USD1418 at Bic Camera in Tokyo, assuming the store points are full-valued***. Doesn't say they're "in stock" but 送料無料、発売日以降お届け: free shipping once released. I don't know if that text would change to "backordered" once pre-orders overtake their initial allocation. And: 2024年7月上旬: "early July."
I'm pretty happy with the Sigma 28mm f/1.4 but if I'm going to trade over to 35mm this would be the time to do it I guess.
*** You pay 253,000 yen for the lens, and receive 25,300 points, which have a value of 1 yen for future purchases. A tourist may not be able to use such points but a resident can. On the other hand, a lot of their goods are a bit more expensive than Amazon so I always have the dilemma of using 9000 of the stupid points to buy a printer cartridge vs. 7950 cash on Amazon, etc. So, you can effectively consider the actual purchase price to be 90% of the headline purchase price, but with those pesky restrictions.
When lenses are new and demand is highest, the price will be the same (after points) at almost every shop. Looking on kakaku.com, the prices are 227,700 at all the typical shops. That works out to $1423 including tax, or $1293 before tax. The before tax price is what people in the US see on sites like B&H so it's a fair comparison. ("Consumption tax" is 10% in Japan, for those who may not know.)
However, if you wait a little for the initial rush to pass, you will often find more competitive pricing on the various shops on kakaku.com than at the big chains like Yodobashi and BIC. Canon is much more aggressive about controlling price competition than Nikon or Sony are, but there can still be savings. Third party glass from Sigma or Tamron, should it ever actually arrive on RF, will be much cheaper on kakaku than at Yodobashi or BIC. Basically Yodobashi or BIC always price at MSRP while the smaller shops will sell for less.
Finally, Amazon Japan gives you points when you spend points. So if you buy something for 10,000yen that has 500yen of points, you still get those points even if you pay entirely in points. (Amazon tends to have lower prices and fewer points, but for some products such as watches, Amazon's prices & points tend to match Yodobashi or BIC, but Amazon points have more value.) Because neither Yodobashi nor BIC (nor anywhere else in Japan that I am aware of) give you points if you spend points, this reduces the effective value of Yodobashi or BIC points. You get 10% points, but the real value is about 9%. Important to keep in mind.
Oh, and "one more thing"... If someone visits Yodobashi or BIC and makes a brand new point card (like a tourist or example), in the past they could not spend the points on the same day. This MAY have changed but I do not know. This obviously sucks for someone who may be on a tight schedule as returning to the store the next day to spend points is not always practical or possible. This is only the case when the card is brand new, after that you can spend points on the day you receive them.
