Amazon Kindle in Japan

You may have already heard the news, but if you haven’t, the Amazon Kindle is coming to Japan (and 99 other countries). While you’ve always been able to buy one wherever you are, this new international version means that you’ll able to use the 3G access to buy books anytime, anywhere. For the time being, purchases can only be made from the Amazon US store, but that’s not much of a problem, since it’s aimed at all of us expats (who have to deal with high import costs on books). So at first, this looks pretty good — especially the chance to buy books at a very good price — although keep in mind that there are hidden costs. Japan Probe posts all the details on exactly what the device has to offer.

For me, it means that I’m actually interested in the device now, although the price tag is still a bit of a turnoff ($280).