Good stores etc. in Japan / Tokyo / Kyoto

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ebrandon

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My wife & I (both photography nuts) are traveling to Japan soon.

While there we'd love to dedicate a day to browsing the best / most interesting camera & photography stores and other photography related venues.

So a few questions:
1) Is there a district or street with a concentration of good camera stores?

2) Are there any specific stores that people would recommend for english speakers to browse/buy alternative/used lenses?

3) Are there any specific stores that people would recommend as mainstream new gear photography megastores? The Japanese equivalent of B&H?

4) Are there any must-see photography museums or galleries we should know about?

Thanks so much for your suggestions!

- Eric
 
Yodobashi Akihibara is like B&H only a billion times better. they have all their digital products out on display with plenty of lenses to test. tonnes of accesories, big film fridges that you can check out.
for specific used shops, check out Fujiya Camera in Nakano, Map Camera in Shinjuku and Lemon Camera in Ginza

Yodobashi Nanba in Osaka curiously had very expensive MF cameras lying around as well when i went last year. got a chance to play w/ a blad, a 2.8gx, pentax 645, 67, mamiya 7ii
 
ebrandon said:
My wife & I (both photography nuts) are traveling to Japan soon.

While there we'd love to dedicate a day to browsing the best / most interesting camera & photography stores and other photography related venues.

So a few questions:
1) Is there a district or street with a concentration of good camera stores?

2) Are there any specific stores that people would recommend for english speakers to browse/buy alternative/used lenses?

3) Are there any specific stores that people would recommend as mainstream new gear photography megastores? The Japanese equivalent of B&H?

4) Are there any must-see photography museums or galleries we should know about?

Thanks so much for your suggestions!

- Eric
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1. In Tokyo, Shinjuku or Ginza have a decent concentration of used camera stores. See link below for more details.

http://www.asbcreative.com/tokyo_used_cameras.html

2. Lemonsha in the Ginza, MAP Camera in Shinjuku, Fujiya Camera in Nakano

3. Yodobashi Camera, BIC Camera etc. They're everywhere!

4. Tokyo Camera museum is great! Link below.

http://www.jcii-cameramuseum.jp/
 
For museums, the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography in Ebisu--Google it.

The Department store usually have the best exhibitions--check a calendar.

Many of the camera companies have their own gallery (salon), although that tradition has slowly been fading. Pentax, Olympus, Nikon, and Konica Minolta all used to have a gallery in Shinjuku, but at least the Konica Minola gallery has gone. Nikon, Fuji, and Kodak also had a gallery in Ginza.

You should try a book store. Not only to understand what it really means to be illiterate, but also to check out photo magazines and books. If you like secondhand books, then Ochanomizu in Tokyo is for you. You can walk to the Imperial Palace and Ginza from there and it has one of the only Confusian temples in Japan.
 
I heartily agree on the bookstores. I found a terrific Japanese magazine there years ago, LEICA, and sadly it is out of print burt I got several issues from Amazon Japan. Fabulous publication. Camera and Camera Life are hopefully still available. Japanese magazines are simply the very best. Whatever the topic, they get WAY into it, and the paper and printing are first rate. I stayed in the Kanda section of Tokyo nearby the numerous booksellers there. You?


Finder said:
For museums, the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography in Ebisu--Google it.

The Department store usually have the best exhibitions--check a calendar.

Many of the camera companies have their own gallery (salon), although that tradition has slowly been fading. Pentax, Olympus, Nikon, and Konica Minolta all used to have a gallery in Shinjuku, but at least the Konica Minola gallery has gone. Nikon, Fuji, and Kodak also had a gallery in Ginza.

You should try a book store. Not only to understand what it really means to be illiterate, but also to check out photo magazines and books. If you like secondhand books, then Ochanomizu in Tokyo is for you. You can walk to the Imperial Palace and Ginza from there and it has one of the only Confusian temples in Japan.
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kzphoto said:
I keep looking at this website online, but I have no idea where it's located. Mainly because I can't read Japanese:
http://www.matsumoto-camera.com/

Some amazing deals on lenses. If you're going, let me know! There's a lens I've been dying to buy.

~k.
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You can always try google translate on the page.

FWIW/ the guy who runs the place speaks fine English and the (small) shop is pretty damned cool. His stuff is sometimes on consignment, so he's upfront about what he thinks are the good prices.
 
