LE available in stores in Japan?

[onigir1.livejournal.com]

I have a question for people who have been or are living in Japan, since I'm going to Tokyo a few days after Yamapi's new single gets released and would like to get his single there, I was wondering if you can usually still find LE singles around stores days after the release date or how long do they usually take to sell out.

Thanks.

Comments

[ame-no-uta.livejournal.com]

Usually you still can find the LE a few days after the release date, 3~4 days shouldn't be a problem, you just have to go to the big stores.
It depends a bit on the release though, for example I was looking for the LE from an Arashi single (truth) 3 weeks after the release, they had two different LEs and one was sold out everywhere the other one was still available.

[onigir1.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your comment, very informative and exactly what I needed. I guess I'll just wait to get it there ^^

[stardust-pop.livejournal.com]

when I was in Japan this year in June, they actually had the limited edition of pacific on the shelf. so I think it depends a bit on luck to - you can still find random stuff going around a long long time after the release date, unlike online cd shops, where once it's out of print it's pretty much gone for good... save some really really rare cases (koda kumi's ai no uta single suddenly stocked up on first press the other day on cdjapan, it was so weird o__o)

[onigir1.livejournal.com]

Good to know even something that was released such a long time ago as Pacific was still available! Thanks for your comment ^^

[scottishwish.livejournal.com]

I had no problem finding LE of singles and albums this summer. The HMV in Shibuya is well stocked and there is a huge Tower Records around the corner. If you want to find old stuff I highly recommend going to Book Off, it is a used book, cd, and dvd store. I found all sorts of great Johnny's stuff there that was well priced (my friend found an unopened PopUp SMAP dvd for 1,000Yen at the BookOff in Asagaya, everywhere else it was at least 4,000Yen. Another great area is Nakano Broadway, not only do they have the best crepes, but on the second story there are a couple secondhand Johnny's stores that are much better priced then the ones in Harajuku.

Have fun in Tokyo!!

[j-halo7.livejournal.com]

Sorry to butt in but I was wondering which are the more popular BookOff stores in Tokyo? I've always seen people mentioning about buying older stuff at BookOff so I'm interested in checking it out in the future. Or does more popular stores mean less chances of finding rare stuff?

[scottishwish.livejournal.com]

sorry it took me so long to get back to you! More popular usually means fewer chances to find rare stuff, but they also tend to have a better selection. What I found was that the bigger the area, the more popular the BookOff. The store in Akihabara is huge and I purchased several NEWS albums there. The one in Higashi-Nakano (where I lived) was tiny and never had a very small selection of CDs, but they had the DVDs I was looking for. My advise would be to wander into the BookOff's that you see and hope they have what you are looking for.
For the really rare stuff I would seek out that back-corner secondhand shops like those in Harajuku (overpriced) and Nakano Broadway. I'm sure there are more buried in other parts of Tokyo, but sadly I don't know where they are.

I hope this helps!

[j-halo7.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your advice. I'll be sure to have a map of all the BookOff stores in Tokyo and visit them if I'm in the area.

[mujun.livejournal.com]

All the advice above is good, and along with Tower Records and HMV there's Tsutaya, Recofan (lots of used but some new releases) and the music section at Kinokuniya bookstores. There's also a music store called Wave on the 8th? floor of the Seibu department store attached to Ikebukuro station. It had it's own Johnny section on the back wall. (And the Loft store on the two floors above it will make it worth the trip.)

My best advice is to google for addresses and use google maps to actually "walk down the street" and find landmarks, like what's on the corner, etc. before you head out.

[blue-panda8.livejournal.com]

I think you should be fine if you are arriving a few days after release date... I couldn't get Taiyou no Namida LE online anymore when it came out so I asked a friend who was in Japan at the time to get it for me and it was around a week after the release date...I don't know where she bought it from? but i'm guessing from big stores which will usually have aLOT Of stock

[je-help.livejournal.com]

honestly, it is hard to tell if there will be some left or not.

If you really want it, it is definitely better to pre-order it/reserve a copy. Arashi's best album had NO available copies of the LE edition if you didn't preorder, but NEWS and Kanjani tend to have some available up to a week after the release date.

Because Yamapi is so popular, though, I would have to assume it will fly off of the shelves... so I suggest you try to get someone to buy it for u if u can... or go somewhere that's not a main station in Tokyo (avoid shibuya, ikebukuro, ueno)...