Going to Tokyo/Kyoto! :D Any ideas?

General
#1

Hello!


I´m going from Brazil to Kyoto and Tokyo with my girlfriend for near three weeks in late August. Visiting Japan for the first time is a dream coming true to someone like me, who was raised watching super sentai stuff, listening to Korg, Roland and Yamaha synths and playing MegaDrive and SNES! :slight_smile:

This community gave me amazing suggestions of cool places, record/gear/rape shops, clubs, restaurants and bookstores (fanzines?!) before when I visited Paris and I know that some people there loves/lives in Japan, It will be really amazing to know what do you like and suggest there!

As I´ll stay for a more extended time it would be really amazing and priceless to do a jam somewhere. If you are from Kyoto or Tokyo and want to do a jam - maybe on those little cool cafes? - please let me know so I can bring a small lofi rig! :smiley: I can bring some cool brazillian records as a gift too <3 Thanks a lot!

#2

yo, if you want to meet in kyoto give me a shout, I can show you some good record shops

#3
yo, if you want to meet in kyoto give me a shout, I can show you some good record shops

Sure! Will be a pleasure! :slight_smile: We will stay in Gion - is a good place for some crate diggin’?

#4

I found Shimokitazawa a great place for records. There is a good store there called City country city records up on the 4th floor. Also a great bar called Little Soul Cafe which is like walking into someones living room with about 20,000 records. The owner plays records and serves drinks at Little Soul Cafe, its really small and unique place. HMV is Shibuya is great - the first floor is 2nd hand disco/funk/soul records.

#5

If you go to FiveG in Tokyo then go to the restaurant on the floor beneath I think it was. exit the lift and its on the right. we had AMAZING fried chicken there. tiny little place full of locals, some smoking - proper hidden little place.


Kyoto is an amazing city - I thnk I could happily live there, theres a great vibe about it.
Tokyo … well, it’s TOKYO! F*cking amazing place! :wink:

Enjoy!


#6

Chichichichci!!! Yeeeeeaaaahhhhhhboooooiiii!!!

Congrats on the travel plans! This place is rocking like a boat caught in high tide! You won’t fail to fall head over heels in love! Live wise I don’t have any battery ready devices… oh wait… my iPad but I never use that music. If you like I can show you around. I’ve entertained a few friends in the past couple of weeks passing through this knock of the woods. I can take you local. It’ll be Machida so hit me up if you fancy venturing outside of the regs and getting your mind blown differently! We can jam too!

Five G is cool and so is Echigoya Music. The Hard-Offs are amazing. The synth shop in Akihabara had an Oberheim Expander for ¥160,000 or there abouts last week. I just bought an OB6 and it’s massive but you get the idea squire!

Mark Weins has amazing videos on everything food and he has visited Japan so check out those.

Stay in touch, I love to let people sample real life here! Have a great time!

#7

I’ll be in the Tokyo/Shibuya area from Sunday to Wed. this week. I’m hoping to get over to the Hard-Off in Akiba, and will definitely be visiting Clockface Modular on Mon or Tue. If anyone wants to meet up during that time let me know!

#8

Good for you! I just came back from Japan but I wouldn’t mind going back again tomorrow. What you’re up to might become expensive though… :slight_smile:


Like it’s been said, FiveG http://fiveg.net/ is a great place to go and whilst in Tokyo you can also check out Wurly’s and Echigoya. They both have lots of fun stuff: http://miyaji.co.jp/Wurlys/index.php and http://www.echigoyamusic.com.

Myself, I picked up three Volcas dirt cheap at Ishibashi in Umeda/Osaka (didn’t really need them but they were on sale…) which is just a stone’s throw away from Kyoto and just a few minutes walk from the train station should you choose to go there. http://www.ishibashi.co.jp/eng/store.html

Ishibashi have lots of shops but the one in Umeda and a few more of the ones I’ve been to carry a surprising amount of modular synths and other interesting stuff (see pics).

Have fun and don’t forget to check out Osaka. It’s a really cool city!

#9

I’ve been twice, so envious, I wanted to go again this year but alas, I haven’t been anywhere else, so gotta save my money…


Shimokitazawa is my favourite place in Tokyo, lots of cute little stores and places to eat. There’s a record store there that specialises in Skweee and also has lots of early IDM if you’re into that stuff, I think it’s called Disc Shop Zero. The Disk Union there is also a great record store with a dedicated electronic store inside (I bought tons of Autechre, SND and Pan Sonic stuff there for great prices!).
I ate the best burger I’ve ever had in my life at Village Vanguard Diner. Then the next day I was walking around the same area with a friend and we found a place that just had the word “beer” on a sign (coordinates 35.662265, 139.668768 on google maps), we went in and even though the bartender didn’t speak english, he was super friendly and showed us a few amazing local microbrew beers. Also ate a strange “pizza” that was just a bunch of lotus root slices held together with cheese, it was pretty amazing :smiley:

Definitely check out the other Disk Union stores, and also FiveG. Like others have said, I found a lot of cool stuff at the Hard Off stores; even the Book Off stores have low price game consoles if you’re into (or looking to get into) chiptunes or retro gaming.

