It's cheaper to buy Japan set at Taiwan, I bought mine from this shop - http://www.shueido.com/x/r-1-b.htm U can try email them if they got stock or not. GH2 body should be a bit more than USD600.
Great that you got it in HK. Optics are generally cheaper over there. In Singapore, everything seems to suffer from hyperinflation. Lenses here cost generally 10-15% more than in HK or anywhere else. I don't know why this is the case. It can't be because of the 7% govt tax, which many of these vendors like to put the blame on.
I bought my GH2 in Spore, the 14-42mm version. Cost me $1360, which works out to be US$1105, at current exchange rate.
Right now I know only the price situation in HK. Actually I found that street prices seems to be far lower than the online prices. E.g. you can find a GH2 body from HK ebay sellers at about 650 euro (without shipping). Some HK resellers have online shops but the prices are just for reference aka official prices.
Actually it's very difficult to find a GH2 in HK. I was in a dozen huge or specialized shops and I found it just in one shop. If you want a G1 it's plenty :-)
Now I'm becoming crazy searching for the Lumix 8mm fisheye lens: till now no luck.
Sure. My friend got ripped big time buying off ebay a PAL set from a seller in HK. He paid S$1200, just body alone. That works out to be US$975, at current exchange rates!
I have seen the Lumix 8mm floating about in Spore. But because they know it's rare, the sellers are out with their sharpened knives. Expect to pay at least 100 bucks more than usual.
@kazuo don't think your friend got ripped off. If he is savvy enough to buy from Ebay, I'm sure he can at least google on the average pricing. Anyway, you can priced your product as high as you wish on Ebay and if there's a willing buyer, you got yourself a good deal.
After spending one week in Hong Kong looking for a good deal on a GH2 I gave up. Shortly... a shop with the good price indicated in my previous post revealed to be a classic bait & switch: They told me they had a GH2 body at 500 euro but it was in their warehouse. They pretend to pay by credit card in advance to bring the camera from the warehouse at the shop. I refused and after a big discussion it turned out to be a G1 body. Of course once you pay there's no way to get the money refunded.
In the other shops, with the GH2 on the shelf, prices was the same as on Ebay in Europe.
@LongJohn You still based in Hong Kong? It could be becos you're kwai lo (HK vernacular for Caucasian) that's why they try to rip you.
Were you at Tsim Sar Chui? That's the camera belt, where they sell second hand stuff. Maybe you should go there with a local. It's always good to travel with a trusted friend who is native to the place.
Thank you all for your suggestions. I'm already back in Italy so I haven't a second chance. I'll get a brand new GH2 body on ebay in germany: 720 euro.
In the next few days I'll sell my current hacked GH1 body