I went crazy in my Japan trip!
My crazy might not be your crazy. My initial goal was to buy only the rare / HTF CDs I've been looking for for ages (didn't find any), but the deals were so good (Book Off, Disk Union) and the feeling of wandering through aisles and aisles of CDs (especially Tower Records) was so exhilarating that I could not resist.
i felt exactly like when i used to visit CD stores during trips 20-30 years ago. This was my ritual: every city visited, I'd go to music stores and get CDs, often finding totally unexpected albums! On my best trips, my haul would look like this.
TOP 2 ROWS: thrifted... all from various Disk Union branches, plus 3 in the next to last picture that were found at Book Off (Belle & Sebastian and Cyndi Lauper). I totally didn't expect to find one of my favorite B&S albums and I wasn't even shopping around for those!
almost all of these used CDs look like new or almost new, and some i suspect are actually new. in Disk Union grading, they were A, or at most B+. I think their standards are so much higher!
BOTTOM 2 ROWS: Tower Records Shinjuku (sadly couldn't visit the Shibuya branch). i went crazier in Tower Records (expense wise) than in Disk Union because i prefer my CDs brand new and because of the sheer availability. So here i focused on filling up the missing essentials in my collection. PLUS they are Japan made which supposedly sound better?
Iron Maiden Senjutsu was one that i specifically intended to buy in person in Japan, in that specific edition and at Tower Records, so that goal was achieved.
Silvana Estrada and Iron Maiden's Brave New World are from Disk Union but are both new. BNW discount priced tho.
BONUS: last picture, i got that at Disk Union Ochanomizu, they specialize in rock / metal if I'm not mistaken and have a selection of merch.
i think I'm done buying CDs for several months now. usually my buys are 1-2 each month, amd i need to recover financially... but oh well, I can't say I'm not happy! 😁 💿