I’ve been buying there since 2023 pretty regularly with no issues so far 
so I hope it’ll go smoothly for you too!
I don’t remember what I did when I registered though… My address in my account just says Japan and nothing else. If I used an address, I used the address I got from some forwarding service, like someone else already mentioned.
Yeah, I’d also made a rakuten account and then used that to login to Kobo.
Sorry to necro such an old post.
But with the recent Amazon DRM changes, and my life putting everything reading/learning in a hiatus for quite a while, I’m a bit at a loss.
I’ve panicked as trying to resume my old library on the new devices (moved everything to Linux), and setting up my new laptop as a language learning tool, I noticed I didn’t have the most up to date backup at hand. I’ve been aware of the Amazon changes to not allowing to download files, and the recent one is just locking out the storage on Kindle devices (although this is not clear if it’s only for the new ones) [Source].
Thankfully I think I found an up to date backup on one of my old kobo devices.
In any case, going back to the point. I’m considering of moving platforms, as I need to convert the ebooks to epubs, to have a proper interface for quick lookups and anki/migaku card creations.
So researching, I only found old posts, but I want to know if it’s still viable to buy from KoboJP from outside Japan? I have access to VPN, but not sure if that would lock me out. I’m also traveling to Japan recently, so I could technically create the account over there for being more “clean”, but the intention is to be able to use it from outside.
I think I’ll be able to keep a Japanese mobile phone number, but access to it is cut while outside Japan, so if adding it to the account makes it as use as 2-factor that can not be disabled, it could be dangerous.
If payment options are a problem I could also technically try to stock on Kobo/Rakuten cards from convenience stores, although that’s a short term solution only.
I just double checked my de-DRM process since I haven’t backed up my files in several months. It worked on the books it could download, but several books (all released since June of this year) wouldn’t download, saying I needed to update the Kindle PC app to a newer version.
I’ve been meaning for a while to download the latest Kindle PC app on a separate device to see if my de-DRM process still works on a more recent version (for older or newer books). Once I do that I’ll report back here.
Thanks.
I have pinpointed when I stopped downloading and backing up the books. I only noticed because of something I wanted to try start reading.
Calibre is not an option, and since I’m running Linux is complicating things.
I’ve done a quick look at the filesystem on the kindle, and is not looking good either, as the downloads now are on multiple kfx files per title.
Hey, good to see you again!
So I recently set up a KoboJP account because of Amazon as well, and I can confirm I’ve been able to successfully set up a JP account with no VPN and pay for purchases with a non-JP credit card. (It’s only been a few purchases, so it’s possible they blacklist me later, but we’ll see.) I haven’t had any 2FA attempts from Kobo yet, thankfully; I’m hoping they’ll use my email for that if needed and not whatever numbers I typed in for the phone number.
I don’t have any input, but just wanted to say it’s nice to see you again 
and hope things are ok otherwise
Been using Kobo since 2023 and haven’t had any issues yet. I might have used a VPN when creating the account, but I never used one when buying books.
@Megumin My process was PC only and wouldn’t have helped you anyway. But to close the loop, files are now downloading as KFX, which as expected don’t work. I get the error
The .kfx DRMION file cannot be decrypted by itself. A .kfx-zip archive containing a DRM voucher is required.
But I have no idea what a kfx-zip file is. This is not using Calibre, though it sounds like maybe that would work for some people. I stopped using Calibre because it downloaded low resolution images for light novels and I found something else years ago that used the high res versions. But that tool doesn’t seem well maintained and I don’t know how to get these kfx-zip files to satisfy it. 
I’ll try again another day to see if I can get Calibre working at least, but this is so frustrating. Why can’t companies just provide a good service and stop getting in our way?
I haven’t used Calibre for DeDRM other than Kobo books with the plugin.
For Kindle I used a specific software (which I’m not sure if it’s okay to mention=, but it no longer works. I used to download the files for offline transfer (a now gone feature) and this software with the SN of my old eInk device. This forced the downloads to be in the old format.
And now is not just a linux thing. I created a VM, installed kindle 2.8.0 as per instructed with this software, it detected the files, but failed to decrypt them.
It sucks to have AmazonJP gone as a viable platform, but it sucks even more that I have some books hostage there.
I have had recently trouble with AmazonEU too where I received a nasty email threatening to ban me from their infamous OFM department, so I guess they just dislike money.
Thanks! Hopefully I have some stability soon and I’m able to pick-up stuff where I left, without having to go too much back as lost skill.
Update: I managed to get a “stop-gap” half ass solution. I can decrypt the files from my Paperwhite3 still with the software mentioned, BUT they are low res and adapted for a Paperwhite, meaning no colors, and low res images. Quite a bummer.
Your paperwhite probably already downloaded a special paperwhite low resolution version.
Yes, when I used to download the file from the Manage Content in the Amazon website, it would download a generic file that wasn’t as terrible quality as this one. For the novels that I have purchased and failed to backup, is okay I guess, until something better comes around.
It is clear though, that going forward I have to find some other place. I’ll give Rakuten KoboJP a go. Maybe I’ll wait to sign up while in Japan next month for extra layers of obfuscation.
Is this a new new change? Or the one where you can’t download off of the website to transfer to your devices? I’ve also moved away from Amazon as much as I can for this and other reasons, but I do still use them occasionally.
As of a few weeks ago, I was still able to use the old version of Kindle for Windows to download the books, as long as they are older than June 2024 (I believe). Not going to help on Linux, but my process was still working the last time I tried with Calibre.
fwiw I have a few Kindle exclusive manga that I read, and screenshotting an entire manga on my phone doesn’t really take all that long (maybe 3-5 minutes) and the quality isn’t noticeably different from things I’ve gotten from the download. I then threw them into a bulk process to crop it the UI part of the screenshot. It’s definitely not a solution for a whole library (and it doesn’t help with prose), but it is a way to get manga images out of the program.
New, it seems. Books are encrypted and split across multiple files now apparently
Gross.
Good to know at least. I have some points and now I’ll be sure not to use them on something that I would be mad not to be able to download.
I’ve given up for the time being. Amazon literally released a new update to Kindle for PC today (which I installed since I didn’t have the app installed yet), and it seems like the steps for extracting the key needed for de-DRM is still a bit flaky. Unfortunately (but unsurprisingly), my Paperwhite keys don’t work for these newer file formats. Anyway, since I’m not exactly in a rush I’m going to hold off for a few weeks and see if things settle out.
what the fuck
they really hate readers huh
That’s a rather extreme conclusion to draw. I’m pretty sure they’re just trying to stop people from copying & illegally distributing their books for free, cuz they lose (probably a lot of) sales that way.
No different from every other ebook platform that doesn’t give you an epub or PDF.
they clearly hate readers too!
damn these bookstores… hating their readers…
im joking obviously its just bog standard drm, but its preeeeetty fuckin annoying
