So cute *.* (but plus, the more I see him, the more he reminds me heavily of some old wooden toys we used to play with with my bro when we were really small... He loooks so familiar... )
Can Charlie be used overseas?
I want to preorder Charlie through a forwarding service, but when he arrives in my country (America), can you tell me if he will function?
I understand that Charlie is a product for Japan. (The My Charlie app is only in Japanese, and Charlie can sing in Japanese about the weather in Japan, etc.)
I would like to know more about the monthly usage fee (Charlie Plan).
Do you pay through the My Charlie app?
Usually, my American Mastercard debit card works on Japanese websites (like Amazon or DLsite) for payment, but Rakuten is not usable for a foreigner.
Would it be possible to use a prepaid card (Japanese version)?
Thank you very much.
ヤマハCharlie事務局です。
This is Yamaha’s Charlie department.
この度はお問い合わせいただき、誠にありがとうございます。
Thank you very much for your inquiry.
大変恐縮ですが、Charlieは日本国内での使用を想定して設計されているため、
アメリカでのご使用に関しては動作保証しかねます。
We are very sorry, but the assumption while planning Charlie was that he would be used within Japan, so we are unable to guarantee his use in America.
またお支払い手続きはCharlieサービスサイトにてお願いいたします。(5/13オープン予定)
Please use the Charlie service website for payment procedures. (Planned to start on 5/13)
クレジットカードでのお支払いが可能です。
It is possible to pay through credit card.
申し訳ございませんが、プリペイドカードではお支払いいただけません。
We are very sorry, but prepaid credit cards can not be used for payment.
今後ともCharlieをどうぞ宜しくお願いします 。
Please continue to treat Charlie well.
Ouch. The VPN pico mentioned seems like a fairly solid plan, though still a bit of a risk. I guess if he sings about the weather in Japan, you'd have to give him a Japanese address, too, so he knows what weather to sing about. You might end up having to fool him on a few different fronts in order to let him workI wrote an email to Yamaha about Charlie. I sent my email in Japanese, but I will only write the English translation here:
Their reply is basically "Thanks for liking Charlie, but we can't guarantee he works outside of Japan."
Here is a translation of their response:
Like most devices, that would probably be based on the location of the IP rather than some kind of address input. So wherever Charlie's network *thinks* you are would be the location of the weather report. So, in this case, wherever the VPN host is. (All of this is assuming that they wouldn't let you connect Charlie to their cloud service on a foreign IP, but in uncreepy's email they fail to confirm either way. So it could be necessary, or it might not be.)Ouch. The VPN pico mentioned seems like a fairly solid plan, though still a bit of a risk. I guess if he sings about the weather in Japan, you'd have to give him a Japanese address, too, so he knows what weather to sing about. You might end up having to fool him on a few different fronts in order to let him work.
Charlie's price page specifically says he can tell you "weather within Japan (日本国内の天気)", I think since they said they made him assuming you'd be in Japan that is why they said it, unless he flat out can't tell you weather outside of Japan.Like most devices, that would probably be based on the location of the IP rather than some kind of address input. So wherever Charlie's network *thinks* you are would be the location of the weather report. So, in this case, wherever the VPN host is. (All of this is assuming that they wouldn't let you connect Charlie to their cloud service on a foreign IP, but in uncreepy's email they fail to confirm either way. So it could be necessary, or it might not be.)
I actually expected that to happen because Yamaha's back to developing the Vocaloid engine...Apparently at some point, Yamaha added a notice at the bottom of Charlie's website and to the Purchase section of their FAQ saying that production of Charlie has ended. But people who own him can still pay for the Charlie plan (which gives him more abundant conversation functions). There isn't even a proper news post about it.
I really thought that if Charlie became discontinued, they'd just open his plan for free so his owners could use him, but I guess they will keep their hands in peoples' pockets as long as possible.
There's only 1 left on their Amazon store, so I think if people were to buy him, it'd have to be through an auction site. Poor little fella didn't last long.
Charlie wasn't meant to replace or compete with the Vocaloid engine.I actually expected that to happen because Yamaha's back to developing the Vocaloid engine...