Bit off topic, but we're looking for budget DVD player for a gift around Shibuya (BIC, Sakura-ya, etc.) under Y10000 with these features:

Easy to use and install. Big name brand good. Made in Japan a plus.

Bonus features but not necessary would be able to play Region 1 DVDs.

Thanks!
 
Look out for good deals - I got a pentax 6x7 with 105mm takumar in really nice perfect working condition for $60us from a little second hand camera shop in shinjuku.
 
For the DVD player, there's all those Doki discount stores in Tokyo, any of them should have a decent selection. They're sort of like the Japanese equivalent of Wall Mart (or Kmart in Australia). There's one in Akiba and one in Roppongi, and I would say there should be one in Shinjuku somewhere. It's the place with the blue duck looking thing. Also, the Yodobashi camera shop in Akiba is HUGE, it also has a massive collection of electronics as well as cameras. I would recommend visiting there, just to see it.

For second hand cameras, I tried the second hand camera shops in Shinjuku, I found them really expensive and the selection was quite average. They didn't really have any old school SLR or old school rangefinder stuff, it was all leica and blad. If you don't want to drop thousands or buy Leica, I would recommend heading over the the shops in Nakano, much better selection and much, much cheaper. I picked up some really good Olympus OM lenses. I still found that the stuff sold tended to be extremely good quality, so the selection wasn't as vast as I was expecting. But still better than anywhere I found.

Unfortunately I can't find a good train map for you, but the best route for doing some good shopping is to get a subway or JR to Akiba, have a look around, then from Akiba catch the JR train to Nakano. The ride is pretty long, at least 30 minutes, and don't plan on sitting down either. Also, there's a wicked shopping arcade full of awesome anime stuff on the second level, if you're into that sort of thing check it out, so much cool rare stuff you won't find in the shops in Akiba. If you can't find the camera shops in Nakano, just ask anyone carrying a camera and they'll point you in the right direction, it's what we did haha. There's a laneway type thing where all the second hand shops are, surrounded by those old style japanese roofs, so if you're around that area you're on the right track.

Hope that helps anybody.
 
flip said:
You can always try google translate on the page.

FWIW/ the guy who runs the place speaks fine English and the (small) shop is pretty damned cool. His stuff is sometimes on consignment, so he's upfront about what he thinks are the good prices.
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He's got a 24/2.8 ASPH I've been eyeballing for a long time. At US $1700, it's a steal.
 
You'll want to double check this list as it's old:

http://www.asbcreative.com/tokyo_used_cameras.html

I've been to Hayata and a couple of other places in Asakusa as well as all the big box places in Shibuya, Shinjuku and Akihabara.

For the smaller mom/pop places (there was a nice one in Meguro-ku), it's best to have someone who speaks Japanese with you. For the big box stores, just have a lot of cash with you and there is usually one floor where you can talk a bit of English with a salesperson in multi-floor shops.
 
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Timmy P said:
For second hand cameras, I tried the second hand camera shops in Shinjuku, I found them really expensive and the selection was quite average. They didn't really have any old school SLR or old school rangefinder stuff, it was all leica and blad.
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Sounds like you found yourself it the basement floor of MAP Camera 1. Did you go up to the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors where all the modern (D)-SLR gear is? Or go over to MAP Camera 2 where all the manual focus SLR gear, MF gear, and other rangefinder gear is? Did you go round the corner to Shinjuku Camera Ichi, or across from MAP Camera 1 to Kitamura Camera, or just up the street to Camera Box? Or to the main Kitamura Camera store, or Alpsdo, or Miyama Shokai, or Lucky Camera (all shops in Shinjuku near the station)?


Timmy P said:
If you don't want to drop thousands or buy Leica, I would recommend heading over the the shops in Nakano, much better selection and much, much cheaper.
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There's only two shops in Nakano that I know of - Fujiya Camera and Nitto Camera. Fujiya Camera is like a large clearing house. They work on a high turnover so sell at cheap prices. Nitto Camera is a real camera nut's delight. They usually have some amazing and very rare gear on display. But the shop is out of the way and a little hard to find.
 
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It depends on what you are looking for. Most of the stores listed in this thread are excelent and I have purchased items at Alpsdo (Shinjuku), Biccamera, Yodobashi Camera, Lemon-sha Ginza, MapCamera (Shinjuku), Sanpou etc.

One idea is to pick up a copy of Nippon Camera as soon as you arrive and look in the ad section at the back. You get an idea what is available and where plus you can see the street price (or close to street price).

Have fun,
Casey
 
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