Zenmarket Haul - Found New Treasures!

I went into 2024 with the intention of not purchasing any Japanese releases this year due to shipping costs. This was until I was having a bad week and thought bugger it, I'm doing it! Luckily the Japanese Yen was a good rate so I got some bargains and didn't lose out too much on conversion between the currencies. For this order, I focused on getting releases that were exclusive to Japan and not available on any streaming services. The service I used was Zenmarket of course and it was a simple process. Shipping wasn't too bad with the final cost of shipping it here being around $45 and I received it within two weeks. Everything was packed perfectly with lots of bubble wrap and no damages! In total, I ordered 25 CDs which is a good number and it was about $240 for all of this including all the fees and shipping within Japan.

Starting off with the main reason I placed this order which was these albums from m.o.v.e! I have been addicted to these albums for a while now and unfortunately they are hard to listen to here in Australia. The group isn't on Spotify nor does Australian iTunes have these specific releases. It has the singles but not the albums! So I was always listening to them on YouTube until I got sick of that and needed the physical CDs. These were various levels of difficult to get with their first album being the easiest and their third having barely any listings. So excited to have these in my collection and they sound amazing! In clockwise order from the left side, the albums I got from m.o.v.e where electrock, worlds of the mind and Operation Overload 7.

This was kind of an impulse buy as I love one particular song on this dream world album which is King & Queen. dream music is always difficult to come across and I thought I'd get the physical one as I enjoy the songs on this one. It was a pain to find as the title is so vague and I had to go through so many listings of other things to find this. Thank heavens the cover is red otherwise I wouldn't see the listings. Originally I wanted just the standard CD version but couldn't find one as all the listings were for the limited one. I wasn't too sure if the box was big or not however it is a decent size and you get lots of fun inclusions. There was even a calendar that I didn't know about!

K-Pop Haul - CIGNATURE, Kep1er & aespa

Jeez I don't even recall the last time I did a K-Pop haul on the blog. Seems like forever ago and it was time to change that. I picked up three new releases for my collection, well more like two new releases and one older one. It's new to my collection haha. The titles I brought were CIGNATURE's 1st EP Listen and Speak, Kep1er's 2nd Mini Album DOUBLAST and aespa's 2nd Mini Album Girls. The first two came from YesAsia and the latter is from JB Hi-Fi.

First is aespa's 2nd Mini Album Girls and I got the version which is called the retail exclusive version. In America, I believe this is called the Target Exclusive Version however in Australia it is referred to as the Retail Exclusive version. The only store stocking it over here is JB Hi-Fi who has the retail version along with the Digipack versions. It is random at what stock is sent from online or stores will have random versions you can see in person. Luckily because the Retail one is a separate SKU I was able to pre-order it as I wanted this version as I liked the cover the most. Honestly I wanted the Real World version but that isn't being sold at JB Hi-Fi. Haven't had a chance to listen to it just yet and I did like their previous releases so I'm sure I'll enjoy this one. For the photocards, I got Karina & Winter and for the poster I got NingNing. So excited for NingNing's poster as she is my bias in the group! The one thing I dislike about this album is the cardboard sleeve design but that's because I dislike that design in general.

I actually randomly decided to buy this Kep1er mini album! I was quite sick when I placed this YesAsia order and was like 'why not it's cheap!!'. Ended up actually liking the album so that was good! I brought the jewel case version and I really wanted the Blue Blast version but got sent the Yellow one instead. Still super cute and the photocards are cool. Now I have no clue about the members of this group so I had to look up who I got photocards of. Looks like I got Bahiyyih, Yujin and Hikaru. It's cute that I got Yujin's card as I do have her photocard from the Chamisma mini album! You can check that one out here as I've reviewed it in the past. I wish more companies would do jewel case releases as I really like them and the price point makes them easier to collect. I know a portion of the K-Pop community hates them but for someone like me who just likes buying albums randomly it's a cheaper way to do rather than buying the larger ones. I've seen lots of jewel case style K-Pop releases at JB Hi-Fi and it would be great if they become more common. Hey I'd even settle for random style ones if it makes it easier to buy albums to listen to.

The other album I got from YesAsia was CIGNATURE's 1st EP Listen and Speak. This one has been on my wishlist for a while as I enjoy their discography and wanted to support a nugu group. The design of this EP is good quality and it matches well on the shelf with my MOMOLAND Fun To The World Mini Album. They both have a beautiful blue tone to the album design and are a similar size. Photocard wise, I got Jee Won's student identity card, Ye Ah and Belle. The EP also comes with a cute sticker sheet and now I do love stickers but I can never bring myself to use the ones from albums.

