Buying a camera in Japan?

I am off on my holidays in April to Japan. Our current digital camera (Minolta Dimage Z1) is getting a bit elderly. After four faithful years it is finally coming to the end of its life, not through not working (although the on switch is becoming a little stiff) but mainly because it is too big and bulky, only has 3.1 Megapixels and there are newer models coming on the market which look far more advanced than my Minolta.

I thought that whilst I was in Japan it would be a good opportunity to procure a new camera, in the belief that if would be a). cheaper or b). a far better model not available in the UK, or even both a & b. After lots of searching around the internet looking for information on what to expect, I only found lots of out of date links containing very little useful information.

So after reaching a dead end I asked on a camera forum for information about doing something I thought would be simple. After the usual “use the search” replies I had some useful answers, the main points I have listed below:-

• cash is king. Whilst some places are ok, a lot still don’t like foreign issued credit cards
• prices can be cheaper, but you (as always) need to shop around for the best deals
• lenses are generally cheaper than here, and cameras can be a bit less than UK
• at one of the big Tokyo camera shops, the Sigma 10-20mm* was £10.00 more expensive than I’d bought one for the week before in the UK. With the 5% consumption tax refunded, it would have worked out slightly cheaper but hardly a massive saving
• potential problems with non-UK chargers, instruction books, repairs under guarantee, import duty & VAT etc
• be prepared to buy another battery charger, as the Japan market ones may be just 100V input, they might not be set up for worldwide use.

Overall to me it looks like it is not worth bothering, potential savings don’t appear to be worthwhile the effort of shopping around for half a day looking for a camera, when I could use the time taking pictures and enjoying my holiday. Knowing my luck I would end up paying more for a camera and end up with no UK charger, an instruction manual in Japanese and a camera stuck in Japanese language mode.

I would imagine there are a few bargains out there, but only if you know what you are doing and put the time into shopping around. For me I would rather enjoy myself. If however you think I am wrong, please let me know.