Best store for CDs/DVDs in Tokyo
 

I will be in Tokyo for the first time next month. Where is the best place to purchase DVDs (anime, documentary, Kurosawa, everything really) and western music CDs? I'm interested in stuff released exclusively in Japan and hard to get elsewhere.

I suspect you will get some very good answers shortly, but let me add my two cents here now.

I think for western music that is exclusive to Japan, such as Jazz artists that do CDs here that are not generally released in the U.S., the big stores like Tower will be a good bet. They have access to everything and can afford to stock it all. I have had good luck with some Benny Green (the pianist) CDs like that.

For Japnese stuff, there will be others who can better advise, but I suspect that Akihabara may be a destination you will want to mark on your train map.

Digital media is a lot of fun here. You will dig it.

Mike

I strongly suggest Book Off. It's a 2nd hand store for most digital media, video games, and books. Unlike most 2nd hand bookstores in N America, they're a large chain and the stuff they have is in very good condition. The prices are also a fraction of new.

If you want new, just step into any shopping mall and there's always a store selling CD's/DVD's. Another option is the huge Tower Records in Harajuku.

You may already know this but it bears repeating:

For DVDs, know that Japan is in a different region than the US. That means that, unless you have a "region-free" DVD player or have tweaked the ROM on one to be region-free, you will not be able to use Japanese DVDs after you get home. You can google "region free DVD" to find more information and locations to purchase one.

For animae and manga related stuff, I would recommend Mandarake, which has many specialist branches for new and used stuff, all in the same building: Nakano Broadway, on the second and third floors.

To get there, take the Chuo line (orange) or the Chuo-Sobu line (yellow) from Shinjuku station westbound -- away from Tokyo station -- to Nakano station. That takes 4-6 minutes. Go out the NORTH exit of the station. You will see an enclosed-mall like thing called Sun Mall. Walk through it, the building at the far end is Broadway Nakano. The first floor is useless, go up to floors 2 and 3.

I am guessing that "Mandarake" is a Japanification of "Mandrake," as in "Mandrake the Magician," but I really don't know.

Thinking of actual DVDs and not things like games and books, I'm surprised that no one mentioned Tsutaya (or is it not popular in the Kanto area like it is in the Kansai area?).

Book-Off does have some DVDs, but I have noticed that their prices are not that cheap, even if the quality is pretty good (they rock for books and games, but not so much for DVDs).

Big electronic stores also tend to have a decent selection of DVDs (like Big 5 Camera). I second the idea of taking a trip to the Akihabara district in Tokyo, although that might present more video game, figure, etc opportunities than DVDs.

Mandarake, as far as I know, does not carry very many DVDs at all. At least the two stores in the Osaka area that I have been to are mainly manga, figures, cels, cosplay, and doujinshi.

Tsutaya is a good call actually. They are very popular in the Kanto area. A cool aspect of the Tsutaya stores that are opening recently is the cafe inside a la Borders etc. in the U.S. Makes for a very easy afternoon shopping and then reading away a couple of hours.

I think a combined look at Tsutaya, Tower, and a few of the hole in the wall shops for DVDs in Akihabara will be wise. The other thing which occurs to me is that if you have specific titles in mind you should pop over to
Amazon.co.jp and order them there the day you arrive. Anything in stock can be delivered the next day. Easily time enough to get them while you are here.

More ideas will follow I am sure.......

Mike

P.S. be sure to vote in the TalkBoard Election please. It just so happens that I am running ;)

In general, any kind of prerecorded media are expensive in Japan. Twenty-five years ago, I paid ¥3000 for prerecorded cassette tapes, and that's about what CDs cost new. DVDs that would cost $30 in the US cost between about two to five times that in Japan.

On each recent trip to Japan, I have checked the DVD stores to see if some of my favorite TV programs from my student days or more recent extended stays have been issued. Almost none of them have. In contrast to the US and the UK, where nearly everything that has ever graced or disgraced a TV screen is available on DVD, the Japanese seem to release very few programs on DVD, and when they do, they release the whole series at once, and neither quality nor popularity seem to be considerations.

Otherwise, why would the silly and short-lived 1970s comedy Okusan wa Juuhassai ("Your Wife is 18 Years Old"--about a high school teacher who is secretly married to one of his pupils) be out on DVD, while the gritty police drama Hijou no Raisensu ("Special License") is not?

For a small but very carefully vetted selection of CD exotica, head to the Spiral Record Shop in the Spiral Building.

amazon.co.jp can be of help if you need a specific CD/DVD urgently.

Its expedited shipping can arrange SAME-DAY delivery if you order by 8:30am.

It has English interface availabe and Japanese titled items are, if you can type in, searchable.

And if you don't want to head out to Nakano, they've also got a big branch right in Shibuya (link). I'm not a manga fan at all, but I used to bring visitors here just to gawk at the over-the-top cave decor and costumed staff :eek: They also seem to have one in Akihabara (link).

I always figured it's a portmanteau of manga and -darake ("full of").

I am watching TV Asahi now. The program is focusing on Book Off. It says Shirokanedai branch of Book Off has some English and French books.

Or perhaps "Mania" + "Darake"
(Just kidding).

I went to a large Book Off in the Shirokane area recently, it could well be the same one - we were walking between Azabu Juban and an area to the South East of the Sheraton Miyako. There were indeed a number of English language books in the basement. We picked up a second hand copy of a kanji learning aid there (800 yen - in very good condition).