Buy Leica stuff from Japan

[M8China]

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Heard that due to economic situation Leica stuff in Japan has reduced in prices significantly. Any one has experience buying from Japan and where to go - either shops or on-line houses that provided good service and prices? I would like to take a dabble and see if I can get a good M 75mm Summilux. Any suggestions will be much appreciated.

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[lanetomlane]

When I lived in Singapore and traveled to Japan often, I bought quite a bit of Leica stuff there. (New M6, New 50mm Summicron, Secondhand M6, 90mm Summicron.) There are three very good camera shops in the Ginza area of Tokyo which sell new and secondhand Leica equipment. I can't remember the names but when I get home tonight I'll see if I can find the details.

 

I always found new Leica equipment to be priced competitively and as the Japanese really look after their equipment the secondhand quality was always excellent.

__________________________

Regards, Tom

 

 

 

 

Photography by Tom Lane

[vafa]

There is a small Leica shop in 5th floor of Takashimaya department store in Futako Tamagawa (10 minute train ride from Shibuya on hanzomon line).

I didn't see any used equipment but the new stuff was very close to US prices.

 

Vafa

[wstotler]

I'm headed to Tokyo in a few weeks. Tom, if you can recall the names of the shops in Ginza I'd appreciate it.

 

Thanks!

Will

[spylaw4]

Yes indeed, as I'm heading there at Xmas/New Year.

[lanetomlane]

I'm headed to Tokyo in a few weeks. Tom, if you can recall the names of the shops in Ginza I'd appreciate it.

 

Thanks!

Will

 

Sorry, I totally forgot to look at home. I'll put a rubber band around my wrist so I remember to look tonight.

______________________

Cheers, tom

[lanetomlane]

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Sorry, I totally forgot to look at home. I'll put a rubber band around my wrist so I remember to look tonight.

______________________

Cheers, tom

 

Here are some directions, until I can hopefully find the names and actual addresses.

 

As a reference, find the traffic lights/intersection in Ginza on which Mitsukoshi Department Store stands on one corner. (It would be difficult to miss.) With your back to that corner entrance there is a large building opposite which will have a Japanese car in the window. (Can't remember if it's Toyota, or Nissan.) Diagonally opposite there is a flower seller and a coffee shop on the first floor. (There is a photograph of the first floor coffee shop on my website 'www.tomlane.zenfolio.com' under the Black & White section - it's called Le Cafe Douter.)

 

Walk across the road from Mitsukoshi to the building with the car and go left. Walk about 100yards/metres and there is a double fronted camera shop with stacks of secondhand Leica gear. (Go inside and facing you is a big circular cabinet with dozens of Leica bodies.) (I haven't bought from here as I think the prices are more expensive.) There is also another shop a further 20/30 yards/metres on.

 

The shop I like best and from which I've bought all my stuff. Again with your back to the Mitsukoshi entrance, cross the road to the right. (It will be the 4th corner of that intersection. (Not the car building and not the coffee shop building.) I think there is a shop selling watches on the corner. Take, I'm almost sure, the first road on the right (if not, it's the second) and the camera shop is about 50yards/metres on your left. Another shop: walk further down that road and you will see it on the left at the next cross-roads. (About another fifty yards.)

 

Brian, I'll be in Tokyo again in November and will get you better directions and names etc then.

 

Hope this helps.

________________________

Regards, Tom

 

 

 

 

Photography by Tom Lane

[lanetomlane]

Hopefully this rough map may make things clearer.

_________________________

Cheers, Tom

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[Guest wls.shanghai]

..maybe you try also Yodobashi Camera Ltd.

 

a) Yodobashi Nishiguchi Store (Shinjuku) near the station

or Yodabashi Akiba

 

good store & good service

I was there many times

price & service is ok

 

wls

 

btw. around Shinjuku and also Ginza are many shops

selling used leica gear!

[lanetomlane]

..maybe you try also Yodobashi Camera Ltd.

 

a) Yodobashi Nishiguchi Store (Shinjuku) near the station

or Yodabashi Akiba

 

good store & good service

I was there many times

price & service is ok

 

wls

 

btw. around Shinjuku and also Ginza are many shops

selling used leica gear!

 

I agree that's a great store but I wouldn't be able to give directions as to how to get there from Shinjuku Station. Problem is there are so many exits from Shinjuku Station. (Believe it's either the busiest, or biggest station in the world.

 

Regards, Tom

[wstotler]

Hopefully this rough map may make things clearer.

