Stores
Where to buy manga (Japanese, not English translated) online:
- honto (paper and digital manga): Great selection of manga (tankobon); popular manga magazines seem to go out of stock quickly; no mark-up added to price, however, you have to pay for shipping which ranges from very expensive for air to reasonable for shipping by boat (but very slow, 1 -3 months, according to their website); I usually select the SAL method, which is reasonable and fairly quick (around 10 – 14 days delivery time); great e-manga selection and they offer discounts or point accumulation campaigns often; site in Japanese. Helpful advice for registering at honto: Without Restraints
- Yesasia: (paper) Good selection of manga (magazine and tankobon); some mark-up added to price but reasonable enough for tankobons (not for magazines though because of their weight), especially if your order qualifies for free shipping; site in English (you may have to select your language preference).
- CD Japan (paper and digital): Good selection of manga magazines and decent selection of tankobons. Various shipping and payment options (credit cards, PayPal, money orders); site in English. Their digital manga selection is small compared to honto, ebookjapan, Sokuyomi, and cmoa.
- Amazon Japan (paper and digital): Great selection of manga (magazine and tankobon); shipping used to be pretty expensive, but it seems more reasonable now; site in Japanese and English; it appears that a lot of manga is also available for Kindle, but I haven’t bought any e-manga from them. So, I just made my first purchase with them in over 3 years and bought Petit Comic magazine and two tankobons… shipping was okay, cheaper than CD Japan but a little more expensive than honto (SAL). However, my order will arrive in 4-5 business days, so that’s quick! 🙂
- Fujisan (paper): Small selection of manga magazines; they used to have a lot more choices, but I guess they cut back on what they offer; most magazines have a minimum 6 month subscription; some mark-up added to price; shipping is very expensive, but you receive the magazine within a week or two after it’s released in Japan; site in Japanese.
- Akadot Retail: (paper and digital) Decent selection of manga magazines and related goods, although they appear to have less shoujo magazines than before. They have both current and some back issues of various magazines… not all of the current issues are available, but if you check regularly, you may find the ones you’re looking for. Some mark-up added to price, but more reasonable than YesAsia. For US customers, free shipping to the 48 contiguous states if order is $60 or more and Media Mail rate (very reasonable) is available for Hawaii and Alaska.
- HMV Online (paper): They seem to have a good selection of magazines and tankobons, but tbh, I never paid attention to this site because they only use EMS to ship overseas and don’t offer any other shipping options… EMS is pretty expensive. Site is in Japanese and English.
- ebookJapan (digital): Great selection of e-manga; no mark-up added to price and no shipping cost; site in Japanese. They don’t seem to offer as many discounts or points campaigns as some of the other digital manga stores, though.
- Sokuyomi (digital): Great selection of e-manga; they used to have a 180-day time limit on manga, but I guess they did away with that to keep up with the competition, lol; site in Japanese. I’m pretty sure that Sokuyomi takes foreign credit cards now, and not just Japanese ones. If not, you can still use Japanese webmoney. To purchase Japanese webmoney, I found that the webmoney – Paypal option works best.
- cmoa (digital): Great selection of e-manga; no mark-up added to price and no shipping cost; site in Japanese. They post lots of special offers and discounts throughout the month.
- Shogakukan (digital): Good selection of Shogakukan e-manga; I haven’t purchased anything from this site, but I heard that they accept foreign credit cards. Hopefully, Shogakukan will start offering digital versions of their magazines one day.
- Margaret (digital): Offers e-manga (tankobon) that appear(ed) in Ribon, Margaret, Bessatsu Margaret, Cookie, Cocohana, and You magazines. Unfortunately, only the Cookie and Margaret magazines are available digitally though, but hopefully they will start offering more digital magazines later. I haven’t bought anything from this site, so I am not sure if they take foreign credit cards. They do accept webmoney.
I ♥ Manga Blog 
Aug 18, 2015 @ 22:49:57
Hi dnjs!! I’m trying to buy a Margaret issue from ClubJapan, but because it’s my first time and I’m not Japanese I can’t use Google Translate for some of the picture buttons T_T Could you help me out maybe?