I stumbled upon Capcom Bar in Shinjuku with a couple of friends, purely by luck; it was pouring down with rain and we ran into the first place we could find. Somehow they had three seats free (you usually have to book in advance, apparently) so we checked it out and it was utterly ridiculous. Game themed cocktails and food, and the bar staff perform actions depending on what you order.

If you like sushi, almost everywhere you go has high quality stuff, but I found this standing-only place in Shibuya at 35.660324, 139.698904 that had incredible salmon and tuna.

I loved Kyoto as well, but didn’t get much of a chance to explore as my girlfriend had a weird allergic reaction and we had to find a doctor (which ended up being nowhere near as difficult as we expected, he was very helpful). Having said that, we stayed in a nice little suburb (Takaragaike) accessible via a tiny one-carriage train; it was nice to get away from a busy city for a while.

#10

Tokyo is an amazing city – here’s a map of some favourite stuff there: http://goo.gl/maps/XRmcz


(I definitely recommend getting toshomen at Xi’an… maybe it’s a bit weird to eat Chinese food in Japan, but they’re the best noodles I’ve ever had!)

I don’t know if you’re into video games, but Mikado arcade in Takadanobaba is the best arcade in Tokyo (IMO) – most other places are focused on modern games (which are mostly rhythm or card-based) but Mikado is a huge place full of retro arcade games. Pretty much every 2d fighting and shooting game, plus a ton of old stuff (including some western games like Marble Madness and the vector-based Star Wars game).

#11

haha my friend master kohta sent me your music and suggest we do an event, small world.

#12

Get yourself down the fishmarket very very early morning for the freshest sushi you’ll ever have.
Straight out the water!!!

#13

nakano broadway is fun , lots of toys, some synths, fashion , anime …if you leave the train station , head right and walk through a shopping mall type street its about 3/4 down , up an escalator on the right.


nakano is on the yellow line to the left of shinjuku.
#14
I found Shimokitazawa a great place for records. There is a good store there called City country city records up on the 4th floor. Also a great bar called Little Soul Cafe which is like walking into someones living room with about 20,000 records. The owner plays records and serves drinks at Little Soul Cafe, its really small and unique place. HMV is Shibuya is great - the first floor is 2nd hand disco/funk/soul records.

Wow! Indeed, we have a luggage problem - lesser than we usually have (one of 23kg and another of 20kg instead of two of 32kgs!!! :confused: ) so I´ll need to be really precise in my crate digging - maybe focusing in 7-inches? Shimokitazawa appears to be so beautiful <3

#15
If you go to FiveG in Tokyo then go to the restaurant on the floor beneath I think it was. exit the lift and its on the right. we had AMAZING fried chicken there. tiny little place full of locals, some smoking - proper hidden little place.

Kyoto is an amazing city - I thnk I could happily live there, theres a great vibe about it.
Tokyo .... well, it's TOKYO! F*cking amazing place! ;)

Enjoy!


Hmmm, this is the kind of thing that we are searching. We can just think about food haha :stuck_out_tongue: Although I love those delicious tuna cuts, I´m more into hot japanese dishes (we are having a RAMEN HYPE here in Brazil). Good to know, thanks a lot @spacetravelmadeeasy !

#16

Use tabelog.com for restaurant advice - it will recommend places that locals go to eat.

We followed the recommendations of this site and never failed to find good food.

If you like Thai I can reccomend this place.
It’s in a hidden away food hall with loads of other restaurants too and it’s choc full of locals.
Here is Google Street View of the door - pretty sure its the doorway where the guy with the green jacket is.
This is the restaurants website
Some reviews say its the best thai in Tokyo :wink:

But if you dont want thai i’d still check this food hall out if you are in the area - theres allsorts of small restaurants in the hall.

#17
Chichichichci!!!!! Yeeeeeaaaahhhhhhboooooiiii!!!!!!!!!

