We have an R747, that was installed by the people we bought our house from. This is the first time I experienced a hood that is actually vented to the outside, so I think it's great.. It definetely sucks away ALL cooking odors amazingly well! So well that I even open tuna cans under it, so my non-fish-eating family doesn't complain about the smell.... I will say that plastic piece in the front has not aged well, it has been scratched by cleaning with too much force, so it is cloudy looking. I'm not sure exactly which one you are looking at, but the one we have has the hang down grease traps in the back that are the same plastic, so they have yellowed, and it is practically impossible to get the grease out of them, so it always look like hell...not sure if this helps or not...

I found all the sakura hoods and parts on here http://www.rangehoodking.com/

Here is a link that might be useful: Sakura range hoods retailer

I used TWO Sakura range hoods myself. I installed the 2nd one myself. It was super easy to operate, maintain, and install! It is powerful while it's not too noisy. I highly recommend it. Most parts can be replaced. E.g.: the "plastic piece in the front" is completely replaceable.

My mom had one installed so many years ago I can't even remember .... 15 maybe? One of the plastic grease traps just broke a few days ago, and I ordered replacements. Including shipping, cost under $18.00 for two traps. Replacements can be ordered directly from Sakura USA.

We have a Sakura R-747 in our house. We bought the house from it's original owner, who was from Hong Kong. The house was built in 1994, and I'd assumed this hood was also from 1994 since virtually everything else in the house was original. We still have all the original Whirlpool kitchen appliances which have manufacture dates in 1994.  After looking up some specs on this hood, I'm not totally sure it's original. It seems too powerful to be builder-grade. That said, the builders used Trane HVAC units which were still functioning perfectly fine when we decided to replace them this summer.

Anyways, I'm curious to know when the R-747 (not the version II) was manufactured. Ours is so unbelievably gross right now, though it still functions perfectly fine as far as I can tell. We just ordered a new GE Profile range, because the old whirlpool has ignitor issues and I broke a knob off. I'm also concerned it might be a fire hazard in high temp usages.  This new GE has much more powerful burners and had electric convection. It's gonna produce a lot of heat. 

I originally planned to replace the Sakura hood, but after looking up the specs I'm wondering if its better to just keep it. We're going to remodel the kitchen in 5 years or so, so all this stuff will be going on the trash then anyway.  I don't want to spend a lot to replace a hood that I'm only going to use for a few years. The range we'll at least be able to resell, but i have a feeling that a used hood won't sell easily.  I do at least need to raise the height of the hood. It's currently only 5ft off the ground, and I'm 6'-4". It's a royal pain in the ass to use the range with this hood where it is. We have extra room below the cabinet to raise it though, and i can easily reroute the duct and wiring.