You can view them here if you like: https://40.media.tumblr.com/9e2eaa217d9f1c236b7e7ad0c8564deb/tumblr_ntbn4smRss1us4hujo1_250.png
The blue button takes me to a page where I can specify how long my subscription to the magazine can be. To be clear, I don’t want a subscription, just a copy of one issue.
The red button takes me to a page where I specify by date the exact issue I want (I think). I thought the red button was the way to go, but when I went to checkout, the total price amounted to only 970 Yen, which is ONLY the shipping price; next to the issue I specified, there was 0 Yen, which is just super confusing.
I could go on but you can probably figure out where I went wrong when you see the two buttons hopefully >.< Sorry for this stupid post. I probably sound retarded, gomenasai orz
Aug 19, 2015 @ 06:27:43
Hi, yeah the red button is for a single issue. They do post some instructions in English with screenshots… here’s the link: Instructions. I’m not sure why the red button doesn’t work, though. I’ll try to “order” a Margaret issue right now. Okay, I see the same thing. I also tried “ordering” two magazines together and same thing. That’s how the order review screen is displayed, sorry. I think that screen is designed for the magazine subscriptions option, because in the instructions, it states that the magazine price isn’t shown because it could vary per issue. Kind of confusing for a single order, though… it would be nice if they modified the review screen to show the single issue price. Also, I noticed that the shipping cost is pricey for one magazine, but it gets cheaper per magazine if you order more than one. I think they might include a handling fee for the entire order? Similar to Amazon Japan’s fee for the entire order and then each item has a separate fee. Anyway, if you decide to order from ClubJapan, let me know how it turns out.
Aug 19, 2015 @ 09:11:12
Wow, thanks a bunch for the quick reply T_T thank goodness there’s instructions in English. I managed to order the latest issue of Margaret through the red button, even though the price for it is still at 0 Yen, so I only paid for the shipping (970 Yen).
I didn’t see anywhere a notice saying the price could be changed after payment (like I’m used to with HMV), but we’ll see. I’ll let you know what happens!
Aug 19, 2015 @ 10:11:15
yw 🙂 So the final confirmation screen after you placed the order also didn’t show the price of the magazine? That is an odd design. Well, I hope everything works out correctly! Yeah, I tried to order once from HMV, but I didn’t like that they sent me the final order total after I submitted my order online… at least they gave me the option to cancel the order, which I did because it turned out to be too pricey.
Aug 19, 2015 @ 11:21:44
Yep, the confirmation screen didn’t show the price and neither did the email:
What’s more is that the price wasn’t deducted right away from my bank account (still waiting a few hours later as I write this message), so I’m guessing they will do a HMV and include the price of the issue later. Hopefully they also give the option to cancel the order in case it turns out to be too pricey x_x
Aug 19, 2015 @ 11:43:31
Hmm… they do have an odd process. Maybe more customers sign up for the magazine subscription service, so they defaulted to that process and didn’t bother to create new screens and emails for a single magazine purchase (because I noticed that the book order process shows the price of the book and the shipping cost).
Thanks for sharing your experience so far with this store. I’ll update the store description based on your feedback, which will help other people who may want to buy from them.
Edited: Oh, I meant to ask if you needed to buy the paper copy of Margaret… or would you be interested in the digital version? Shueisha released Margaret 15 & 16 (together) last month digitally, so they may continue with future issues. There is no digital release of Margaret 17 yet, but I think they may bundle it with 18, since the magazine gets published twice a month. Anyway, if you are interested in the digital version, most of the stores above sell it. 🙂
Aug 26, 2015 @ 04:14:34
Hi dnjs, sorry for the delay. My purchase was backordered so it was a few days before they had new copies in stock.
