Daily Life: Time to Say Goodbye♪

'What's this!?' you say, are you going somewhere? ARE YOU LEAVING JAPAN?!

No, no, no. Nothing quite that big, but just as bittersweet (for me, at least).

My old faithful Windows XP Alienware drop-kicked the bucket. It was a sad moment in time seeing as this was the Alienware that got me through my last year of art school, 3-D modeling and animation classes, video editing classes, animation classes, and with RAM to spare for gaming. Overall, a worthy investment for a laptop. But who knew that Alienware would just stop producing the video cards made specifically for their systems (kind of makes main MAC complaint inapropros), so when my card died, I was stranded.


Well not completely stranded. I could still use computer for internet browsing and the occasional sketch, but watching videos became a real pain real soon (turns out Cosmos isn't so inspiring when viewed betwixt green bars). AND THEN, it had problems restarting. OH and the keyboard/touch pad died. So I was stuck with either leaving my laptop on at all times, or risking it not starting up again.

3 (technically 2) generations of awesome. You shall be missed Alienware.

It was a hard decision, but I had to let her go. She was beautiful, but technologically obsolete. It was time to send her off, but I kind of took her apart before that, just to see what was inside.

I couldn't get all the way in, but I took out the important bits :>

My initial parameters for purchasing a new PC was that a.: it had to be a desktop I could upgrade myself later and b.: it needed to be from the States. I think the reasons for a. are obvious when thinking about the long-term, but as for b, well, I just felt it would be safer to have all my paperwork in English, just in case it, you know, blew up or something (irrational fears? Check.).

Too bad almost NO ONE ships computers internationally. It probably has to do with the fact that a lot computer websites are relatively small businesses that deal almost exclusively with local markets, which I totally understand. But don't put 'WE DO INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING' when you kind of do, but not really. My first choice, who had the international orders sign, worked through a forwarding company. That wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't got the price changed on me. Twice.

It went something like this 66,260 yen (651 USD. Nice!!), to 74,516 yen (732 USD. Doable!!), to finally 123,485 yen (1,214 USD. Say whut.). Needless to say, I was a little shocked, confused, and ultimately cancelled that order.

After that, it was a series of running through websites, manufacturer sites (who NEVER ship internationally) to third-party retailers. The most disappointing was Fry's Electronics, which says they ship internationally, but should be change it to 'we ship small items internationally.' Not quite the same nor totally necessary seeing as I can lots of the smaller pieces here.

And that's when I knew. I HAD to order my PC in Japan, in Japanese, from a Japanese store. Thank the gods that Windows 8 allows you to change the system language without buying another copy (another cash grab), that made the realization a bit easier to take.

So, for any other shoppers who might be doing PC purchases in JP, I thought I'd list a few sites/stores, as well as some terms, that are good for PC shopping in Japan.

NEXT: Computer Shopping in Japan.

A final farewell: