by Paul English
Japan. The land of the rising sun. The land of history and tradition. The land of raw food and interesting customs. Japan. The land of gadgets.
When my students ask me about my favorite things in Japan, I quite naturally defer to my chosen profession and rattle off my favorite historical landmarks. But in my secret techno-weenie heart, the answer is, "gadgets."
Nearly everyone knows about the Sony corporation and the trend that it started in defining the corporate image of Japan 50 years ago. Having top-quality electrical goods in ever-impressively smaller sizes is one of the global images of Japan. So quite naturally, when one arrives in Japan, one begins to covet the gadgets that are all around.
In my first year here I have certainly repaid the good tax-payers of Japan in the purchase of nifty gadgets and cool-looking contraptions. A year and a half ago I would have thought that a MiniDisc player would have been a stupid investment. I now own 3 different devices that play, record and label MDs.
The acquisition of gadgets is not difficult. There are retail outlets aplenty. However, it is quite a thing to get the best deal and make your yen stretch the furthest. We have all heard of the techno-weenie oasis that is Akihabara. However, you should consider that there are plenty of stores that are much closer, where the merchandise is the same and, in some instances, cheaper. Here are my favorite spots in the Kanagawa area:
Yodobashi Camera. Yodobashi tops my favorites for one significant reason: 10%-20% point card purchase power. Most all of you have begun to collect these point cards for your supermarket, bookstore, or your curry-restaurant of choice. In most cases you are lucky to get 1-2% of your purchase back. I like Yodobashi because, as a committed gadget collector, I am able to get a significant portion of my purchase power back. Also, they have several stores in the Yokohama city metroplex that are quite convenient to the stations. They also have a wide selection with a really large staff with a few English speaking individuals. I highly recommend hte store near the West Exit of Yokohama Station.
Sofmap. Sofmap also has a point club that you would do well to take advantage of, although I've never seen the reward much above 5%. One particular advantage to Sofmap is that it has a fairly large previously owned computer and electronic goods section in the store closest to the Yokohama Station West Exit. Angus Mungal can attest to the convenience and helpful staff at this store on the 7th floor of the HMV building.
Yamada Denki. I happen to like the Ebina Yamada Denki in particular because it is a very spread-out and nicely stocked store. Because Ebina is not the hub of things (like the Tokyo Metro-sprawl), it's never crowded elbow to elbow. They have a nice variety of choices on 2 floors with some of the cheapest prices on computer accessories that I have found. There are Yamada Denkis all over the prefecture as well.
Bic Camera. Bic and Yodobashi Camera are virtually identical in their sales approaches. Bic often offers big percentage rewards on their point card. However, I have almost always found that Yodobashi has a slight edge on cost and/or convenience. Like Yodobashi, there are stores all over the prefecture, so comparative pricing is quite easy.
in the end, if you need a new Walkman, external CD-RW, rice cooker, heat lamp, electric keyboard or Specially Licensed Electronic Rotating Koizumi-brand Back-scratcher with Neon Bug-repellant Vibrating Heat Bead Kotatsu... well, you can go to just about anywhere in your local eki-mae area and find it. The four stores I've listed above are just my favorite crack-gadget dealers!