So I went to Akihabara on Sunday and constructed a build. Bought all the parts except the graphics card. It came to about 200,000 yen at tsukumo. That includes a 14,500 yen construction fee. With a 4 week wait time. God things go slow in Japan. But on to the graphics card.
So, a Zotac 4090 Amp extreme on newegg runs for about 1699.99 usd. This is about 251,008 yen with the current exchange rate.So I checked on Kakaku and the same card is 308,000yen. What the heck?! Why is the price so much higher. Even if I add tax at a 10% rate, that’s only 25,100yen added on. Can anyone explain what I’m missing? Is there another hidden fee/tax or something. There shouldn’t be a delivery fee if I’m buying it from a bigger store right? Yodobashi is even more expensive than that for some reason!
So can someone just break it down for me please if you know? I’ve noticed the same thing with video games as well. It’s cheaper to buy them digitally in other countries than in Japan.
Also, what’s your advice when it comes to buying a GPU? Buy it from US and have it shipped to Japan? Search Mom and Pop stores? Any advice is welcome.
Ps. I am probably going to wait until December to buy the card (4 week build time).
12 comments
Prices on products, particularly PC parts at times, can often be more expensive in Japan. That is the explanation, unfortunately. The prices on many electronics vary by country. The exact same iPhone can cost considerably more (if using America as a baseline) depending on where you are purchasing.
Many people choose to purchase from the US when it is cheaper, though this can occasionally cause warranty issues.
It’s new and in limited numbers.
I guess you should look into the “ASK tax” (アスク税).
It’s a really bizarre system that makes GPUs more expensive in Japan.
These things cost more in Japan. You might be able to find a decent used GPU on dospara.
It’s the ASK tax, they hold a monopoly on importing GPUs and the like into Japan. From what I’ve heard supposedly they use the money to provide support and protect sellers from losses due to excess stock, currency risk, etc…
A lot of people just import GPUs from the US and it comes out a lot cheaper.
Are you not aware of the melting connectors/cables from the 4090 series? Are you sure it’s a good idea to be an early adopter, paying a hefty premium and run this risk?
In the past I always imported from Amazon US. You’d definitely get cheaper/better offers. But with the current exchange rate, it might not make sense anymore.
So many things here (tech mostly) are often overpriced. Don’t get me started on the priced of games (triple a) from steam/epic etc…
Imports into a country that doesn’t see much demand for the products are expensive?!? They never taught me that in Economics class!!
Because the store needs to buy it, have it shipped, pay customs, store it/shelve it and then carry it as inventory, and hope you buy it and hope the yen doesn’t move between the time they purchased and have to pay for it.
If you think you can get it for Y251,008 yen, go buy it online from newegg and let us know how you get on.
Import from abroad if you are not too fussed about warranty. EVGA did have world wire warranty but shame they are out of the game. AMD RDNA 3 reviews should be out soon and its looking like it could match or do better than the 4090 in rasterization.
The MSRP for a 4090 in Japan is ¥298,000 straight from Nvidia. The price you quoted is not far off.
[https://www.nvidia.com/ja-jp/geforce/graphics-cards/40-series/rtx-4090/](https://www.nvidia.com/ja-jp/geforce/graphics-cards/40-series/rtx-4090/)
Buy from Japan, used.
Welcome to regional pricing! The worst offender is still Steam by a country mile, considering there isn’t even a physical product in question.