Miyajima in Japan

@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.

@johnss  could have easily spent days going through records stores in Japan but there were other things I wanted to see more.   I did hit a few but I already have thousands of records-including some Japanese pressings on LP 45 and 78.  Next time I will set aside a day or two for the quest.  Also to see the Miyajima bar:  https://www.miyajima-lab.com/cafe.html

@lewm Didn't buy anything from Disc Union but I did sell them a bunch of records when their buyers came to the US.  There were different buyers for rock, jazz and classical.  Serious guys who knew their stuff!  Would like to see Audio Union too!

What I like about Disc Union is if they rate a used LP as “A” condition, you need not even examine it. Their A-rated LPs play like new. (Their used LPs bear a letter grade on the album cover denoting condition.)