Jaunted

If you really want to find out about record stores, not only in Tokyo, you should pick up the annual record collectors guide. A new one is published every October and it lists every Mom and pops record store through out the country, no joke. Of course it is in Japanese but lists all the towns/parts of cities in English with very detailed accurate maps. I used mine in Kyoto, Kobe, Hiroshima, you name it, its in there! If you go to a record store like HMV or Disc Union, they should carry it. If not, go to Nishi Shinjuku and ask some one at Zephyr or Back Trip, they will help, they carry it as well. Speaking of Back Trip or Zephyr, bootlegs are very cheap in Japan. They can get expensive due to who is hot,new or on tour but you can always find tons of used discs at places like Back Trip. Prices dipped drastically when trading on-line became very big in the past couple of years. Some of the stores fear their demise due to the net. Believe me, I have many friends that own stores there and used to sell rare recordings myself. If you have time, meaning you live in Japan or have more than a week there, check out some book stores, not as reliable or have the variety but every now and then you will find pure gold for a few hundred yen. Hard Off stores sometimes have beautiful vinyl, sometimes they don't know what they have and you get a real deal. I had a car when I lived there, I covered the country from The most norther tip to Kyushu and hit as many record stores as I possibly could. If you need any other tips, just let me know, If there is a store in Tokyo, I probably hit it - Phil. Oh yeah, check out Mezurashi-ya in Tachikawa, Kokobunji and Kichijoji, (sorry for the mispelling, all on the Ome JR line) great vinyl for great prices. Boots and rare cds as well.