Kyoto Journal FAQs
11 October 2020 shipping updates
Thank you for supporting our work at this difficult time.
KJ ships the majority of orders from Japan and some from within the USA.
Japan Post imposed a ban on international airmail to 150+ countries in April 2020, which has partially lifted.
As of today, from Japan, we CAN ship to:
- US (finally!)
- Most of Europe and Asia
- Canada
- New Zealand
We CANNOT ship to Australia, Ireland and the countries on this “ban list”.
BY PLACING AN ORDER WITH US WHILE YOUR COUNTRY IS ON THE BAN LIST WE WILL ASSUME YOU ARE HAPPY TO WAIT FOR IT (OR A PART OF IT) UNTIL THE BAN IS LIFTED. Sorry about this — we simply do not have the resources to check in with everybody.
Customers who we can ship to from Japan: Japan Post has advised of severe delays to countries we are able to ship to. Please kindly wait 6 weeks from placing your order for delivery before contacting us. Please be assured we will get your package to you or refund you if necessary (see refund policy below). Please add a phone number to your order if you are able.
Europe customers, but not in one of the countries listed: We may be able to find a solution by forwarding your package to an address in one of the countries that are listed, albeit at slight extra cost. Please contact support@kyotojournal.org for more details.
US customers: Your order may be split between the US and Japan. Our Florida warehouse has inventory of many issues between KJ17 and KJ95, as well as our Small Buildings and KI NO BI Cocktails book. Many of these are discounted right now. Here is a discount back issue bundle option with no delays! Orders dispatched from the warehouse should arrive in under 7 working days. But we cannot send you all the issues in some of our bundles (like the Best of Kyoto bundle) from US inventory, for example.
We will continue to update this page.
Enquiries: support@kyotojournal.org. We’re a well-established organization operating for 30+years, entirely as volunteers, always happy to help and will respond enquiries, usually within 2 working days, sometimes a bit longer. Please please check spam if you do not hear from us because that’s where e-mails end up if not in your inbox.
Shipping FAQs
Do you ship worldwide?
Please see the above advice. We usually ship to everywhere but South America and Africa (that’s due to expense and unreliable postal services there generally). If you really want some copies sent by EMS (expensive!) let us know and we can get a quote for you.
How long will it take to receive my order?
Packages are sent by Air from Japan (or, if you are in the US, overland by USPS most of the time). Please check the advice at the top of this page for the latest updates, but generally speaking we try to dispatch within 3 working days.
I ordered about a week ago but when I check my account my order is still marked as “processing.” What does this mean?
We regret that we have a rather simple e-commerce programme that does not allow us to let customers know the time of dispatch. Please check the above for the latest postal service updates.
Can you tell me where my package is right now?
We regret that we are unable to attach tracking to packages from Japan as it is prohibitively expensive, but we have found Air Mail to usually be very reliable. If you have ordered from within the USA, there is a high probability that your order will have been dispatched from our Florida warehouse and these will have a tracking number with USPS, available on request.
If you have any concerns about your order, please e-mail us with the name attached to the order and number at support@kyotojournal.org
I entered the delivery address incorrectly on my order. What should I do?
Please e-mail us at support@kyotojournal.org and we shall sort it out.
The postal service in my country is sometimes unreliable. Can you attach a tracking number to my package?
Certainly—please just advise us at support@kyotojournal.org and we will investigate how much extra tracking will cost. We will then send you a dedicated link for payment.
Payments
What methods of payment do you accept?
We have Paypal and Stripe (credit card) options available. Our prices are all in Japanese Yen and a link to a currency converter is on our product pages.
Do you accept returns?
I am afraid we do not accept returns as we are just not equipped to do so.
My package never arrived. Can you refund me?
If an order seems to have been lost in the post (which is happening a lot lately thanks to Covid) we are happy to replace it, though if we have reason to suspect a delay (please see the top of the page for the latest shipping advice), we ask you wait a few more days before writing to us at support@kyotojournal.org. Of course, we can also process a refund in such cases if need be. It may take a few days to appear on your credit card/Paypal account statement.
Please note that if you purchased a discounted subscription, the discount is predicated on your taking up the full subscription. So, if you have received copies as part of your subscription, you will receive a refund minus the number of copies at the regular retail price. Thank you for your understanding.
Subscriptions
How do I subscribe to Kyoto Journal?
We have suspended the sale of subscriptions. Please read our update.
Why can’t I log in to my account?
If you subscribed before September 2018 it may well be that your account no longer exists—a number of them were accidentally lost when our website was renewed, so you may have no choice but to create another when you next make a purchase. Our apologies for the inconvenience.
There is password reset function if you have forgotten it.
Any other queries please e-mail us at support@kyotojournal.org
I have changed address. How can I update it?
You can either log in to your account and update it there. Please note that if we have sent out an issue to an old address already we cannot resend. The best thing to do in such circumstances it to e-mail us at support@kyotojournal.org
Can I receive a partial refund for my subscription?
Please e-mail us at support@kyotojournal.org and we will do our best to accommodate your request.
Other
Is Kyoto Journal in bookstores?
Yes, the magazine is usually stocked by bookstores around the world and you can see a partial list here (we are not provided with a list by all our distributors) as well as our top picks in Kyoto, but as of April 2020 most retailers are closed. If they have an online presence, like Pics&Ink in the UK, Coutelier Nola in Nashville or Out&About Boutique in Vancouver, they may still be dispatching.
Are discounts available for bulk orders?
The short answer is yes. We have a number of discounted bundles already available, but generally speaking if you would like to order 4 or more copies we can offer some form of discount and possibly an option for a more economical rate of shipping (dependent on the size of the order). Please e-mail us at support@kyotojournal.org for more details.
Do you have digital subscriptions available?
No. Between 2010 and 2017 Kyoto Journal was a digital-only publication, due to lack of funding. The issues we made during that time are available for download on our shop page (we offer a discount for a full set purchase — just email us). We found that print was much more in demand, and returned to print in 2017 with issue KJ89.
If you are from a library/academic institution, we offer heavily discounted print subscriptions and back issue sets. Please contact us for more info.
