We are super excited at going back to Japan for the first time since the virus years. One of our usual traditions, if there is a need to upgrade, and a compelling product available from Apple, is to buy our laptops and phones from the Apple Store in Tokyo, usually the larger Ginza store.

Just checking for recent experiences there. We've already done our pricing check, and thanks to a continually unhappy Yen, the Macbook Air 15 is still cheaper in Japan than the USA, even considering the education discounts at the USA store. We've bought products there before a few times, but given that policies change, I wanted to check for current experiences.

1. If you buy a laptop from the Japan store, will they take your current laptop in as a trade, offering the Yen-equivalent trade-invalue? We have two Macbook Pro 15s that were bought from the Ginza store back in 2016 and would prefer not to drag them back home and then try to sell them online if we can dispose of them in one transaction
2. Will the staff do a rapid backup-restore process for you while you wait so the old laptop content is transferred to the new laptop if you plan on leaving it with them as a trade (if that option is available)?
3. I assume the answer is still no, unless something changed, but are Apple Card installment plans an option for Japan purchases when you have an Apple account in the USA?