Vinyl Shops in Tokyo, Japan and Japan in General

Thanks for posting. I will be going to Shinjuku today so will check out this shop.

 

As I've said before, go to eBay complete sales/auctions of Japanese sellers and the cheap prices.....too bad about paying to get them here. Japanese albums were all over record shows and stores forever.....now dried up.

 

Re-read my post. His shop is called Shinjuku Records but it’s not in Shinjuku

 

You can still find bargains if you look hard, but the days of finding NM Japanese pressings with obi of classic rock albums for ¥100 are long gone

 

[QUOTE="MightyVinyl, post: 30666511, member: 39018] Combine a yellow tag with the current 33% dollar to yen discount and that’s a 63% discount!.[/QUOTE]

whoops, that math ain’t quite right. .67 x .70 = .469 (53.1%) discount

 

I'll be heading to Japan in mid-November/early December with wife and kids. I've negotiated a day of record shopping while we're in Tokyo. We lived there before so I know many of the shops, but we'll be visiting family/friends and eventually heading to Kyoto and Shiga prefecture. Luckily we're hearing that the MySOS thing might be out the window by then, though it might get replaced with a different app?

My gawd, that Music Lab page made me nazukashii about all the stores I visited during lunch breaks, weekends, etc. Manhattan Records is great. Face Records is good but iirc pricey and mostly new stuff.

Iirc, the Disc Union in Shimokitazawa had a fair bit of classic rock. I'll probably head to either the one in Shibuya (my old favorite) or Shinjuku Sanchome, both of which had a nice mix of jazz and rock (and with 新宿三丁目 a whole floor dedicated to classical records, which is rare nowadays).

Actually, now that I think of it, Sanchome might be worth a stop for the used hardware. Might be a good time to pick up an old Denon 103 or whatever they have there to take home for a retip. Then again, Shibuya is great just for walking around all the tiny record shops dedicated to one genre.

 

I think I visited Recofan a few times when we lived there. Is that the place where they have a poop-ton of records in unmarked boxes, all just thrown in with no markers? If so, that actually turned me off a bit. I felt like if I didn't check every single box I might miss something I'd been looking for.

 

Thanks again. Found the place but it wasn’t easy tucked in the mall but wow so many promo and near mint classics with obi. Bought Harvest, Zuma promo, On the Beach, Exile on Main Street, 1976 pressing of Sticky Fingers, and Allman Brothers promo. Prices were actually pretty good considering the yen to dollar. Need to go back and do some more looking around under the main racks. Highly recommend and the guy there was really nic

 

Yep, that was Recofan! In fact that described both the Shibuya and the Yokohama branches. I haven’t checked out their new digs yet but will try to do that sometime next week.

I loved the Shibuya location, you just never knew what you were going to find. I remember after spending a whole day there and buying a ton, I returned the final day before I left and only had an hour and suddenly stumbled across two Japanese pressings of the Judas Priest sad wings of Destiny album both with Obi both under $10.

 

Yes, Jeff was a great guy. Even gave me one of his CDs, I’ll have to listen to it when I get home. Hopefully you told him you heard about his shop from me? I gave him one of my business cards (with the MightyVinyl logo) and told him I would tell other people online about his shop

 

Does anyone have/use the Disk Union membership cards? I still have mine, but for the life of me can't remember whether it was worth using. A lot of membership programs in Japan are barely worth the plastic used to print them.

Also discovered I still have 40,000円 in my Shinsei Bank account. There's my record money for next month right there.

 

This one time they were having sale and showing the DU card when checking out could get you some additional discount.
The girl at the counter insisted I should get one and I did.
Other than that, I think it can help you track your orders.

 

Went to Kichijoji yesterday. A couple nice finds at the Disk Union, then I went to Coconuts Disks and found a couple more. Prices are uniformly high but the exchange rate makes some purchases palatable. Biggest complaint is that their NM is more like a Disk Union B/EX- in many cases, and their M is usually comparable to Disk Union B+ so you have to check each item thoroughly. Did find a couple of Brian Eno albums with obi so that made me happy.

Decided to hit Rare. Prices were also very high, but their grading was much improved over years past. Found a Clash Give ‘Em Enough Rope with obi and insert, true NM/NM but ¥4000, which converts to roughly $27.

I was surprised to find the D.U. was open at 11:45, I had wandered around for nearly half an hour killing time assuming that they weren’t going to open until noon. I wonder if D.U. is revising or has revised their opening time to the old 11 AM weekdays now?

 

RecoFan Seekbase today in Akihibara. Good to see the guy who helped me every time I visited the old Yokohama store. Inventory MUCH better organized but they also took the opportunity to raise all prices very significantly. LOTS of Japanese pressings with obi’s, and some real wallet hoovers on the walls - original Bowie, Zep, Smiths, Sabbath with obi’s, over ¥10,000 yen each but prolly worth it if you gotta have it. Quality is sus as well as they don’t grad3 anything so check carefully. I took all but 2 of the LP’s I pulled, but only 5 of the 25 singles I pulled. If you buy a significant amount they might still give the old ¥200 discount on each, he said they do that for long-term customers. They don’t do Tax Free anymore even if you show your passport.