YesAsia Haul - MOMOLAND, I.O.I & Crayon Pop

Received a YesAsia order yesterday that I had been waiting for. Two of the items were pre-orders I made last month so it took a while between ordering the items to them actually being shipped. This order had some exciting items in it, one of them being something I've been wanting for years. So here is my recent YesAsia order of albums from I.O.I and MOMOLAND and a DVD from Crayon Pop!

First, here's MOMOLAND's fourth mini album Fun To The World which I received. It is their recent Korean release and I have to say the album cover is so boring in my opinion. I'm just not a fan of boring cover designs and would rather have images of the group on there. I wish they had used the promo material for the cover like what was shown on the item listing rather than this boring one. Nice album though, much smaller than their other releases I've got from them. Will post a review soon of the album! I received Ahin's photocard which was nice as she's one of my favourites. Would've liked to have gotten JooE's as hers looked amazing or maybe Jane's as I quite like her look with this comeback.

Now I wasn't originally planning on ordering this I.O.I album, but I saw on the net that their albums were being re-issued last month. So I thought why not order the only one I was missing for my collection which was Miss Me? It's a nice album, packaging is a bit weird as the photobook just sits in a slot and the photocard keeps coming out. I got Somi's photocard which I was so ecstatic about when it fell out. It's super cute!

Lastly, here's the item that made this order all worth it. Now I've been after the Pop In Japan DVD from Crayon Pop since it came out. However it was priced quite high on most online stores so I never brought it. But one day I was scrolling through the deals on YesAsia and to my amazement, the DVD was listed as a Great Deals item for only $11.99USD! At the time, I couldn't place an order so I waited a few weeks till I was able to hoping the item wouldn't go up in price. Luckily the price jumped up right after I ordered it! Usually the item is listed for around $50AUD so it was a steal at this way cheaper price.

YesAsia Haul - MOMOLAND, Dream Ami & After School

Been waiting on a few packages to arrive and the first one rocked up recently from YesAsia. I was very excited to receive it as all the items I ordered were ones I had been wanting for a while. The items I ordered were Dream Ami's latest single Amahru (CD Only Version), After School's Japanese single Shh (CD Only Version) and MOMOLAND's 1st Mini Album: Welcome To Momoland.

MOMOLAND, After School & Dream Ami

Over the moon at how gorgeous all these products are! Dream Ami's is stunning as usual and I'm happy to finally have Shh in my After School collection as I've been putting off buying it for a while now. The MOMOLAND album is honestly the best album I've brought from a K-Pop group. It's absolutely perfect and so beautiful. I will be posting reviews of all these albums on my blog, so keep an eye out if you like those types of posts.

So stunning!!!

I have to say YesAsia as improved their packaging since I last reviewed their site. For a while, they were just sending orders in an envelope/parcel style which was awful and doesn't fit in my mail box. Thankfully they've switched back to using boxes which is a much better option for larger sized albums. In my last review, I also talked about how the packages were coming from a merchant of some sort rather than directly from YesAsia themselves. This has changed as well to something new which is working quite well for me. The orders now come from a fulfilment company in Australia. I assume YesAsia has some sort of deal with them where they send the packages to them and then the fulfilment company sends them within Australia. I haven't had any trouble with this new style and it actually works better with our postal system. The one issue I had with this current YesAsia order was that when I tracked the order, it just said 'Shipping Information Approved By AusPost'. I had no clue what day it was going to arrive and even though I've received my package, the tracking still says the infromation was approved and not the usual Delivered message. I've never had this issue before with tracking YesASia packages, but maybe there was just a glitch with the number or maybe its something on AusPost's end. Anyway, I will definitely keep ordering from YesAsia now that their packaging has improved over the last few orders. None of my albums were damaged considering how large the MOMOLAND one was. Shipping time was great, only took 13 days which is quite quick for Hong Kong to Australia.

Packaging from YesAsia.

My K-Pop Collection 2017

During 2017, I focused mainly on building up my Japanese Pop collection and didn't really work much on my Korean Pop collection in terms of physical albums. I did purchased a lot of digital albums this year from a variety of groups. This post will only look at my current physical album collection though. Here is a photo of all my albums which are a lovely selection of crazy sizes.

