Miyajima in Japan

I am also going to Japan this spring and would like to pick up a couple MC cartridges.  For those that know, Please recommend obtainable brands (I can select from within the lines) and places for purchase (Tokyo, Kyoto).  Thanks so much. 

When I used to be in Japan every month. I would have considered buying audio cartridges or small stuff. But if it is only a one time trip, it would be easy to find yourself wanting to bring it back for some unforeseen reason and it becomes a problem. If you go periodically, then not a problem. Just something to consider. 

@rsf507  I bought a Miyajima ETR Mono Step up transformer.  I was not able to listen to it before I bought it but I had read a number of very positive reviews .  In any case, I would have no problem selling it for at least what I paid for it, if not more on the US market so it wasn't a big gamble for me.

@peter_s  This was only my first trip so I am hardly an authority.  In general, you can get Japanese cartridges for at least 30% to 40% off the US price.  The one exception might be Audio Technica-they were a bit cheaper but not enough to offset the risk that there might be issues.  I almost bought a Nagaoka cartridge at Yodibashi in Tokyo but it was so difficult to get anyone to engage with me.  There was another foreigner who told me that he had been waiting for twenty minutes to speak with a salesmen.  There were plenty of salemen there-they just kind of ignored us.  Not sure why.  My guess is that if you stood in front of a display case pointing at what you want and waved your credit card, they would probably hook you up.  The bad service was only in the electronic department-other places at Yodibashi, like the watch department was much more friendly.

@ghdprentice   In cases where things are being sold in the US at twice (or more) than the local price, the risk vs benefit kind of even out.

@recordbore, I used to live in Japan a number of years ago. If it were me, I would be more focused on hitting the tons and tons of vinyl shops there. So much more high quality vinyl was pressed there than in the US or EU. 

Before you go you may want to familiarize yourself with who (what company) pressed what vinyl. The King Records Laboratory series are all demo type discs, The DOR/DAM releases pressed by Toshiba-EMI at 45 RPM are all demo discs. Some of the jazz titles pressed by Nippon Phonogram at 45 RPM are really excellent. 

Disc Union near Ochanomizu station on the Green line is my favorite place to kill time and buy vinyl.