_________________________

Cheers, Tom

 

Tom,

 

I think I tracked down the two shops in your diagram on the left, but not the ones on your right. (Brilliant drawing, BTW.) I tracked this down by Googling Le Cafe Douter and then cross-referencing the address to get the Google maps street view that corresponds to your map.

 

Can you confirm I got the right streetfrontage with the two shops?

 

Streetfrontage, down the street from the Cafe left side of your map:

Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 7-8-7 GINZA GREEN - Google Maps

 

I couldn't find the two shops on the right of your map. I did find the Watches shop and I tried each of the streets in that direction (one before, on, after, and after that on the Watches shop side.)

 

Here's the link to the Watches shop location, if you want to look and see if you can jog your memory. (For all I know I saw them--the resolution doesn't let you really see what's in the windows.)

 

Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 7-8-7 GINZA GREEN - Google Maps

 

If you spot the stores when "walking through" with Google Street View, just click the "Link" button (in the "Print" "Send" "Link" row, top of street image) and then paste it in here. I can then have a look.

 

Again, brilliant directions. Thanks kindly!

 

Thanks,

Will

[lanetomlane]

Tom,

 

I think I tracked down the two shops in your diagram on the left, but not the ones on your right. (Brilliant drawing, BTW.) I tracked this down by Googling Le Cafe Douter and then cross-referencing the address to get the Google maps street view that corresponds to your map.

 

Can you confirm I got the right streetfrontage with the two shops?

 

Streetfrontage, down the street from the Cafe left side of your map:

Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 7-8-7 GINZA GREEN - Google Maps

 

I couldn't find the two shops on the right of your map. I did find the Watches shop and I tried each of the streets in that direction (one before, on, after, and after that on the Watches shop side.)

 

Here's the link to the Watches shop location, if you want to look and see if you can jog your memory. (For all I know I saw them--the resolution doesn't let you really see what's in the windows.)

 

Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 7-8-7 GINZA GREEN - Google Maps

 

If you spot the stores when "walking through" with Google Street View, just click the "Link" button (in the "Print" "Send" "Link" row, top of street image) and then paste it in here. I can then have a look.

 

Again, brilliant directions. Thanks kindly!

 

Thanks,

Will

 

Hi Will

 

I looked last night and unfortunately couldn't find any of the old receipts.

 

Wow, I didn't realise you could go into such detail with Google maps. Yes, the first location is correct. That's the store with a huge amount of Leica stuff.

 

I'm almost sure the second location is the correct street. The shop I've bought from is on the left about 30 to 50 yards down it. If it's not that street, it's one before or one after .... certainly within a 100 yards so not too far to investigate.

 

I'm going to be there again in November (I go to Japan at least two times a year) if you're not going before then I'll get you more specific instructions.

_______________

Cheers, Tom

[lanetomlane]

Hi Will (Again)

 

I check again (I didn't realise you could actually 'walk' in Google maps) and yes that is the correct street. (With the watch shop on the corner.) The name of the shop is 'Sukiya Camera'. For the other shop you just keep walking to the next cross-roads, no more than 100 yards.

 

I can see I'm now going to spend ages 'playing' with Google maps.

___________________________

Cheers, Tom

[Leika38]

I'm headed to Tokyo in a few weeks. Tom, if you can recall the names of the shops in Ginza I'd appreciate it.

 

Thanks!

Will

 

Can try Katsumido; they have a nice collection of M3s.

 

銀座カツミ堂写真機店　GINZA KATSUMIDO SINCE1949

 

cheers

[wstotler]

Hi Will <snip> I'm going to be there again in November (I go to Japan at least two times a year) if you're not going before then I'll get you more specific instructions.

_______________

Cheers, Tom

 

Tom,

 

Thanks for the confirmation! I'll poke around and see if I can spot the other two shops when I'm there--I know they exist and I know they're right around that area, which is more than I knew two days ago. I appreciate your efforts to find information and also the information you've provided. Let me say that without your input these wouldn't be on my radar. (And hopefully this thread can be helpful to others in the future.)

 

Google Street View is a wonder, for sure. I've done a fair amount of hunting around with it to check locations in Tokyo and find them exactly. But just enough to locate my final destinations--I don't want to spoil the experience of exploration and seeing new places before actually going.

 

Cheers!

Will

[lanetomlane]

Will, I'm pleased I was able to help in some small way. Have a great trip to Japan, it's a wonderful place.

 

Be interested to learn if you buy anything whilst your over there.