The albums in my collection include:

• Crayon Pop - Evolution Pop_Vol.1
• I.O.I - Mini Album Volume 1 - Chrysalis (Special Edition)
• T-ARA - Mini Album Volume 11 - So Good
• Strawberry Milk - The 1st Mini Album 
• Crayon Pop - 2015 Mini Album Volume 2 - FM
• Orange Caramel - The Fourth Single - My Copycat/Do It Like Me
• Orange Caramel - The Third Single - Catallena
• I.O.I - Single Album - Whatta Man
• Crayon Pop - Single Album - Uh-Ee
• Hong Jin Young - Mini Album Vol 2 - The Most Beautiful Moment In Life
• AOA - Vol 1 - Angel's Knock (Taiwan Version A)
• April - Single Album Vol 1 - Boing Boing
• Red Velvet - Vol 1 - The Red
• Girls Generation - 2011 Girls Generation Tour (2CD + Photobook)
  
• Crayon Pop - Mini Album - Streets Go Disco (Australian Version)
• Girls Generation - The Boys (US Version)

Crayon Pop makes up the largest part of my collection as they were one of my favourite groups whilst they were still together as a five-member group. Nowadays they don't release anything, so I haven't had anything new to add to my collection. The Evolution Pop album I ordered from KpopMart which I had never used before. I enjoyed getting the free poster, but I was surprised the order reached me as the box was badly beaten up when I received it. I also found (and I know other fans found it as well) that the product was faulty and the CD's weren't held in place well. I easily fixed mine but I heard you could've sent it back or something. I was lucky enough to get the Australian version of Streets Go Disco a few years ago when the group had a deal to sell the album at a local music store chain. The one thing that I don't like about the Crayon Pop albums is the fact they don't come with photocards (the ones I have didn't come with any). FM would've been an amazing album to have photo cards for!

Crayon Pop collection

Orange Caramel is another favourite group of mine and I'm so disappointed that they no longer promote as a group. Cmon on Pledis, just announce that After School and Orange Caramel are disbanded already and put me out of my misery!! Anyway I only have two physical Korean albums from the group and I would collect more if they weren't ridiculously overpriced. One day I like to get the rest of their Korean singles and albums, but for now I'll just stick with the digital versions.

Orange Caramel collection

Where To Buy J-Pop & K-Pop Albums - Online Store Reviews

I've been buying J-Pop and K-Pop albums online for a few year now so I thought I'd share my experiences with the online stores I've used. These reviews are based on my experience with only a few online stores. There are many other sources you can use to purchase J-Pop and K-Pop albums online that I haven't used and there's lots of reviews on google you can consult for more information. I'll list pros and cons of using each site as well as a brief introduction to the main features and my opinion on using the site.

YesAsia
NOTE: An updated review of YesAsia is available here!
This is the main site most people will start out using as it's one of the big online stores that stocks asian pop music albums. It sells a wide variety of items from movies, video games, book, gifts and anime merchandise. The search engine is easy to use and the site stocks a large selection of J-Pop and K-Pop albums.This is the site I've brought the most of my collection from and have been using it for a number of years. I find it's useful for getting the CD-Only versions of J-Pop singles and ones that are hard to buy outside of Japan. The main problem I find with YesAsia is the albums are more expensive than other sources which is due to raising the cost to cover the free shipping item. But some J-Pop albums are ridiculously over priced from what I've research sometimes. Also years ago, they used to ship orders in a box but a while ago they switched to envelopes. And the weird thing about the shipping is that when I receive it, the sender address shows a random man from China rather than a YesAsia address in Hong Kong (which is where they are based). All my orders have been like this which is strange. I've always been puzzled by this, but I'm guessing it's just a merchant or something they use. 

Pros
+ Large selection of albums and merchandise available. It's a good site to use to find the different versions of each album or if you want a certain cover.
+ Great for J-Pop albums that are hard to find outside of Japan Only stores. I've brought a few Dream Ami singles that I couldn't find on other sites.
+ Free international shipping if you order over $39USD worth of items.
+ Good customer service. I've always received quick replies to my inquiries and they will make necessary changes to your order if needed.
+ Free gashapon if you order two Japanese items that have the gashapon icon.

