Nanban Trading-The basics

Before we start there's a quick video tutorial here:

First to start nanban trading you will need to unlock East Asia port permits, which require all game port/canal permits to be unlocked first. I'll explain the port permits requirements in a different post.

There are various trade goods to bring to East Asia to bribe the town officials to start nanban trading.
For me and many others, 300 Whiskey or Muskets work well to initiate trading in 1 of the 4 countrys(Japan, China, Taiwan and Korea). You need to acheive 1000 points with the town official which will be displayed when you trade with them.

You can only bribe the town official in Nagasaki, Japan; Macau, China; Tamsui, Taiwan; Pohang, Korea. The ammount of goods you bring to bribe the town officials depend on the backstock rates which I'll explain later, but 300+ Whiskey/Muskets should work fine.

Once you can start trading in the starting towns (Nagasaki, Macau, Tamsui, Pohang) you need to bring certain trade goods, once a trade is made, you will receive culture contribution points. These points will unlock more towns to trade in as well as more valuable trade goods. Also once you have the main towns (Edo, Chongqing, Anping and Busan) you can start receiving gifts, some are great, others not so much, but they fill Memorial Albums for rewards.

I will try cover as much information as i can, but try familiarize yourself with UWODB nanban trade section:http://uwodbmirror.ivyro.net/eg/main.php?id=85000040
Most of the information displayed on the link will look daunting at first but I will explain the workings of it all.

Trading skills you may have will help you receive a little more quantity of an East Asia trade good.
Using an East Asia(EA) ship with 'Nanban trade preference' ship skill will help you receive +20% more goods.
Click here to see a list of ships capable of bearing the skill.
http://uwodbmirror.ivyro.net/eg/main.php?id=30002131

With the help of the NC item Nanban Purveyor Certificates you can achieve upto a 1:1 ratio of goods, for example you can receive upto 1500 paper lanterns for 1500 wine. If you have an EA ship with Nanban trade preference ship skill you can receive a further +20% so 1800 paper lanterns for 1500 wine.

The EA markets work differently to other markets around the world, the market is based on a backstock basis which I will explain in detail. 

1 of the advantages of nanban trading is anyone with the permits to enter the EA towns can make full use of nanban trading, for example, collectors/procurers can collect and produce some goods in East Asia such as European Armour and Steel which are great to trade. 
Maritimers can acquire goods that are highly valued from dungeons, such as Fort San Domingo goods which will be great to trade in China, Korea and Japan and vice versa for the other nation's dungeons. 
Traders can purchase the goods to take to EA to trade and receive a little bonus to goods received with trading skills such as Sundries Trading for Sundries goods etc.

Ok now to the UWODB nanban trade page, click on the UWODB nanban trade link above to enter the page, you'll see:

This part shows Backtocks/Market Rates/Short Distance(nanban trades you can make without sailing long distances)
First you'll see I highligted Alcohol under Japan, Click that you should see:

Here we have a list of alcohol trades goods with 'Value' and you can see Wine at 4136, which means this trade good is highly sought after in Japan. You can open all the trade goods and see what is best for you. If you have Alcohol trading for example, Wine should be easy for you to acquire and great to trade in Japan. Any trade good with over 4k value is great to trade providing the backstocks are accomodating but we'll go into that soon.

Items to help with nanban trading bought from NC item shop or players:

The Nanban Purveyor Certificate increases the goods you receive up to a 1:1 ratio unless you have a ship with nanban trade preference skill then you can receive more than a 1:1 ratio.

The New Nanban Permit Bill isn't really needed unless you intend to make trades on behalf of a player who hasn't yet opened nanban trading, even then you could just do a port reset (sail out until the town is no longer visible, then sail back into the town for another trade).

Next we'll cover backstock and town statuses.