Trip to Tokyo
 

Along the lines of the other "Trip" thread, where are some good places to pick up DVDs, CDs, Comics and Illustration books in Tokyo?

I'll be going there on Dec 19th, I know I'm getting quite a few JPop / JRock concerts / PV DVDs... I also want to get some Illustrations books from like the Capcom artists or the (ex) SNK artists... Those are amazing! (& Cheap too!)

Problem is DVDs & CDs aren't cheap... but I know that there's a 2nd hand market there, which is much cheaper... does anyone know? I hope someone here can point me to a few 2nd hand DVD & CD stores in Tokyo.

Thanks!

You will not find much in the way of "bargains" in Tokyo as there is not much in the way of competition - although you will find the odd store offering discounts or stamped cards which will provide a discount once all boxes on the card are stamped.

The stores to go to that have the most complete collections of DVDs are HMV, and (Seibu) Wave. You will find these in places like Shibuya, Ikebukero, Shinjuku etc, all of which are located on the Yamanote JR train line which circles Tokyo - the colour coding for the Yamanote line is green (you can also get to them by the chikatetsu (subway trains), but that gets a little more complicated if you are not familiar with it).

The store that I found to be one of the best for finding collector's items and rarer DVDs was a place called Yodobashi Camera. They are a chain, and the store where I found a lot of the rarer stuff (such as the Laputa Gift Box Set) was in Kawasaki.

Also, if you can find them, another good store is called Shinseido who have a great range of titles and occassionally it is possible to find some pretty rare items. There is one of these in Kawasaki and another in Yokohama somewhere in the Landmark Tower area (if I recall correctly it is on the ground floor at the walkway between Landmark Tower and the building behind it, Queens Square). They do sometimes offer discounts as well. To get to Landmark Tower, take the train to Sakuragicho Station (2 or 3 stops after Yokohama Station and follow the masses - there is absolutely no way you can miss this building.

To get to Kawasaki and Yokohama from Tokyo, catch the Keihin-Tohoku line (JR) train from Shinagawa - this takes you to both Yokohama and Sakuragicho stations (and also stops at Kawasaki on the way).

Other than all of the above, my only other suggestion would be that if you have friends in Tokyo, order in advance from Amazon Japan and have them send them to your friend's address... Amazon discount many titles and offer free shipping within Japan.

Hope this helps.