Just browsing through Akihabara and came across the NEC Valuestar computers: http://121ware.com/

Just what I am looking for except they only make them in Japan

I don't mind paying for the shipping and perhaps some taxes - has anyone else done this? What is the procedure?

I live in New Zealand but not much like this appears to be available there...

Thanks.

I am not able to answer your exact question, but... Unless you specifically get an English build the computer will be loaded with Japanese windows/operating system and the key board will be Japanese.
If you are looking for a Japanese version, please disregard my babble on.

There are companies that specialize in supplying cool Japanese computers. E.g
http://www.dynamism.com/index.shtml and (much cheaper) http://conics.net/. They'll also install English-language Windows. I've no personal experience with either. Note that they specialize in laptops, whereas the link you supplied seems to be a desktop (and I'm not sure what's interesting about it).

I've bought small laptops in Akihabara and brought them into the US. There's some minor paperwork to avoid paying Japanese tax, and I've never been charged customs duty in the US.

Yes, good point.

Welcome to FT! ^

Did you change the OS yourself or did the laptop come with English OS? and the keyboard was not an issue?

Thanks for your tips. I have emailed the companies. What is special about the computer is that it's an all-in-one system; the computer is integrated in the flatpanel monitor, which itself is widescreen and beautiful. It's very big on functions (HD TV recording etc) and looks way cool. There are several other brands who offer similar products but none are available in New Zealand AFAIK.

First, Thank you Fliar

Now on to the keyboard ~ things may have changed, but 4 years ago I was on a project in Japan, the mill provided a computer. It was Japanese they changed the operating system to English but had to get an English keyboard as the Japanese had a few extra keys and some keys did not "type" what they indicated for example a number 5 key may type 4 they were shifted to the right (or left I can not remember), to many beers and years ago!

Of course all of this "advise" may change if the computer shop sells an English Export model.

I use Linux, so the Japanese Windows doesn't bother me. The Japan 106 keyboard is very similar to a US keyboard: just a few of the shifted characters like '*@ are moved around.

English versions of W2K and XP support the standard Japanese 106 key keyboard layout, which can be selected from Control Panel\Keyboard.

This may entail installing support for Japanese when setting up the OS (I don't recall if it works without, since all my computers have it).

Nonstandard Japanese layouts (some laptops, etc.) require their own drivers.


The main problem will be getting support for this computer's custom hardware, if any: XP drivers obviously exist, and you'll want to preserve access to them from the original Japanese boot drive (or copy it onto another partition), since the installation CD is probably a compressed OS restore disk as opposed to a CD with discrete folders including drivers. Otherwise, a Japanese-reading friend could locate them for you on the NEC website.

Once the drivers are installed, you'll have to find English software that fully takes advantage of the hardware; in my experience country-specific hardware such as TV tuners are a problem.

Good points and they echo what one of the companies recommended above wrote back to me. It seems like more of a gamble than I had thought. So the question becomes:

Does anyone know of similar type of computer that IS available outside Japan and can be shipped elsewhere (with an English OS)? Any specific experiences with buying such a computer?

Many computer makers seem to offer this type of desktops these days. (The Vaios looked very sleek too but didn't have any PCI slots so are useless to me (I need one for my satellite modem as I live in a rural area and it's my only option for high-ish speed internet).