T.D.

Agreed. I'm going to wait for clarity (which I don't expect soon) before thinking about placing an import order. One positive sign: I watch Dusty Groove's "coming soon" page, and the prices indicated there for scheduled imports don't appear to reflect (presumably tariff-related) increases.

Seems eminently reasonable on cdjapan's part and basically what cliff predicted above. If I wanna get mad, I'll look elsewhere. 👎 But say no more due to forum policy. 😶

Email just received from cdjapan: Hello from CDJapan Today, we would like to provide information for our U.S. customers regarding the impact of the reciprocal tariff on U.S. deliveries. Following the suspension of the de minimis exemption (which allowed tax-free imports under USD 800), shipments to the United States will now be handled as outlined below: In principle, a 15% import duty will be added based on the total product value, along with a customs clearance fee charged by the shipping carrier. The clearance fee varies by carrier and is expected to be around USD 8–10. DHL Import duties and customs clearance fees are to be paid upon delivery. FedEx Priority (Pak) Import duties and customs clearance fees are to be paid upon delivery. FedEx FICP Starting September 12, 2025, duties and clearance fees will be prepaid at the time of order. A 25% charge (including both duty and clearance fee) will be added to the total product value at checkout. Japan Post Import duties and clearance fees are to be paid upon delivery. Japan Post shipments to the U.S. are currently temporarily suspended. Note Although U.S. customs regulations suggest that certain items—such as CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, and books (informational materials)—may be exempt from the 15% import duty, it remains unclear whether carriers are currently processing these shipments accordingly. Therefore, please choose between FedEx Priority, Priority (Pak), or FICP based on the contents of your order. Please note that our shipping policy may be revised in accordance with future developments in U.S. customs procedures. Thank you for your continued support.

Today, the annual 4' 33" anniversary concert in Woodstock. 🤣

Slight reprieve. In today's e-mail: Dear fellow music-lovers, Many thanks for all your emails in response to the retirement mailing we did on July 21st. We feel like the George Bailey character in the final scene of “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Also, thank you all for your patience while we caught up with the unexpected backlog of orders. We hope to do at least six more e-mail updates prior to closure, thus pushing out our final day until sometime in October. Once a closing date comes into focus, we will post it on the website.

https://www.organissimo.org/forum/topic/93109-muse-masters-reissue-series/

The remake is showing in the area all this upcoming week. Being fond of films set in NYC (blurb shows Denzel Washington on a subway), I may venture to watch it.

I saw Steve Baczkowski and Brandon Lopez last year at a Tubby's show Clifford put together. It was badass. Agreed on Lopez (italics added).

Thanks. Objectively the film is likely to have merit, but remakes of classics are generally polarizing. For my taste (which may be bad), Paul Schrader is probably a contrarian indicator. This remake reminds me in an ironic way of a funny Opera News article I read decades ago. The author was bemoaning the rigidity of the opera repertoire and lack of original works. He wrote something like "Imagine if cinema worked the same way as opera...film buff discussions would tend to statements like 'This new Gone with the Wind is pretty good, but Spike Lee's was much better'..."

David Gilmore (g), Rich Syracuse (b), Jeff Siegel (d), monthly jazz night at a pizza restaurant. It was really excellent. Gilmore is impressive.

[Emphasis added]. That's why I'm out for the foreseeable future. Not going to shell out $100+ upfront and then be at the mercy of some unknown (and probably half-assed) collection process while the mdse remains in limbo.

Thanks. But that link implies that cdjapan is still shipping to USA via Fedex/DHL, while temporarily suspending Japan Post shipping. I've always used Fedex/DHL, so it's confusing. Although I've shelved order plans until the tariff situation clarifies.

When US tariffs were first announced (months ago), cdjapan sent out informational email to customers stating that tariffs were not a factor (which they were not at the time due to continuation of de minimis). I expect cdjapan to send out the updated status as soon as they get sufficient clarity from authorities (not holding my breath).

As expected (try opening in incognito window to avoid paywall): https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-26/japan-suspends-some-parcel-deliveries-to-us-due-to-trump-tariffs Takeaways by Bloomberg AI Japan Post Co. will suspend shipping of some small packages to the United States due to fresh tariffs imposed by the US government. The mail service will stop accepting parcels that include consumer goods for sale or gifts worth over $100 from Wednesday, after the US revoked its tariff exemption on lower-value packages. Japan Post's decision falls in line with other national postal services that have temporarily suspended their shipping services to the US, including Britain and Australia.

I completely agree.

I've assumed this is going to KO cdjapan as a personal buying option. Probably why they've been offering a lot of coupons the past couple of months. If collection issues ever get solved, there'll be a price increase of more or less the tariff rate. That could be manageable, but I don't think the collection thing will get worked out any time soon. Merchants like Dusty Groove could also get hammered. It's conceivable that they've been importing in de minimis (< $800) increments, which would put them in the same boat... So I fear the import CD/LP market is going to dry up for a while.

That one plus this mash-up of 2 sessions:

I saw Dersu Uzala back in the early '80s, not knowing what to expect, and was blown away (cinema, big screen). Much later watched a DVD and it didn't have the same magic. The Spike Lee remake of AK's High and Low, one of my all-time favorites, is coming soon. But I don't think I could stand to watch it.

PM on The Ligeti Project (5 CDS)- EX/EX $12

PM on -John Surman- Glancing Backwards- The Dawn Anthology- 3 CD (back of case cracked- hole punch in UPC) VG+/Ex $12

🤣