The Akihabara Japan electronics store master list.

[TERRA Operative]

When buying from Keisokuki Land, be prepared to empty your wallet as they tend to use corporate pricing (i.e. "we know companies will just expense this crap, so let's jack the prices riiigghhttt up!") and be careful who you talk to.... The older the staff member, the friendlier they are to foreigners.
Some of the younger staff will barely even grunt at you if they even acknowledge your existence, but the old guy out back is super friendly and loves to chat and practice his English.

[TERRA Operative]

And indeed, Classic Components has completely disappeared from earth Their (translated) website is a bit vague on whether it closed or not, and I missed the post of Damien above, which could have saved me the walk.

From the front of their webpage:

閉店のお知らせ！

平素より弊店を御利用賜り厚く御礼申し上げます。
さて、この度令和６年１１月２０日（水）をもちまして
弊店日１０月３１日（木）に変更になりました。
閉店することになりましたのでお知らせいたします。
お客様には大変ご迷惑をおかけし、申し訳けございません
これまで弊店をご愛顧いただき、誠にありがとうございました。

Which translates to:

Notice of Store Closure!

We sincerely thank you for your continued patronage of our store.
We regret to inform you that our store will close permanently on Wednesday, November 20, 2024.
The closing date has been changed from Thursday, October 31, 2024.
We deeply apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our valued customers.
Thank you very much for your patronage over the years.



I think that's pretty clear? 


It's too bad, they had some good stuff and I bought a bunch of tubes and databooks from them.
It's sad I'll never get to browse through racks of tubes while the old shopkeeper noisily burps and farts with alarming frequency in the corner. 

[Hydron]

Sounds like I'm going to be sent to Tokyo in a couple of weeks - has been a while (26 years, was at high school at the time) and I assume it'll be a bit different from my last trip!

Any changes to the list I should know about? Looks like TERRA has been keeping it fairly up to date?

Might also be time to poke around Yahoo auctions (assuming I can register without a Japanese address/contact details) - beauty of being sent over for work is I have the local office as a mailing address (also applies to US trips - eBay is much better there than in europe).

Much appreciate the time that's been put into making this list up.

[TERRA Operative]

Yep, the list is all up to date as far as I can tell.

Yahoo auctions is pretty easy to set up but you might need a Japanese phone number along with a Japanese address, I assume even a temporary prepaid phone number might work?
'Conbini pay' (paying with cash at convenience stores) makes payment simple, no need for any phone apps or Japanese bank accounts!

PM me if you want to meet up for a wander around Akihabara while you're here.

[damien]

If there's an EEV-wander in Akiba I'm in as well :-)

[Hydron]

Thanks TERRA - will confirm trip in the next few days hopefully, probably arriving weekend after next (then off to China a few days later, then back to Tokyo). Would be keen for an EEVBlog Akihabara meetup if it works!

As for Yahoo, I'll look into prepaid/eSIM, address can hopefully be that of my employer's Yokohama office. Annoyingly Yahoo auctions website is blocked in the EU/UK , but I have managed to access it via a PC sitting in NZ running a tailscale exit node.

[Hydron]

OK so it looks like I'll be arriving at Haneda next Saturday, so I should be up for an EEV-wander in Akihabara on Sunday 26th if others are. Alternatively I might be around Yokohama for the last day or two of Golden Week if that suits better (less certain though, may be in Shenzhen or Taipei depending on work). Will DM TERRA and damien, but posting here in case others are keen.

[milan_e]

Been there back in 90ths. Remember a small 2msq store full of reed relays, and a bigger store "King of Kits" next door. Many more... wonderful place for e-shopping.

[Hydron]

Yeah it's now a battle against the anime crowd to visit the few small shops that remain. Still, I would kill to have even what is left in London, where there are basically zero places to go and buy components anymore. My memories of what it used to be like (in 2000 when I last visited while at high-schoool) are pretty vague at this point, but I do recall a lot less anime and more electronics.

Thanks damien for joining for a walk around, hopefully I'm back sooner rather than later and can catch TERRA-san too.

[damien]

<sadface>
Yeah, the anime virus is propagating... When I went a couple of weeks ago I was shocked to see that the large-ish parts store on 2F under the tracks is now some weird-ass anime expo/demo area. Me old. Me grumpy.
</sadface>