A few hours ago a total of 1303 Yen was deducted from my bank account (price of shipping, 970 + 330, issue), and I also got a confirmation email that my copy of Margaret had been dispatched. Both the price of shipping and issue were finally listed: https://41.media.tumblr.com/79460903e21ff7158ab1cda2d2026399/tumblr_ntp0v3aNG61us4hujo1_500.jpg
I’ll let you know when it arrives. It’ll probably be a few weeks since I live in the middle of nowhere T_T
Aug 26, 2015 @ 16:15:44
No problem! I’m glad that your order went through with no issues. Have you considered purchasing through Amazon Japan? I think shipping would cost about the same…? I got my Amazon order in 3 business days, so maybe it would be faster for you, too.
Dec 28, 2016 @ 09:27:29
Hey dnjs, it’s me again after a year, LOL. The order that I placed in August of 2015 finally arrived in December 2015. The thing is, I believe they actually forgot about my order because I notified them about its status on a Thursday in December. They replied that it was currently en route, and I received it on Saturday that same week. I can’t decide if it actually took 5 months to arrive or if it was speed-shipped after I contacted them because they did, in fact, forget about it, haha. It should be noted that my copy of Margaret was in pristine condition when it arrived, though ^^
Aug 22, 2015 @ 00:12:58
Excuse me, dnjs. I would like to ask that I love Peti comic but I don’t know how to by it. Can you suggest me about website to buy e-magazine? Thank you.
Ps. Thank you very for your translation in magalator, I read many manga that you translated. Especially, I love Totsuzen Desu ga, Ashita Kekkon Shimasu very much.
Aug 22, 2015 @ 07:45:34
Hi, Petit Comic magazine in not available in digital version. If you are interested in buying the (paper) magazine, CD Japan or Amazon Japan are probably the easiest sites to use. CD Japan ships items based on weight and Amazon Japan has a set order fee and a set fee for each individual item, so it is best to check both to see which one is cheaper. They both show the total shipping cost before you place an order.
yw, I’m glad that you enjoyed reading the translations on Mangalator. 🙂
Aug 25, 2015 @ 07:15:22
Dear dnjs, really I cannot read Japanese. But I love these manga and I think to support manga license (really, I try to buy every license manga if they was published in my country but they were too delayed from released in Japan ( about 1 year) or some manga it was not published in my country lol)
If you don’t mind, translating in English can help me so much. Only summarization as you did in the previous is enough. Thank you that you don’t leave and try to maintain everything as you can do.
Aug 25, 2015 @ 07:36:31
Hi, that’s great you try to buy the licensed manga in your country! But yeah, unfortunately a lot of manga will probably never be licensed… there’s just too many manga, lol
yw, I’m glad that you enjoy the summaries. I’ll do my best to keep up with them and maybe in the future, I will try to summarize a few more series as well. Right now, I’m pretty busy with the five Petit Comic series, scanlation, otome game scripts, and other projects.
Sep 06, 2015 @ 03:00:39
Thank you very much for the list! I’ll definitely be checking some of these sites out.
Do you know where I’d be able to find Hana to Yume in ebook format or is it unavailable? Otherwise, do you know any sites I could buy the paper version from without ridiculous shipping prices to the UK? v.v
Sep 06, 2015 @ 08:30:05
yw! As far as I know , Hana to Yume is not available in digital format yet… hopefully it will be in the future. Unfortunately, shipping costs for manga magazines aren’t cheap anywhere. I believe the most reasonable site is honto, if you choose the SAL (economy airmail) option. Amazon Japan and CD Japan seem to be around 200-600 yen more, depending on the weight. According to CD Japan, Hana to Yume weighs around 800-1000 grams, which should cost between 880 – 1080 yen for SAL shipping at honto. SAL shipping usually takes 1-3 weeks. There is also shipping by boat option at honto, but I don’t recommend it for manga magazines, because it’s not that much cheaper for one magazine and it’s slow, 1-3 months.
Sep 10, 2015 @ 04:59:11
Thank you for this list. I try to buy betsucomi as digital version. Do you know where I can buy it ? Which website do you prefer to buy new issue of digital magazine ?
