Tora-san films with English subtitles coming from Shochiku

[McCrutchy]

EDIT: After a price drop from ¥209,000 to ¥164,304 on 30 June, the regular trunk set can now be ordered to the US. The full-price Amazon.co.jp Exclusive version remains restricted.

The following comments reflect being unable to order the trunk set at full price:

[Show spoiler]

Originally Posted by logboy

i think you're choosing to perceive it should be balanced in your favour. and expecting it to get ultra-cheap. rather than assuming you should price it out as postage per item at actual final cost with how their system works as is. not as if they're going to change it for you, or just in time for you to take advantage of it with this set. if you do that, it's $3 a disc, like i say. can't beat that anywhere without it being a loophole or mistake. even japan post are overcharging compared to the 15kg amazon single item charge of 905 yen you quote. any computer system's calculations is going to be as unfussy as possible over keeping the profit margins secure and un-exploitable, so that they keep the rule solid however many items you order seems logical from that perspective.

But you cannot receive that "deal" because Amazon refuse to ship the trunk overseas, and in all likelihood, the culprit is precisely that flaw in their international shipping rates.

And when I'm pre-ordering 49 Blu-rays at once, I don't think I'm expecting anything to "get ultra-cheap", and certainly not by expecting a large corporation like Amazon to be able to offer some kind of bulk shipping discount on the order (in fact, "ultra-cheap" when ordering 49 Blu-rays would be free shipping on the order). It's exactly what happens with smaller orders anyway, because when you order only a few items shipped to the US, Amazon handily beats Japan Post--as they should--but obviously, they don't anticipate orders with a large number of items from overseas, since their shipping charges increasingly pale in comparison to the post office.

Now, one thing I didn't consider is whether or not this shipping restriction is a temporary issue for pre-orders. The trunk set is limited, however, there is a cutoff date of 27 August for guaranteeing you receive a copy for 25 December, with Shochiku saying something to the effect that later orders may not be received until early 2020. In fact, Amazon has 27 August as a cancellation cutoff date for pre-orders, meaning on that date, your Amazon pre-order can no longer be cancelled.

The cancellation cutoff date has also applied to items Amazon do send overseas, but perhaps with this ultimatum of sorts from Shochiku, Amazon simply want to limit pre-orders to Japan. However, because they have refused to ship many kinds of similar box sets abroad (e.g. Blu-rays that come with certain size posters) still think the real issue is the flaw in their international shipping rates.