More recently they started offering a shopping service from any Japanese online or mail order store. You just pay their bidding/buying fee of about $10 per 10,000 yen and ask them to ship it as a gift value anything you like and never pay any customs fees. They will will even bundle up bits and pieces you buy over a month or two and ship it together in one box and all you pay is cost plus paypal fees.
May I recommend a Japanese buying proxy service like Celga
I've been using them for about 8-9 years for buying trainers and clothes from Yahoo Japan auctions and also from Rakuten online mall
More recently they started offering a shopping service from any Japanese online or mail order store. You just pay their bidding/buying fee of about $10 per 10,000 yen and ask them to ship it as a gift value anything you like and never pay any customs fees. They will will even bundle up bits and pieces you buy over a month or two and ship it together in one box and all you pay is cost plus paypal fees.