Vinyl Shops in Tokyo, Japan and Japan in General

Glad to hear that worked out for you! I’ll be landing in Tokyo on Wednesday for a three week stay, hopefully you left something for me in the shops, lol!

Johnny, they do still publish the cool flyers, I saw them when I was there in November. And that’s strange that they don’t print out the list for you anymore, that used to be half the fun of selling stuff to them. I bet you can ask them to email that list to you from the tablet though.

 

So, one of my bucket list items is to get to see BABYMETAL live in Tokyo with their crazy fans. I was just checking their website to find out if they’re touring the new album yet and come to find out that tickets went on sale in January for the shows this weekend in Yokohama! I am so bummed out! Obviously they’ve been sold out for months.

It’s a weird ask, but if anybody has a suggestion on how I could get a ticket for either night, I am all ears!

 

I've updated my 6 year old free list of Tokyo Record Stores.
It now runs to 113 pages.
It is *not* comprehensive, but it's better than most.

Download here:

 

Top stuff. Will wade through that. Although will say that my last trip in 2019 was a complete bust. The DU stores werent cheaper than internet prices. At all. They'd wised up and werent giving anything away. Compared to my first trip in 2012 when I was hoovering cheap stuff up.

In fact I found an old list of what I bought on that one day in 2012, I think in Shinjuku. Apropos of nothing:

 

One wee question I have for Candyflip (or anyone); the online DU store ディスクユニオン｜レコード・CD・DVD・音楽ソフトの通販・買取 What % of their entire inventory would be in there? I am guessing just a fraction?

 

Hi ya - yes, it would be only a fraction.
With the total stores they run in double figures, spread across the country, the inventory will be wide and extremely varied.

A good example is Face Records in Tokyo - their store has an entirely separate inventory to their online (eBay) sales.
You can't pick up anything you bought online at their store - they are run as (virtually) separate entities.

 

Wow, you’ve put a lot of work into that. Thanks Candyflip. Heading over in May for first trip since 2019 and will put it to good use.

 

Wow thank you so much. I am doing the expat thing in Tokyo and will take full advantage of your notes. Appreciate you sharing this.

 

you're very, very welcome.

 

Yup, found that out the hard way when I lived in Yokohama. "Hi, I'll be there this weekend to pick it up!" Nnnnnnnope. Got reminded of it this past November when I saw something on their Discogs page and thought I'd stop at the store to pick it up. Nnnnnnnnnnope.

 

it seems to be getting worse, not better. I thought that some of the disc unions opened at 11 on the last trip, but so far they’re all noon now. Sort of a bummer.

 

Yep, it's a bummer expecially during winter when the weather prevents doing some touristy forays in the morning.
However Recofans and HMVs open slightly earlier than that.

 

Here’s the weird thing, it appears that one or two DU branches might be open earlier than the others. I’m heading to Kichijoji right now because Google maps shows it’s already open as of 10:30 AM.

Went to the newly re-opened RECOfan in Shibuya (Magnet building) a couple of days ago. Incredibly expensive. Found a couple of things, but had to dig for three hours. The singles that used to be ¥480 with a ¥200 discount if you bought in quantity are now all ¥780 with NO discount.

Found a great little shop in Michada yesterday. DARE Records. The sign outside says “no CDs no tapes only vonyl”. I found a couple of solid NM Bowie albums with obi, and the best part was all of his items that are graded “A” truly are near mint. They were beautiful.

Another nice little surprise was Parade in Mitaka. Tons of 7 inch with inserts, many of them promo’s (which I have a fetish for.)

6 more shopping days on this trip. Deals are few and far between but this is my full-time job now, so I’m not afraid to put in the work. Spending hours digging I am able to find a few nuggets which make the day worthwhile. And ultimately, it’s worth it because I would pay to do this. Oh, scratch that… I DO pay to do this!

 

I think the DU's that are in department stores like Parco have to open when the store opens.

 

HMV at Kichijoji has always opened at at 10. Good one for an earlier start.

 

It looks like all the far-flung DU’s open at 11. Chiba, Yokohama, Kitaurawa, Kashiwa for example.

Can we now all agree that RecoFAN is officially just a tourist trap? I went to Seekbase (Akihibara) yesterday and prices were insane. The only upside is that if you go to a DU afterward, it’s like swinging 2 bats in the on-deck circle before stepping into the batters box with a single bat - the prices in the DU feel like bargains after that!

I did my due diligence and sorted through all the new stuff, and found a handful of 7” stuff. The only thing RF has going for it is the have a more unique set of singles than I normally find at DU, so there’s usually a few that I don’t see elsewhere.

Heaviest hitter was the Alice Cooper - You And Me (P-180W) Japanese 7” in nice condition for ¥3000 ($22).

Speaking of which, my remaining Holy Grail items with obi’s:

Alice Cooper - Love It To Death
Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies
Supertramp - Crime Of The Century.

Found the promo for Supertramp in Osaka last trip, but it was issued in one of those funky King Record Company “sample record” die-cut company sleeves, which went out without obi’s either.

 

I’m in Osaka now, heading for Tokyo in a few days. My one observation is that prices have risen significantly since November and the big stores are not having sales like they used to.

 

Whoops! I think it’s just a normal Sunday hours for DU - open at 11.

 

But the Yen is just a bargain these days

 

Yen was it greater value in October and November, right after they opened for tourism. We were getting 32% on the dollar, or a .67 multiplier - ¥1000 only cost $6.70. Today we’re at 25%. Still a bargain but going in the wrong direction.

The discount was so great in October that I actually bought $4000 worth of yen notes and have them stashed at home for somewhere down the road when we eventually get back closer to parity.

 

Continue to go down against the Euro though , i know cause i am paying my son tuition fees at Yokohama University and its still unbelievably low

 

Yes. I visited RecoFAN once and didn't like it. Also, just checking their Web site: They're going away?
RECOfan JAPAN TOKYO SHIBUYA BEAM SHOP

I sometimes wondered if places were jacking up prices just to take advantage of the weaker yen and tourist dollars/euros. The JR Pass tourist ticket price keeps going up as well for no real reason I can discern besides that they can.

 

No, this is the old page for the previous store, before they built the new one.
They have yet to remove that old link.

 

They are getting hit with inflation like the rest of us. Add that to a weak Yen and I’m not surprised prices are rising.

 

I was just looking at prices for items I bought on first Tokyo trip in 2015, and it makes me want to cry. Maybe I’ll do a comparison post sometime in the near future….

Flying home tomorrow. Spent just shy of $7,000 US and think I actually got some fantastic stuff, but it took WAY more digging than ever before. Probably won’t be back until October 2024 this time.