April 3rd marked the release of Saikyo Jump May Issue in Japan.
Here’s a real on-the-ground report from Japan.

This issue was highly anticipated, as all buyers were guaranteed access to a One Piece card, designed by Sohei Koji from One Piece Academy.
Because of this, demand exploded even before release.

Online platforms like Amazon were already sold out in advance.
Personally, I had secured multiple copies through pre-orders at different bookstores, so I had no issues obtaining my reserved copies.

Since most bookstores open around 9:00 AM, I decided to visit a store where I had not made a reservation, just to see what would happen.

Luckily, I found 6 copies available in front of me, and all of them were still available for purchase.
At the register, a foreign customer was purchasing 4 copies, so it seemed that the store had received around 10 copies in total 4 sold first, and I purchased the remaining 6.

After that, more foreign buyers came to the store, but upon seeing it was sold out, they left immediately.
It gave a clear impression that there was organized buying activity happening.

I then visited several other bookstores, but all of them were already sold out.

Since I had already secured enough through pre-orders, this trip was more of an experiment to see how many copies could realistically be obtained by physically visiting stores over about 5 hours.

Recently in Japan, many magazines come bundled with trading cards.
I also found a Dragon Ball Fusion World book, which had sold out instantly on release day.
This one was labeled as a “canceled reservation,” likely from someone who didn’t pick up their pre-order.

Of course, I purchased it and after sharing it via WhatsApp, it sold out immediately (laugh).

In total, I managed to secure 22 copies over approximately 5 hours, including not only One Piece but also related items like Dragon Ball.

If someone is seriously trying to resell, one strategy is to place people at multiple stores early in the morning to buy everything at opening.
However, with proper preparation and pre-orders, there’s usually no need for that you can secure a large quantity in advance.

Even two days after release, many people on X (Twitter) are saying they couldn’t get it, and there is strong demand from overseas as well.

We have secured sufficient stock, so feel free to contact us if you’re interested.

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Shinobu 🇯🇵