Japanese arcade parts suppliers

I know that if I want to build an extremely high quality American joystick (such as the MAS) then I should get the parts from a company like HAL.

But what if I want to build my own high quality Japanese joystick (square guide, short stick w/ a ball on the end, relatively loose, perfect "snap-back-to-center", etc.)? From whom would I have to purchase the stick and possibly some buttons?

Also, can someone explain the difference between "American" buttons and "Japanese" buttons? Is it that one is concave and the other convex or what? What are the advantages/disadvantages to each? I'm not sure that there is much difference. If I build a stick I might just order buttons from HAL to reduce shipping and handling charges but I really want a Japanese stick. Almost 2/3rds of the world uses that style stick--who am I to disagree?

 

The typical difference between buttons, is that American buttons are concave and Japanese buttons are convex. There are very specific differences, but I can't get into too much detail about those specifics.

I can play on either just fine, but for some reason (maybe out of bias), I'm way more comfortable with Japanese buttons. I guess my scale would be japanese buttons > US convex buttons > standard US concave buttons. But that's me.

Happ's convex buttons are fine imo, but I honestly still prefer whatever convex buttons I've used on the Versus City machines in Vancouver BC.

Brand new American concave buttons are fine, and in the home, they should be fine. But at the arcade, when they get a lot of junk in them, they get progressively worse and I hate that. However, with how I do Akira's knee (I brush my finger against Guard), convex definitely works better for me.

-Chanchai