So, a bit of a step forward in many regards except prices.

 

Tax free for foreigners has been cancelled everywhere because of massive amounts of traffic ( cause low yen ) with people then reselling in Asia everywhere , like 10 i phones at once

 

The “other” RecoFan - Musashi Kogenai stop on Chuo Line is in the MEGA bldg with a Don Quixote, on 4th floor. They have adopted higher ¥ on new acquisitions but seem to have a lot of the old inventory at the old prices. Some vinyl but more emphasis on CD/DVD. Found some decent items and one great one (Led Zep II sealed box set with Rock Age obi) and felt it was time well spent.
Again, much better organization than the old sprawling shops, but far less vinyl.

 

Ooops… it’s the Led Zep III box set. I think this came out in 2018?

 

Found a new shop next to Higashi Nakano station, Judgement! Records. One of the deepest Apple & related collections I’ve ever seen, with TONS of test pressings, obi’s, radio shows, etc.

The other 1/2 of the store is stuffed with super cool JAZZ rarities.

Run by two guys that are former Disk Union jazz managers, if you’re into anything Beatles/Apple related, or anything jazz these are the guys to see.

Take the west exit from the Higashi-Nakano station. When you get in front of the station go to the left and take an immediate left down the road that runs parallel to the station. At the bottom of a short hill you’ll find it on the second floor on your right.

Tell ‘em Mighty Vinyl sent you!

 

Then at the other end of the spectrum is Flowers just off the Nakano Broadway mall. Hard to find, it’s on a 3rd floor and was actually rather frightening.

Imagine the worst case on the cable show Hoarders, and you have some idea. Small narrow shop with boxes stacked 5’ high full of lord knows what. I shimmied thru to the main part of the store and had a few concerns about the flooring, which didn’t seem to be up to the normal Japanese sturdiness. I was a tiny bit worried it might give way if I stepped wrong. There are literally bags of things pinned to the ceiling, hanging like bats in such a fashion that you cannot discern what any of them contain. The few racks that were accessible seemed to consist of mostly punk & hardcore vinyl in questionable condition but at prices near the top end of the scale. Found the “rock/pop EP” (7 inch) section, and it was worse. ¥100 yen trash for ¥1500, and anything collectible - like the Devo single I found - marked at¥3800.

There were some stacks of LP’s on the floor that appeared to have been chewed on by Lord knows what, but in the ****ty light of the single 40 watt fluorescent bulb hung from the ceiling I may have only been imagining that.

I need to go home and disinfect now.

 

Thanks for the updates MV. I’ll give Flowers a miss but sounds like Judgement will be worthwhile. Another stop to make on the Chuo Line!

 

Judgement has a Web page. Might check this one out and make it a trip along with DU in 新宿: JUDGMENT! RECORDS

Just FYI, if you try Googling "judgement records tokyo," you get a bunch of hits for the Japanese Supreme Court.

 

Found a buttload of great King Crimson & Pink Floyd CDs at the book off in Akihabara. LP cover replicas with obi. Also Found Queensrÿche Mindcrime & Empire, both the special two CD versions with obi, along with the Pink Floyd The Wall (Experience Edition) triple CD. Average price worked out to be $12 each.

 

This Daily Yamazaki combini in Nihonbashi sells vinyl records and has a DJ booth

The Japanese convenience store with a secret DJ booth in the basement

 

Have to love Japan

 

Disk Union Ikebukuro was just plain depressing. Same **** you see in every store, but listed at the Discogs prices. Not a bargain to be had anywhere in the inventory and even if there had been none was worth buying!

Well, that’s not entirely true. I did find a Duncan Brown Streets Of Fire with obi that I’ve been looking for, and the German pressing of Mike Oldfield Songs Of Distant Earth which I’ve never seen on vinyl, so I had to grab both of those. But other than that… Tumbleweeds.

Then to add insult to injury, the Takadanobaba branch was pretty much the same. I picked up a few (9) “3 for ¥500” Japanese CDs with obi, mostly metal stuff like evanescence, avenge sevenfold, Guns N’ Roses, etc. nothing to write home about.

I’m excited to take my first Shinkansen ride tomorrow, I’ll try to report in later in the week from Osaka. Taking day trips to Kyoto and Kobe. Hopefully better hunting there than here.

Lastly, I’ve always loved to be packed in cheek-to-jowel with all the revelers in Shibuya on Halloween, but after the horrific stories of the tragedy in Korea I decided I’m too old, frail and fat to take the risk. Call me a scaredy-cat but I also needed to get some stuff done so I can get to sleep early before my trip in the morning. C’est la vie.