Cons
- Albums can be expensive as YesAsia marks up the prices to account for the free shipping they offer. I find the K-Pop albums can be over priced compared to other sites and once I convert the price to AUD, some end up being outrageous prices for an album of 4 songs.
- Some items displayed on the website aren't actually in stock and will be cancelled from your order. This is one of the things I hate about online stores. It's the worst when stores list items as available, you order and pay for them only to receive an email later stating the item is not available. They always refund your money and offer the free shipping still if you order goes under $39USD. But I wish online stores would not list items if they're not available. This has happened to me three times with YesAsia. Once with a magazine which I wasn't too fussed about and ended up getting it on Amazon Japan. The other two times was when I ordered the B-version of CocoSori's Japanese single. I pre-ordered the item near when it was coming out and then received an email stating it was not available. I asked them to switch my order to the A-version but then I received an email stating that was not available! So YesAsia never even got the CD in but still listed it as available. It's still listed on the site now but as out of print. Luckily a friend in Japan offered to get the CD for me which was lovely after all that trouble.
- Packaging of the orders isn't as good as it used to be. The albums are sent in an envelope with bubble-wrap. I've had a number of K-Pop albums come with the corners slightly damaged or marks on the cover. This is one of the main reasons I'm thinking of switching to another store for K-Pop, receiving my order is good condition is important to me.

YesAsia Items

Amazon Japan
The Japanese version of Amazon is a fun site to use as they stock unique products you can only get in Japan. I use Amazon Japan to buy all my game books and magazines which are only available in Japan. They have a good range of J-Pop available and it's best to buy albums around the time they are released. I've been using Amazon Japan for a few years and I love it! Even though the shipping costs are expensive, the quality of the shipping service is amazing. Takes about 2 days for my items to arrive and they're always sealed and in a box. The most useful thing to do when using Amazon Japan is to translate the reviews into your language and read what people are saying about the item. The ones on the Crayon Pop album are great especially the ones about the DVD because the reviews are accurate about the terrible filming.

Pros
+ Super fast shipping and great packaging!
+ Sometimes you can find albums or singles for cheap prices. I got my After School Bang and Diva singles for under ¥800 and the limited edition version of Crayon Pop's Japanese album for a cheaper price than YesAsia.
+ Use theMP3 section to listen to samples of songs. This is useful if you cannot find a sample of the song on Spotify or Youtube.

Cons
- Shipping costs can be outrageous once you start adding things into your cart. To ship to where I live, it's ¥900 per shipment and ¥300 per item. So I find sometimes the costs add up once you convert it to your local currency. It's best to compare prices on a few different sites before deciding on where to buy.
- Certain items will not be available as they cannot be shipped to your location or outside of Japan. You could get around this using a proxy service but I've never tried that (one day I'll give it go as there's lots of good albums available second hand). Sometimes you put items in your cart and when you go to pay, it will tell you it will not ship to your country. That's a bit annoying as some items even say they will ship on the listing but it doesn't tell you until the payment part.

Amazon Japan items

KpopMart
I've only used this site once and I wasn't happy with it, so I never used it again. Based in South Korea, they offer a wide selection of K-Pop albums and official merchandise. It's a good site for posters and pre-orders. The only time I've used it was to buy Crayon Pop's album Vol. 1 Evolution Pop. It was listed as a cheaper price than YesAsia and you got a free poster if you pre-ordered. So I ended up pre-ordering the album from there and the poster isn't really free as you have to pay shipping. Now to what turned my off ordering from them again. I had to pay $12 USD in shipping costs (that's way more in AUD) and I didn't even get a tracking number. I feel if you're paying that, there should be a tracking option. So my order got shipping eventually when the album came out and the only way I knew it was coming was by talking to other people who ordered the same album who lived nearby. However when my order came, I noticed how awful the packaging was. I was surprised it made it to me in one piece! It came in a large box which was 50% destroyed and all that was in the box was the poster tube and the album wrapped in some bubble wrap. Amazingly that album wasn't damaged with the awful packaging. Turns out the stock KpopMart had of Crayon Pop's album was also faulty as the CD's were not secured properly and were popping out. Mine had this issue as the tabs the CD's were held on had come off the album. I just glued them back on as they weren't damaged with my album. I did read the KpopMart was offering exchanges on the album so other people had the same issue. I think that's more to do with the album being made for the cheap as it's literally in this cheap cardboard box.

Pros
+ Great for pre-orders and posters!
+ Counts towards the Hanteo chart
+ Useful for older albums as they have a good quantity of albums in stock.