Japanese outdoor gear: Snow Peak, Montbell, Nanga
Titanium cookware, down jackets, sleeping bags, tents and flasks from Japanese shops — including the models that never leave the domestic market. We find the item, buy it, receive it at our warehouse in Toyama, pack one parcel and ship it. Our fee is 10% of the order, minimum ¥1,000.
Why this gear is worth ordering from Japan
Japan builds outdoor gear for people who go to the mountains all year round, so it is made to last rather than to survive one season. Snow Peak is known for titanium cookware and camp hardware, Montbell for clothing and shells, Nanga for down sleeping bags and jackets. A large part of every catalogue is domestic-only: it is either not exported at all, or only a narrow slice reaches shops abroad.
The obstacle is not price but the shops themselves. Japanese sites rarely ship abroad and often refuse foreign cards, and Mercari and the auctions will not register you without a Japanese address and phone number. Maketto is a Japanese company with a warehouse in Toyama: your purchases come to us, we unpack them, check them against the order, and put items from different shops into one parcel.
What makes up the total
The shop price plus our fee — 10% of the order, minimum ¥1,000. The fee covers the lot: finding the item, buying it, receiving and checking it at the warehouse, holding it until the parcel is packed, and sending it off. Only international shipping is charged separately. We count that once the parcel is packed and weighed — with a tent or a sleeping bag, neither weight nor volume can be guessed in advance.
Snow Peak
See all →Montbell: mountain clothing
See all →Nanga and sleeping gear
See all →Titanium cookware and burners
See all →Packs, flasks, furniture
See all →How an order goes
- 1Pick something from the collections above or send us a link — Rakuten, Yahoo Auctions, Mercari, Amazon.co.jp, or the brand's own shop. If you cannot find the model, send the name: Japanese shops only search in Japanese, and we will find it for you.
- 2We price the item with the fee, and you see the total before you pay. For an auction lot you name the limit we must not bid above.
- 3You pay by card on the site and we buy. Shop items go straight away; for a lot we wait for the bidding to close.
- 4The purchase arrives at our warehouse in Toyama. We unpack it, check it against the order and look at the condition and what is in the box. If the wrong thing came, we deal with the seller in Japanese ourselves.
- 5Everything goes into one parcel and we strip the bulky shop packaging — with outdoor gear that lowers the shipping bill directly. We weigh the parcel, invoice you and send it off.
Worth knowing before you order
- Gas and aerosols cannot be shipped. A stove, a pot and a lantern travel fine; the gas canister for them does not — pressurised containers are refused by the post office and by carriers alike. Canisters are bought locally, and most Japanese and European stoves share the same thread.
- A sleeping bag and a down jacket weigh little but take up a lot of room. Bulky parcels are charged by volumetric weight — length × width × height in centimetres ÷ 5,000 — and you pay by the greater of the two figures. That is why we strip the branded boxes at the warehouse and pack tighter.
- Japanese sizes run smaller than European ones. Read the centimetres on the product page rather than the letter: chest and length for clothing, foot length for boots. Going by the letter alone will usually cost you a size.
- A head torch or lantern with a built-in battery travels as an ordinary item, but loose batteries and power banks are refused by the post office. If the cell for your torch is sold separately, you will have to buy it at home.
- Customs duty is paid by the recipient and the threshold differs from country to country. Tell us where the parcel is going and we will say in advance whether your order is likely to cross it and whether splitting the shipment is worth it — a tent, a sleeping bag and a jacket add up quickly.
Frequent questions
Why can't I just buy from these brands directly?
Japanese shops mostly serve the domestic market: they rarely offer international shipping, often refuse foreign cards, and the auctions and Mercari need a Japanese address and phone number. On top of that, a good part of every catalogue is made for Japan only and never reaches the brand's shops abroad.
What do you charge?
10% of the order, minimum ¥1,000. That covers buying, receiving, checking, storage, packing and dispatch. You see the item total with the fee before paying; shipping is counted separately once the parcel is weighed. Payment is by card on the site or from your balance.
What if the item I want is not in the collections?
The collections are a window into the catalogue, not the whole range. Send a link to any Japanese shop — the brand's own site, Rakuten, Yahoo Shopping, an auction, Mercari. A model name on its own works too: we will find it.
Why doesn't the brand come up when I search in English?
Japanese shops label their goods in Japanese: Montbell is モンベル, Snow Peak is スノーピーク, Nanga is ナンガ. English spelling often returns nothing there. In our catalogue you can type the name as you know it; on a Japanese site, copy the model name straight from the product page and search by that.
Do you ship stoves and gas?
Stoves, pots, lanterns and camp hardware — yes. Gas canisters — no: pressurised containers are refused by the post office and by carriers, and that is the shipper's rule rather than our decision. The same goes for aerosols and sprays.
How long does delivery take?
It depends on the country and on the route. We ship worldwide; once the parcel is packed and weighed you get the exact cost and the route before it leaves. Tell us the destination and we will say in advance what to expect and whether anything in the order needs a different shipping method.
Read before you buy
Send a link and we will price it
We will give you the cost with our fee and say in advance whether the item can travel by post and what has to stay behind.
See also: Fishing tackle