Jigsaw puzzles from Japan

Covid-19: Shop status updates

March - minor update The situation is largely static, but we are seeing some incredible extra delays. In particular to the US 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.

There are still many countries (e.g. United States and Australia) to which we can only offer either Yamato express (handled by UPS in the States) or surface, and some (Canada in particular) with no express service at all).

The checkout is still not re-enabled; we have to calculate too many things manually. So 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.

So how long will it take?

• EMS is the Post Office express courier service; where is it not available we can generally use Yamato. Delivery times are similar for both services: normally 5-7 days, but with universal delays nothing is guaranteed, and it is better to anticipate two or three weeks.
• Airmail, where available, is taking much longer than normal. For example to Canada we have had several cases taking one month; in practice this is the SAL service at the regular airmail cost.
• Surface is the only economy option, and it is slow, typically 8-16 weeks to North America or Europe, somewhat less to Asia or Australia. But it seems that surface is hardly affected by the pandemic, so extra delays are not common.

How much will it cost?

• EMS express (where available): as always, this costs a premium over the regular airmail parcel rate, proportional to the weight. For example, two 1000-piece puzzles to Europe: 5200 yen.
• Yamato express: unfortunately uses a crazy system of "sizes", based on the sum of the dimensions of the package. There are huge jumps from each "size" to the next, and the cost varies from less than EMS to several times as much, depending on how close the shape of the package is to a cube! We cannot calculate any of this automatically, because we have to measure the actual package size. For example, to the US: four 1000-piece Ghibli puzzles 4900 yen, but two 1000-piece Haruyo puzzles 9300 yen.
• Airmail: for example, two 1000-piece puzzles to Europe: 3050 yen.
• Surface: the only real economy method available at present. For a single puzzle it costs almost as much as airmail, but the real saving comes with a larger order of at least three or four puzzles. For example: four 1000-piece puzzles to Canada: 3600 yen.

The above examples are to North America and Europe; express rates to Europe are slightly higher than N America, and all rates to Asia are somewhat less.

Other issues

• Our most popular shipping method has always been SAL, economy (low-priority) airmail. This is suspended everywhere, and since it relies on the vast overcapacity of commercial airlines is not likely to return in the near future.
• We have had big supply issues, but the list of temporarily unavailable titles is now below 100. If you want an out-of-stock puzzle, just ask and we will get back to you when we have stock.