Congrats on the travel plans! This place is rocking like a boat caught in high tide! You won’t fail to fall head over heels in love! Live wise I don’t have any battery ready devices… oh wait… my iPad but I never use that music. If you like I can show you around. I’ve entertained a few friends in the past couple of weeks passing through this knock of the woods. I can take you local. It’ll be Machida so hit me up if you fancy venturing outside of the regs and getting your mind blown differently! We can jam too!

Five G is cool and so is Echigoya Music. The Hard-Offs are amazing. The synth shop in Akihabara had an Oberheim Expander for ¥160,000 or there abouts last week. I just bought an OB6 and it’s massive but you get the idea squire!

Mark Weins has amazing videos on everything food and he has visited Japan so check out those.

Stay in touch, I love to let people sample real life here! Have a great time!

Sure, @HisMostDarxxxellent! Indeed, we choose to stay two weeks only in Tokyo exactly thinking about a glimpse of real life, which is only possible with some routine and less tourist spottin’ train hoppin’ pressure.

It would be great to hang around! We are also searching for onsen that allows gaijin with big tattoos :slight_smile: Any suggestions?

I’m already following 5g and Echigoya websites in a daily basis. Wow!!! Btw, I’m thinking about getting a SP1200. There’s one in Echigoya - do you think it would be possible to test it in the store? Is it common/allowed?

About Hard-Off: don’t know what it is! It is a second hand chain?

#18

Yeah, there are a bunch of “off” themed stores for second hand items; I saw Hard-Off (electronics), Book-Off (books, CDs/DVDs, games/consoles), and Mode-Off (clothing). I recommend checking out every one you come across, they’re worth just pointlessly browsing as they always have interesting stuff, even if you don’t end up buying anything.

#19
Chichichichci!!!!! Yeeeeeaaaahhhhhhboooooiiii!!!!!!!!!

Congrats on the travel plans! This place is rocking like a boat caught in high tide! You won’t fail to fall head over heels in love! Live wise I don’t have any battery ready devices… oh wait… my iPad but I never use that music. If you like I can show you around. I’ve entertained a few friends in the past couple of weeks passing through this knock of the woods. I can take you local. It’ll be Machida so hit me up if you fancy venturing outside of the regs and getting your mind blown differently! We can jam too!

Five G is cool and so is Echigoya Music. The Hard-Offs are amazing. The synth shop in Akihabara had an Oberheim Expander for ¥160,000 or there abouts last week. I just bought an OB6 and it’s massive but you get the idea squire!

Mark Weins has amazing videos on everything food and he has visited Japan so check out those.

Stay in touch, I love to let people sample real life here! Have a great time!

Sure, @HisMostDarxxxellent! Indeed, we choose to stay two weeks only in Tokyo exactly thinking about a glimpse of real life, which is only possible with some routine and less tourist spottin’ train hoppin’ pressure.

It would be great to hang around! We are also searching for onsen that allows gaijin with big tattoos :slight_smile: Any suggestions?

I’m already following 5g and Echigoya websites in a daily basis. Wow!!! Btw, I’m thinking about getting a SP1200. There’s one in Echigoya - do you think it would be possible to test it in the store? Is it common/allowed?

About Hard-Off: don’t know what it is! It is a second hand chain?

Hello mate!
Cool! Let’s talk closer to the time. Pop your Facebook into my inbox :slight_smile:
You can absolutely test it out 110%!!! The service, like all hospitality out here, is the best of the best.

I’m actually sat on the train to one of the Hard-Offs now. I wonder what incredible things await! The last time I visited this one they had a real and unscathed TR-808. It was way over-priced. The guy said we are just lucky to have it here in this store but it will go down in the summer sale. Having said that I got a DX7 in the same store for ¥1000. I took a chance as it was in the junk section and it turned out that only the battery needed replacing. My point is - you don’t know what you will find!

Going back to meeting up. Machida is in Tokyo and a half hour train ride from Shinjuku.
You also need to go to Omoide https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g1066457-d1173749-i267768816-Omoide_Yokocho-Shinjuku_Tokyo_Tokyo_Prefecture_Kanto.html
At around sunset. This place is one of the most inspiring places I’ve visited. From the moment you step foot in there you can feel it’s history. It has soooo much character. It is easy to imagine a Anime writer coming up with ideas sat in one of the drinking places. It’s dense and compact layout add to the smoke filled streets to make this a very intimate atmosphere. It’s a must! Just get some beer and some snacks and enjoy!

#20

awww man, yeah one of my best experiences last time I visited was meeting up with a friend who lives there and having him take my girlfriend and I to a tiny little sake bar (which may have been in Omoide from what you’ve described @HisMostDarxxxellent ) run by two women who couldn’t speak English, but my friend translated for us and managed to get us the good stuff :smiley:



I wanna go baaaack