For those with a musical ear (not me, all I can play is a recorder, and a bit of shakuhachi... which isn't all that different, I guess, lol) I have a few web stores you may be interested in.

I will freely admit that I haven't dealt with either due to financial issues right now, so if anyone has any experience with either one of these, your experiences would be appreciated

One is Chords Canada which has shamisen and other stringed instruments.

The other is Mejiro, which is in Japan and they specialise in Shakuhachi (vertical flute) and Shinobue (horizontal flute). They have a site that is in both English and Japanese, and their prices appear largely reasonable.

Both appear worth checking out, at least.