blakejcan
Well-known member
Probably the best guitar shopping experience I've ever had. It might not be right for you, but I loved it.
I started in Tokyo which is famous for having huge districts that specialize in various things. Food, anime, electronics, whatever. There is some area for you. If you love guitars then you go to Ochanomizu.
It is about 3 blocks worth of guitar stores. All very narrow with multiple floors. Typically each floor has a speciality. First floor usually electric stuff on the lower end. A floor up will be all Gibson. Another floor all Fender w/ higher end stuff. A full acoustic floor.
Or it might have some variation. One had a "heavy metal floor" which was all shredders with a lot of the cooler Japanese models like Tokai, ESP, Edwards and whatever else.
Selection.........holy cow. I have traveled the world a fair amount for personal vacations and for work and I always search for new guitar stores wherever I go. Over the years I've gone to some great places. Norman's Rare guitars. Chicago Music Exchange. Walt Grace Vintage in Miami. I was even lucky enough to go Denmark Street in London which is also a big hub of music stores and truly awesome.
In terms of pure volume of high quality and EXTREMELY WELL KEPT guitars......nothing compares to Japan. There is so much stuffed into every store it's just amazing.
Every guitar is basically locked up. You have to ask someone to take something down. But when they do take it down you will notice that it is completely free of blemishes. They will take a few minutes to wipe it down, tune it up and make sure it is perfect for you. They ask you which amp you want to try it on and then grab you a seat and a pick and set the amp up for you. If you are wearing a jacket or something with a zipper they will ask you to remove it and place it in a little bin right next to you. They know every detail on every guitar and will tell you about the specs (in English) and then let you do your thing for a bit. Oh yea, sometimes they even have a light adhesive thing they attach to the back of the guitar to keep it pristine.
After a few minutes they come back to check on you. Maybe help you change amp settings and are just generally wonderful and attentive to whatever you want.
All prices as listed are inclusive of tax. If you are a foreigner and have a passport on you, they will deduct the 10% tax from the cost and sell it to you at that amount which is so so rad. If you prefer to have it shipped back home instead of bringing it on the plane almost all stores can do that for you as well. I opted for that on the two guitars I bought and it was super pain free. The deduction of the tax almost paid for the shipping costs back to the US.
I bought an MIJ Jazzmaster in Inca Silver with US Pickups that is a special run only available in the one store in Kyoto.
I also bought an ESP E-II which is a neck through, 24 fret shredder with a Floyd and active pickups. Absolute beast I need to learn to tame and while you can find it in the states, it's also a bit of a rare bird for your standard guitar store near me.
Both guitars made it home safely and within 24 hours which is crazy fast. As I was purchasing each guitar they were busy wrapping it up for shipping immediately.
Compared to many places stateside where you feel like you're annoying someone when you ask to try something, it was so refreshing.
I'll post some pics later of the stuff I bought and of the shops but man.......if you can do it.........please go have a great time. It's just flippin' fantastic. 10 out of 10.
I started in Tokyo which is famous for having huge districts that specialize in various things. Food, anime, electronics, whatever. There is some area for you. If you love guitars then you go to Ochanomizu.
It is about 3 blocks worth of guitar stores. All very narrow with multiple floors. Typically each floor has a speciality. First floor usually electric stuff on the lower end. A floor up will be all Gibson. Another floor all Fender w/ higher end stuff. A full acoustic floor.
Or it might have some variation. One had a "heavy metal floor" which was all shredders with a lot of the cooler Japanese models like Tokai, ESP, Edwards and whatever else.
Selection.........holy cow. I have traveled the world a fair amount for personal vacations and for work and I always search for new guitar stores wherever I go. Over the years I've gone to some great places. Norman's Rare guitars. Chicago Music Exchange. Walt Grace Vintage in Miami. I was even lucky enough to go Denmark Street in London which is also a big hub of music stores and truly awesome.
In terms of pure volume of high quality and EXTREMELY WELL KEPT guitars......nothing compares to Japan. There is so much stuffed into every store it's just amazing.
Every guitar is basically locked up. You have to ask someone to take something down. But when they do take it down you will notice that it is completely free of blemishes. They will take a few minutes to wipe it down, tune it up and make sure it is perfect for you. They ask you which amp you want to try it on and then grab you a seat and a pick and set the amp up for you. If you are wearing a jacket or something with a zipper they will ask you to remove it and place it in a little bin right next to you. They know every detail on every guitar and will tell you about the specs (in English) and then let you do your thing for a bit. Oh yea, sometimes they even have a light adhesive thing they attach to the back of the guitar to keep it pristine.
After a few minutes they come back to check on you. Maybe help you change amp settings and are just generally wonderful and attentive to whatever you want.
All prices as listed are inclusive of tax. If you are a foreigner and have a passport on you, they will deduct the 10% tax from the cost and sell it to you at that amount which is so so rad. If you prefer to have it shipped back home instead of bringing it on the plane almost all stores can do that for you as well. I opted for that on the two guitars I bought and it was super pain free. The deduction of the tax almost paid for the shipping costs back to the US.
I bought an MIJ Jazzmaster in Inca Silver with US Pickups that is a special run only available in the one store in Kyoto.
I also bought an ESP E-II which is a neck through, 24 fret shredder with a Floyd and active pickups. Absolute beast I need to learn to tame and while you can find it in the states, it's also a bit of a rare bird for your standard guitar store near me.
Both guitars made it home safely and within 24 hours which is crazy fast. As I was purchasing each guitar they were busy wrapping it up for shipping immediately.
Compared to many places stateside where you feel like you're annoying someone when you ask to try something, it was so refreshing.
I'll post some pics later of the stuff I bought and of the shops but man.......if you can do it.........please go have a great time. It's just flippin' fantastic. 10 out of 10.
