What does a camera geek do with a few spare hours in Tokyo?

[Willy wombat]

I thought you might be interested in my outing to a couple of large camera/electronics supermarkets that I did recently in Tokyo.

The first store is supposedly the biggest in Japan near Akiburra train station. 6 floors of wall to wall electronics.



I looked over their collection of Nikon equipment and played with a lot of demo gear. The tripod collection was the biggest i have ever seen. Lots of fun to pick up the d2x and have a bash. Remarkably they didnt have the D200 on show. Very odd. Also you can see that the prices are not all that cheap (converting from Yen to $).



My next purchase perhaps?


The second store was BIC Camera (a large chain with a number of outlets in Jaapn, and these guys had an excellent range of gear.


This was my favorite toy with the mega zoom. A bird nut's paradise.


The converter


And this place had the D200's on show and I had a play. (itchy credit card but no purchase). Again prices didnt seem to be overly cheap.


Hope you enjoyed

Cheers
Steve

[Yi-P]

I've been there earlier last year, I went crazy for couple of hours... but the lust went off after the couple hours when I looked down at my wallet...

[adam]

Jealousy!!!!!! haaaaa I want to go there and play play play...
Spend days in there... haha.
As you said prices probably not the best, but they seem to have many things! (except the D200).

Did you end up buying any toys there?

[Antsl]

See if you can find a camera shop called MAP .... worth a look with some good second hand bargains... I just wish I had more time there!

[obzelite]

i had 4 weeks in japan and i spent hours in those stores.

you have to go to Akihabara, prices are heaps cheaper than both of those stores. and the further of the main street you get the cheaper it gets. i spent two nights there and had to be dragged out by my wife in the end.
Train station drops you right in it and there is Yodobashi camera there as well and i think its the biggest one they have.

[wider]

im going back to tokyo shortly, i believe there are a few good 2nd hand stores there... one yellow nikon shop in Ueno i believe, with a few hundred lenses sitting against its curved display window. anyone know exactly where it is? anything else like that?

[PiroStitch]

whereabouts are these places in Tokyo? I'll be heading up there in February and wondering whether I should just get something from here or wait until I get up there.

[obzelite]

you can get to Akihabara by train from tokyo. its prob only a 15 min ride.
then you just walk around.

[ozimax]

Y O D O B A S H I, oh yeah! I love Japanese electronics stores, spent many days in them, but they're not particlarly cheap.

I'm still using a Panasonic Cd player purchased 11 years ago in Sapporo, and also a Sony radio, both Japanese made, superb and bulletproof. Having said that, not everything these days in Japan is Japanese made.

Enjoy yourself in Tokyo!

[Willy wombat]

Tokyo is a lot of fun. The Sony building was also an interesting place to go for some hands on play time. Tried out their new SLR cams too, but my heart and loyalty lies elsewhere.