For anyone who may be interested...

[Eldorado]

Here's a link to Yahoo Auctions Japan. Ebay pulled out a few years ago, so "Yahoo Auction" is the main site for buying and selling secondhand. If this link works as intended, it'll show what's available at present under the search term "オープンリール" (open reel). If you can't view Japanese correctly (Windows) you may need to install East Asian languages from your OS disk. If it still doesn't work, tinkering with "character encoding" under the View menu can usually yield results.

http://search.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/search/auc?p=%A5%AA%A1%BC%A5%D7%A5%F3%A5%EA%A1%BC%A5%EB&auccat=0

One more thing, if you're viewing Japanese in Firefox, it's well worth downloading the excellent Rikaichan add-on.

[TheReeler]

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrgggg!!!!!, there things with very good prices. I'm not signed in Yahoo Auctions, but I think I'll do to bid on some tapes. I must ask the sellers first how much would be S&H to Spain and maybe there're some things that could be affordable.

Thanks for the link ;)

[Eldorado]

Yes some of the prices look okay to me too. I like the look of the Technics deck...might be sucked into bidding on that.

My wife told me that Yahoo Auction changed their system recently and that users now need to pay a monthly fee of around 300 yen. It's not a huge amount, but it makes the whole process slightly more complicated than before - her own membership lapsed for this reason.

[MacGyver]

this is an agent that allows any english language party with a credit card to do business smoothly on yahoo japan. if you happen to be looking for PIONEER, you will find the most interesting things by typing in "PIONEER" than selecting "PIONEER VIDEO EQUIPMENT" in the list. "VHS VCR" and "S-VHS VCR" can be fun as well. this system is not perfect, but effective enough...



http://www.rinkya.com/

[TheReeler]

This is the first time I find a 10" prerecorded reel:

http://page7.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/g63782964

[TheReeler]

Going on with worldwide online auction sites, here is the german section for reel to reel in Germany:

CLICK (http://audio.shop.ebay.de/items/Bandmaschinen__W0QQQ5fcatrefZ1QQQ5fcatrefZ1QQ_flnZ 1QQ_sacatZ19602)

[vinyldavid]

They have a Studer C37. *eyepop* *check*

*hearts**hearts**hearts**hearts**hearts**hearts*

*reelspin**reelspin**reelspin*

[Eldorado]

this is an agent that allows any english language party with a credit card to do business smoothly on yahoo japan.

That looks very useful for people ordering from abroad. Thanks very much for putting up the information. Out of interest, as I didn't look so closely at their terms, what's their commission or charge?

I just thought I should mention one thing about some items for sale on Yahoo Auction that I encountered this week. It's not directly related to R2R, so sorry to go a bit off-topic here, but it should be of tangential interest to at least some of us. I was looking up one artist and noticed that in Japan people are selling DVDs and CDs of material that has been made freely available.

Example link:

http://page16.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/u28018469

As this will probably drop off the radar soon, it's a DVD of Neil Young at Jones Beach, 1989. Current bid around $8.

Now if you follow this link, you can have it free (it's a great concert so treat yourself):

http://www.rustradio.org/tracker/?page=2

A lot of this kind of bootleg/unofficial material (n.b. it's not pirated) is out there for the downloading, and unfortunately some people are scooping it up and then selling it. It's not commercially available through any official channel, and it's released by enthusiasts with the intention that it remains free of charge for all to enjoy until such time as the artist or record company releases it commercially (which in most cases will be never). People who sell it are doing it purely for personal enrichment and going entirely against the spirit of sharing this kind of music - the specialist share sites are very clear on this point. I know that the same has happened on eBay but don't know if it's as widespread as in Japan.

I would just request anyone who cares about the wealth of music that can be obtained and shared like this - and there's some truly great and historical stuff out there - to not encourage or take part in the buying and selling of such material.

[Eldorado]

They have a Studer C37. *eyepop* *check*

*hearts**hearts**hearts**hearts**hearts**hearts*

*reelspin**reelspin**reelspin*

Yours for $3000. You were so nice about my baby son, I promise not to bid against you.