Pre-ordering figures and limited goods for your Japan trip: release dates, hotel delivery and lotteries

On Japanese shop pages you will see 予約受付 (pre-orders open), a deadline for the order period, and a 発売日 (release date) that is often only a month. Good Smile Company says most of its products are built to order: it manufactures only the quantity ordered during the pre-order period and does not produce more after the initial shipment, although a second pre-order period may sometimes be offered. Its online store does not extend order periods or accept orders after the deadline, and it notes that an account locked after 6:00 pm Japan time on the last day cannot be used to order, so it recommends pre-ordering early.

Premium Bandai describes a 予約商品 (pre-order item) as one sold with a promised delivery month. You can't choose a delivery date when ordering, only a time slot, and orders after the pre-order period, cancellations and returns are not accepted. Its 受注生産品 (made-to-order items) are produced for each order after you buy, so they can't be cancelled or returned either.

AmiAmi labels some items Provisional Pre-order (price or stock may change) or Tentative Pre-order (limited production, not yet confirmed), and warns that tentative items may not be obtainable if the maker's stock runs short. Once all its pre-order slots are filled, an item shows Pre-orders Closed, and AmiAmi says it does not know whether it will become available again. AmiAmi also says it lists new items only after makers announce them to stores, and does not answer questions about whether or when an announced item will be offered.

A release month is not a delivery date. Good Smile Company tells customers to check the scheduled shipping month on the product page; its Shipping Calendar is updated once a date is decided, and an item missing from the calendar has no confirmed date yet. It does not answer questions about shipping dates, even about early, mid or late month. Its release schedule gives dates for the Japanese market, and often the date the goods leave Good Smile Company or reach wholesalers rather than the day they go on sale.

Premium Bandai emails you when a shipping start date is set and also shows it on the product page; if the page only says 〇月発送 (ships in a given month), the start date has not been decided. Pre-orders then arrive about five days after shipping starts, and if you combined several items in one order, they are all sent together with the item that has the latest delivery date.

When a release moves, orders can be split. AmiAmi says that if items in one order no longer come out in the same month, the order is split and can't be recombined unless delays bring two or more items back into the same month. Good Smile Company sends emails about delays, about the shipping date (about two weeks before shipping), about payment errors and about confirming the delivery address; it says some orders have been cancelled because customers missed payment-error emails, and that unpaid pre-orders are not shipped. If you pre-order for a trip, make sure the shop's emails reach your inbox while you are travelling, and don't count on a date that is not yet confirmed.

Premium Bandai's Japanese site says it is a service for Japan only: it does not ship overseas, you can't register with an address outside Japan, and it refuses cards issued outside Japan as well as debit and prepaid cards. It points customers in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore and North America to the regional PREMIUM BANDAI sites, and for visitors in Japan it offers a proxy-purchase route with Buyee (see the last section). It also asks for a home or work address: a convenience store, post office or carrier depot entered as the address can't be delivered to.

Good Smile Company's online store accepts Visa, Mastercard, JCB and American Express cards that support 3D Secure 2.0, and PayPal; debit and prepaid cards are not accepted. Payment is usually taken at shipment, or at checkout for high-value pre-orders, and orders outside Japan and Taiwan are charged in US dollars. Some products can't be ordered in some countries for licensing, production or customs reasons, depending on the region your account is registered in. After unauthorised access in October 2026, the store reopened on 6 November 2026 for browsing only, without logins or new orders. Good Smile Company directed customers living in Japan to its GOOD SMILE STORE on Rakuten Ichiba or partner shops, and customers outside Japan to its official overseas stores or partner shops in their region; check its notice for the current state.

AmiAmi accepts Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB and Diners Club, UnionPay and PayPal, and takes payment only in Japanese yen. It requires 3D Secure 2 for card payments, does not recommend debit cards, and says it may ask new customers to make their first payment through PayPal. Cash on delivery is available only for addresses in Japan, and never for hotel addresses.

AmiAmi explains how to have an order sent to your hotel in Japan: change the shipping address in Modify Existing Orders, written in the Latin alphabet, with the street address on line 1 and the hotel name plus your room number or check-in date on line 2, then city or ward, prefecture, postal code, country and telephone. Tell the hotel that a parcel is coming. This works only for in-stock items, domestic shipping is a flat ¥630 and usually takes three to four days, and AmiAmi recommends contacting it before you pay, ideally before you arrive in Japan, to agree a shipping date. It does not ship to convenience-store addresses; parcels sent there may be refused or returned, and the original shipping fee is not refunded.

A pre-order ships when it is released, so it can only be aimed at a hotel once the shipping date is confirmed and falls well inside your stay. Premium Bandai doesn't let you pick a delivery date, and Good Smile Company lets you change the address on an order only until a shipping date is decided; after that it can't be changed through the store, and updating the address in your account does not change orders already placed.

Carriers set their own limits. Yamato Transport says a hotel or ryokan must be willing to accept the parcel, some limit where and when you can collect it, and a parcel may arrive before your stay, in which case some inns charge a storage fee. Japan Post holds an undelivered Yu-Pack parcel at the delivery post office for seven days and then returns it to the sender. Ask the inn before you choose it as the delivery address, and make sure the parcel can't sit unclaimed for longer than the carrier holds it.

Hotel rules differ, and some exclude exactly this kind of parcel. Toyoko Inn accepts luggage sent ahead if the delivery slip shows the reservation number, check-in date and guest name and the parcel arrives on the morning of check-in or the day before, but it says parcels bought through online shopping will not be accepted, cash-on-delivery parcels are refused, size and quantity may be limited, and some of its hotels can't store parcels that arrive the day before.

Sotetsu Fresa Inn Jimbocho asks for the guest name and check-in date and keeps parcels for one week before check-in, but not excessive or oversized luggage, chilled or frozen items, or cash-on-delivery parcels. Hotel The Knot Yokohama asks you to tell it in advance and to include your check-in date and reservation name, and does not accept cash-on-delivery parcels, valuables or perishables. HOP INN says it does not send parcels for guests, so you would take a parcel to a courier or convenience store yourself.

In practice: email your first hotel or ryokan before you order, ask whether it accepts parcels from online shops and from what date, and use the same name as on your booking. Put your check-in date (and reservation number if the hotel asks for it) on the address, and never choose cash on delivery for a hotel address.

Some limited items are sold by lottery (抽選販売): only winners can buy. On Premium Bandai, lottery entries can be paid by card in advance, PreBan Pay or Paidy, and a card payment for an entry that loses or is cancelled is refunded. Entries made for resale or using other people's details are excluded, and members can be barred from entering if a shipped parcel was returned because they didn't receive it, or if a card check failed. An unclaimed parcel at a hotel can therefore cost you future lotteries.

If a pre-order period has closed, Good Smile Company says buying may still be possible when partner retailers ordered extra units for in-store sale (it publishes a partner shop list; this does not apply to its online-store exclusives), when its online store starts in-stock sales from leftover stock, or when pre-orders reopen. It does not guarantee in-stock sales for every product.

Buying in person is the other route. AmiAmi has physical stores in Akihabara, but says they are separate from the online store, so online orders can't be picked up there. Premium Bandai runs a service with Buyee for visitors to Japan: after scanning a two-dimensional code at a service point, you can buy from the Japanese Premium Bandai site for 14 days and have Buyee ship the goods abroad; delivery within Japan is not available, and Premium Bandai noted in June 2024 that Gunpla and food could not be bought this way. Bandai and BANDAI SPIRITS say they can't provide a product warranty for items shipped overseas, so ask Buyee about shipping cover.