Where to get Walkmans in Japan

With the astronomical prices of Sony Walkmans, especially the desirable ones (looking at you D6C and TC-D5), I'm looking to purchase some in Japan. I am already aware that Akihabara might have some, though I would appreciate any advice regarding specific locations within Japan.

Thanks in advance.

 

If you are in Akihabara look for "radio museum store " (a little hard to find this store). The store is in Akihabara and on the 2nd floor of a building under railroad bridge!
This is the best store in Tokyo for vintage electronics.

https://www.japanistry.com/radio-center/

 

That's so much information! Thanks for sharing your research with me!

 

wow
how did you get all these information? We should change your name to Mr. JapanPedia

 

i dont think i will ever go to japan...but this is mega info..thank you @Mister X

 

If you want Sony D6C I have one for sale with parts (like rubbers etc) and power supply. It should be serviced as I wasn't playing it much. If you are interested write me pm.

 

I was there in April and I'm afraid I didn't buy a single cassette Walkman. One shop (maybe Hard Off) had a nice blue WM-DD but it was priced high, in a glass cabinet, with some v expensive sealed Sony cassettes. As suggested, phones, laptops, headphones, Bluetooth speakers, proliferate. 2nd hand laptops were bargain priced. I had hoped for bargain bins full of WM-EX610 and similar, MD Walkman, discman, digital cameras maybe... In Akihabara I bought a load of Sony mp3 Walkman, ipods, sold for 'junk' as they say ie. untested. I found a few sealed cassettes and minidiscs in osaka. Also the big electronics stores still stock blank Sony minidisc. I concluded that I was about 20 years too late! Still had an amazing trip and suffered withdrawal symptoms ever since.

 

Were the Walkmans and iPods working? I need a iPod with firewire charging for my iPod Hifi..

 

The Sony mp3 Walkman worked, but a couple were JDM and the menus couldn't be set to English. I kept one of those anyway as it was loaded with interesting JPop. The ipods all had v low batteries. Not sure any of the devices had firewire..

 

I happen to have a new-in-box Sony NW-E99 for sale. Can’t play MP3s directly, these need to be converted via SonicStage or something similar.

 

Nothing from the Radio Center, but Hard Off “Akihabara First Store” had two TC-D10s for high prices.

 

Used to be, buying from Japan was the best kept secret in game/anime/retro electronics collecting. Back in the 2010s, why you could buy a bulk lot of old Walkmans for a price low enough to make anyone raise an eyebrow. But see, that was it, it was a *secret*.... not so anymore!

Buying online from Japan has seen a massive spike in the US and the UK since lockdown began, and it was during this time that the cat was let out of the bag. YouTubers rushed to their ring lights to talk all about getting high end vintage gear for pennies on the dollar, and pretty soon the well was dry. Not to mention, collecting 'Showa era' goods is now really trendy in Japan, so some of the price increases are not from outside influences, but rather nostalgia in Japan for the Showa era retro tech.

So astronomical prices are persistent even over in Japan. Akihabara by nature is one of the most expensive places to find games and tech (look at travel vlogs), and YouTubers such as 'The Retro Future" have found really good prices by looking at rural local shops. Long story short, buying online from Japan is no longer such a good thing as it once was, and you must be well-versed in Japan's geography to know where to find honest shops willing to sell at reasonable prices. Techmoan put it best... "If you are looking to buy something from Japan you just can't get in the UK, it's a good option, but if you are trying to find a deal on something, VAT and shipping is libel to be an issue."

(BTW, eBay and Yahoo auctions for Walkmans usually end significantly lower than BIN prices... even in the US, so the best bet is to bid, rather than to buy it now.)

 

I tried to bid on a couple of Aiwa walkman from aleado.com in Japan. Aleado is some sort of English/international front end for Yahoo Auctions in Japan. The site says to contact Aleado by email prior to one's first bid. It appears there is a requirement to have the funds to cover a winning bid plus shipping, in your PayPal account before you are allowed to place a bid. No one answered two emails requesting that arrangenents be made so I could bid. No workaround I tried succeeded. I did find that shipping, which is listed in the auctions, could range from reasonable to extremely costly. Like $150 for a walkman from Japan to North America. I also found PayPal takes a week or so to register deposit of funds, by which time most auctions end. So one would have to keep sufficient funds in PayPal to cover possible purchases. I couldn't find a way to see what finished auctions had for sale price, as one can on eBay.

I'm no longer on the hunt for the walkman, but does anyone know how to navigate Aleado?

 

I wouldn't use Aleado... it's very old and outdated as far as logistics go. Having the funds in an account before bidding is normal, but nowadays with modern PayPal, it's no longer the merchant's responsibility, but rather PayPal's to work it out with you if your payment was declined for some reason. Also, the shipping cost doesn't seem correct either. I've sent over 50 parcels containing items from Japan last year, and I never paid over $60 for shipping on smaller products like Discmans and Walkmans. Again, I think Aleado is just really outdated and this is how they CYA if a purchase didn't work out in their favor.

I use Buyee. It's incredibly seeker friendly, and for beginners, it's a god send. First of all, you can contact a live support agent 9 to 5 JST instead of using slow email. Second, you can just register a credit card instead of PayPal and you'll be changed when and if you win(they also manage PayPal the same way). Finally, shipping is very transparent and by using the shipping calculator and easy to read listings, you can pretty much know how you'll be charged. They send you frequent updates about your parcels, allow you to add protective padding and consolidate to save on Shipping, plus you can use other markets aside from Yahoo, like Mercari.

Buyee, Sendico, Jauce... these are all really good proxies that nowadays leapfrog Aleado.

 

Thanks for the advice. I should have posted the question here before giving up on getting a unit from Japan.