Adam's Jpop shopping list (2007-Feb-09-Fri)

I will keep the latest version of the list on the web, at http://www.nicemice.net/~amc/tmp/. Please notify me as soon as possible when you acquire discs, so that I can update the list and avoid buying the same disc on eBay (and prevent someone else from buying the same disc for me in case multiple people are shopping for me concurrently).

Many thanks to everyone who helps me obtain these discs! I owe you!

Recommended Stores in Tokyo

In summer 1999 I found no place with a better combination of low prices and wide selection CDリバティー (shiidii ribatii), but in September 2006 I discovered that the selection was no longer anywhere near as good, and the name had been shortened to リバティー (ribatii) (it now sells DVDs and games in addition to CDs). To get there, walk north from Akihabara (秋葉原) station along Chuo-dori (中央通り). If you reach Suehirocho (末広町) station, you've gone too far (but afterwards you may want to take the Ginza (銀座) line from there). Turn left under a green train-track bridge, and you should see it very soon on the right. They occupy more than one level, and last time I was there all the used CDs were on B1 (first basement).

The next places to go are the three(?) RECOfan locations in Shibuya (渋谷). Find your way from the station to the Seibu (西武) department store (where you will probably want to do some shopping of your own), which is in two buildings labeled “A” and “B” across the street from each other. Walk between them, and continue along that street. After a few minutes you'll see a police box (交番) in the middle of the road, where the road forks. One of the RECOfan places is a little further ahead in a building called BEAM (reachable by either fork) on the fourth floor. The other two have either moved or closed, but I'm sure the staff at the first one can direct you.

General Hints

Terminology: An album (アルバム) is a 12cm CD in a nearly square package containing about 10 to 15 songs, just like we have in the U.S. A single (シングル) can be either an 8cm CD in an oblong package or a 12cm disc in a thinner jewel case than an album. The 8cm format was the norm up to about 1999, but then the record companies abandoned it (to my dismay). Some 12cm singles are subclassified as maxi-singles (マックシシングル), which basically means in costs more than a regular single (perhaps because it has more tracks than a usual single). My list of singles below makes no distinction between singles and maxi-singles, but does indicate the disc size when known. “Used CD” is 中古CD (chuuko shiidii).

In a store the used CDs are sometimes separated by disc size, sometimes by single vs. album, and sometimes they're all together. Sometimes they are sorted by artist (in Japanese alphabetical order; that is, あいうえお...) and sometimes not. But it might be moot, because the fastest/easiest search strategy might be a linear scan through all the used discs, searching for familiar artist names (which are listed for convenience after the singles and albums). This will also allow you to find misplaced discs, which are common. (I think I was able to obtain some of the more popular titles only because they were misplaced--the correctly placed copies were sold out.)

Within a store, multiple copies of the same used disc are sometimes priced differently, and sometimes copies in better condition are priced the same as copies in worse condition, so watch out for that. Use your own judgement when chosing between copies. After you buy something, you may see it cheaper somewhere else, but it's not worth the trouble to return it, so don't worry about that. It's also not worth the trouble to strategize about singles versus albums--just take whichever one you find first at an acceptable price. But in summer 1999 I tended to find more stuff I liked in the stacks of used singles than in the stacks of used albums.

Sometimes discs are discounted because they are scratched. They usually play just fine. If there are no unscratched copies available, or if the unscratched copies are too expensive, get the scratched copy. But if the price of the unscratched copy is acceptable, play it safe and buy the unscratched copy.

8cm singles usually come in plastic bags--please do not discard them. For all discs, please leave all stickers and price tags attached.

In the lists below, the most correct forms of the names and titles are shown on the left, while potentially useful transliterations are shown on the right. The sorting order is Roman alphabetical (ABC...), first by artist, then by title.

Singles シングル

For each single, the first row gives the disc size (if known) and the artist, and each subsequent row gives a song title and the (approximate) maximum price I would pay for that song on a single. For singles containing multiple songs, I list a separate value for each song; the value of the whole single is the sum (not shown). The title of the single is the title of the first song. If a song has already been acquired via an album, I would still pay half the listed value to have it on a single. Whenever you acquire a disc, please check the list for other discs with matching song(s) and reduce the values accordingly.

Albums アルバム

For each album, the first row gives the artist, the second row gives the album title, and each subsequent row gives one song title and the (approximate) maximum price I would pay for that song on an album. The value of an album is the sum (not shown), but songs already acquired (via singles or other albums) contribute zero value to an album. Whenever you acquire a disc, please check the list for singles and albums with matching song(s) and reduce the values accordingly.

Artists アーティスト

All the artists mentioned above are listed here. If you learn the names you can more easily scan the shelves and bins in the stores.

For convenience, I list them in both Roman alphabetical order (ABC...) and Japanese alphabetical order (あいうえお...). Here is Roman alphabetical order:

And here is Japanese alphabetical order:

Prepared by Adam M. Costello  Last modified: 2008-Jan-27-Sun 21:35:15 GMT