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Our trip to Japan was great. At three weeks in length it feels super difficult to even know where to begin. There’s food, meeting with friends, our day trips, etc.. Some folks have been more interested in the collector aspects of the journey: what did we pick up?

Video games weren’t #1 on my list, but I was obviously going to check out Akihabara, Den Den Town, and any interesting looking used game shop that we came across. I knew going into the trip that hunting for PC-Engine deals was not likely going to be fruitful. Much of the pricing on popular retro systems has caught up with the eBay prices one can find sitting at their computer stateside. This has been happening slowly for years and isn’t particularly unexpected. There were no surprises then when I found the higher ticket games I was looking for priced beyond what I was willing to spend. Game Boy, on the other hand, was a great system to shop for in Japan. The higher end games were at expected prices, but all sorts of mid-tier games were well under eBay average and fluctuated heavily in price from store-to-store. By mid trip I began checking a few stores before deciding where to make the purchase. Japanese versions of games like Kid Dracula and the Hammerin’ Harry series all came in 20-30 bucks lower than what one could expect to pay here. It was nice to still get that feeling of finding a game deal in Japan. I also picked up a few Nintendo Switch games. That’s another area where a traveler can save some money. A lot of imported Switch games can still command a higher price, especially in niche genres like shooters and train sims. I managed to pick up Densha de Go: Hashiro Yamanote Line and DoDonPachi DaiOuJou for roughly $55 each. The notion that video game shopping in Japan is dead is an overstatement. You may not find a killer deal, but you will find what you want to buy in a store. You can check the condition, shop around, and generally enjoy a great brick and mortar experience. You’ll also find something too good to pass-up, just not with the frequency one expects from stories of old.

I did a little record shopping in Tokyo and Kyoto. Disk Union is a cool store in Tokyo with a used outlet and a new merchandise shop. I focused on the used outlet. They had a lot of great artists, but I found the prices to be a bit high. I did pick up a replacement stylus for one of my Shure M44-7 cartridges. It’s the Nagaoka brand replacement and, wow, is it a great stylus. We went to a shop called Big Love in Harajuku based on the recommendation of an internet friend. It did not disappoint. Easily one of the coolest places we went. The record shop is small, but the tastes were definitely curated and they ticked off all of my boxes. I ended up getting an incredible re-issue of Apex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2 and a new copy of Mary Lattimore’s Goodbye, Hotel Arkada which I never picked up in 2023. The neatest part of Big Love is the tiny bar in the corner. There is a small bench seat against the wall with three two top tables and chairs on the other side. You have to have made a purchase to be able to sit in the bar and from there you can access the small but selective drink menu where they serve up craft shochu, small batch whiskey, and house brewed beers that were incredibly tasty. I had a beer and then a shochu with ginger ale. The popularity of ginger ale in Japan is not to be underestimated! The last record store I spent a lot of time in was Honto Records in Kyoto. It’s owned by a friend of a friend and I was excited to see it. It again showed off what folks can do with little space. Great selection of experimental, funk, house, techno, and rock. Prices were fantastic and I ended up leaving with a bit of good stuff, both new to me and not.

Next week I’ll get into my pen shopping and some of the places we saw. The Osaka Aquarium was crazy!

-Ian