Shopping in Japan without leaving home

If you've ever wished you could visit or return to Japan to spend a few days (weeks?) wandering and browsing all those truly spectacular Japanese shopping malls and department stores--stocked to the rafters with goods many around the world can only dream of--despair no more.

Rakuten, one of Japan's largest online shopping destinations, has rolled out its international shipping service. Here one can browse shopping categories in English, click on items of your choice, and arrange international payment and shipping to almost anywhere in the world.

The problem? Only the category titles appear in English. If you try, as I did, to actually buy something, you'll soon discover your just how bad your kanji, hiragana, and katakana reading abilities really are. Oh well, that's why we have Japanese friends...