I think what was said is valid.... but I really 
think that in MOST cases it's the language 
barrier.

Sellers have probably tried to take a "non-
Japanese" speaking bidder in the past and had 
either misunderstandings, or someone backing out 
of the bid becuase they didnt understand the 
conditions (becuase they couldnt write/read 
Japanese!)

This is why we have "go-between" people like 
Celga and Sato and others, they have a good 
reputation, can communicate properly with the 
seller, and then it minimizes the sellers chance 
of getting screwed. 

Lets say some English speaking young person (no 
offense! honest!) goes onto Yahoo Japan and bids 
on something... she can't read the sellers 
conditions or instructions. She doesn't care. She 
wants that cel! After an insane bidding war, in 
which she and perhaps others like her (who also 
cant speak Japanese) have upped the bidding quite 
a bit.  She wins the auction, however, when the 
seller tries to contact her, neither one can 
understand the other. If both back out of the 
auction, that seller is GREATLY inconvenienced.  
If the seller relists, he may or may not get what 
he could have gotten again for the cel... who 
knows.

When I sell on USA ebay, I expect the people who 
bid to be able to speak my language. It's just 
common curtesy. Yahoo Japan is for people who 
speak Japanese. It says so in the terms of 
service. If you cant speak Japanese then you 
either shouldnt use it, or should find someone 
who CAN speak Japanese to work as a go-between 
for you.

the people who use Yahoo Japan are using it 
becuase they most likely cannot or do not WISH TO 
speak english. There are some Japanese sellers on 
USA ebay. Maybe they'll get a better price there, 
and that's great for them! but THOSE sellers 
either can or WANT to speak English. Otherwise 
they would just use Yahoo Japan.