Kyoto Record Stores

As you may know, I make a habit of mapping out the record store situation in every city I visit, at least to the extend permitted by the length of my visit. I did spent enough time in Kyoto to visit most of its record shops (as well as many food markets, Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, Zen gardens, tea houses, and.. and...) BUT unfortunately most of my notes were erased. Either by a malicious note-eating virus or by a clumsy swipe of my fingers on my mobile screen. I figured nevertheless that it wouldn't be right to bypass Kyoto because it is an amazing town which you must visit if you can; and may I make a suggestion? in tourist guides you'll find a multitude of historic and cultural sites -mostly temples- and you'll want to visit them all because they all look gorgeous in the photos (and up-close, too, make no mistake) but you'll wear yourself out if you try. Choose three or four temples and diversify your experience by spending more time in the food market, the "geisha district" Gion with its quaint wooden houses, visit the Arashiyama bamboo forest, the informative and entertaining Samurai and Ninja museum, and of course as many record stores as you can. I'm telling you, Japanese record stores are a whole other level. So let me try to piece together a guide to Kyoto's record stores using the photos I took with my mobile and whatever memories still linger on 3 months after the fact:

A great thing about it is that most record stores are bundled within walking distance to each other, pretty close to the famous Nishiki Market. You may want to start from Kyoto-Kawaramachi Station; here, you'll find the local Tower Records branch on the 9th Floor of the Kawaramachi OPA department store - it was weird for me at first, but one gets used to it: record stores in Japan are very rarely storefront businesses, instead you'll find them either situated within shopping malls, or more often in apartments within office or even residential buildings. Now this branch of Tower Records may not be as massive as, say, the 8-story one in Shibuya Tokyo (I'll tell you more about it on another post) but it's still quite big by the criteria of 2025. Lots and lots of new LPs (¥ 4000-7000) and CDs (¥1500-3000). That's not nearly as expensive as it looks; at the time of my visit ¥1000 was worth roughly €6 or $7. Now, these prices are inclusive tax but there's a neat little trick you'll want to take advantage of; overseas travelers may have the tax deducted from their purchases provided they don't make use of them while they're on Japanese soil - just google it, it's a bit too complicated to explain here. Most record stores will not provide that service, but Tower Records does. Since you're there, you simply must visit the local Book Off store at the 8th floor - it's a used books chain but also carries 1000s of used CDs (¥330-1300), relatively few vinyls but an unbelievable variety of manga comics. 

Starting from as little as ¥110, they make for a fine and cheap souvenir, because what says "Japan" better than Manga? Even if one doesn't speak the language they're nice to browse through for the art - Just check them out well if you're buying them as presents for your friends' kids, because the artwork is often naughtier than one would expect, even for titles that seem to be targeted to the younger teens. Just a few meters further, on the 4th floor of the Takashimaya Shopping Center you'll find Face Records, which is a much more stylish affair. Important Note: in Japan there is No Ground Floor - or, rather, the ground floor is called the 1st Floor, the floor above it is the 2nd Floor, etc. Face carries (mostly used) vinyl, as well as some hi-fi equipment. You'll find Rock, Pop, Jazz, and J-Pop LPs, mostly under ¥2000. For the adventurous, there's a J-Pop corner at ¥100 - that's $0.67(!) for a random vinyl souvenir of your Japanese trip. At the opposite side of the street, inside a gallery connected to the market, there's a shop called Take.J (Ishizumi Shinkyogoku Building 3F, 563 Nakanomachi). Go up the stairs to the 3rd floor and you'll come across a cramped apartment full of CDs (only ¥500-1000). Very good for Rock and Metal, also Soul and J-Pop. And this is the last time I'll be that specific in my descriptions since my notes from here on were erased. 

Nearby, you'll find a shop called Banana Records. I don't remember much about it, except that it's directly above a camera shop (Camera no Naniwa Kyoto Store, 372 Narabutsucho). Here is what internet sources say "A wide selection of LPs, CDs, and EPs across various genres, including rock and jazz. Also small accessories like bags, second-hand clothing, cassettes". Confusingly, it's another shop in the neighborhood that uses the banana logo: Joe's Garage (Fusaya Building 2F, 572 Obiyamach) You'll see the banana sign at street level; then you need to go up the stairs through a place full of bric-a-brac called "chacharhy💗"; only then you'll find the record shop. Decent prices, as I remember, and a wide selection - especially in the field of classic rock.

