Vinyl Shops in Tokyo, Japan and Japan in General

Have to thank @Candyflip Records for the wonderful guide, came in very handy during all my travels over the last two weeks.

The heavy foot traffic areas like the various Shinjuku / Shibuya Disk Unions tend to be more picked over for sure. Although they weren’t exactly bargains I did find a good amount at HMV Shibuya that I was quite surprised. The DU in
Shimokitazawa ended up being the best of the bunch in Tokyo. That area seems to be a bit more off path, compared to say the usual spots around Shinjuku/Shibuya/Akihabra.

Once I got to Nagano I stumbled upon a store called Good Times that seemed like it was untapped. Cash only spot but found several jazz LPs that were a bit more of deals.

Osaka and even Kyoto ended up doing pretty well too. Maru Ka Batsu was my favorite of all the stores I visited, wonderful husband and wife who run the store. Both Super Milk and Poco a Poco in Kyoto were solid as well. Another shop there was Hardbop, where I could have spent a fortune if I had it in me. Heading back home with some very heavy luggage from all that I picked up and need a bit of a moratorium from record stores / shopping.

 

So glad it was useful to you!

I would love to hear any updates or edits by PM, that you may have for the Guide: it's only as good as the up-to-date on the ground info all readers/users can provide.

 

No, I swear I left LOTS of stuff for everyone else!

Even though it's more expensive (spent just under $7500 US when all was said and done) there ARE some bargains, but instead of turning over a rock and finding a dozen bargains, you have turn over a dozen rocks to find one bargain. But for fanatics like us, it's always going to be fun, even when the pickings are slim.

Self-inflicted wounds being the most painful, I'm in agony here because in my jet-lagged condition, I left my carry-on bag in the Seattle airport and it was promptly stolen. Didn't realize till I got home, and although it was still "pinging" from my Apple AirTag I had in it, I couldn't get anyone to seriously look for it until after it had stopped "pinging" about 6 hours later. ****. Not certain what all it had in it, but I'm afraid it had the Joy Division japanese pressing I'd found, probably the Bowie pressings with obi that I got at Dare, and the Pink Floyd Animals 2023 remix (2 copies) that I picked up at Tower. Didn't see them at any other store, they were Japanese versions with obi, still sealed. If anyone still on the ground you should head to the Tower in Shibuya and grab one or two. ****ity ************. Grrrrrr!

 

Lastly I'll mention I did a couple of brief, shoddily edited & narrated videos of a few of the remote shops I visited and posted them to my TikTok account. If you're a Tok'er just search mightyvinyl, they should come up. There's a bunch of older videos about vinyl in general, so just check out the 6 or so most recent videos.

Like I said, they were done on the fly and are dodgy at best, so no editorial comments please!

 

Which Animals pressing is the Animals? Don’t see a 2023 remix on discogs? So sorry about this mishap would be devastated! Ughh

 

Sorry to hear that.

Thanks for suggesting Dare. I found 3 records I was looking for there. Nice little store.

 

This one: Pink Floyd - Animals

Good news is mine DID make it home after all!

 

Spent the day in Shibuya revisiting stores I had been to in 2014. HMV seemed to have much less used but a lot of 45s but didn’t buy anything. Disk Union was crowded, a group of 5 middle aged Japanese men were buying 80-100 recirds each Tull, Yes, Gentle Giant etc all US and UK pressings but also saw a 250000 yen Velvet Underground with unpeeled banana in their hands must of been a first pressing. Not sure if they were buying to resell but must of been. Mothers Records just bootleg cds and Recofan had a lot of 100 and 250 yen records but all I bought there was the new Thin Lizzy RSD Live and Dangerous for $44. Tower has a whole floor of new and used now but overpriced and didn’t find anything to buy. Only other purchase of the day was the 50th sacd of Dark Side of the Moon based on reviews it was 6600 yen. Still after 6 months here Shimokitazawa is where I have found the most to purchase. And it’s my favorite area to spend an afternoon.

 

Further on from the tourist hot spots will certainly yield you far more gold - I used to live in Nakano (when I first arrived in Tokyo) and exploring the back streets beyond Mandarake and on to towns further west along the Chuo line into the 'outer' burbs, just gave me joy. I lived in Chiba for 2 years too, and that place has loads to discover.
But I've always been an outsider - looking for what is mostly unseen and under-appreciated.
YMMV.

 

Agree so much to discover outside the main tourist areas. I live in Azabujyuban and take off every weekend to discover new areas. They are all so different. Much prefer the out of the way local neighborhoods. Will have to get to Chiba!

