First off I have lived here for 10 years...I have 
done quite a lot of mailing and business with 
Mandarake and in Japan in general.

Secondly,
The point is that after doing all of the price 
raising..they tacked on $8.50 worth of 
shipping. I know that it doesn`t cost a 1,000 
yen to mail a small (B-5 sized) and light script  
(GUNNM) anywhere in Japan:

http://E.rubberslug.com/gallery/
master_query.asp?SeriesID=3222&Page=4

It was not a cel and it required no special 
insurance or packaging. And in any case, I  did  
not receive it  with any "special wrapping" or 
anything. 

 If you want to know what the real price to ship 
is within this country it is around 600 yen max. 
express for the weight and dimension of the 
package that is in question. (They could have 
sent it regular postage for 260 ). It was just 
another standard service charge, that they 
could have been gracious enough to waive, 
after I mentioned it, and after they price 
gouged me.

This was clearly a bad case of customer 
service by Japan standards. And that is my 
main  point.

^-^,

E.