At Kakaku today there is 3 stores that offer the Panasonic
NV-GS400k at 100,000Y or 1,185.61 CAD or 915.224 USD.

Sumimasen,

I search a Japanese who have plan to visit Montreal in Canada asap. ;-)

Thanks

Jean - amazing prize difference to the US and even more so to the EU with twice that. There's almost enough for a plane ticket. But my gut feeling is that this is closer to the right price - about $300 more than the GS200. Your name does not ring japanese - what about the menu's in japanese - or do you speak the language?

Language differences were generally smoothed out for gs100 buyers who were willing to use cheat sheets provided by others and refer to the pv-dv953 manual for hints on how things work. With English-language manuals out there for the gs400, I would imagine the problems would be even less (even though there do seem to be some differences between the models for various markets). I've always cautioned those who are not comfortable in another language than their native one to look before leaping to buy a Japan domestic model. But I would imagine a Canadian from Montreal with a French name would be comfortable with the issue of dealing with a different language. :) Good luck on finding someone going to Japan to help you with a purchase, but also think of contacting Allan Rejoso (contact info posted at the top of this forum), who lives there and has done a number of these transactions for folks.

Apropos language differences... does anyone know if it would be possible somehow or did anyone even try already to transfer the English language EEPROM data to a Japanese domestic GS400? ...imagine: a BLACK GS400 with English menus! ;) ...OK, the buttons would be Japanese still, but that should be no big deal to handle.

In HK, the English version would be around HK$10000 i.e. US$1250. Japanese version is cheaper but you have to use the unfamilar user interface.

For you, Kanji and katakana is suppose to be more near of your cultural origin ?

Today Kakaku best price 1 store 98,700Y

6,997.16 HKD - 1,174.59CAD - 897.499 USD

PS: The first price for the unfamilar user interface go to Microsoft.
ex: For stop the computer, go to start menu ;-)

Chinese proverb: Big advertisement, small store ;-)

<<<-- Originally posted by Jean Pepin : For you, Kanji and katakana is suppose to be more near of your cultural origin ?

Today Kakaku best price 1 store 98,700Y

6,997.16 HKD - 1,174.59CAD - 897.499 USD

PS: The first price for the unfamilar user interface go to Microsoft.
ex: For stop the computer, go to start menu ;-)

Chinese proverb: Big advertisement, small store ;-) -->>>

Yes, Kanji is very similar to Chinese so we can guess a few words from that.

Yes, the local price in Japan can be much lower although some big chain store e.g. yodobashi still sells at 130000 yen. We can also buy the japan model in HK with a much lower price than English version.

What is the Chinese proverb you mentioned?

:)

I'm hoping prices will go down to JPY68,000 soonest (that's the cheapest price of the MX5000) :-)

Don't forget to consider TTS and TTB rates when you convert.

<<<-- Originally posted by Allan Rejoso : I'm hoping prices will go down to JPY68,000 soonest (that's the cheapest price of the MX5000) :-)

Don't forget to consider TTS and TTB rates when you convert. -->>>

But buying a Japan model need to overcome the language barrier. Any other method can change the language in menu system?

Warning off topic

It's mean : Who are make big propaganda have cheap think to spread. It's for reference about actually the largest culture spreaded around the world is maybe the most superficially.

PS: Maybe simple interface cannot give great creative artistic works ;-)

But buying a Japan model need to overcome the language barrier. Any other method can change the language in menu system?

You'd be amazed at how quickly you overcome the Japanese menus. Especially since we have an English NTSC GS400 manual for download/reference.