Used music cassette shops in Tokyo?

[nikoneko]

Shot in the pitch black but I've got a friend who is visiting Japan who collects tapes and is looking for some old Japan specific releases. Anybody got a clue what part of Tokyo he might have luck with? Akihabara? Any other advice for him?

Like I say shot in the dark... I know vinyl is around a lot but I don't remember seeing much in the cassette tape area on all the shotengais I've seen.

[gaijinpunch]

Shot in the pitch black but I've got a friend who is visiting Japan who collects tapes and is looking for some old Japan specific releases. Anybody got a clue what part of Tokyo he might have luck with? Akihabara? Any other advice for him?

Like I say shot in the dark... I know vinyl is around a lot but I don't remember seeing much in the cassette tape area on all the shotengais I've seen.

He'll have much better luck bidding through a Yahoo Japan proxy from abroad. Probably cheaper too.

[nikoneko]

Says he has been trying that for years actually and they never show up there. Apparently he's a hardcore collector of the band Prefab Sprout who just needs a few more things to complete his collection and he is in Japan right now on vacation with his family. Seems a good enough guy and a very good friend set me too him for advice, I basically said Akihabara or Nipponbashi in Osaka and keep your eyes open on the side streets and maybe ask at a vinyl store.

I've actually been down this line before believe it or not. There is a real collector's market out there for tapes and when I had my business I got a few emails about them.

[6810]

I've heard that google works really well for finding this kind of thing. I'm sure other search engines are just as capable.

Meanwhile, snark aside, area around Ochanomizu has a treasure trove of used music/instrument stores. Just look up the station and go.

Hit up some local (but especially suburban) Hard Off stores. They often have crates full of junk and unsellable trash such as cassette tapes in a secluded corner.

But ditto w/Yahoo auction, tons of stuff there.

[gaijinpunch]

Not sure where you'd find such items, but speaking from a lot of experience, brick and mortar for retro items is basically dead. There are a handful, but you generally go for the exeperience, and if you find something you didn't see online, count yourself lucky.

[Mike Oxlong]

Not much here either...

Disk Union

[nikoneko]

Thanks fellas I linked him to this thread so he can see the info.

[yellowlightman]

At least as far as Tokyo goes, I'd recommend Nakano Broadway. I never spent much time in the music stores there, but there's enough funky retro niche stores in one area that it seems like a safer bet than wandering random shotengai or searching amongst the heaps of anime shops in Akihabara.

Really though, earlier posters recommending Yahoo Auctions are spot on. A lot of this old collectible stuff is either going to be rotting away in mom and pop shops in the middle of nowhere that you'd never find online anyways, or on YA.

[bisonrav]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I already trawl yahoo auctions and have various regular google sweeps using English and Japanese. So basically since I'm here, and more from interest than expectation, I was wondering about junk shops and flea markets. I'll maybe follow up the leads here if time permits, my boys would gladly spend the whole trip in akihabara so I may poke around there.

[catfish-collins]

I have weird tastes too (not Prefab Sprout, though!), and am always looking for offbeat stuff, so I empathize:

A few things that may be helpful:

• Here is Prefab Sprout in Japanese (in case he can't pronounce it - he can just show it to the clerk): プリファブ・スプラウト

• You might have him (or someone who can speak Japanese) contact the guy that runs this page: http://www.eonet.ne.jp/~prefabsprout/prefab/prefab.html
Here's his addy: sneeze2@brown.livedoor.com
He probably couldn't go wrong by contacting other such fans for info before he goes - any Japanese / Japanese-speaking connection would probably be more helpful than an English-speaking one...