Japan is the capital for R/C products. Most R/C products that we use are either Japanese made or Japanese brand. However, you might not know that for R/C helicopter the biggest market is not the US but Japan? Also, do you know that most Japanese manufacturers would keep their goodies remain in the Japanese market instead of releasing to the world? For the most up to date R/C helicopter products, Japan is the place for ultimate shopping spree.
Tokyo, being the capital of Japan, is being toured by many visitors. If you have a chance to visit Tokyo, why not indulge yourself with some shopping for your favorite hobby? In this page, I will give a guided tour to some shops and wholesalers located in Tokyo. Some of these you might have visited, but some of them, especially the wholesalers, are regarded as trade secrets to most. Most Asian shops, as far as I know, would go to Japan at least once a year, buy products at these shops at Japanese retail street price, and bring these merchandise back to their country and still earn a profit.
Since Japan does not use English as their first language, and most Japanese people does not know English, it might be quite hard for people from other countries to find their way in Japan. However, the safe bet is to first ask your way in your hotel before starting your journey. Luckily, public transportation system in Japan is very well developed, and most of the R/C shops are near train stations, so it is not too hard to find your way to these shops by train. Most of the bigger R/C retail shops in Tokyo are located in Akihabara district, so we will start from here.
Akihabara is a district in Tokyo famous for shopping of electronics items. You would find the latest electronics items in shops around here. Akihabara station is one of the bigger stations in Tokyo's train web, so its not hard to find. Below is a brief map of the Akihabara station and its vicinity.
As you could see from the above map, there are three shops in the vicinity that I think worth visiting. While there are many other hobby shops around, these other shops are either don't stock helicopter things, or are cater for tourists (Spell: Expensive).
The JR Yamanote line (Note: "JR" means "Japan Rail", not "Japan Radio" that we usually encounter...) that circulates Tokyo pass through the Akihabara station, so its safe bet to take this line. Right after you get off the train at Akihabara station, look for the exit that reaches "Showa Dori", not the one that goes to "Electric Avenue". This exit is the nearest to those hobby shops, and it looks like the picture below.
Showa-dori exit of Akihabara Station
Right outside of the exit, you should see a bridge that covers the first street that runs parallel to the exit. This is Showa-Dori, and the bridge is a safe check cause in the Akihabara station there is no other exit like that. If you could find this exit, Congratulations! You have conquered the first and foremost obstacle.
Refer back to my map, there are three shops - Super R/C, Rakusei, and Futaba that is near the station. Another one shop, which is not shown in the map, is Champ, and is a must visit amongst all shops. I would set a route that would ease you to tour these shops in one shot without walking back and forth. I would first start with Super R/C, then Champ, then Rakusei, and finally Futaba.
To reach Super R/C, first cross the Showa-dori to the other side of the station exit. You should see a passenger crossing right in front of the exit, right? Right after you cross Showa-dori, make a left turn and follow Showa-dori for less than 10 minutes' walk. Notice a black sign on the side of buildings that has a very tiny JR Propo sign. If you missed the sign, note to see if there is a fishing supplies shop that you've just pass by. Speed is in the second floor right above the fishing supplies store. The stairs to Super R/C is just on the right hand side of the shop if you face the entrance of the shop.
Super R/C have lots of stock for cars, while helicopter stock only consists of about 20% of their total inventory. However, Super R/C usually have the most up to date K&S upgrade parts and helicopter inventory. While the price of Super R/C is not the cheapest amongst the other two in the same district, it usually has the most up to date stock. In addition, Super R/C would have some useful gadgets that is rarely seen in other shops. Sometimes Super R/C would dump slow moving stock at half off list price, so sometimes you could find bargain here.
Fellow pilot Victor Lee is happy to see a rare part he need
To reach Champ from Super R/C, make a right from the building entrance to Super R/C. When you come across a junction, make a left and cross Showa-Dori. Follow the road all the way, passing the Electric Avenue, and then start to look for a cross road on your right with the sign below:
It should not take more than five minutes' walk to reach this cross road. Just follow the above sign and you will see the entrance of Champ, which looks like below:
If I have to choose only one shop to visit than Champ is the definite choice! Champ is a big R/C supermarket chain store group in Japan, and a definite adversary of Super R/C. Champ's main shop was in Osaka, and its been the best shop to visit there. Champ opened their Tokyo branch a year ago, and its been threatening the business of all Akihabara R/C shops. Champ has vast selection of helicopters and cars, and price is right.