 

Safe travels and best regards, Tom

[M8China]

Thanks for all the inputs, these will make my trip next month very fruitful...please continue the discussions.

[nik_nik9]

The by far best shop for Leica in Tokyo is "Lemon Sha" in Ginza. It's in a modern church building on the 8th floor. They have a huge selection of used Leica gear and all the new stuff, too. And you'll find all the accessories as camera bags and A&A products and so on. I really love the shop and visit it everytime I'm in Tokyo.

If you check the Lemon Sha homepage (try google, it's available in english) you'll get a very good description how to find easily the shop.

Have fun in Japan!

Nik

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[wstotler]

The by far best shop for Leica in Tokyo is "Lemon Sha" in Ginza. It's in a modern church building on the 8th floor. They have a huge selection of used Leica gear and all the new stuff, too. And you'll find all the accessories as camera bags and A&A products and so on. I really love the shop and visit it everytime I'm in Tokyo.

If you check the Lemon Sha homepage (try google, it's available in english) you'll get a very good description how to find easily the shop.

Have fun in Japan!

Nik

 

Details here:

Store Guide

 

Location (added the word "church" to pin-point it):

4-2-1 Ginza Church Tokyo - Google Maps

 

Leaving tomorrow morning. Thanks again.

 

Cheers!

Will

[wstotler]

The by far best shop for Leica in Tokyo is "Lemon Sha" in Ginza. It's in a modern church building on the 8th floor. They have a huge selection of used Leica gear and all the new stuff, too. And you'll find all the accessories as camera bags and A&A products and so on. I really love the shop and visit it everytime I'm in Tokyo.

If you check the Lemon Sha homepage (try google, it's available in english) you'll get a very good description how to find easily the shop.

Have fun in Japan!

Nik

 

Details here:

Store Guide

 

Location (added the word "church" to pin-point it):

4-2-1 Ginza Church Tokyo - Google Maps

 

Leaving tomorrow morning. Thanks again.

 

Cheers!

Will

 

Now that I'm back, I wanted to pop over here to report that Lemon was the best shop of the three I visited, by a wide margin.

 

Tom, thanks for kicking off the detailed responses near the top of this thread--appreciated. Nik, thanks for mentioning Lemon Camera.

 

It's not that the other stores were poor, they had decent selections, but Lemon had a really excellent selection of used goods, carefully displayed. The volume of goods was about five or six times more than the other stores.

 

Stock ranged from really old lenses, through a wide selection of crazy Visoflex kits and adaptor rings, different variations of Leica and Leitz ballheads, viewfinder assortment (from old to new), filter assortments (from ancient to new), through to what appeared to be at least one example of every other type of lens Leica has made--and for each, versions I, II, III, IV, etc. Copies in chrome and black were available for many of the lens versions. I didn't see a Thambar, but when that's the only thing I don't recall seeing, it's pretty exhaustive on the selection side. Filters, straps, cases, soft releases, Thumbs Up models, etc., were also available.

 

Let me put it this way: I'd think, "Do they have a . . ." and they would.

 

Pricing appeared reasonable. No "deals" that I could see, but the stock was virtually complete.

 

I tested three goggled 135mm f/2.8 lenses on my M8, ranging in price from 30,000 yen to 40,000 yen ($300ish to $400ish USD) but didn't buy--each of the copies would have needed a trip to DAG anyway (each had their own slight issue) and I can buy them here via Web. (Had one of them been perfect? Lemon would have had my money--credit card possible, 3% fee.) Oh, and they had the frickin' original boxes/manuals/papers for each lens, too.

 

Was aided throughout by a very helpful and very patient, English speaking representative, Koji Miyake. No pressure to buy.

 

I did mention Stan Tamarkin and Koji knew him: "Ah, the famous Stan Tamarkin."

 

Recommended.

 

Cheers!

Will

 

P.S. Note that in the Street View link to Google (for Lemon) that I've provided, you can pan up to see the church's unique appearance and the cross on the 9th floor. In the mayhem that is Ginza this is the easiest way to spot where the shop is--you enter on the street beside the church. I can say that without Street View and a walkabout I would likely not have found this shop. It's just so crowded down there. Just me, maybe, but it sure didn't hurt to know what it looked like before trying to find it.

 

P.P.S. I also visited the JCII Camera Museum. (Listed in some of the guidebooks for Tokyo.) They had a variety of Leicas I'd not seen before in person, but that section of the museum was only one wall. Unless you like manual cameras in general and want to see many other makes and models, the trek out there may not be worth it for you. Just a note.