GAMEST (Japanese Magazine, mainly arcade, 1986/5—1999/9)

[gingerbeardman]

Japanese Magazine
1986/5—1999/9
274 issues

http://www.netlaputa.ne.jp/~dummy/gamest/magazine/cover.html

All I can find online is 6 issues from the mid- to late-1990s

https://retrocdn.net/Category:Gamest_scans

I'm specifically looking for issues 30–41 (1989/3—1990/2)

Happy to fund purchase and scanning in some way. 

[kitsunebi]

On 2/8/2018 at 11:02 PM, gingerbeardman said:

I'm specifically looking for issues 30–41 (1989/3—1990/2)

Happy to fund purchase and scanning in some way. 

I'd be willing to scan them but I have no personal interest in the mag so I'd be unwilling to purchase them myself.  If you're really interested in getting them scanned, you could always keep an eye on Yahoo Auctions.  It's like the eBay of Japan and it's by far the cheapest way to get Japanese magazines.  Since I live in Japan, you could always have them shipped directly to me, which would of course keep the shipping costs down (also, I'm not even sure if most sellers would be willing to ship outside of the country.)  However, I'm also not interested in constantly scanning Yahoo Auctions for deals, so...basically what I'm saying is, I'd be willing to scan them, but the task of getting them in my hands would be up to you.

Sorry if that seems like I'm being unhelpful, but if you've ever scanned and edited a magazine, you know that doing so is no small task, so any inconvenience you might have in getting the mags to me really doesn't compare to the inconvenience of having to scan and edit them all.  Plus, if I made this too easy, I'd have all kinds of people asking me to buy dirt-cheap copies of Famitsu or whatever to be scanned, and the fact is that I've already got hundreds of unscanned mags of my own waiting to be done - I simply can't take on all the extra work that would ensue.

I'm not really sure what the issues you're looking for might cost.  I see a bunch of issues selling for about $5 each, but they aren't as old as the ones you want.  Here's a big lot of them (again, not the issues you want).  122 issues, only $420 (at the moment)! https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/t553268007

Edit: Actually, now that I look again, it seems that the above auction DOES include the issues you want.  Kind of a big investment, though.  One day left to decide   (Seriously, though, it would take me years to scan 122 issues)

[gingerbeardman]

That is totally fine by me. A French guy is selling them at £30 per issue on eBay Europe. I only want to read one article from each issue so that's way over my budget. I have asked him if I can pay for photos or scans of only the article I want from each issue, which for me seems the most straight forward solution.

I've used Yahoo! Auctions before, so I'll keep an eye out. Thanks for the offer to scan!

[kitsunebi]

Yeah, it's sort of disgusting what people do with Japanese mags on eBay.  I could probably make a ton of money by buying random issues of Famitsu or whatever, paying less than $1 each and then bringing them back with me on my yearly visits to America and selling them on eBay for $20 a pop. 

Unfortunately (luckily?) I thoroughly disapprove of using eBay as a buy-low sell-high profiteering racket, and to be honest I don't even care to use it just to get rid of stuff I no longer want.  It's such a hassle, I'd rather just give my stuff away (which is what I did with a lot of my possessions when I moved out of the country.)  If I ever leave Japan and decide I can't afford to carry umpteen kilos of magazines with me, all of my Japanese mags are going into the recycling, not eBay or Yahoo auctions (though I'd probably first put up an offer here to see if anyone wanted to obtain them all for just the price of shipping it to them).

[gingerbeardman]

Yes, I often use alternatives to eBay like Shpock and Gumtree due to the car crash that eBay has turned into. But the sad state is that it is the largest marketplace for used stuff over here in the UK so I'm kind of stuck with it.

Also, the French guy has said he does not sell scans so I'm out of luck with the approach.

[kitsunebi]

Well, as I said, I've got no particular interest in Gamest, so I don't track how it does on Yahoo auctions.  But all of the mags I have bought that way have been really cheap.  Buying in lots is usually the best way to go - I've paid on average about $1 per issue on the hundreds of issues I've bought.  Hell, I once bought a lot of about 40 mags for 10 yen...and the shipping was free.  So the guy actually lost money sending them to me.

Just keep in mind if you ever decide to try to have anything shipped to me that I'm already committed to scanning some mags that someone sent to me as a donation over the holidays.  I wouldn't be able to scan anything you sent my way until those were finished first (although I could of course take photos of the articles you're interested in immediately.

[gingerbeardman]

I can find some of the issues I'm after on https://www.suruga-ya.jp - prices range from 950 to 1480 - but I wondered if there are other better options?

Friends of mine are heading to Tokyo in a couple of weeks and I'd like to get the magazines delivered to their B&B address when they are there.

Of course I can let this opportunity pass by and wait to play the Y! Auctions waiting game...

Thoughts?

[kitsunebi]

I've only ever bought magazines via Yahoo auctions.  It's by far the cheapest way, particularly if you buy in lots.

Benefits of Yahoo:

• cheaper (probably)
• I do the work of scanning

Benefits of Suruga-ya

• You get the mags sooner
• you get physical copies of the mags rather than just scans
• I don't have to scan them (OK, this one is a benefit for me )

If you're cool with the prices, I say get the mags from your friends.  I'm willing to help out if it's necessary, but I've got plenty of other mags that need scanning, so adding more to the pile isn't something I would be particularly looking forward to.  Plus that way, you get the actual physical copies of the mags.  Even if you debind and scan them, you can always keep the loose pages if you want, whereas I would just put them in the recycling once scanned.  Or you could not scan them and just keep them all to yourself, the choice would be yours.

[gingerbeardman]

I'm still looking for these. 

Any ideas?