Recent Experiences at Tokyo Apple Stores
 

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?

I haven't been to an Apple store in a while and never one in Tokyo. But do they have Macbooks with English keyboards? My experience is that only models with JIS are available, though one with an English keyboard can be ordered.

Just used the Omotesando store. We didn’t hand any old equipment in (still useful to us as a back up option) but my daughter was invited to set up/transfer account data to her new tablet at the store so that she would have support if needed.

No more tax refund at time of purchase, and we didn’t look into or pursue the matter as it was bought as a birthday gift for my foreign daughter from her resident grandfather.

Apple store does not do tax free anymore since last year.
You can purchase tax free Apple products at other retailers, but they probably won't have the US keyboard version on hand.

That’s disappointing about the tax refund issue, I guess if trade ins and installments are off the table I can just buy at Bic if they are doing the refunds at time of purchase although I have gone to a tax refund shop before to get my money back and it’s not difficult.

We did get US keyboard MacBooks there before, just order in advance for pickup.

Personally I would never buy a phone here (I always get mine abroad) because due to Japanese law the phone has to make the shutter sound when taking a photo even when on silent/vibrate.

Where?

😯:mad:​​​​​​​

Me too! We're super excited to be able to visit Japan again. Been so long, I'm going to get lost again in the train stations and take them the wrong way.

Just curious, why buy it from the Apple store there? Is there a benefit? Reason I ask is because I've got a boatload of Yens I had exchanged (wanted to buy a Grand Seiko) before the pandemic, and now that thankfully given a chance, in rush to spend it.

Now is a great time to pick up that Grand Seiko!

can confirm, no US keyboard macs. I picked up a MBP with a kana keyboard last November from BIC. Different layout, but easy to get used to. Only annoyance is when I have to switch between this MBP and my US keyboard work laptop my fingers get jumbled for a second.

The shutter sounds disappears when you take the phone to another country.

When you factor in the exchange, it's considerably cheaper, especially when you count the lack of (or refund of) sales tax (vs 9% in California), and the Yen drifting downwards against the US$ after Apple released a product as they don't update the price once the product is released, hence the opportunity to arbitrage.

The downside, seemingly confirmed in this thread, is the inability to do a trade-in (has this been confirmed?), or being able to buy on 0% installments.

Go to Apple Japan website, store section, and choose a product to purchase. There you can see notes about trade-ins and also 0% financing for certain periods of time. Choose English translation in your browser to read those notes. Not sure if the same applies to physical Apple store or all products.

The issue is qualifying - are non-Japan residents able to qualify for installments using Apple financing in Japan? Will the Apple store in Japan accept trade-ins on products purchased in other countries? I've never tried a trade-in on a product outside the USA, so I am not sure how it works aside from the value being adjusted for the local market and currency.