Hi, I’m Pappy — I live in Japan, and I read Yahoo! Auctions and Mercari listings in my native language every day.
Tackle From Japan exists because of a simple gap: Japan makes some of the best fishing tackle in the world, and some of it never leaves the country. JDM-only reels, limited colorways, discontinued lures that trade hands on Japanese auction sites — overseas anglers want them, but the listings are written in Japanese, and the difference between a bargain and a broken reel often comes down to two characters in the title.
I’m not a tournament angler. I won’t pretend to out-fish you — most readers of this site know more about bass fishing than I do. What I bring is the other half of the equation: I can read the listings, spot the warning words, check a seller’s reputation, and find things that never show up in English-language searches. Think of me as your buying guide in Japan.
What you’ll find here: how to read Japanese listings, how to buy through proxy services, which shops are trustworthy, and the occasional treasure I dig up on the Japanese web.
Questions about a specific listing? Leave a comment on any guide — reading these is literally what I do.
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