Welcome to the Imaginatorium Shop, now in our nineteenth year!
From our base in Japan (here!), we send jigsaw puzzles anywhere in the world. Most of the hundreds of puzzles we have in stock feature oriental themes, but the high quality of Japanese-made puzzles (exquisite printing, really solid card stock, and clean cutting) also makes "reverse imports" highly desirable — puzzles of Peanuts, Disney, and lots of other Western characters popular in Japan. In general, if a puzzle is available in Japan, we can get it for you within a week or so - see the special orders page.
Covid-19: Shop status updates
July - problems continue...
In all cases there are extra delays: in particular to the US, where a recent airmail order arrived after 11 weeks, and surface is taking 10-12 weeks minimum, and we have just had a customer report that a package sent at the beginning of November arrived at the beginning of March: so four months.
Canada: As of 19th May, surface parcel service is suspended, so we can only offer small orders by untracked airmail "small packet".
USA: As of June 1st, EMS express will be restored, but there will be a surcharge while the air transport shortage lasts. This surcharge (around 50% extra) applies to N. America, Europe, and some other countries.
I am (at last) working on an upgrade so that the checkout will be enabled for straightforward cases. For the time being, please use the form on the checkout page to make a request for puzzles, and select whether you are looking for speed, at higher than the normal cost, or economy, which may take even longer than normal.
Longer term: There is little chance of the SAL service returning, so I have removed the quotes on each puzzle for "minimum shipping cost". At least supply problems seem to have ended!
- Contents page - full shop guide, including navigation links at the top of each page
- Bargains! - reduced prices on selected puzzles
- Top ten - best-selling puzzles
- Last chance! - only one left of each of these puzzles...
- Artists - a complete list
- Special orders - when you can't find the puzzle you are looking for
- Missing pieces - help when you have the puzzle but can't find a piece!
(Puzzle of the month suspended)
2021 is the Year of the Ox
The next symbol in the twelve-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac (see Wikipedia article)... and a new collection of all twelve animals...
Latest additions
New One Piece puzzles
Latest fantasy art...
Some of the latest puzzles of (lesser known) Studio Ghibli animations.
More craziness – take the torture challenge in 300 small pieces! And let's learn Japanese...
Latest... temples and shrines
More collections from Dragonball Z...
The Minions are here!!
Contemporary Western artists
Latest Peanuts ...
And more...
Chit-chat
—December—
It is now too late for any puzzle order to arrive by Christmas, but this year there simply was no "Order deadline" – all services are subject to varying delays. And I'm afraid we are struggling with a huge backlog of requests for puzzles, as I still have to handle orders manually. The good news is that problems of supply have eased: the manufacturers are gradually catching up with the surge in demand for puzzles caused by lockdown. So our range of in-stock puzzles is now back at well above 1000, and slowly increasing.
The big problem is the absence of SAL, meaning that there is no really economic way to buy a single puzzle. If you are a patient puzzler, the best value comes with ordering for the long haul: choose three or four puzzles, and have them sent surface. This is slow, but means absolutely minimal shipping costs for each additional puzzle.
But the situation is completely different for each country, and in some cases may change in either direction: Canada was offering almost normal service, but since some time in November there has been no express service to Canada at all. At least now the checkout will show you more specifics about the destination country.
But anyway, apart from a short break over the new year, we will keep operating, so send in the order requests. But please understand if I am slow to respond; I am doing my best.
Read more of these blog entries
- Best-selling puzzles: Top ten.
- Browse the complete list of artists.
- How to display puzzles on the wall without needing to buy a frame: Murals!
- Despite the FAQ, we can supply frames by special order: more information.
- Yes, we sell glue! Yanoman puzzle glue (100 g), 180 yen Add to basket (Standard PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) puzzle glue - almost all puzzles include glue, but when you need extra, one of these bottles should be enough for two or three 1000-piece puzzles. Note that this will not work for the "Crystal" translucent puzzles made of plastic, which need no glue.)
- Manufacturer details:
Apollo -
Appleone -
Artbox -
Beverly -
Cuties -
Epoch -
Road -
Tenyo -
Yanoman -
more historical info
- Any other problems or just questions - please ask!
About ordering
The details under each puzzle show the price, with approximate equivalents in US dollars, euros, and pounds sterling.
Click "Buy this puzzle" to go straight to the checkout with a single puzzle, or "Add to basket" to carry on shopping. At the checkout, you can select the shipping method, then choose how you are going to buy the puzzle(s). If you have any questions or problems, just use the forms provided to ask, and we'll get back to you. Once we receive confirmation of a payment, we aim to despatch puzzles by the next working day.
You do not need to create a PayPal account in order to make a payment; the total is in yen, but you will be charged in your 'home currency', and you will be able to check the final amount before confirming payment.
You can pay by major credit card, eCheck in the US,
and bank transfer in many countries.
As you can see in the pile of puzzles on the left, most of the writing on the box is in Japanese, so we also include printed details with each shipment. Click these thumbnails for descriptions...
(Sorry! You can't see the "pile of boxes", because your browser does not support the functions necessary.)
Finally...
The Shop is only part of my website, the Imaginatorium - I hope you will have time to explore some of the other pages!
