Random Notes from Tokyo Record Shopping

[Rspaight]

Apologies to those for whom this is boring, but several people have asked me about record stores in Tokyo after my trip. Here's a few thoughts.

- You'll get exercise. Due to the incredible density of Tokyo, most larger stores are multi-level (and not several big floors, like the big downtown US stores, but many small floors). Here's an example:



- Be prepared to rewire your brain to look for stuff by first name. Bob Dylan is in the Bs. Neil Young is in the Ns. It's just that way.

- Also, be prepared to look in several places. Many stores I went to go hog-wild categorizing things. If you're looking for a copy of Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, for example, you'll probably want to check 60s Rock, 70s Rock, British Rock, Beat, Progressive Rock, Psych/Garage, and Alternative for starters. Venturing into the Progressive section, you're confronted with British Prog, German Prog, Italian Prog, American Prog, Other Prog, and New Prog.

- All this is magnified with the Beatles. The Beatles are their own genre, a section which is divided into New LPs, US Pressings (up through Rubber Soul), US Pressings (post Rubber Soul), UK Pressings (up through Rubber Soul), UK Pressings (post Rubber Soul), Japan Pressings (up through Rubber Soul), Japan Pressings (post Rubber Soul), Other Pressings, Audiophile Pressings, Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, Starr, Other Apple Artists, Misc/Related, "Rare" Releases (boots) and Interview. And that's just vinyl. God help you if you venture into the CDs...



- If you're really lucky, the store will be completely disorganized. One I went to was organized roughly by style -- CSN was next to Jackson Browne and Neil Young and the Eagles, while in another corner were the Beatles, Stones and Who. Then there was a New Wave area. Ye gods.

- Bargains and breathtakingly high prices abound. Used vinyl is in amazingly good shape, especially Japanese pressings. Searching through the "3 for 1000 yen" (just under $10) bins unearths lots of fine vinyl, and sub-$10 minty used LPs are plentiful. On the other end of the spectrum, expect to see things like an original Decca copy of "The Who Sings My Generation" for $200 or a $180 MFSL "Tommy" CD.

- Japanese domestic issues are quite expensive, so US pressings (new, used, LP, CD) are just as common. European copies are also everywhere. If you're into different versions, this is heaven.

Ryan

[krabapple]

I remember walking into a Tower REcords in Tokyo back in '97 or so, and looking for various prog rock CDs...I couldn't find them in the bins, which puzzled me, until I noticed they'd instead devoted a *whole wall* to prog rock. That gave me a huge 'murasaki kitani'.

Most valued find there was the CD of 'Dead Ringers -- The Music of Howard Shore', obviously long before he became every Tolkein geek's favorite soundtrack composer.

[Rspaight]

Another thing I forgot -- most of the used LP shops are so tight on space that the albums are crammed into the bins, making flipping through them impossible. The Yanks pull out a batch and flip through the remainder, while the natives have become impressively adept at pulling a record out a few inches and then letting it drop back down while grabbing the next one. It really is something to behold, watching (and hearing) a vet fly through the racks that way. Of course, bottom edge sleeve splits are somewhat common...

Ryan

[Rob P]

Great pictures and descriptions, Ryan. Thanks. I must go there sometime.

[Xenu]

Another thing I forgot -- most of the used LP shops are so tight on space that the albums are crammed into the bins, making flipping through them impossible. The Yanks pull out a batch and flip through the remainder, while the natives have become impressively adept at pulling a record out a few inches and then letting it drop back down while grabbing the next one. It really is something to behold, watching (and hearing) a vet fly through the racks that way. Of course, bottom edge sleeve splits are somewhat common...

Ryan

Oh wow. That *is* impressive. Heck, I resort to the "pulling the front of the section out" trick in about half the record stores I'm in; my general lack of digital dexterity tends to require it, and to find out that there's an ALTERNATE TECHNIQUE...!!. I would have to learn from the masters.

[Patrick M]

How can you do secular calculus sans digital dexterity?

[Rspaight]

I guess Chisenbop would be out of the question.

Ryan