What is "Doujin"?
Shopping & shipping
Etiquette
Welcome to my guide! This guide is primarily for the Ennead fandom, but the information can be applied to all other fandoms as well.
To put it simply, 同人 (どうじん / "Doujin"), translates to "same person" and is used to describe a group of people who share similar interests (similar to "fandom" or coterie), and is also used to describe self-published works and forms of distributing said works. Typically these are derivative works, but can also be completely original works. There is a western misconception that "doujin" means "erotic fandom comics", but this use of the term is very inaccurate! Doujin is very similar to the concept of indie, but has its own separate, unique culture surrounding it. Doujin works expand far beyond fandom comics; there are doujin/self-published games, music, anime, literature, and so much more. You may even be familiar with a group or series that started as or are doujin! The manga studio CLAMP, for example, began as a doujin group before debuting as professional manga artists! Fate/Stay Night (the series Fate/Grand Order is based on), Higurashi no Naku Koro ni/Higurashi: When They Cry, and Touhou Project are extremely popular doujin games with their own subcultures. Even if we, as individuals living outside of Japan, are unable to participate in real-life doujin events, there is still much for us to enjoy and support! I hope you find my guide informative!
Before we begin, here are some common terms and abbreviations you'll encounter throughout this guide and on external websites.
Let me go into more detail on doujin events here.
This is likely the section you're here for! Purchasing goods from Japan has gotten much easier over the years, but newcomers and those returning to the scene may find everything a little overwhelming. Let me help you!
Shopping
There are a lot of ways to buy brand new doujinshi online! Some of these stores also have physical shop locations if you're in Japan! Feel free to use this as a one-stop shop for direct links to the Ennead listings on these websites.
Shipping
The majority of doujin websites (or honestly, Japanese shopping websites in general) only ship to Japanese addresses, so in this section I'll be showing you how to order from them. You may encounter the terms proxy and forwarder while searching for a service that fits your needs.
A proxy website is the easiest to use. These services will purchase an item on your behalf, have the item ship to their warehouse, then mail the item when you're ready and have paid any necessary fees. To buy an item you want, simply copy and paste the URL into the on-site search bar. Sometimes the item information will auto-fill, though sometimes you may have to enter the product's name and description/specifications if multiple options are available. However, as someone is purchasing the item on your behalf, there may be delays due to staffing shortages, timezone differences, etc, so keep this in mind when buying items with limited quantities.
A forwarding service provides you with a Japanese address and phone number, so you can buy products online at your own pace. As there's no middle-man purchasing the goods for you, purchases are instantaneous as if you're buying something in your home country. Arguably the most well known Japanese forwarding service is Tenso, and is the one I use as often as I can.
Proxies include services such as FromJapan, ZenMarket, and Rabbit Japan, to name a few.
You may also encounter affiliate proxy services such as Anime Otaku Carry Service (AOCS), Buyee, and a ton of others. I've made a pros and cons list based on my experiences with these companies that may help you find your preferred service, but of course the best way to find your favorite is through experimenting.
Please note that I'm not affiliated with any of the services listed. Also note that, while some services allow you to purchase R18/pornographic or other adult content, you'll need to do your own research and see what mailed goods your home country allows and what might be seized at cutsoms.
Tenso
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| R18 goods are allowed. | Familiarity with the Japanese language and confidence with navigating Japanese shopping websites is required as you're entering the delivery information yourself. This may be intimidating for some people. |
| Fastest way to purchase items, as you do it yourself. This alone puts it at #1 on my list, as some doujin items are only distributed for an extremely limited time, and/or sell out very quickly as not many copies have been made. | Received items are occasionally not clearly labeled and will require you to manually track which items they receive, so you can enter the correct cost information for consolidation. |
| Packages are held for free for 60 days after arrival, as long as they're registered on your My Page. This is useful as the average package hold time with proxy services is 30 days. | Most of these websites will require you to use a debit or credit card with the 3D Secure feature to place orders. If your card doesn't have this feature, you'll be locked to using proxy services. I'll talk about checking if your card works in the "Tora Test" section. |
| Consolidation services are available. | Additionally, you may encounter websites that will decline your card even if it passes the Tora test. This is typically because it requires a Japanese billing address. You can rest easy knowing all of the websites linked in this guide do not require billing addresses. |
| Very reasonable service fees. | While packages will be held for free for 60 days, they can only be consolidated into one package within 30 days of arrival at their warehouse. |
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FromJapan (OneMap)
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Extremely fast service with fantastic customer service. | R18 goods cannot be purchased using FromJapan. |
| High quality packaging and items are packed securely. | Because packages are so reinforced, shipping can be expensive. I'm not sure if its possible to request less-secure packing for hardy items. |
| Credit card support, Paypal, and Alipay are available. | Service fees add up quickly, causing affordable items to end up more expensive than expected. |
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ZenMarket
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| R18 items are allowed. | Occasionally, there can be severe delays. There may be delays when items are manually added, and while waiting for a staff member to buy the item, so items can sell out during the waiting period. |
| Due to the cash depositing system, a wide range of payment options are available, including wire transfer. | There is a ¥300 per item fee, and deposit fees range from 3.5%~8% depending on the method you select. |
| High quality packaging, with the ability to remove company logos for stealth. | Parcel packing can potentially take a very long time. For example, if you consolidate items so they can be sent to you, it may take 1 week+ for the package to be ready for shipment. |
| An on-site credit system has been recently implemented! Very handy if you happen to be a few hundred yen short when paying for an item. | Customer support may take a long time to return inquiries. |
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The fastest way to see if your bank card is compatible with most Japanese websites is by linking it to your Toranoana account. I call this the "tora test". If the test charge goes through, you can purchase from Toranoana, Melonbooks, PictSQUARE, and numerous other websites without needing to use a proxy service. You can do this by doing the following:
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You might be thinking to yourself, "Etiquette? Why do I need rules for buying fanmade goods?". It actually goes much deeper than that! Because of cultural differences and expectations, we need to be considerate to the artists who are distributing their goods.
As with all artwork, please do not distribute copies of doujinshi or other doujin goods online, or reproduce them. Not only is this scummy, but the artists can potentially get into legal trouble too. Please don't affect their livelyhoods from sharing illegally.
On that note, while searching for doujinshi you want on Google, you may encounter them listed on secondhand websites. Because the artists don't benefit from these personally I won't go into detail about them, but if you find what you're looking for on one of these sites, please don't mention you bought the it there. No one needs to know that you got the item for a good deal on ◯◯◯. Just enjoy it as you normally would.
Please remember that the artists who create doujin goods aren't doing it as a main source of income. They're supplementary goods for the artist's enjoyment and they want to share it with other fans. This isn't like P4P ("pay for production") where they create goods knowing that they will only create a number of goods equal to the guaranteed sales, thus minimize losses/break even or profit from it; they create these goods using their own money. Did you know that 75~80% of doujin circles sell their works at a loss, and only around 15% break even?
Technically, terms such as "buyer/customer", "seller", "sales", "restock", etc shouldn't be used, so try to avoid them when you can when talking about doujin goods in public settings. Instead, we're considered "readers", "writers", doujin goods are "exchanged/distributed" at events, and everyone is a "participant". For example, if an item is sold out and you want to know if it's going to be restocked in the future, you can ask by saying something like "Do you have plans to redistribute (doujinshi title)?" instead. Let's try our best to be considerate.
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