I just whant to share my experinces with Japanese Kindle Books!
So, living in Germany, first it is not easy to get them... but one can do it...

1. Step Register a new account
a)
You need a http://www.amazon.co.jp/ account ... it is easy.
Here is a link to a Japanese kindle Go book:
http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B00E ... d_i=489986

Right below the "shopping cart sign" are some japanese letters, they are saying:
"Would you like to see this page in English? Click here." If you not find it, use a translator like the one embeded in Chrome browser.

b) register a new account with a new (not your amazon.com email, that avoids confusion) Email adress.


2. Payment method: (The tricky part)
you have to have a Japanese Credit Card!
Or some folks on the internet were saying that you just need a normal Mastercard or any other normal credit card like that, and can give a "random/fake" adress (because they just check the number of the credit card and the exp. date) .... I was of course not doing that, i used a Credit card of a Japanese friend of mine...


3. Register your Kindle or Kindle App

in my case it did not work with my App on the MAC OS ... i think it just cheks Amazon.com and Amazon Europe accounts... but on the i pad i could put in my new email adress which i was using for the Japanese Amazon account... and it worked... the Kindle showed up in the Japanese Amazon "manage your device" section.

4. One final thing: you have to activate the payment option for the Kindle seperatley again in the Amazon.Jp account ... it is not enough to just register a new payment method in general, there is a special menue point just for "Kindle payment"

5. Finally: I paid 8 Euros for all 3 (!!) Go Seigen tsuemgo collection books!!!!!!
http://senseis.xmp.net/?GoSeigensLebenUndTodProbleme1
So maybe that will inspire you to go shopping ...

6. I recomend using Chrome browser with translation function embeded, so you can browse all thoose Go books and can get easyli a glimpse what they are about...

Have fun.

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“Play where you want and don’t be afraid. If you’re chasing the dream you must take the risk.” Yasumasa Hane 9p

Of Course the payment method thing is a bit

but to give you my personal opinion:

There is nothing (much) wrong with using a fake adress... your not comitting credit card fraud with that...

They will get the money from you and your credit card, and you will get the book!
You can google it... they are not checking the adress... just the number, your real name!! (of course), security code, and the exp. date.

We can of course start a discussion about that, if it is ok. I`m lucky having a Japanese friend, but to be honest, if not, i would have done it with the fake adress instead.

I know sometimes here at 19x19 there are discussions about legal things, such as copyright etc. ... i think it is very good thing 1. to discuss and 2. to protect the copyright laws... but in this case, a different story, nobody is loosing, everybody winning... and you can get all 3 Go Seigen tsumego books for just 8 euros

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“Play where you want and don’t be afraid. If you’re chasing the dream you must take the risk.” Yasumasa Hane 9p

The problem is, if for some reason Amazon decides to check stuff someday, they may decide to just cancel accounts. They are in their right to do so (or at least, you give it when registering with them) and if/when they cancel an account they can remove all Kindle downloads. If your device does not have constant connectivity, or you can manage being always offline when reading with the Kindle app, it's "no problem" (for a while) but I'd think the risk is somewhat "present."

Of course, it is a pretty stupid setting Amazon has. I have an amazon.com account where I can purchase US stuff without problems (and Amazon has no problem with my residence being in Spain) and an amazon.es account where I can purchase Spanish books. Why shouldn't I be able to purchase Japanese kindle ebooks?

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Geek of all trades, master of none: the motto for my blog mostlymaths.net

Of course this is a important point, but i consider the risk very small!
Because: they are profiting from you! They could close this gap, and i think why should they invest all this work to ban the accounts and lose money with that?!

But maybe, who knows... i would still do it and take the risk, but maybe i`m generally a risk lover ... even in Go

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“Play where you want and don’t be afraid. If you’re chasing the dream you must take the risk.” Yasumasa Hane 9p

They can't close this gap easily, from what I've read. Physical address is not enforced by most credit card company checking, so, for instance, if I say my card is 123456789, having the correct CVC, expiry and name on card is enough. Amazon has no way of checking, since the card checking is not in place. BUT it is in place for some types of cards (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Address_Ve ... ion_System) The thing is, it is up to Amazon to decide what to do. They may be profiting, but they would be liable to 3rd parties (a seller in Amazon) if there was some actual fraud in place.

Just be wary.

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Geek of all trades, master of none: the motto for my blog mostlymaths.net

There are a number of good books on Japanese kindle now. Most are from Mycom that have been put on without any reflow text.

Mimura Tomoyasu is self publishing his own tsumego creations which are also pretty good.

When the books are published, the publishers don't automatically acquire worldwide publication rights, but generally only country-specific licenses from the copyright holders. The publishers are restricted to selling in the markets where they have acquired the license for distribution, and this requirement is passed on to the booksellers, like amazon, as part of the distribution deal. Since they are ebooks, and come with all sorts of licensing crap you wouldn't have from regular books, there is no leeway to sell them on a secondary market from which they could then be transferred to another country, so you're kind of stuck.

This is unfortunately true in this case (Kindle), but it doesn't necessarily follow. Amazon have chosen to go the unnecessary-crap route with their eBook sales, but other publishers have not. And in fact I can think of at least one author who demands his (contracted) publisher not use it on his books; I can't remember where he got to in that battle though.

The future can be less crappy or more crappy than the present - a lot of the crappiness now appearing is due to existing businesses trying to propagate their existing, exploitative business model into cyberspace; I hope this geographical separation thing of Amazon's will one day go the way of region-coded DVDs.

[edit: The author was Charlie Stross, and it sounds like his battle went well.]

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Confucius in the Analects says "even playing go is better than eating chips in front of tv all day." -- kivi

It sounds like you are talking about the encryption and DRM, which is not actually what I am referring to here. Rather, in purchasing an ebook, as with software, you are purchasing a license to use the ebook and not the physical object or electronic copy itself. As a result, that license can include all sorts of restrictions that don't apply to physical goods, like the inability to resell it.

To me (and Stross and, I suspect, Amazon) these are the same thing. DRM exists to enable the "license to use under certain narrow circumstances" rather than "ownership" distinction

DRM is not itself the evil, rather the so-called Digital Rights which it is there to Manage.

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Confucius in the Analects says "even playing go is better than eating chips in front of tv all day." -- kivi