Sep 10, 2015 @ 05:46:29
yw! Unfortunately not all magazines are available digitally yet, and Betsucomi is one of them. Here’s a list of shoujo and josei magazines that are available digitally (as far as I know): Ane Kei Petit Comic, AneLaLa, Aria, Be Love, Bessatsu Friend, Cookie, Dessert, EKiss, Feel Young, JOUR Suteki na Shufu-tachi, Margaret, and Nakayoshi. I usually buy digital magazines and manga from honto or ebookjapan. ebookjapan is easier to set up though, but honto has more coupons and discounts.
Sep 10, 2015 @ 06:37:03
Thank you 🙂 unfortunately I can’t buy Bestucomi as digital version but, I am going to buy Margaret and Dessert.
Sep 27, 2015 @ 16:46:55
Hi,
I just want to ask where I can buy a new release wide variety of manga translated in english and in digital format. and the site is also in english….
I am having trouble reading japanese, and some of the english sites don’t sell manga in digital form and some sites has only limited of manga..
please… thank you..
Sep 27, 2015 @ 19:01:46
I really don’t know of any English sites that sell digital manga translated in English, except for Viz Media and possibly other publishing companies that sell licensed manga. Japanese online manga/bookstores don’t sell translated English manga.
If you are interested in buying digital manga in Japanese, I recommend ebookjapan. The site is in Japanese, but you can use Chrome’s “Translate to English” option and it works fairly well. Let me know if you have any questions!
Oct 01, 2015 @ 10:40:05
Sorry for the delay.
The websites above are very helpful. I tried the ebookjapan, cmoa, amazonjp, and honto. I downloaded free digital comic magazine before buying. I want to make sure. So for digital, Ebookjapan is very easy to set up the account and the reader is easy to use. In cmoa wide selection of manga, easy to set up account but I am having problems with the reader, I can’t open the book. Honto digital is okay but sometimes the reader freeze. So I decided to buy in ebookjapan for my digital magazines and manga.
For the paper magazine, Honto and Amazon are okay. It’s so confusing that I can’t choose which one is better. But Margaret, Cocohana, Hana to Yume in Honto are always out of stock. And also I am having problems with the shipping address in honto. They required a japan address but I live in the US. So I decided to buy my paper magazines in amazonjp. Everything is easy to set up in amazonjp. but the shipping price is very expensive. These are the list that I wanted to buy..
Magazines in Amazon Jp.:Hana to Yume, LaLa, Cheese, Margaret, Separate Hana to Yume issue, Cocohana
Digital Magazine in Ebookjp: Cookie, Bessatsu Friend, Nikoichi margaret, Dessert, AneLala, Cookie, Another Margaret Sister, Aria, Ekiss.
Oct 01, 2015 @ 19:26:27
Wow, you plan to buy a lot of magazines! I’m glad the links above are helpful. 🙂 Yes, ebookjapan is a great site for digital manga. I’ve bought a lot of manga from them over the past few years. The only reason why I buy more from honto now is because honto offers so many discounts. That’s too bad the e-reader freezes on you.
Purchasing paper magazines is expensive, unfortunately. I think if you buy a lot of magazines at once, then Amazon Japan’s shipping cost will be cheaper than honto since honto’s shipping is based on weight. You can ship to the US through honto… Kaizora wrote an explanation here: Without Restraints. It’s a pretty detailed post. One really good thing about Amazon Japan is that their shipping is fast! I live in the US, too, and my order usually takes 3 business days to arrive. 🙂
Oh, one more thing… paper Margaret and digital Nikoichi Margaret are the same magazine. Nikoichi Margaret combines the previous month’s two issues of Margaret magazine, so the October 1 digital issue is the same as the two September paper Margaret issues.
Oct 06, 2015 @ 12:11:23
Hi. Thank you for your advice.
I found a website where there is a list of the online website that sells digital manga.
http://kc.kodansha.co.jp/store_list?_ga=1.73476375.48850095.1443863501
Honto is a good website, offers a lot of coupon but I’m having trouble with their book reader app. Ebook japan is a good choice for me but they don’t offer coupons. I’m starting to collect the volumes of my favorite manga. All of them are shoujo and shounen.
