Considering that we have gotten at least four dozen inquires over the last few days about the safety of Japanese products, I feel like I need to make a public post to address the issue. I want to assure everyone who has any possible concern that there is absolutely no danger regarding
radiation levels from anything we import from Japan, and I just want to make a couple of points about that:
1) Anything that we currently have in our warehouse was either already here or was in transit via ocean freight before the crisis in Japan occurred. This will be the case for anything new arriving here through at least mid-April.
2) Due to the odd nature of the Japanese Anime industry, almost none of the products we carry are actually made in or originate from Japan. For example: all domestic DVD's and Manga are obviously made in North America. Most US Anime character merchandise is made under license by subcontractors in China and exported directly to the US. And since we deal directly with the big character figure firms in Japan (like Max Factory and Good Smile), and only import what they authorize for sale outside Japan, just about all our figures and toys ship directly to the US from the subcontractors in China (usually via Hong Kong) where they are produced and never see mainland Japan. The Japanese moved character item manufacturing to China a long time ago.
3) The only items that we get regularly from Tokyo are R2 DVD/BD's, Music CD's, and imported books like Magazines and Illustration collections. There are also a few character items that may pass through Japan on it's way to us. Any shipments of these items made after March 16th (to make everyone feel better) will be double checked on our dock with a digital meter (yes, oddly enough, we do have one) prior to going into stock here at our warehouse.
Frankly, I feel a little silly to even make this post, but too many people are writing in about it. There is clearly a lot of underlying concern, and I hope this helps put every one's mind at ease. Nuff said.
