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  #1  
Old Oct 11, 2014, 11:26 AM
mr. newbie mr. newbie is offline
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Default shopping for vgm in japan

I'll be visiting Japan later this month (Oct 22-nov 4) and I would like to know the best way to get some physical game music. Should I order from amazon.JP or are there any record stores that carry vgm?

My hotel is in the kanagawa area but im open to travel.

Trying to google this hasn't lead to any fruitful results. Almost every link is about getting music from Japan shipped to the us.

Any info at all would be appreciated.
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Old Oct 11, 2014, 12:12 PM
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student41269 student41269 is offline
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Hey mr. newbie.

Most large HMV and Tower Records stores in Japan have game music included in their soundtracks section. Large electronics stores like Yodobashi Camera and Sofmap may also have a small selection of the latest releases.

If you're looking for out of print stuff, search for any Book-Off outlets near where you're staying: this chain of second-hand stores commonly has a game music section. And if you're really serious, get yourself to Tokyo and dedicate at least a day to Akihabara and Nakano where you'll find many, many stores in which to haemorrhage money on game music old and new
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Old Oct 11, 2014, 05:10 PM
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student41269's advice is spot on.

HMV and Tower will have the new releases for that month, and a modest section of vgm (a few shelves worth).

If you want to see BIG selections though, the Akihabara district of Tokyo is undoubtedly the main event.

Some stores there (Super Potato, Gamers) have many hundreds of albums onhand.
You'll find doujin albums at shops like Mandarake.
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Old Oct 12, 2014, 06:58 AM
smartalex2014 smartalex2014 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by student41269 View Post
Hey mr. newbie.

Most large HMV and Tower Records stores in Japan have game music included in their soundtracks section. Large electronics stores like Yodobashi Camera and Sofmap may also have a small selection of the latest releases.

If you're looking for out of print stuff, search for any Book-Off outlets near where you're staying: this chain of second-hand stores commonly has a game music section. And if you're really serious, get yourself to Tokyo and dedicate at least a day to Akihabara and Nakano where you'll find many, many stores in which to haemorrhage money on game music old and new
I go to the one in Gardena, CA, but I'm always compulsive buying there!
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Old Oct 24, 2014, 04:25 PM
mr. newbie mr. newbie is offline
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Thanks for all the information everyone!

I'm currently in Japan. I've only been able to find the tower records in shibuya so far. I'll report back on what I find in Akihabara later doay.

- Tower Shibuya is enormous - a must visit for any music fan. The prices here are steep. expect to pay at least 25,000 yen (roughly $25) per cd. As a foreigner expect to use google translate. On every floor I visited nobody spoke any english. I recommend you keep a list of what you want in Japanese. That way you can point to it and the staff can help you find it. Everything is in alphabetical order but if you don't speak Japanese it's not very helpful.

* As said earlier the selection is primarily new releases.

* They do accept credit. I've learned the hard way not every cd store does! Always bring cash (a lot of it too)

Last edited by mr. newbie; Oct 24, 2014 at 04:29 PM.
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Old Oct 24, 2014, 07:14 PM
ᄐv๑–X² ᄐv๑–X² is offline
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If you took pictures can you share them here? Would love to see the inside of those stores
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Old Oct 27, 2014, 06:25 AM
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Carl Carl is offline
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Here's two examples: This is the vgm section of the store "Gamers" in Akihabara (circa 2002), and then another shop in Akiba as well.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Game Music CD section of Gamers.jpg (60.0 KB, 25 views)
File Type: jpg Game Music CD shop.jpg (65.7 KB, 23 views)
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Old Oct 28, 2014, 06:54 AM
smartalex2014 smartalex2014 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by student41269 View Post
Hey mr. newbie.

Most large HMV and Tower Records stores in Japan have game music included in their soundtracks section. Large electronics stores like Yodobashi Camera and Sofmap may also have a small selection of the latest releases.

If you're looking for out of print stuff, search for any Book-Off outlets near where you're staying: this chain of second-hand stores commonly has a game music section. And if you're really serious, get yourself to Tokyo and dedicate at least a day to Akihabara and Nakano where you'll find many, many stores in which to haemorrhage money on game music old and new
Tried to search in Tower Records in the US back in the 2000's, especially in Irvine. Nothing. Just GTA and True Crime CD's.
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Old Oct 28, 2014, 06:17 PM
mr. newbie mr. newbie is offline
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Going forward I Wil try to take more pictures. I just realized that would be really helpful.


Madarake Akihabara



* Credit cards accepted here

-huge manga/anime/video game store. Isles are narrow so don't bring a large bag. As usual staff don't speak English so you'll either need to look at every single cd individually or look up what you want in Japanese. Use this site or google.jp to find the Japanese title of what you want and keep that list on your phone.


Eclectic mix of used and new cd's. Comparing a few prices you can save a bit compared to tower or friends if you don't mind used cds. As an example the Megaman x 1-6 collection is $130 at Friends new but only $60 at Madarake. my "used" cd's were in excellent condition btw. I was able to grab a really wide variety of stuff like zuki-in and Parasite Eve remixes and a beatmania visual dvd.

I Highly suggest coming on a weekday in the morning/afternoon. It is NOT fun being here on a saturday night. You'll be elbow to elbow with dozens of people in a very hot room with no space to move.


Friends Akihabara


* Bring cash
* It's above a ramen shop. Every site that says the only indicator is a tiny chalkboard outside are still correct
* No english spoken

2 Rows of vgm. One small section is dedicated to box sets like beatmania best collection the Megaman X 1-6 collection and the "Game Club Music Event "Legend" set. There is a glass case section with high ticket items (above $80 or so). Overall i'd say you can find those 10-20 year old classics but you will absolutely be paying top dollar. Here are some rough prices I remember

Bare Knuckle 2 $40-50

Street Fighter Zero 3 40-50

Beatmania Super Best Box $180

As of this writing you can save $50 on the Beatmania box at Amazon.jp. This place is definitely worth a visit though. The collection isn't huge but is varied. I didn't see their box sets anywhere else.
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