Hi gang. I've just booked my tickets for Japan in May and as it's my first time I was wondering if anyone had any good tips? Of course, record shops specialising in Prince and his associates would be most welcome

player said:

Hi gang. I've just booked my tickets for Japan in May and as it's my first time I was wondering if anyone had any good tips? Of course, record shops specialising in Prince and his associates would be most welcome

Hi Player,

Where in Japan will you be visiting?

Eleventeen said:

player said:

Hi gang. I've just booked my tickets for Japan in May and as it's my first time I was wondering if anyone had any good tips? Of course, record shops specialising in Prince and his associates would be most welcome

Hi Player,

Where in Japan will you be visiting?

Hi Eleventeen! I'll be starting in Osaka before heading to Nagoya, Kyoto and finishing off in Tokyo! May try and fit in Hiroshima and a few others if we have time, but those are definites.

I just saw a documentary on Tower Records and saw that they still exist there. Would be a great place to visit, I saw the main one has 8 floors.

I plan to go one day.

ea1313 said:

I just saw a documentary on Tower Records and saw that they still exist there. Would be a great place to visit, I saw the main one has 8 floors.

I plan to go one day.

lucky bastards.....best store EVA..in NYC tower

Your best chance for new stuff is definitely going to be Tower Records. There are quite a few branches still.

The Japanese public still buy a lot of physical media, as opposed to other places. Rather than record stores they have a more "media store" approach and often they're not chains at all. Look for anywhere that sells books and / or comics and they'll normally have a CD section. Two majors are Tsutaya and Book Off!, but do pop into smaller ones. They will mostle be on their own real estate and not in big shopping centres, though.

For great little specialist shops, I found Shimokitazawa, a suburb in Tokyo, to be great. That was quite a while ago, though. Actually found quite a few "erronious" issues back in the day.

Great country for niche shopping, really. Have a good time.

Great stuff, cheers guys. It was more the second-hand record stores I had in mind, but I'll certainly be checking out the Tower stores as well. Pray tell what "erroneous" issues you came across connorhawke? Love to hear about interesting discoveries...

player said:

Great stuff, cheers guys. It was more the second-hand record stores I had in mind, but I'll certainly be checking out the Tower stores as well. Pray tell what "erroneous" issues you came across connorhawke? Love to hear about interesting discoveries...

Just old stuff like pressings of Black Album on vinyl, a bunch of live cds etc. I'm really not sure of the market now since my base over there is right in the west of the country, but I do remember a few shops in Shimokitazawa turning up treasures.

connorhawke said:

player said:

Great stuff, cheers guys. It was more the second-hand record stores I had in mind, but I'll certainly be checking out the Tower stores as well. Pray tell what "erroneous" issues you came across connorhawke? Love to hear about interesting discoveries...

Just old stuff like pressings of Black Album on vinyl, a bunch of live cds etc. I'm really not sure of the market now since my base over there is right in the west of the country, but I do remember a few shops in Shimokitazawa turning up treasures.

Nice. It's in the itinerary, thanks for the hookup.

ea1313 said:

I just saw a documentary on Tower Records and saw that they still exist there. Would be a great place to visit, I saw the main one has 8 floors.

I plan to go one day.

I came in to post this! That's definitely where I would go.