Rakuten - Order direct from Japan?
 

Has anyone ever used this site? It looks like they have a lot of Fender Japan basses for sale on there. The shipping would be costly, but it still beats MIA prices at the end of the day.

http://global.rakuten.com/en/

I haven't bought an instrument (yet) but I have bought things like straps and such. You are buying from a store through the Rakuten site. It was easy, I even changed my order via email after I placed it and there were no problems. International shipping is certainly more expensive but with EMS I've had items arrive faster from Japan than from within the US.