I was in Tokyo last week for work and lo and behold I stumbled upon a bootleg record store, right across the street from where I work. I was so surprised, because this store is in the publishing area of Tokyo, nestled in a cozy small neighborhood yet very much in the bustling city center. They had a bunch of Prince CDs and concert DVDs- all bootlegs- but no albums. I took a bunch of pictures but I can't figure out how to post them here, despite checking the FAQs here, and I don't want to use photo bucket.
I also went to the enormous Tower Records in the Shibuya area. I wanted to go in so badly but that wasn't possible because I was with my colleagues, and although I'm sure they would have indulged me, that wouldn't have been cool, lol.

bsprout said:

I was in Tokyo last week for work and lo and behold I stumbled upon a bootleg record store, right across the street from where I work. I was so surprised, because this store is in the publishing area of Tokyo, nestled in a cozy small neighborhood yet very much in the bustling city center. They had a bunch of Prince CDs and concert DVDs- all bootlegs- but no albums. I took a bunch of pictures but I can't figure out how to post them here, despite checking the FAQs here, and I don't want to use photo bucket. I also went to the enormous Tower Records in the Shibuya area. I wanted to go in so badly but that wasn't possible because I was with my colleagues, and although I'm sure they would have indulged me, that wouldn't have been cool, lol.

I'm envious of your job! Yes, I've traveled with colleagues (only in the states) and they know me well enough by now to understand that I need "me" time during our week or two week treks.

I'm interested to see if you get an answer about posting the photos because I have a few and haven't had the time to decipher how to get them to show

Glad you had a good trip!

Can't wait to see your pictures!
I did some research and tests again and this works for me:

Try using Tinypic, it's really easy.
You choose a picture, click upload, a new page opens, you see 4 options and choose the top one: 'HTML link for websites'. Select and copy this full link and paste it in here. In the process you can also adjust the size of your picture to messageboard size.

Hope it works for you too😀
[Edited 2/14/17 4:16am]

Thanks, everyone...here you go:





[Edited 2/14/17 4:48am]

Pretty cool find, bsprout. A great perk of international work travel--hitting the local music shops. Sorry, Prince, but I'd be buying some bootleg disks, old-timey style.

Thanks to paradise000 for the tech advice on image transfers, too.

Germanegro said:

My pleasure germanegro!

Thanks bsprout for the beautiful pictures!

Germanegro said:

I thought so, too 😄 My first thought was 'how come they haven't shut this place down?', since it's in the publishing area, and they all know about rights.

paradise000 said:

Glad you liked them and thanks again for the tips 😊

Were you able to look at prices? Wonder what they are charging in comparison with the legitimate cd/dvd's.

one picture says outlet price 1480...the rest is unpronouncable to me
[Edited 2/15/17 11:15am]

I can't remember but I think the DVDs were like ¥2,200 yen and as you said that CD was 1480 yen, so they were pretty inexpensive. I didn't buy anything here. Someone on the Org (LadyLayla?) posted some pics from Tower Records in Shibuya (from this past summer) and these CDs were a little more, but not by much- maybe 2,500-3,500 yen if I recall correctly (they were also presumably legit copies, of course). I really wanted to check out Tower Records to see what they had in stock but I didn't want to bug my Japanese colleagues!

bsprout said:

Germanegro said:

Pretty cool find, bsprout. A great perk of international work travel--hitting the local music shops. Sorry, Prince, but I'd be buying some bootleg disks, old-timey style.

Thanks to paradise000 for the tech advice on image transfers, too.

I thought so, too 😄 My first thought was 'how come they haven't shut this place down?', since it's in the publishing area, and they all know about rights.

One of my first bootlegs ever was from Japan. I bet the quality of these items is not bad. Not great. But decent. I think illegal downloading is not a huge issue in Japan. It exists but most Japanese don't do illegal things so this is part of the reason they have managed to keep Tower Records and most independent record stores. Plus, people love to go shopping there and there are fewer chain stores and more private mom & pop shops there. Last time I was there a few years ago, it was like going back in time to the days when you could spend all day going from record store to record store finding all kinds of great stuff. The Tower Records I went to did not have anything unusual in the Prince section exept for the SHM cds.

I can see how that would be the case in Japan. It is like going back in time in a sense, and the same can be said about the book industry there - there are lots of independent bookstores. It's fascinating to see the contrast of such a modern yet still very traditional city.

Japan still has some of the best record stores I have ever been to. That Tower in Shibuya has Kazuo's PriColle Prince art work downstairs.

Those releases would not be much different than what you would find online though. Since most of the pressed labels have been drying up a lot of compilations and free shows have shown up on the shelves over the past decade, just with different homemade artwork.

There are still a lot of shops where you can find older pressed releases though.

rapper said:

Good to know, I'll have to check it out next time I'm there, thanks.