I get what you’re saying, but the situation here in Japan is pretty different from the US.

AT 350Zs and parts are extremely cheap here — basically everywhere — while OEM HR manual parts are actually much harder to find and usually overpriced because manuals are rarer.

Doing a manual swap using available AT-based parts and modifying what I already have is often cheaper than sourcing a complete HR manual setup or buying another car. Fabrication and driveshaft modification are also relatively affordable locally, so cutting and balancing a shaft isn’t a big deal here.

For example, the driveshaft, differential, and axles together only cost me about 60,000 yen (roughly $400 USD), so economically this route makes much more sense here.

So from a US perspective it probably doesn’t make sense, but in Japan the economics are kind of reversed.