Vinyl Shops in Tokyo, Japan and Japan in General

Discussion in 'Music, Movie and Hardware Store Guide' started by mikemoon, Jan 17, 2014.

  1. MightyVinyl

    MightyVinyl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    Mejiro Prog Store: go out front of station, go LEFT and look for stairs on your left - go down and around then you'll come to a Family Mart. Go right - the Prog store is in building on your immediate left along with Belle Sntiques. First floor #102

    Does not open until 1pm
     
  2. yookmook

    yookmook Forum Resident

    no tax refund for disk union .
    i wish they have.
     
  3. yookmook

    yookmook Forum Resident


    how 's recofan and disk union yokohama shop compare to shibuya branch?
    are they cheaper?
    what kinds of vinyl do they have ?
     
  4. rcdupre

    rcdupre Flying is Trying is Dying

    Go to Seibu Shinjuku station, a few blocks north of Shinjuku station, and take the train to hon-kawagoe, preferably a rapid, right not MATSURI, alcohaul, massive drunken street party, one of the biggest!
     
  5. MightyVinyl

    MightyVinyl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    Revised: go right at Family Mart, the building is then on your left about 2-3 buildings along. Very small store, but nice selection of decently priced prog vinyl and CDs
     
  6. MightyVinyl

    MightyVinyl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    Very similar, but larger selection of ¥100 vinyl crap and **** loads of ¥100-¥200 CDs in the Yokohama branch of Recofan. I found that if you look carefully, you can find good deals anywhere, although the large DU branch in Ochanomizu was easily the highest priced of any of the DUs that I've been to.

    Today I went to Mejiro for the prog store,then on to DU Takadanobaba, DU Ochanomizu, and then a return trip to the DU Shinjuku fourth and fifth floor rock stores. Like I said, Ochanomizu was far and away the most expensive of the shops, with almost everything being an average of ¥10-¥15,000 and up. I managed to find a beautiful pink Floyd "more" original Japanese Odeon pressing in great condition but no OBI for ¥3000. Also got a rare Kate Bush Japan only promo 7 inch TODP-2110 that I've been wanting for a long time, they had one in mint condition for ¥5000. Also found some cool Japan only promo Elvis Costello and Alice Cooper 7 inch stuff for between ¥700-1300, and a few other Japanese from all singles along the way today for reasonable prices, about 1/5 of what they're actually worth on this Discogs.

    Back in Shinjuku, I found two Japanese promo copies of the first Echo And The Bunnymen mini album with OBI, both in NM/NM condition for ¥1327 ($11) each along with a bunch of other new wave and post punk rarities with obis at great prices.

    Total spent today:
    $427
    (43) 7" pic sleeves
    (24) LP's most all with obi's

    Average unit price $6.47 as I bought many big ticket items (Stones, Floyd, Sabbath, etc)
     
    Last edited: Oct 17, 2015
    yookmook likes this.
  7. MightyVinyl

    MightyVinyl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    I should also mention the lady in Recofan that handled the transaction was amazing. I stood there for 10 minutes watching her count, recount, stack, recount, re-stack, scold the kid who'd originally counted, then repeat ad nauseum. I had struck up a conversation with the guy who ran the store, or at least I thought he did, but I'm guessing that maybe she was his wife as he seemed afraid to say boo even as he saw me getting more & more annoyed. I could have a stacked them in groups by price, done the man and finished the transaction in about 10 minutes tops, she was going to take 20 or 30 at least. He finally offered to show me to the nearby DU while they figured out a way to find peace in the Mideast, derive a cure for cancer, and price my stack of 250+ items. This counting, recounting, stacking and recounting seems to be a common procedure at many of the stores. Not sure how they manage to get anything done.

    I should also comment on the attention to detail in packaging. That is part of the attraction with Japanese vinyl, and the store employees are similarly detail-oriented in packing and packaging your purchases. The quality of the DU brown paper carrier bags is amazing. I'll be saving these babies and bringing them home. You don't see this sort of quality in the States that's for certain.
     
  8. rcdupre

    rcdupre Flying is Trying is Dying

    Matsuri, u missed out, your loss!
     
  9. MightyVinyl

    MightyVinyl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    :shake::shake::shake::shake:
    Thanks man. Sorry, not a drinker (and drunk folks make me nervous!). (;
     
  10. rcdupre

    rcdupre Flying is Trying is Dying

     
  11. Johnny Ryall

    Johnny Ryall Forum Resident

    Even if they are a bit down the road from central Tokyo, I had good luck with the DxUx stores in Tachikawa and Machida.
    Machida shops is in a nice neighborhood with lots of shops. There's a huge Book Off not far frm it and an Audio Union next door to the DxUx.
     
  12. rcdupre

    rcdupre Flying is Trying is Dying

    Yeah that Machida store is cool, but small...tachikawa is my local, I hit that place about once a week, I find that the farther from Shinjuku you go, there better the deals you find, Saitama is a goldmine!
     
  13. Johnny Ryall

    Johnny Ryall Forum Resident

    Any other shop worth checking out in Tachikawa?

    Never ventured out to the Omiya, Kitaurawa, Kashiwa or Chiba stores. Are they worth it the price of the JR ride?
     
  14. rcdupre

    rcdupre Flying is Trying is Dying

    dude if I go out the south side of Tachikawa eki and hang a left for about 3 blocks there are 2 totally cool stores, same chain as in Kokubunji, see my list, the upstairs one, to the right before Family Mart is off the hook if ur into vinyl!!!... And a great point, u always hAve to factor in the price of a roundtrip train ride, JR is expensive! Not as much for Seibu line, but still, that's why I add money on the stuff i barelly sell in the classifieds, I make enough to break even, to feed my ocd jones
     
    Last edited: Oct 19, 2015
  15. wumpah

    wumpah Member

    Location:
    Planet M78
    Yah, there are tons of vinyl shop in every part of tokyo. Some good, some bad, some always have a default price of 980yen, some are selling at 100yen for good deal.

