Topic: Tokyo Record Stores?

[Justin]

Hi all,

I'm traveling to Tokyo next week! Can anyone recommend any particular record stores for classical CDs there? Thanks!

[torut]

Hi all,

I'm traveling to Tokyo next week! Can anyone recommend any particular record stores for classical CDs there? Thanks!

When I visit Tokyo, I usually stop by Tower Record Shinjuku. One whole floor was dedicated to Classical music and Jazz. There were a lot of Stockhausen Verlag CDs there. That was one of main reasons I went there. However, since I have not been there for many years, there might be changes. (At least, it seems the store still exists.  )

[Mirror Image]

There were a lot of Stockhausen Verlag CDs there.

I hope there was a large dumpster close by as well.

[torut]

I hope there was a large dumpster close by as well.

Good, then I can get them for free. 
Stockhausen CDs were very expensive there.

Also, there was another famous store (Ishimaru at Akihabara) where you could get many bootleg CDs, but the store is gone. I was not interested in bootleg, so I didn't go there much.

[flyingdutchman]

The best place to go shopping for classical is Disk Union, in Shinjuku and Ochanomizu.  Both locations have a classical store.  The classical store in Shinjuku is located next to Kinokuniya in a small building on the 8th floor.  Ochanomizu store is located across from Lotteria fastfood restaurant and diagonal from the West exit of the train station.

Used mostly, but also new can be found at Disk Union.  Do NOT miss out on going to Disk Union if you go to Tokyo.

Other stores and specific locations can be found here:

http://diskunion.net/st/shop/e_index.html#ds12

[flyingdutchman]

BTW, Ishimaru did NOT deal in bootleg CDs.

[torut]

BTW, Ishimaru did NOT deal in bootleg CDs.

Yes, it did. I saw many CDR discs there, although I didn't buy it. The store was famous for that.

[Mookalafalas]

If I can ask a semi-hijack, aside question, I am going to Osaka and Kyoto at the end of May and have the same question

[ibanezmonster]

The best place to go shopping for classical is Disk Union, in Shinjuku and Ochanomizu.  Both locations have a classical store.  The classical store in Shinjuku is located next to Kinokuniya in a small building on the 8th floor.  Ochanomizu store is located across from Lotteria fastfood restaurant and diagonal from the West exit of the train station.

Used mostly, but also new can be found at Disk Union.  Do NOT miss out on going to Disk Union if you go to Tokyo.

Other stores and specific locations can be found here:

http://diskunion.net/st/shop/e_index.html#ds12

Hopefully they stay around for a while...
awesome info. 

[Justin]

Thanks again for your input, everybody!

[torut]

If I can ask a semi-hijack, aside question, I am going to Osaka and Kyoto at the end of May and have the same question

I have not been there, but I heard that in Osaka Tower Records MARUBIRU store is the best. (I suppose you can translate the web site.) However, the store size is ~40% of Shinjuku store.

I am not a Tower Records employee. Just telling what I know & heard.
Maybe flyingdutchman knows better...

[torut]

By the way, regarding Tower Records in Tokyo, Shibuya store may be better. It has its own home page. One floor is dedicated to Classical, Ambient, Electronica, New Age and Avant Garde. See "7F" photo below. (There is even a piano!)

[Mookalafalas]

I wonder if prices have changed a lot over the years.  I lived in Kumamoto Japan in the late 90s, and Tower's CD prices were pretty astronomical--generally $15-$20 a disc for major label stuff,  and some Naxos for 8 or $9, as I recall.  They had a kind of "punch card" thing to get points, but it was absurd, like buy 100 discs and get one free.  I actually made it, and they told me it had expired It was my fault, but I was furious at the time.
    I remember shopping at a little hole-in-the-wall place with a series of generic looking CDs [conductor and other data was printed right on the CD, virtually nothing on cheap slips of paper visible on the front and back of the jewel case) for $3 a piece.  Actually, it turns out these were by Karajan, Muti, Abbado, and Jochum--names that meant nothing to me at the time.  Hoping I can find some stuff more along these lines when I am there

[flyingdutchman]

Shibuya store is the best Tower store in Japan.  I've been to Osaka's store...not nearly as good as Shibuya or even Shinjuku.  I lived in Japan from 1994--2005 and I return to Japan for business every year.

[flyingdutchman]

To follow up on this since it's been a while to update.  Went to Tokyo in September 2018 and the Shinjuku Disk Union Classical store is now IN the Kinokuniya building and on the 8th floor.  Still the best store, IMO, for used classical.  I go there first before Tower.