which Surugaya shop contains fumos and which not.
• Since the same store prices fumos depending on the character and condition, you may be able to get a good deal on a specific fumo. In Akihabara Kbooks I found a Senbonzakura Miku for 8900 yen. The catch was, it was tagged with イタミ. No visible stain was present, and the staff said that they wrote イタミ as the plush "felt" old to the touch. I bought it (as it seemed a reasonable price). In reality, a small stain was present on the hat, but with a bit of water I was able to remove it. From my point of view, the fumo did not felt old to the touch.
• So used goods stores may sell a fumo at a decent price because it is stained, while you may be able to wash the stain off without much trouble and end up with a discounted fumo.

Is there a way to predict if an used fumo has a good price?

I would like now to come back to the tax free section and make a quick calculation of fumo prices.
People may say that a fumo priced above 6600 yen is not worth buying. This reasoning holds true if you are importing it from Japan to another country.
While you are in Japan, depending on your situation, a fumo priced above 6600 yen may cost less than pre-ordering it from AmiAmi. How is that possible?

For ease of calculation, consider a used fumo priced at 10000 yen, a conversion rate of 180 yen = 1 €, and assume you are from Europe (430€ tax-free import limit from a flight).

1. When buying from a used goods store, you can usually exploit tax free. This means the fumofumo will now cost 10% less, so its real price will become 9000 yen (quick note: Surugaya applies a 9% tax-free discount, as they keep 1%. KBooks did not permit tax free purchases).
2. If you do not exceed 430€ of total spending in souvenirs/imported goods, you can import the fumo without declaring it to customs, without paying any additional tax (e.g. VAT) or shipping cost. So this fumo will cost you 9000 / 180 = 50€.
3. The standard price, for the fumo only, is 6600 / 180 = 36,67€.
4. To the standard price above you must add taxes and shipping cost. Europe has recently introduced a 3.66€ of tax for every category of imported item if your total spending is below 150€, while above that you will pay 4% on the total, including VAT. Furthermore, it seems a 2€ fee will be added for each package in the coming months. You also need to consider the shipping cost, and any additional charges your shipping service may apply (e.g. in Italy we have a handling fee of 7.5€ from Poste, while DHL asks for 19€). I think you have already guessed what I am trying to say.
5. To sum up, I will do some math, assuming you have pre-ordered 3 fumos (I will use my AmiAmi invoice as a reference for the shipping cost of 3 fumos).

• Base price: 19800 yen -> 110€
• Shipping cost: 4710 yen -> 26,17€ (partial total = 136,17€)
• VAT (in Italy 22% unfortunately; it should be applied to the base price, but to me it is usually applied to the whole transaction) -> 29,96€ (partial total = 166,13€)
• Poste's Shipping service custom handling fee -> 7.5€ (partial total = 173,63€)
• New Europe taxes -> 3.66€ + 2€
• Final total price = 179,29€
• Price per Fumofumo = 179,29€ / 3 = 59,76€ (compared to the marked-up price of 50€ when buying a used fumo)

Therefore, I have shown how a marked-up used fumo bought in Japan may still cost less than a new one, depending on the country where you live. Feel free to make a similar calculation and find the price at which a marked-up used fumo is still cheaper than a new one. In my case, a used fumo with a marked-up price of 12000 yen will cost roughly the same as buying a new one.

But I would like to buy new fumofumos, not used ones.
Do not worry, the next section will help you find the best spots for new fumos at standard price.

Where to buy new fumofumos in Japan

From my understanding, there are 3 main places to buy new fumos in Japan, and they are all located in Tokyo. The main advantage is that your flight will probably land in Tokyo anyway.

• AmiAmi flagship building, located in Radio Kaikan. I did not find any new fumos in there. The place is so full of tourists that walking is really hard, so I may nhave missed them. Still, I think they were sold out, as the pre-order for that month's fumofumo opened almost 3 weeks before.
• Akiba Hobby Akihabara: a bit hidden in buildings and you have to climb up this small and narrow stairs to reach the store, but inside it's full of touhou merch and definitely worth visiting. In my experience, I did not see any fumos in the store, but you may be able to find them (as I did see an employee packing some fumos into cardboard boxes).
• Akiba Hobby Ikebukuro: In theory, you are guaranteed to find fumofumos there. It is divided into two floors: the first, at 2F, contains all the Touhou merchandise, and you may find some Touhou fumos there. I visited this building twice, and on the second visit after 5 days I found a restock of fumos at 6600 yen. There were 12 different Touhou characters in this restock, so there is a good chance you will find something you like. There were 12 different Touhou characters in this restock, so there is a good chance you may find something you like.
  The second floor, at 3F, contains a permanent Gift pop-up store filled with fumos, including some displayed only in showcases. I really reccomend to visit this store just for seeing many fumos in one place. As for what is available, you can predict what will be sold here by looking at the store's X profile: (https://x.com/AKIBA_HOBBY3). When a fumo is in stock, a new post is made on that account, and a similar post is made when it sells out. There are also fumos from series other than Touhou. Typically, if not sold out, this store can carry around 12 different Touhou characters and 5 or more characters from other series. The only catch is that tax free shopping is not available at Akiba Hobby, but I think having the chance to purchase new fumos at the standard price is already a win.
  

  

The end of this article, finally

This has become quite a wall of text, but I think I have covered all of my fumo search experience from my last trip. I hope this post has been helpful and that you can find your favorite fumo on your next trip to Japan.

P.S. I also hope the reader of this article is motivated by genuine fumofumo love and is not a scalper looking for an easy way to buy fumos to resell.