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ai-da-ice · 8 years ago

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Tips for Shopping for Asian Music in Japan!

If you're a J-Pop fan, you probably know better than anyone that it's difficult to get content quickly at an affordable price. J-Pop releases are usually much smaller than their K-pop counterparts, but the price and shipping from online CD stores doesn't really reflect that. So if you ever find yourself in Japan, there's no reason not to take advantage of the good deals surrounding you! However, there are a lot of different places to get music, and it can be overwhelming to sort through. For a little hand in getting the most for your yen, please check out some of my tips and tricks for getting J-Pop while you're in Japan!

CD Stores (New):

The two major CD stores in Japan are Tower Records and HMV. Both charge standard retail price for CDs, and both have pretty great stock, so if you're looking for a CD, there's a good chance these stores will have it—particularly if you're shopping in metropolitan areas like Shinjuku or Shibuya. Some regional branches of these stores are much smaller and will focus on new releases or best-selling groups like Johnny's groups or AKB48.

Both Tower Records and HMV sell K-Pop and have a small selection of music from popular Western artists. You can also buy magazines, photobooks, and concert DVDs from these stores.

If you're buying a CD around the release week, it might be a good idea to research if the group is having an event at Tower Records or HMV. Depending on which location you shop at, you might be able to get an event ticket to attend and in-store live or a lottery ticket to go to a handshake event. Usually the music store website will list their upcoming events.

Groups might also have special promo items at certain music stores. For example, you can get the same HMV exclusive novelty items at HMV stores that you can get online—this includes items like postcards, clear files, or posters like Da-iCE's calendar posters.

Basic tips:

-In Japan, you can usually buy an album the day before the official release day—this is called “flying get.” If you're worried about event tickets or novelty item running out, be sure to flying get your CD! This can also help your group of choice get a high first day ranking on the Orion charts!

-Music stores are not arranged by the English alphabet, but instead by Japanese syllables. Since some Japanese group names are English, this can often be a little confusing, so before you started shopping, it migh be helpful to figure out how the syllable system works. For example, Da-iCE starts with the “da” sound, but is actually filed under the “ta” syllable.

-Some groups are organized by their agency, and not their group name. For example, Johnny's Entertainment groups have their own section in most CD stores. In other CD stores, LDH groups and Ebidan groups have their own section. If you can't find them with the other CDs, they might be in their own individual areas!

-HMV has a fantastic online used store where CDs can sell for great discounts! Of course, you can take advantage of this store overseas, but in Japan it comes along with free shipping that can have your goods delivered in one to two days! The condition of the CDs is quite good, but the downside is while some sellers will tell you if the CD comes with a photocard or bonus content, others won't. It's good to hunt around the site for a bit before committing to a purchase.

CD Stores (Used)

Book Off is actualy my personal favorite place to go CD shopping since you can get fantastic deals or expensive content. Prices can go as low as 108 yen, and on average you can get most CDs between 500 yen and 1,100 yen (basically $4-$10). What kind of CDs are in stock and the overall size of the store varies from location to location, but most stores offer a wide selection of J-pop, J-rock, Western music, K-pop, jazz, classical, anime music, and so on.

You can also buy used concert DVDs, photobooks, magazines, and box sets at Book Off in addition to other content like books, manga, anime, TV shows, movies, figurines, and so on.

Since Book Off is a used store, the organization isn't always perfect, so try keeping these tips in mind when you visit:

-Book Off's CDs are usually divided into regular discounts, 500 yen mark downs, and 280 yen mark downs. However, a lot of discounts are scattered in each section. For example, I've found 108 yen and 280 yen CDs in the regular section, and 280 yen CDs in 500 yen section. If you have the time, I would explore all sections to see what you can find.

-K-pop CDs are usually divided from J-pop CDs and stuck on the end of the Western music section of the stores. HOWEVER, a lot of employees don't know which groups are K-pop and which aren't, so you'll often be able to find K-pop artists (especially TVXQ, BoA, and Supernova) with the J-pop CDs.

-Oversized CDs often can't fit on the standard shelves, so if you're looking for bigger albums like K-pop CDs or boxsets, look around for the over sized CD sections.

-K-pop or J-pop CDs which come with photocards or bonus content may or may not be sold with it in Book Off. If the CD isn't in plastic wrap, you can check, but if it is wrapped up, be aware that it may not contain a photocard.

-One of the best times/places to buy used CDs is directly after a CD release at the Shibuya Book Off. For certain J-Pop groups or K-pop groups, fans will bulk buy the album in hopes of getting certain event tickets or photocards, then immediately go to Book Off Shibuya to resell their extra CDs. With the influx of CDs, the staff won't plastic wrap each CD, and will place them immediately onto the mark down shelf, which makes them easy to check to see if they do or don't have photocard content inside.

Disk Union is also a good resource. While you can find a pretty decent J-pop selection in this store, I'd actually recommend this store a little more for fans of rock, classical, jazz, soul, and of course Western music. There are some VERY rare items in the store for excellent prices, but most of them tend in the direction of vinyl records, box sets, or limited edition releases. If you're near the Shinjuku area, I'd definitely give the branch there a look to see what kind of goods you can find.

Merch

If you're an idol fan, there's no better place to go than Trio! Here is where you can find merch, a lot of which you can normally only access by attending concerts or being part of the fan club! Items include concert goods, lightsticks, photobooks, photocards and postcards, posters, uchiwas, bags, keychains, and so on.

The stores are generally divided by male and female idols. Johnny's groups dominate the male half of the store, and you can find goods from pretty much every era of those groups' promotions for a FANTASTIC price considering how rare some of the items are. There are also items from LDH and Ebidan groups and avex groups like Da-iCE and Solidemo. However, the merch availability for the newer groups is mostly limited at the moment. On the female half, you can find exclusive goods for 48-project groups and Hello! Project groups, with some other smaller groups being represented.

AAA also a pretty sizable representation at Trio, including some hard to find concert goods that are almost impossible to get overseas these days!

Trio also has a rock section, particularly in the Nakano Broadway location, so if you're a fan of VK or some of the biggest names of alt-rock, you can also find some of their concert merch, magazines, and posters.

The store Mandarake also has a section dedicated to idols, those once again Johnny's groups dominates the selections for male idols. The goods are similar to Trio, so if there's anything you couldn't find at Trio, this is an excellent place to hit up.

However, please be aware that a lot of goods are in glass cases and you will need the help of a shop assistant to purchase them. Before you go, try brushing up on your shopping Japanese so you're not just grunting and pointing to what you need.

K-Pop

Along with the standard CD stores, you can find more K-pop CDs in Tokyo's Koreatown district in Shin-Okubo. In this area, there are entire streets dedicated to K-pop where you find CDs, posters, merch, photobooks, lightsticks, fashion, DVDs, and other K-pop related content. A lot of it is unofficial merch, but if that doesn't bother you, it's a fantastic place to go shopping! Best of all, a lot of rookie groups can often be found in the area to promote themselves, and occasionally you can even take a picture with them!

Prices can vary from store to store, and some stores have signed CDs available. Since there is a gap in the prices, my strategy while shopping in Shin-Okubo is to do all my browsing first and then backtrack to make purchases after comparing prices.

Please also be aware that many of the stores don't accept credit cards—it's always good to have some cash on hand!

#j-pop #travel journal

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