Paypal's not the easiest thing in the world for 
sellers in Japan - at least from what I have come 
to understand.  First, they have to get a US bank 
account so they can deposit the money into that 
account. Then they need to transfer the money to 
their bank in Japan. So they'd get hit with 
Paypal's percentage and then the fee for 
transfering from US bank to Japanese banks. 
Hardly worth it, imo.  Paypal is great for 
buyers, but not always that great for seller - 
especially overseas sellers. 

As for it being risky to send payments at this 
time... I've sent in 2 payments to Anime Taro 
since the WTC attack. The first was slightly 
delayed since it was sent very late the day 
before the attack - so mail was held for a few 
days when air traffic was grounded. But they 
still received that payment within 12 days from 
my sending mailing it.  The other payment I sent 
global priority to help speed the process up. And 
I have received both packages (today as a matter 
of fact).  I really don't think you need to worry 
about payments being lost - if you really want 
the cels, order them before they sell. ;)

Misha - I really don't have any suggestion for 
your friend unfortunately.  I've had a total of 2 
payments completely lost in the 3  years I've 
been buying cels. One to Anime Taro and one to 
Anime-cel.com ... the waiting period to get a 
replacement IPMO is 60 days - you can't even turn 
in a claim before that time, at least that's what 
I was told (we know from past posts here that 
sometimes the employee's don't always know what 
they're talking about though :P).  I can 
sympathize with both your friend and also with 
Stephen... its been a *long* time since the sale 
after all.  I'm sure she wants her cels just as 
much as they want the money for the cels. ;)  If 
she sends payment again, send it by Express Mail -
 its the only way she can get a delivery number 
where both parties can track the progress. 

Good luck in any case.