Just got back from a 10 day trip to Tokyo and HK.
I discovered that DVD prices in Tokyo are absolutely outrageous.

Here's an example of some of the things I remember seeing:

24 season 1-3: $225.00 per box set

Tru Calling Season 1: Broken up into a 2 part box set, each costing 80 bucks

The Terminator, For a few dollars More, The Magnificent Seven, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Day after Tomorrow, Man on Fire 2 disc DVD sets: $45.00 bucks a piece

Kill Bill Volume 1, Volume 2 Box Sets: 85 bucks a piece

I got the KB boxsets from Amazon.co.jp for a lot less. I think I paid $56 each which included shipping.

Oh...yes lots of things in Japan are overpriced lol. Taxi fares and DVDs top my list. On the other hand liquor is cheap.
It always buffled me how the country where DVDs were invented could charge so much for them.

That's normal for most of R2 releases. Their currency is valued higher than the US dollar. Though, so is there DVD release quality (audio and video) for the most part.

That's actually very good. I've seen the Vol 1 set go as high as $150 online if not more. The lowest I've seen it is on fleaBay for about $80 or so. So, for the price of this LE set new is pretty good IMHO.

I'm jealous of your trip. Ive always wanted to go there. Hope it was a lot of fun!!

Yeah .. before supply and demand factors took hold - after the sets were announced as OOP.

Although I did get the Vol II set for about as much, I'm jealous of the price you got the Vol I set at. Very nice!!

It's my understanding that there are regulations in Japan on discounts on packaged media. This is why most stores push the crap out of their loyalty programs which give you points for purchases.

But the Japanese DVDs are natoriously overpriced, so much so that it creates more of a market for the cheap US DVDs than ones actually made in Japan. Many of the top DVDs in japan do get a HK release so many (even some people i know in Japan) wait for the HK release of movies to buy them...

Do Japanese people living in Japan even buy Japanese DVDs?

Yes they do. The Japanese ususally spend their money and do not complain about price no matter how ridiculous. On another note, CDs produced in Japan are also quite expensive. It is actually cheaper for stores to import the Korean version of said CDs and resell them as they then cost half the price. Last I heard the Japanese record industry was lobbying to pass laws to prohibit this practice claiming that if they are not allowed to sell CDs for the 25-30$ price they do now they will be forced out of business.

There were also a few french titles that were in the 35-40 dollar range. Even some Japanese dramas, samurai flicks and some chinese kung fu movies were in the 35-45 dollar range. I guess the economy in Tokyo is so much different compared to the US. There were very, I mean Very few bargain titles.

Yesterday I picked up Collateral 2 disc and Enter The Dragon 2 Disc
for Y1980 new at Tower Records. Occasionally you can find price reductions,
but new releases, damn...

Especially for Japanese movies. They are outrageous in prices.
Hollywood studio movies can be bought for reasonable prices,

But I almost never buy Japanese R2s unless I find them cheap used.
The extra Yen is not worth it for extra Japanese subtitles for me

that's crazy! Don't Japanese get DVDs from abroad? It seems so much cheaper...

http://www.intervocative.com/dvdcoll...spx/toddly6666

Just to educate, since I lived in Japan for 10 years and had numerous experiences buying cds, dvds, and laserdiscs used and new, Japanese generally buy dvds in country because of the region issue (not all are willing to buy players that aren't region 2) for one. Secondly, Japanese are extremely dependent on subtitles and Japanese audio. They will not buy a dvd unless they have at least Japanese subtitles.

There are numerous used disc shops, however, in the major cities and the prices of dvds have gone down, down, down.

Exactly, most Japanese only speak Japanese hence the need for the subtitles as far as most 'foreign' movies they watch are concerned. With a few exceptions like some Korean movies which have Japanese subtitles they cannot get those overseas.