Japan Camera Stores
A glimpse into the paradise. If you suffer from cardiac complications, skip this post. You've been warned!
I photographed many different themes and things during my Japan trip in April. Themes like people, subway, my son inside phone booths, family mirror shots, and obviously… camera stores, including (but not limited to) film stocks and film machines.
Kitamura Love
Among the countless camera stores that dotted my journey, few left me as breathless as the Leica floor at Kitamura, which I visited 3x over 10 days (because I simply couldn’t believe it). What awaited me on the sixth floor was something extraordinary: a carefully curated world split into two distinct realms, each telling its own story of photographic heritage.
As the elevator doors opened, I was greeted by a thoughtful division that immediately captured my imagination.
Side 6A beckoned with the warm promise of accessibility: the "Leica Boutique/Used Leica" section, where dreams felt within reach. Here, an incredible selection of Leicas spread before me like treasures waiting to be discovered, each camera carrying the whispered stories of the photographers who had held them before.
But it was Side 6B that truly took my breath away. Stepping into this space felt like crossing the threshold into a hallowed museum for sale, where photography transcended mere hobby and entered the realm of art and legend. Lenses and equipment worth tens of thousands of dollars sat behind glass like precious artifacts, their price tags reading like small fortunes. Beautiful, mesmerizing, and utterly unattainable for most mortals like myself.
These were taken in the floor 6A of Kitamura in Tokyo, as photography was not allowed on the B-side.
The other floors are also super cool, with so many cameras from Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Mamiya, etc. - all in an extremely good condition.
But my camera journey was just starting at Kitamura. As I progressed over Japanese land, sea, and mountains, I discovered other stores in different cities.
Most of the stores offered tax free, and the price you see on the label includes tax, which is 10%. So every price I saw, I got to reduce 10% to reveal my real tourist price - a constant danger.
That’s how my hote’s desk was, LOL. I got into the game for real, and I really love how the light leak on this CS400D film stock combined with the purple film packaging!
These were taken at a store called “2nd Base”, also in Tokyo. A little store inside a gallery with a superb film product collection.
And more film! These 10 boxes of CineStill 800T were bought to me by my friend Kimi, who saved me by buying it online and delivering it to my hotel room. I wanted to keep some consistency by only shooting CineStills in this trip, and Kimi made it possible!
See? No CineStill for sale. And I think the efforts were worth it, because I could shoot it consistently all across my trip. I am so happy about the photos I took in my Japan trip!
I would love to visit some of the camera shops in Japan. A coworker of my wife's went a few months back, and I mentioned that "I should have given you a list to give her to look at shops for certain film stocks." half-joking. My wife then told the coworker that and they replied "Oh I totally would have done that!" which is pretty awesome!
Fabulous shop! Almost makes a person who doesn't care about gear rethink his position!