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ADA prices in Japan?

I lived in Japan for four years and although I wasn't massively in to ADA stuff when I was out there, if the rest of Japan is anything to go by, expect it to be MORE expensive than over here. The Japanese tend to love their brands and those companies know people are happy to pay a premium for them. The other thing to remember is that the exchange rate isn't great at the moment (although much better than it used to be). Watching the exchange rates and buying your Yen at the right time will help reduce the cost.
I'm not sure it going to make much difference to buying it over here to be honest. And you'd have somewhere to return it to if you bought if over here.

Hope this helps. Possibly not the answer you wanted, I know!
 
Thanks all. Judging from the video James posted, it could be cheaper. I may be wrong, but thought I could see the Vuppa for 9800 Yen and an Aquasky 602 for 52.000 Yen. If true then that's something like one third of the price (for the Vuppa) and two thirds (for the Aquasky). On the other hand Ben's comments point in a different direction. I was surprised that I was unable to find a Japanese webshop selling ADA, that would make it easier to compare accurately.

Ben, my trip will be for a conference, which leaves me with just one week there. Any must sees while I am there (my main targets currently are Kyoto, gardens, and of course the ADA gallery in Niigata)?

Thomas
 
Hi Thomas,
I'd say that if you have only a week, stick to Tokyo, Kyoto and Niigata. You'll need at least two full days in Kyoto.
I work for a travel company where I started as a Japan specialist - have a look at our website for ideas etc.
http://www.audleytravel.com/destinations/north-asia-and-russia/japan.aspx . The two most famous gardens in Kyoto are Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion) and Ryoanji. I also really like Ginkakuji - the Silver Pavilion as well. Amazing mosses in all of them.
Just enjoy - Tokyo is a great city. You'll need another few days there as well of course. Don't forget, the Amano aquariums at the base of the Skytree... a must-see and they are in Tokyo. I've never seen them, but they would be top of the list for me!

Hope that helps. Have fun and take plenty of pictures/video for us!
 
ADA is much cheaper in Japan. They have hundreds of shops around the country which sell their products. It also means majority of the shops are not specialist like TGM for example.
So you will find lot of chinese things too.

But they are trendmakers. You will see all the latest stuff there. May will be surprised sometime how badly ADA goods are presented in some shops, but the specialist there also awesome.
Tokyo has less specialist than some other cities. In Tokyo do not miss the Aqua Forest (hard to find but worth a trip)

Anyway the only thing which stops you from buying everything is the travel fee. You can buy small things, but adding up weights to your luggage will cost you more than you saved :) There's a weight limitation and if you travel back with heavy items you need to pay for that.

But if you're there do not miss the tools as they are cheap and last for a lifetime.

You can find here 5 or 6 shops which we visited a month ago. Many photos has pricing too so can help to figure out :)

Iaplc 2013 - a set on Flickr

what is expensive in the country is the hotel and the JR/Shinkanzen trips. All others including food, taxi etc is good.
 
Just to follow up on this thread: I am currently in Japan and visited a couple of shops with ADA stuff in Tokyo. In general ADA is quite a lot cheaper, about 30-50% or more compared to European prices. The best bargain is probably the Aquasky. I picked up the 601 for about about 95 British Pounds, which is something like 60% below the European retail prices. Now I need to fit it in my bag and hope it doesn't break. So if you are here it is definitely worth checking it out. The shops I saw didn't have the full product range, but most of the general stuff like tools, pipes, and lights. Let me know if you need directions. I found the shops from ADA's ADA View series on Japanese shops. I visited PauPau and Aqua Forest, both quite easy to find.

Thomas
 
Did you get to skytree?
 
Ah! but to see Amano's work writ large (7m large o_O).........

I'd sell my left testicle :wideyed:
 
I see it dried and grated like a truffle :D
 
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