Amazon Japan now ships games and consoles internationally

Good news, importers. Amazon Japan now ships video games and consoles internationally.

This is a brand new policy for Amazon.jp, who previously prevented the shipping of these items to overseas territories. Noticed on Twitter and shared on NeoGAF, many users are reporting success in ordering titles to their home addresses in various countries. This opens up an entirely new market for importers, who would usually have to order Japanese games via retailers such as Play-Asia and the likes.

It should be noted that not all Japanese games will work on PAL systems, and consoles such as Nintendo’s 3DS are entirely region-locked: the only products by Nintendo that are region-free are amiibos. PlayStation 4 and PS Vita are not region locked when it comes to physical games, so users should have no issues playing these on their PAL/NTSC consoles — the only real issue is that a majority of games published in Japan will have no English  language support, especially those published exclusively in the East.

Also, international shipping only works on products sold directly by Amazon: third-party sellers don’t qualify. The site is viewable in English, so it should be easy to find what you’re looking for and navigate the check out.

Go crazy!