Does anyone by any chance know what the average turn around time is for panasonic repairs in Japan? It seems as though the unit will have to be repaired instead of replaced.

Normally, it would take 5-10 working days.

I sent my GS100 K...dropped it of to the repairer personally and picked it up too! here in tokyo (Akihabara), to fox condensation problems.....they called me 5 days later to say it was ready...not to bad..

Good luck!