 

Went to a few Disk Unions today and picked up a couple UFO records with obi but it’s getting harder to find good stuff and pickings a bit sparse. Interesting on a social media site today saw a guy soliciting to find crate diggers in Japan that will shop and grade records for overseas customers. He was looking for people in all the key cities to get paid for searching for records At local stores that I assume his clients want. I also assume this would be Japanese pressings but who knows. I do see people buying in bulk in Disk Unions that seem to be Chinese or other foreigners. Many of the stores I went to in 2014 are gone and many of the specialty stores have disappeared. Not sure if they went online or just closed. I will say if you see something you want buy it as I have gone back the next day several times for a few records and they are gone. Good turnover of inventory in all stores. Enjoying the expat assignment and recommend going to a Grand Sumo tournament. Went this week and what fun very traditional and cool to see live. There are six per year three in Tokyo and each tournament is 15 days long. You need to get tickets right when they go on sale as they sell out quickly.

 

Here is the posting copied from Facebook record collector page:

By the way my most recommended store is still Shinjuku Records in Shimokitazawa as originally recommended by MightyVinyl. The owner was in the business and I always find white label promos there in new condition with obi and sometimes come with press kit- on Saturday bought 1st Foghat, Steve Miller Number 5 and Children of the Future and Ten Years After Rock and Roll Music with press kit all for about 30 dollars each and all white label promos with obis. Go every week and I usually find 3-4 promos to buy and he restocks weekly. Must have a warehouse full of promos from his A&R days and always has a story to tell. Here’s the guy looking for crate diggers in Japan:


looking for experienced collectors in Japan for occasional freelancing tasks.
The job comes down to digging and possibly grading records at your local record shops - acting as a remote shopper on behalf of buyers overseas. 100% flexible hours, decent pay. DM me W.
Mainly interested in Tokyo (esp. fairly central), Kyoto, Okayama, Fukuoka, Sapporo, Kobe, Hiroshima, Sendai.
But if you're in some other city - no harm in reaching out as well. Cheers!

 

Was that written in English or Japanese? I'm curious if it's a foreigner or Japanese native ding this. And just goes to show the markup some folks are willing to pay for Japanese pressings if you can add the cost of paying a scouter to the final price.

Just speaking as a predominantly jazz vinyl collector, I've got to imagine the market for Japanese jazz pressings is falling somewhat given the plethora of top-quality jazz reissues in the United States and Europe. There are just fewer and fewer holes that can only be filled with a King or Toshiba pressing. At this point, the only real Japanese jazz titles I search for are the ones that came out only in Japan. There aren't that many on my list, and when I do find them they tend to be too pricey for my budget (looking at you, Oleo).

 

It’s seems the ad was in English and seemed legit but not sure if this person is expat or not. My assumption is he is from overseas.

 

I've been contacted by this gentleman, I believe he's from one of the formerly USSR countries but cannot lay my hands on his emails at the moment. He is trying to promote the idea of a collector outside of Japan hiring his service who will then FaceTime (or other similar technology) their search in Japanese stores. You tell them which you want to buy, they procure, package, ship to you. Something along those lines. The ad you mention must be his attempt to hire "boots on the ground" troops for his service.

He wanted me to be a Beta Tester but I told him I'm not interested, being in the store and in Japan itself is more than 1/2 of the fun of crate digging in Japan.

 

My wife and I are heading to Tokyo in September and I was hoping to get some tips. We'll be there for 10 days, and luckily my wife is into record shopping as much as I am, so we will be hitting shops every day. We figure we'll hit temples and other touristy things in the mornings, then hit the shops when they open around noon and shop for the rest of the day.

Thanks to @Candyflip Records for your wonderful list, we've gone thru it together several times along with this site that has some additional shops that look decent:
Record Store - Music Lab Japan

We're staying in Shibuya, and I think we pretty much have Shibuya, Shinjuku and Shimokitazawa covered, we'll be hitting most shops in those cities. We'll also be going to Kichijoji, Koenji, Nakano, Ikebukuro, and hopefully Akihabra, Jinbocho, Ochanomizu, and Ueno.

Our musical tastes swing mostly in the 70s/80s new wave alternative area (bauhaus, cure, siouxsie, depeche etc), creation and 4ad records, along with original UK and US punk (damned, buzzcocks, clash, cbgb's etc, no hardcore or later punk), postpunk, shoegaze, britpop of all eras, Bowie, Roxy, Eno, etc. We are also huge into 7" singles of all bands we like.

Reading all the descriptions of stores, I can't seem to get a feel for what the must-see stores are for our tastes, and especially for 7" singles. What are stores that we shouldn't miss based on our musical preferences? What stores are best for 7" singles? I see Orient records is about half 7" singles, is that thought of as a must-see store if you love 45s?

Thanks for any advice!

 

You have all the key areas covered. Disk Union is good for the music you are looking for. Recofan had a lot of 7" singles. Orient is a decent store with a good selection of singles. A little pricier than other stores and cash only. The bands you are looking for won't be cheap, but I'm sure you know that already.

 

You're welcome.
Just be careful that the Music Lab link contains lots of info that is 1-2 years old.
That doesn't sound like a lot, but stores in Japan have been thru massive upheavals in recent times, so make sure to check other sources on the stores ongoing existence (or not).

Have a great trip!