Oct 07, 2015 @ 07:35:43
Wow, that’s quite a list! Thanks for the link. 🙂
Oct 18, 2015 @ 05:58:20
Dear dnjs,
Do you have any recommendation on Japanese ebook sites that allow/accept foreign country paypal or credit card? Currently I’m using Renta! (for my harlequin manga) but no much latest Shoujo, (they do have but not the latest released and limited). I went to eBookJapan but it seems that only accept Japan issued credit cards to purchase the points for manga reading.
To be frank, language is a big problem to me as I cannot understand/read Japanese, hopefully the sites are chrome translation friendly so that I can at least understand a bit to do the register online. Sorry for the inconvenience caused.
Oct 18, 2015 @ 07:53:41
Hmm, ebookjapan accepts foreign credit cards (not sure about debit cards though). I use them and I think Ceecile purchases her ebooks from them. honto also accepts foreign credit cards, but setup is harder. CD Japan accepts both foreign credit cards and Paypal, but they have a smaller ebook selection than the other two. I think Chrome translate works okay with ebookjapan. Can you post a screenshot of where you are having trouble purchasing through ebookjapan?
Oct 19, 2015 @ 03:53:08
Dear……I’ve registered in ebookjapan and successfully paid using my foreign credit card. at the last page after payment, the site prompted 2 blue boxes on the left and 1 white + 2 red boxes on the right. I clicked the blue as chrome not able to auto-translate and it ended up open from my browser instead of book reader.
let me send you the screen caps later via emai.
Oct 19, 2015 @ 07:40:39
Hi, I responded to your email, so hopefully that helps! I’m glad you were able to register and pay successfully. 🙂
Jan 30, 2016 @ 09:23:55
Hello dnjs.
As a collector I prefer CD Japan with SAL register Air Mail because of the quality of the articles and packaging.
Amazon is sometimes more expensiv than CD Japan.
For example, if you want to order some magazine tagged as “Amazon Add-on item” (Margaret) you can’t order less than 2500 yen, then add the shipping cost. On CD Japan you can order this article alone then add the shipping cost.
The last thing is that CD Japan shipping cost is based on Japan Post shipping cost.
And Japan Post is great. Registered Air Mail option (delivery by 5-10 days) or SAL register Air Mail (sometimes delivery within 12 days).
Jan 31, 2016 @ 20:47:16
Hi, thanks for the information! I think it’s great that there are different options available for people who want to buy manga from Japan. 🙂 Unfortunately shipping from Japan isn’t cheap. For me, I use honto for books because it’s the most reasonable shipping cost vs shipping time over Amazon Japan or CD Japan. I use Amazon Japan for magazines because of their weight, since Amazon Japan has a set shipping price per item, regardless of weight. I use CD Japan for the times when I cannot find a magazine on Amazon Japan or when I want to buy CDs or video games.
Feb 03, 2016 @ 05:47:58
That’s right, shipping from Japan is very expansive. I still haven’t tried honto even if I have already registered.
Do you use honto with registered Printed letter ?
Thank you very much for providing so many useful informations 🙂
Feb 06, 2016 @ 19:36:27
honto uses the Japan Postal rates and I normally select the SAL (economy airmail) option. They have several shipping choices.
Feb 06, 2016 @ 10:00:22
Thank you, I’ll try honto for books next time 🙂
Feb 06, 2016 @ 19:36:49
yw, I hope it works out for you!
Apr 24, 2016 @ 04:43:14
Hi again dnjs. I was wondering if you knew any digital store that actually allows you to download the books you buy as a file — I want to try extracting the images and compare quality between digital stores.
Also, that order I put in back in August? It arrived after 4 months lol (guess that’s what happens when you pay less than $5 total and live in the middle of nowhere). Curiously though, when I sent them an email inquiring about the delay, my order arrived two days later. I don’t know whether to see this as coincidence or not.
Oct 04, 2017 @ 10:56:31
Looks like Club Japan went out of business for some reason.