I can't say I remember any details from my visit to Toradra Record (3rd floor YOGI Building, 456-6 Matsugaedacho) but this is how they describe themselves "Our store always has approximately 5,000 LPs and 3,000 CDs for sale. We handle and sell all genres, focusing on rock and jazz, as well as J.pop, soul, blues, reggae, world music, club music, hip hop, soundtracks, and classical music". Art Rock No.1 is at the 7th floor of an apartment building (Assorti Kawaramachi Nijo Building, 374 Ichinofunairicho). A nice collection of 70s-80s rock, jazz, and J-pop vinyl, and decent prices. Another record store perched high (6th floor) is Jet Set Records. This should be of interest to DJs as it carries more dance/funk/jazz, along with the usual rock stuff. Then to another apartment building (Morris Building 2F, 485 Kami-Honnoji-mae-cho) which hosts not one but 2 record stores: 100000t on the 2nd floor and Workshop Records on the 3rd. The former was a bit messy, while the latter had a nice selection of classic rock, jazz, soul, and j-pop records and CDs, all properly catalogued.

Another shop I really liked was Happy Jack. It's on the 3rd floor of a shopping center (Tobee Building 302, 224 Eiraku-cho). Not so big, but had all the things I like; especially 60s/70s rock, garage, psychedelia, soul, jazz, and j-pop of course. Nice prices also. Of course not all record stores are hidden in apartment buildings - these next ones were in the galleries in the market. First, and for me best, was Supermilk Records (495 Nakasuji-cho). At first glance it didn't look like much, but I found some super cool Japanese punk and metal records between ¥300-1000. Also a nice selection of jazz, soul and rap. Now I know I took photos of it, but I can't find them in my mobile anymore - as if the disappearing notes weren't bad enough, now photos go missing too?

 

There were two more stores with an actual storefront: Jeugia is an entertainment store selling vinyl, CD, DVD and other stuff, and Shimizuya which had mostly J-pop CDs and DVDs. I didn't find anything of interest in any of them, and neither did I find something at the last Kyoto record shop I visited, Poco A Poco, an underground shop situated at one of the shopping galleries (Daishinville B1F, Dori Sanjo, Teramachi). Now these are all the record stores I visited in Kyoto, but by no means all of them. This source lists 48 record stores in the city, though I wouldn't know whether it's up to date. Anyway, 48 is a bit too much for most of us, so by cross-checking the previous list with other internet sources and crossing out those inconveniently located, I arrived at this additional list of shops that I haven't personally visited but seem to be worth your attention: First one is Parallax Records, on the next corner to Happy Jack (Shin-kyogoku uta-no Koji Building 2F, 407-1 Sakuranomachi) and specialized in noise/experimental/electronic music, mostly on CD. Hitozoku (above the Morikawa tobacco store, 271-4 Kitakurumaya-cho) specializes in electronic and world music vinyl, mostly used. Vivrant (Teramachi Ayanokoji Building 4th Floor, Teianmaenocho 586) offers "a wide selection of used LPs/45's specializing in Soul, Funk, Disco, Rare Groove, Jazz, Hip Hop etc". Black Ark (Kawara-machi Kaikan 202, 253-1 Ichinomachi) focuses solely on reggae music, used vinyl mostly. Vinyl 7 (492 Shimohonnouji -mae -cho, near Jet Set) seems to specialize in funk and disco. Still in the neighborhood (ION Building 2F, 340-1, Daimonji-machi) one can find Prototype Records (google reviews describe it as "a cool little spot with a decent but limited collection" but also praise its "impressive reggae and jazz section"). Poohyokocho (370-1 Kameyacho) seems to focus on folk and country and Hard Bop on jazz (of course). Its address is Tkaragaike Building 1F-3 ,474 Kami-Honnoji-mae-cho, apparently it's "tucked away in a nondescript building, requiring a small sign at knee height to locate". Unfortunately (or not) Kyoto doesn't have the equivalent of Tokyo's Disk Union which is, like, the Mecca of 2nd hand record stores - you'll have to go to Osaka for the closest branch; it'll take you all of 14 minutes with the shinkansen bullet train. And, let's face it, you're going to Osaka anyway. If not to stay, then at least for a daytrip, as I did. Not enough time for record hunting. Enough to visit the Shogun castle, built by Toyotomi in the 16th Century - way before he switched to making airconditioners and the like. And eat takoyaki, of course. Basically, I stopped at every food stand and sampled everything I could, all over Japan, and especially in Osaka. It was worth it.