    But are there any heavy, death, black, thrash, grindcore metal shop to check out or recommend. Any season metalhead knows of any good metal store to recommend beside DU metal shop.

    Please share the info...
     
  16. Johnny Ryall

    Johnny Ryall Forum Resident

    After doing the usual rounds in central Tokyo, Ialways start moving outwards to the rest of the DxUx locations.
    By the end of the allocated time I'm usually satisfied with the purchases I made and the credit card plafond is getting too damn close so I always skip the most remote shops and save a little on trasportation.
    For this upcoming trip I might be holding a JR tourist pass so things could be different.

    Anyone in the know regarding the hifi shops in Akihabara?
    I always spend some time at the orange-sign headphone shop (sorry, I forgot the name) but this time I'd be looking for tyurntable pre-amps.
    I'd love to bring home one of those kit to assemble a tube pre-amp.
     
  17. Johnny Ryall

    Johnny Ryall Forum Resident

    Have you ever been to Record Boy in Koenji? That's the most old school metal shop in the whole world :) Base Record Shop is in the same neighborhood and is pretty good.
    There's also Nat Records in Nishi Shinjuku. Allman was like across the street by but it closed long time ago.
     
  18. wumpah

    wumpah Member

    Location:
    Planet M78
    Last trip was looking for Nats record cos was at shinjuku but couldn,t find the place as like was walking in circle in end gave up.

    Wheres the record boy you mention. Are they good and super cheap for vinyls and cds.
     
  19. rcdupre

    rcdupre Flying is Trying is Dying

    Where is that metal store? Last time I was there I couldn't find it....is it by the covered shopping street North exit?
     
  20. MightyVinyl

    MightyVinyl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    I think you cursed me! I woke up yesterday morning at 7 AM in terrible pain, I thought it might be appendicitis, finally was able to find my way to an English-speaking clinic by around 11 AM - i'd been trying since 8 AM but everywhere I went I was turned away as they didn't speak English well enough to help me.

    Finally got to the "American Clinic" or something like that, the guy rushed me in even though they were fully booked, and within about 30 minutes had diagnosed me with a kidney stone. ****. I then got to spend the rest of the day drinking water, peeing, and praying for relief. The only positive was that I was able to pack all my suitcases so I have a good idea of what I can fit on the trip home, and got the excess packaged and taken to the post office, so that task is out-of-the-way.

    Finally fell asleep about 2 AM and woke at 4AM and was able to pass the stone.

    It's back to business as usual today though, I Made it to two Rare Records and one Disk Union.

    I think I need to check into the courier service that will take your luggage to the airport for you, these suckers are heavy and with three checked bags and two carry-ons I'm not sure that I want to be messing with taking all that by bus to the airport.
     
  21. Johnny Ryall

    Johnny Ryall Forum Resident

    Nat Records / Warehouse
    This is their web site http://natrecords.shop-pro.jp/ , this is their Facebook https://www.facebook.com/NatRecords and this is the CD&LP article about them http://blog.cdandlp.com/2012/03/nat-records-shinjuku_09.html
    It's basically 2 stores in the same room, Nat mostly punk/hc/metal and Warehouse an oldies '60s/'70s store.
    It used to be much better when I first visited back in '08 but still worth a trip since it's only a few steps away from Vinyl Japan, a Book Off and there's more shops in the proximity.

    This is the map on their site, not really useful unless you already are familiar with the area
    [​IMG]
    You basically need to walk out of the Shinjuku JR station west exit and walk down the main road past Strangelove Records (with the big banana sign) until you reach a Freshness Burger shop on your left. Keep on for maybe 50 meters and Nat will be on your left on the 2nd floor.

    This is the way from Shinjuku JR station
    [​IMG]

    This is the Street View right in front of the building. Yes, walk in that door.
    [​IMG]

    This is the sign they usually have on the street.
    [​IMG]
     
  22. wumpah

    wumpah Member

    Location:
    Planet M78
    You sound so serious with all ur records finding and hunting during all tis while. Am really curious did u hoot up any metal vinyl like Carcass, Napalm death, Entomb or any Cannibal Corpse Lp.
     
  23. Johnny Ryall

    Johnny Ryall Forum Resident


    Record Boy - Koenji


    This is their website http://recordboy.shop-pro.jp/ this is their Facebook https://www.facebook.com/recordboyjapan/info?tab=overview
    They mostly carry old school metal, death metal, black metal, grindcore new records and reissues.
    Depending on what he's been trading you might find an excellent selection of used records at fair prices.
    The new titles could be a little pricier since most of that stuff is imported and we all know how that works in Japan.
    The shop is under the Pal Arcade in Koenji. You need to walk out of the south exit in Koenji and then to the right for the Pal Arcade.
    Walk down for a couple of minutes and when you reach the Sofmap store walk up stairwell right beside it.
    It's the 4th block on your left. Not really easy to spot since they never have signs on the street.
    [​IMG]
     
  24. MightyVinyl

    MightyVinyl Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    Johnny, thanks for the detailed info! Between you and RCDUPRE I've been able to amass more shops than I can actually visit in two weeks. Thanks again.
     
  25. Johnny Ryall

    Johnny Ryall Forum Resident

    Hope you're feeling better and ready for more digging!
     

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