I'll look him up. And you've hit on a problem — least my problem. I've been forced into retirement despite being healthy and robust — the Japanese system. So I'm ... er ... price-conscious. In many cases, I can abide the item price (barely.) But when you add on today's international shipping, or even shipping inside Japan when the seller refuses to adjust for domestic rates, the cost goes over reason. And I've seen stuff I wanted, but the seller has stated something like "lower 48 only".

I've had trouble ordering on the Japanese sites. My fault; my Japanese is not very good. Recently I joined a site and bought an item — all in Japanese. It was kind of a nightmare and the process took me all morning. Even my Japanese wife gave up and left me to finger it out. I succeeded. Nevertheless, I will keep trolling. I've seen some suff on Yahoo Japan that looks OK. Recently I bought a tool from there.

Also, I mean to troll 2-3 old shops for used stuff. Some years ago, I picked up an old Mavic wheel set that way ... with a UG Dura Ace hub. It came with a sorda-kinda close ratio 7sp Regina cassette . YUMMY.

I'm not sure about the Japanese keeping old stuff around as much as we North Americans. Space is an issue for many people — especially urban dwellers. I've selfishly commandeered space for piles of old audio stuff and bike parts. Someday I'm gonna have to do the right thing and thin out the dross.