What up with Japan recently...?

[Petezilla]

Today I wanted to search Yahoo! Japan Auctions for a specific item and >>BOOOM<< out of nowhere this message came up instead of the usual website:


From Wednesday, April 6, 2022, Yahoo! JAPAN is no longer available in the EEA and the United Kingdom

Please be informed that from Wednesday, April 6, 2022, Yahoo! JAPAN’s services are no longer available to our users in the EEA (European Economic Area) and the United Kingdom, as it has been determined by Yahoo! JAPAN that providing a continuous service environment in these regions would be difficult. Please note that services listed under “Services available after Wednesday, April 6, 2022” below will continue to be available.

Please note that all Yahoo! JAPAN services are accessible after this date if access is made from Japan.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your understanding.

*For more information on the member states of the EEA, please click here.

Services available after Wednesday, April 6, 2022 in your region
Yahoo! JAPAN Mail
Yahoo! JAPAN Credit Card
ebookjapan

*Some Yahoo! JAPAN Mail functions will be restricted. Please click here for details. (Japanese only)



This is nuts. I can not use it anymore.
European users just got geo-blocked by Yahoo! Japan out of the blue.
I mean, just what's up with Japanese sites and services recently...?
Are they all, one after the other, going the full-on nationalist route or what...?

BANDAI Premium geo-blocked every non-japanese customer from visiting their site earlier this year.

Japan Post just canned ALL of their shipping options to many countries (including many european ones like Germany, where I live) a few weeks ago - for whatever reason - with only uber-expensive options like DHL being availale from now on.

And today Yahoo! kills the availability of their services for Europe.

Really, what's up with all that skreeonk?!
Are we going back to 90's-style Godzilla collecting...?
It's getting annoyingly unfunny lately...

[SUPERTOHOREMIX]

Spoiler:

Today I wanted to search Yahoo! Japan Auctions for a specific item and >>BOOOM<< out of nowhere this message came up instead of the usual website:


From Wednesday, April 6, 2022, Yahoo! JAPAN is no longer available in the EEA and the United Kingdom

Please be informed that from Wednesday, April 6, 2022, Yahoo! JAPAN’s services are no longer available to our users in the EEA (European Economic Area) and the United Kingdom, as it has been determined by Yahoo! JAPAN that providing a continuous service environment in these regions would be difficult. Please note that services listed under “Services available after Wednesday, April 6, 2022” below will continue to be available.

Please note that all Yahoo! JAPAN services are accessible after this date if access is made from Japan.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your understanding.

*For more information on the member states of the EEA, please click here.

Services available after Wednesday, April 6, 2022 in your region
Yahoo! JAPAN Mail
Yahoo! JAPAN Credit Card
ebookjapan

*Some Yahoo! JAPAN Mail functions will be restricted. Please click here for details. (Japanese only)



This is nuts. I can not use it anymore.
European users just got geo-blocked by Yahoo! Japan out of the blue.
I mean, just what's up with Japanese sites and services recently...?
Are they all, one after the other, going the full-on nationalist route or what...?

BANDAI Premium geo-blocked every non-japanese customer from visiting their site earlier this year.

Japan Post just canned ALL of their shipping options to many countries (including many european ones like Germany, where I live) a few weeks ago - for whatever reason - with only uber-expensive options like DHL being availale from now on.

And today Yahoo! kills the availability of their services for Europe.

Really, what's up with all that skreeonk?!
Are we going back to 90's-style Godzilla collecting...?
It's getting annoyingly unfunny lately...

A message on Zenmarket might help explain what's going on -
It sucks regardless.

[LSD Jellyfish]

According to the Japan times:

Japan Post Co. has announced that it will temporarily stop accepting letters and small packages to be sent by air to 18 countries in Europe and Africa, as it is having difficulty with shipping due to the cancellation of flights amid the war in Ukraine.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/ ... rica-halt/

It's because of the War in Ukraine that shipping around the world is taking another major blow. If you look at where Japan is geographically, air routes over Russia and Ukraine appear difficult. However, according to the article, this is temporary. While I don't know Yahoo, I'm assuming that they'll eventually re-instate flights when (and if ) this all ends.

I'm presuming that the Bandai Premium thing is completely unrelated, but it's worth realizing that there was some big merger or something else going on with them. Like it or not, there's also probably some behind the scenes legal and rights stuff that we aren't privy to.

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

Bandai took over Blufin who was their major overseas distributor especially for Figuarts/MonsterArts. Bandai USA I believe is also being shut down and wholly absorbed. So yeah there's a lot of consolidation going on behind the scenes at Bandai right now as far as global distribution goes.

Added in 4 minutes 21 seconds:
Here's the announcement from Bandai themselves.

https://p-bandai.com/us/cont/importantn ... panymerger

[tbeasley]

What's the deal with Japan?!

[Jermobooka]

I ask myself this exact question every single day.

[mikelcho]

Boy, am I glad I made those Bandai America Godzilla vinyl figures lists for those two friends of mine and myself when I did.

I can tell one of them that that's all there is. The other one died a while back after he got his list from me, so I'll probably never know who got it after that, if anyone did.

[shadowgigan]

Wait, Yahoo Japan used to ship to Europe?

[Dyrakro]

Damn, I wasn't aware about the thing with Japan Post and been already wondering why HLJ narrowed down their options in shipping so much

[Petezilla]

Wait, Yahoo Japan used to ship to Europe?

No. Almost 0 sellers there shipped internationally. But you could browse the listing and use any middleman service to bid on or buy items for you. But now you can't even view the whole site anymore. It got geo-blocked for Europe as a whole.

[shadowgigan]

Wait, Yahoo Japan used to ship to Europe?

No. Almost 0 sellers there shipped internationally. But you could browse the listing and use any middleman service to bid on or buy items for you. But now you can't even view the whole site anymore. It got geo-blocked for Europe as a whole.

Oh wow. That is intense. Will probably result in more power to the scalpers and sketchy middlemen.