Friday June 12
 
17:54
 
Buying Electronics In Japan

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I’m often asked by people visiting Tokyo, Osaka, or other places in Japan about buying cameras, photography equipment, computers, laptops, etc etc in Japan, so here’s a little guide.

Price comparison

Firstly, the ultimate place for checking prices in Japan is kakaku.com. This will give you a very good idea of the minimum price for an item if you order online. Whether you can get the same price in a real store or not is another matter – sometimes you can find things cheaper in the stores below, but mostly buying in a real store will add to the price.

Check out the websites before for “high street” prices.

Akihabara

The main electronics area in Tokyo is Akihabara. You can use this English train route finder to plan a route from where you’re staying to Akihabara – it’s quite easy to get to since it’s on the Yamanote line, a line which circles Tokyo. I generally buy PC parts in Akihabara (“Akiba”), such as hard disks, CPUs, memory – it’s also the cheapest place for SDHC cards.

In Akihabara there’s a large Yodobashi camera (see below) and several other large stores – but the best action is in the back streets. To get there, find the big Yodobashi – it’s so big anyone will point you in the right direction. Standing in front of the main entrance, cross the street to the station – there will usually be strange girls singing there and stranger guys watching them, if it’s the weekend. Go left into the station, and then right through the tunnel which has small shops in it (including a small international foodstore). When you emerge from there you’ll be in a square with a big LABI and probably some girls dressed in maid outfits giving out leaflets. There are a few shops in that area which sell PCs with English Windows preinstalled (though if you are going to buy a computer in Japan, I’d recommend getting a Mac because you can request an English keyboard and you get a multilanguage OS and international warranty).

Keep walking straight until you get to the main road, then turn right and walk up the road. Keep walking about 6 or 7 blocks (you’ll pass a McD on the right hand side, but it’s hidden, you might not spot it) then cross over the road and go into the backstreets.

In those streets you’ll find stores like Faith PC (map) and several other stores, many of them listed in kakaku.com price comparisons – from tiny places (where you get the best prices to SDHC cards, junk second hand LCDs) to 2/3/4 floor stores.

Outside Akihabara

There are three big chains. Yodobashi Camera, Bic Camera, and LABI (Yamada Denki).

All three of these stores work the same way. You buy something and get “points” back, which you can spend in store – the points you get back can be anything from 10% to 20%+. If you use credit card, the points you get is reduced by 2-3%.

These stores also offer tourists tax free shopping – however if you take that option, usually you don’t get any points. Since tax is 5%, that means it can actually be a worse deal to shop tax free in Japan – it’s better to get the points and use them immediately (eg, buy a UV filter).

Shibuya has LABI and 2 x Bic Camera. Shinjuku has several Bic Cameras and Yodobashi Cameras. Akihabara has a huge Yodobashi Camera and a LABI – it may also have a Bic Camera. However not all branches of a chain charge the same prices.

Not all branches of the same chain have the same prices. Shibuya Bic Camera is usually more expensive than Shinjuku Bic Camera, because Bic Camera Shinjuku is in strong competition with Yodobashi Shinjuku. Although there’s a LABI in Shibuya, Bic Camera still has a strong hold there and so doesn’t adjust down prices as much.

Out of all these stores, LABI in Shibuya is generally the cheapest for cameras – it’s also the easiest to find, being just a short walk from 109 (not 109-2). See the link for a map.

LABI Shibuya usually has the best prices to begin with, but on top of that they have English speakers and you can bargain with them. Just a simple “What’s the best price you can do on this?” will usually get you another 2-3% extra points, and then if you add “Can you do me the same price for credit card?” after some serious thinking, they’ll usually agree (which means you don’t lose 2-3% off your points). If you’re planning on living in Japan for a while, 5% of the camera price will get you a 5 year guarantee, where you pay nothing to have your camera repaired in that time (pay the amount in cash or with credit card; if you pay it in points, you can still get a guarantee but it’s not free to get your camera repaired after the first year).

My second choice is Yodobashi in Shinjuku. Yodobashi in Shinjuku is weird – there are two “groups” of stores: this small group and this larger group at Shinjuku West. Each group is several buildings. Believe me when I say that Shinjuku is a maze at the best of times, and trying to navigate between Yodobashi stores and find the right one only ads to the confusion… or fun! – if you can go with someone Japanese then do so. You’re may not find anyone who speaks English in Yodobashi.

This map shows where the larger group of Yodobashi stores is, and the other stores in Shinjuku West I’m going to mention.

Around Yodobashi there are several other camera stores, like Map Camera – in fact Map Camera has an English map page which has both Map Camera and Yodobashi on it. You don’t get points in Map Camera – prices are reduced accordingly, usually. Map Camera does have second hand cameras and lenses though.

Also at Shinjuku west is Bic Camera, and they do have people who speak English there. Here’s a list of the Bic Camera stores where English is spoken – it includes the Shinjuku West store (but the map is useless). The best place to find an English speaker is in the camera section – if you’re somewhere else like the HDD or iPod section and you ask for an English speaker, they might tell you that there are none! Some other Bic Camera stores which are not on the list may also have English speakers – I’ve found people who speak English in the Shibuya stores. Bic Camera can also offer a 5 year warranty, and for a little extra (less than 1000yen) can offer a 1 year accident warranty – though remember this is only useful if you live in Japan.

Finally, in the Shinjuku area you’ll find the Nikon service center – it’s between Bic Camera and Yodobashi. There’s a fantastic view over Tokyo from the 28F showroom and service center – worth dropping in for the view. They speak English there – but beware that your own country warranty might not be honoured there if it isn’t international. You may notice that I stole the Nikon map to show where Yodobashi, Bic Camera, and Map Camera are!

Cautions!

Make sure you read my comments about points vs tax free, above.

One thing to be careful of buying when buying cameras in Japan: All Sony and newer Panasonic cameras are Japanese only. There are tourist versions in some stores that have English, but they are much more expensive. On the other hand, Nikon provide English manuals to some of the larger stores (such as Yodobashi Shinjuku) and those stores can usually give you an English manual when you buy the camera – if you get a Japanese one, you may be able to go to the Nikon service center and swap it over (provided you have not opened it). Personally I just download English manuals rather than swapping over.

If this guide is helpful to you, please click this Amazon link – it wont cost you a penny (you don’t have to buy anything), but it will help this site. Or you can be very nice and send a donation to help run my other site The Korean Blog List.