If you don’t need a prescription for a meter in Japan, have you looked in the large chain drugstores for a meter kit. When I was deciding what to buy, read that there are two companies that make almost all the private labels in the US. Target, CVS, Walgreens brand meters come from the same factory making the True line.
There is an on-line diabetes supplier in Canada (TotalDiabetes) that ships international, more than the cost of the True Kit, but you know what reasonable international rates are.