Don't go out and buy a Japanese game and expect it to play on a North American system! Each disk is territory locked and will only play on a system with it's corresponding territory. To play a Japanese game you will need one of the following:

• A Japanese Dreamcast: Actually Sega stopped hardware production and every Japanese dreamcast has been sold out. It shouldn't be too hard trying to find a used one though, however this is the most expenive alternative. It is the easiest way to play import games, however, so it's worth it if you're willing to pay.
• A mod chip: You can buy modification chips to plant in your Dreamcast. This will allow the machine to play games from any territory. They can be fairly easy to install if you know stuff about engineering. You will need a soldering iron to put it in, and it is also risky as you can easily damage your system while doing this. Modding your Dreamcast also voids the warranty so you're out of luck if you accidentally break it. There are places that will mod it for you, try to find one and it will be safer.
• Boot disks: There are a number of disks you can find that will boot up an import game. Stick the disk in; when the screen comes up, swap disks with the import and it should boot up. The Gameshark acts as a boot disk, although it's $50 and wouldn't be worth buying solely for playing imports. There is a newly released thing called the DC-X which let's you play imports as well, and it's only $20. There are other disks like this that you can find on the Internet and burn on a CDR, but many of these are illegal. Do this at your own risk!

Now that you've set up your system to play imports, you'll need to go get an import game (otherwise you just wasted your time). A good place to start is in your local town. Check and see if there's an import shop near you. GameFAQs has listings for import stores, you may want to check that out and see if anything's close to you. Or if you're going to be in Japan, then that's definetly a good place to look!

For most people though, you'll have to rely on the Internet. If you're not sure where to look, here are some starters:

• National Console Support: http://www.ncsx.com They're on of the premier import dealers on the Net! With some of the best selections and decent prices, be sure to check here. They also offer periodicals from Japan as well as specialty items *including mod chips*. I heard they can also fix broken systems, so that's another reason to stop by.
• Tronix: http://www.tronixweb.com I personally haven't bought anything from here, but I've only heard good things. They offer import AND domestic games, so this may be your one stop for all your gaming needs!
• Video Game Depot: http://www.videogamedepot.com Good selection, great prices, overall good store. If you're comparison-shopping, be sure to stop here.
• Buy Rite: http://www.buyrite1.net You may run across this site, but I should warn you that I haven't heard good things.... On the other hand, they usually have unbeatable prices, although the selecton isn't as wide. Just realize that your package may not be on time or in good condition from some of the stories I hear.

Another note: You are not allowed to sell import games on eBay, so don't bother trying there. But as far as I know, you can still buy them at other auction sites such as Yahoo! or Amazon.com auctions. Also check Switchouse.com if you're looking for cheaper, used games.

Well learning Japanese is not easy. If you do not speak the language fluently, I would highly recommend NOT getting games with high Japanese text content. For example, getting an import game like Seaman would be pointless because you won't be able to do anything. Some games don't have a lot of text and can still be enjoyed without thorough knowledge of the language. Still, it's nice to have some understanding of it to help you with menus, etc. So here are some things to know:

• The language is made up of three alphabets: Katakana, Hirogana, and Kanji. Katakana characters are used to spell out words from other languages and are the most simple looking. Hirogana is a bit more complicated (the characters are less angular) and is harder to understand. But the big language barrier lies with Kanji - there are thousands or ornate characters meaning different words that can be difficult to learn. Unless you are seriously looking in to learning Japanese, you'll probably just want to avoid trying to learn Kanji.
• Almost all menus in games are written in Katakana. If you learn Katakana, you will be able to read the menus. They are all English words (example: arcade=akado, which sounded out sounds like arcade; or option=opushun).
• When learning Katakana, keep in mind that R is a rolled R - it usually sounds more like a D and is often used in place of L (since they don't have a character for L sounds). Also keep in mind that when a character has a - (dash) behind it, you should hold the sound out for a bit longer.

So if you want to understand your imports better, learn Katakana. Names of people are also written in it, which may be of some help in adventure games. Keep in mind that many Japanese games are English-heavy, so some menus will even be written in English! Otherwise, try to find a Katakana chart either online or in a book - keep it handy whenever you come across a word you don't recognize.

Japan gets a lot more online games then we have in the states. Most of their fighting games have online play in them, and almost all games at least have the option to connect to an in-game website. So can you go online from the US?

Well it depends. It's possible to connect to websites with a Japanese game in most cases, however I know many people that can't get online at all with imports. It seems your Dreamcast needs to be registered in Japan to get online, yet I can get online with all of my imports. Maybe it's just luck...