 

I also collect Creation, 4AD, Factory etc. and usually find a few things over there. The Disk Unions and HMV’s are your best bet. Look out for the section they call “Neo Acoustic” where they often place records from these labels. 7” singles on these labels are pretty hard to find. I got a couple of Super Furry Animals singles and a Frank Black LP in General Records Shimokitazawa last time. The Indie floor on the 6th floor of the 7 floor DU at Shinjuku is worth a shot and you’ll definitely find LP’s from those labels.

I haven’t made it there yet but if you are into the more twee end of indie pop (Sarah, Summershine labels etc.) this store in Koenji seems to specialise in it. I follow their Insta and they have in-stores from local indie bands etc. Record shop based in Tokyo. Items are available in the online shop.

 

We're definitely hitting all the Disk Union stores in every area we're going to. Seems like people in this thread have said Recofan ain't what it used to be. But it's a 4 minute walk from our hotel, and they open at 10am, so they'll be our first stop. We're not looking to shop the cheapo bins on this trip, it's more about finding grails and rarities and Japanese pressings etc, so yes we know it won't necessarily be cheap. I'll pay up for something, even a little more than discogs prices, just to have it in hand. The more expensive items aren't as flippable, so a slightly higher price might actually work in our favor.

 

Thanks for the tips. We've been watching a few Tokyo record shopping youtube videos and have seen that Neo Acoustic section at a few places, but never would have known what it was. We'll be checking out anything that might possibly related to new wave and postpunk, and will have to check out prog sections I'm guessing to find Krautrock.

We have that Disques Blue-Very shop on our list. We are big into Sarah and summershine as well so that's exciting to see a field mice single when you go to their website. Fingers crossed we can find some good ones. We have tons of Creation, 4ad and factory, and a good smattering of sarah, but probably only around 25 sarah singles, so would love to find others.

 

Thanks for the warning. Honestly most things from that list were already on yours, so it was only a handful of stores that we added from that list, and they seem to be open, but we'll make sure to check again the week or so before we head out.

One question I forgot to ask, open to anybody. What is the general rule for checking out condition of used lps? Looks like most used lps come in resealable Japanese poly outer sleeves. I know they have the description and grading at most stores, but I still like to check condition on every item just in case to make sure it matches my expectations. Lots of Japanese pressing lps I see in stores over here tend to have spotting and sometimes a bit of musty smell, so I like to do the smell test on those items as well. Is it frowned upon to open items to check condition, do you need to bring things to the counter to ask to check condition, or is it fine to just open them and check as you go?

Thanks again to all who have replied, we are so excited about this trip and are bringing 4 suitcases just in case we go nuts. We went to the Utrecht record show 10 years ago and brought back about 150 lps, so hopefully we find a similar bounty this time.

 

I found on my recent trip that it's best to do all your checking at the end when you take the stuff to the counter, some of the bigger stores (not talking DU here) seem to actively frown on you checking as you go. Just take the items to the counter and tell them you want to 'check condition' it's not a problem. I also found it's best not to 100% check their grading system, it's not that they are deceptive just that a lot of stuff seems to be incorrectly graded and that can be better or worse than the stated grade. I was there recently and had a great time, coming from Australia where record stores are few it was great to be somewhere that has so many shops of quality. If you are prepared to spend $ to get items you want it's fantastic, I totally get that there are no longer bargains there may have been 5-10 years ago but I still returned home with about 80 albums.

 

Yes, wait until you are ready check out and ask to "check condition". Disk Unions will open them for you at the counter (don't open them yourself while shopping). If you see a mark or defect you're not sure about you can check it out at a listening station. If you see a record you don't want just say "cancel".

 

OK two responses to check condition at counter. Not what I was hoping to hear, but I don't want to upset any shop owners. Much easier to do it yourself as you go instead of carrying them around while you shop. And you can take a little more time with them while inspecting and leave things in their section if you don't want them. I feel pressured to hurry when I have to bring things to the counter when local stores seal them up, but it is what it is. I guess I'll have to check discogs when I find something to confirm what inserts/innersleeve etc should be included, and then just check the condition at check out. I just worry if I have 25 lps at one store and then have to check them all at the end people in line will be annoyed, especially at a crowded Disk Union. We probably won't find 25 lps at one store, but you never know, I can dream! Wouldn't be the first time that's happened. But we already have a pretty big collection so are really looking for the grails and rare things, and Japanese pressings of course. We've set ourselves a healthy vinyl budget, but depending on what we find the budget almost always goes out the window so there really isn't one. We figure this could be the only time we get to Tokyo, so we're not going to leave there with any regret from leaving something behind.

My wife is from Australia. She has friends in Melbourne who are big into their vinyl as well, and when they come here and we take them shopping in LA/Hollywood they go nuts and complain about the lack of stores even in Melbourne. I've been shopping in Sydney and they had some good stores, a few Red Eye records, but that was almost 20 years ago now. Our favorite shop in Melbourne was Off The Hip, they also have a label, but not sure if they're open anymore. We're hoping to get there next year to visit, so we'll see if any shops are still around at that point I guess.