Buying manga and artbooks in Japan to take home: where to shop, weight limits and shipping

In Tokyo, start with Jimbocho. The city's official travel guide, GO TOKYO, describes it as the place for unhurried browsing of new, secondhand and rare books, with plenty of cafés nearby, and it is close to Tokyo Station, Ueno, Ochanomizu and Akihabara.

For used manga and books outside the big cities, look for a BOOKOFF. The BOOKOFF group lists books, CDs, DVDs, games, trading cards and hobby goods among what its standard stores sell, and its larger BOOKOFF SUPER BAZAAR stores average about 3,100 m² of floor space. Its official online store, one of Japan's largest reuse platforms by its own account, sells pre-owned books and comics, but the site is in Japanese only.

Artbooks, illustration collections and setting-material books (設定資料集) are large-format and heavy, so decide early whether they will ride in your suitcase or go by post. With secondhand copies, check the condition of the cover and spine before you pay if it matters to you.

GO TOKYO calls Akihabara the cultural home of gaming, manga and anime fans, and names Akihabara Radio Kaikan and the Akiba Cultures Zone among the buildings full of shops for anime, manga and games.

Nakano Broadway, northwest of Shinjuku, has four floors of shopping, most of it aimed at anime fans and hobbyists, according to GO TOKYO: collectibles alongside sought-after manga series and out-of-print books, with most hobby shops on the second to fourth floors. GO TOKYO lists Mandarake, a large manga and collectibles retailer, and Taco Che, which sells out-of-print and self-published works. Opening hours are given as 10:00–20:00 but vary by floor and shop.

Older or rare volumes can be fragile. Ask for a bag at the till, keep paper bags out of the rain, and carry the day's finds back to your room before they get crushed in a crowded train.

Some inns are a good place to try a series before buying a full set. Gero Onsen Bosenkan has a kids' corner with 1,000 manga, Yamashiro Onsen Yuzankaku has a manga corner with about 4,000 volumes on the Aoi wing's third floor, and Kinugawa Onsen Hotel Manyotei includes manga among the extras covered by the room price (one 2026 family found the smoking area next to the manga corner too smoky).

For books more generally, Tateshina Shinyu Onsen in Nagano was renovated in 2018–2019 as a Taisho-romantic library hotel with about 30,000 books, and Ryokan Omuraya in Ureshino calls itself an inn for enjoying music and books after your bath, with a library and a lounge of records.

Note the title and volume number of anything you like, then buy it in town or order it online for delivery to your next stop. Reading in a dim tatami room is easier with a small book light.

If you'd rather not carry books around all trip, order them for your last stop before the airport. Rakuten Books says shipping is free on everything it sells, including books, magazines and comics, and that this applies to large or heavy items such as complete manga sets and box sets. It also offers next-day delivery at the earliest: eligible items ordered in the morning ship the same day.

Delivery to an inn depends on the inn. Yamato Transport says it delivers parcels to a hotel or ryokan if the inn is willing to accept them, that some inns restrict where and when you can collect them, and that delivery times can't be specified. When you send a parcel to an inn yourself, Yamato asks you to ship at least two days before check-in, or three for longer distances. Ask the front desk before you order, especially at a remote mountain inn.

Konbini pickup has short holding times. Amazon.co.jp gives four calendar days to collect from a FamilyMart, Lawson or MiniStop counter and three days from a locker, and you need a pickup code and a recipient name that matches your ID. Rakuten's convenience-store pickup excludes parcels over 100 cm (length, width and height combined) and holds parcels for two or three days depending on the store and carrier, so a full boxed set may not qualify.

Books are dense, so weigh your bag before you leave for the airport. On ANA international flights, each checked bag in economy and premium economy may weigh up to 23 kg (32 kg in business and first), with length, width and height adding up to no more than 158 cm including wheels and handle; the number of free bags depends on your fare. In the cabin, ANA allows one carry-on bag and one personal item with a combined weight of no more than 10 kg. Other airlines, especially low-cost carriers, set their own allowances, so check your ticket.

Spread the weight: heavy artbooks in the checked bag, a few paperbacks in your carry-on. Lay books flat in the middle of the suitcase with clothes around them, keep them away from wheels and corners, and seal them in plastic bags in case of spills or rain. Corner protectors and a sheet of cardboard on each side help keep large-format books from bending.

A luggage scale tells you whether to move books between bags or post some home, which is usually cheaper to decide in your room than at the check-in desk.

Japan Post offers several ways to send books abroad. EMS is its fastest international service, for up to 30 kg to more than 120 countries and territories, with rates from ¥1,450 and tracking; size and weight limits vary by destination (20 kg for Australia, for example). International parcel post is for general goods up to 30 kg (less for some countries) and can go by airmail, economy air (SAL) or surface mail, with optional insurance. Small packets cover items up to 2 kg and no longer have a registered option since 31 December 2025.

Speed is the trade-off. Japan Post's comparison chart puts surface mail at roughly one to three months, against about 3–6 days by airmail and 6–13 days by economy air. For small packets and printed matter, Japan Post asks you to prepare the customs form online through its International Mail My Page service.

Japan Post also has a Printed Matter rate for books and magazines, up to 5 kg (2 kg to Canada), which is cheaper than non-standard mail. But it says items considered merchandise or goods for sale, such as books with commercial value, don't count as printed matter, and books with monetary value still need a customs form. Ask at the counter whether your books qualify. Remember too that anything bought tax-free has to leave Japan with you, so post only what you paid full tax on.

Books in Japan carry the standard consumption tax: the National Tax Agency limits the reduced rate to food and drink (excluding alcohol and dining out) and to newspapers issued at least twice a week and sold by subscription. So a bookstore that is a registered tax-free shop can refund the tax on books like other goods.

From 1 November 2026, Japan uses a refund method, the Japan Tourism Agency says. You pay the tax-inclusive price, spending ¥5,000 or more (excluding tax) per shop per day, and the tax is refunded after a customs check when you leave. Within 90 days of purchase, present your passport at a tax-free terminal in the international departure lobby before you check in your bags, with every item from each receipt in your possession. Checked luggage can't be retrieved for the procedure, and if one book from a receipt is missing, nothing on that receipt qualifies.

Tax-free purchases must be limited to what you can personally carry out of Japan. In practice that means books bought tax-free travel in your luggage, not by post, and should stay in a bag you can open at the airport. The Japan Tourism Agency adds that the refund is paid by each shop or a refund provider it uses, so ask at the till how you will receive it.