Buying Guide Getting Your Camera Home in One Piece — Packing Lessons From the Shipping Desk
So you did it. Somewhere in Tokyo — maybe at the end of a long camera day in Akihabara — you found the one, paid, and w...
Buying Guide 
Shop Guide Nisshin Camera in Akihabara: A Small Showcase Shop That (I’m Told) Turns Into a Bar at Night
Every other shop from my Akihabara camera day got a clear label: the polished one, the cheap junk floor, the self-servi...
Shop Guide 2nd BASE by Sanpou Camera, Akihabara: The Used Camera Shop Under the Tracks
The sign at the door reads "2nd BASE by sanpou camera" — it is run by Sanpou Camera, a Japanese used gear dealer. Street level, under the train tracks, with English signs at the entrance and cameras you can pick up. The shop I would send a first-timer to in Akihabara.
Shop Guide Kitamura in Akihabara: A Big Chain’s Junk Camera Floor, Marked by a TAX FREE Sign
Kitamura (カメラのキタムラ) is one of the biggest camera chains in Japan — the red logo is everywhere, from shopping streets to...
Buying Guide Lemon Camera in Akihabara: English Condition Ranks, and a 3-Item Junk Rule
If you have searched for "Lemon Camera Tokyo", you probably found the Shinjuku shop. But there is a second one, in Akih...
Buying Guide Tokyo CAMERA (Akihabara): A Junk Garage With No Staff, and Lenses From 3,000 Yen
Akihabara has several used camera shops, but one of them stayed in my head for days after I went home: Tokyo CAMERA, a ...
Buying Guide A Camera Day in Nakano and Shinjuku: My One-Day Itinerary (Two Towns, One Train Ride)
I already wrote a shop guide for the used camera shops in Nakano and Shinjuku. That article is a list: what each shop i...
Buying Guide Nobody Spoke to Me in Seven Akihabara Camera Shops (And That Was Fine)
On August 1, 2026, I walked around Akihabara and went into seven camera shops in one day. Not a single member of staff ...
Buying Guide How to Read a Japanese Camera Shop Price Tag (and the Words That Matter)
On August 1, 2026, I was on the used floor of the Kitamura Akihabara used-buying center, and I noticed something that I...
Buying Guide Buying “Junk” Cameras in Japan: What the Word Really Means, and What to Check
If you shop for used cameras from Japan, sooner or later you will see the word junk. On a shelf in a Tokyo shop, on a p...