To reach Rakusei from Champ, make your way back to Super R/C, follow the road back to the direction of the Akihabara Station exit. Follow the road all the way and you will come across a slant section then to a big cross road. Cross the road, make another left, follow the road for less than one minute's walk and you should see Rakusei, which is a shop located on ground level.
Rakusei is a big R/C supermarket chain store group in Japan. There are a total of 10 Rakusei shops located all around Japan. Rakusei is famous for its low price, which sometimes could rival those of wholesalers. However, due to the cheap price Rakusei's stock goes fast. As a result, depend on luck you could get some up to date things here at a bargain price, but most of the times according to my experience I could get up to date things from Speed instead of Rakusei. Rakusei's helicopter stock is better than Speed though, and in here you could find better stock level of JR and Hirobo parts. Also, Rakusei is one of the very few shops that sells Taya products, which is Thunder Tiger in Japan, but the price for a Raptor in Japan is about 20% higher than that in the States.
Rakusei's extensive helicopter kit stock
To reach Futaba from Rakusei, make a left from the exit of Rakusei, follow the road along and cross the first cross road. Then continue to walk for about 3 minutes and look for a hobby shop that has a big Futaba sign on the opposite side of the road.
As its name implies, Futaba is a retail shop opened by Futaba, and in here you could find extensive stock of Futaba and OS items. All of Futaba and OS line of R/C stock are available in Futaba shop, and it also contain some helicopter stock. Futaba has the least helicopter stock amongst the other two in the district, but if you are looking for some Futaba or OS parts this is the place.
After Futaba, you could turn left from Futaba's entrance, follow the road to the first big crossroad and make a left, follow through and it will reach the Akihabara Station exit. If you are still not exhausted, then I highly recommend walking around the Akihabara district and do some shopping (or window shopping) for some updated electronic appliances. Akihabara is very famous for shopping for electronic appliances, and especially TV games. However, one note is that Japanese games are not compatible with machines in other countries, so just window shopping for games is a save bet. If after Akihabara you still have strength, time, courage and its still in office hours during weekdays, you could try go to Asakusabashi, the place for shop owners only and I guarantee if you could get into shops in Asakusabashi you would know what heaven would be like.
Asakusabashi is a district in Tokyo where lots of toy wholesalers are located. These wholesalers mostly resides not in a shop but taking up a whole building, with each floor categorized for different model product. The price of these wholesaler, suffice to say, is the lowest available. However, these wholesalers only serve local Japanese shops, and does not do overseas sales. Most shop owners from all over the world would come to Asakusabashi to purchase goods and carry them back to their country for resale. Most shops requires all shoppers to register for an account before they let you shop, and the way to register for an account is not easy. However, the sheer size of these model shops is seeing to believe, and by chance if you could sneek into these shops you would know what heaven would be like. Although all wholesalers would stick a notice on their front doors that read "Wholesale Only! No Retail!", you could still slip through their doors and take a look inside. If luck struck you could even convince shop keeper to sell you a thing or two.
Asakusabashi is just one station off from Akihabara. To reach Asakusabashi from Akihabara, take the Central line, Chiba direction train from Akihabara station, and the next station from Akihabara is Asakusabashi.
Mitsuboshi
The wealth of owning a building in Tokyo, where land price is amongst the top in the world, must be massive. Mitsuboshi has at least four multi-storey buildings in Asakusabashi alone, all of them fully occupied with toys, models and R/C products. No wonder Mitsuboshi is one of the three biggest wholesalers of R/C products in Japan. The building that houses R/C products alone has seven floors, with each floor stock full of R/C products from wall to wall. Where in the world, despite Japan, could you see a hobby shop as grand as Mitsuboshi?
Mitsuboshi is the grandest, and have the slackest wholesale rules amongst the others. You could slip inside Mitsuboshi very easily, but when the time it comes to pay for your purchase I'd say in 70% chance they would sell you if your purchase is anything over 100,000-yen (About US$1,000-). Even if you did not purchase a thing, simply take a walk inside Mitsuboshi is seeing to believe!
However, Mitsuboshi went bankrupt on April, 2003 :-(
Irisawa is another wholesalers of R/C products in Asakusabashi. Compare to Mitsuboshi, Irisawa only has one 10 floors building. Despite carrying a full line of R/C helicopter products from all manufacturers in Japan, Irisawa also has a line of helicopter products under its name, and amongst the Irisawa line of items are some very high quality fuselage (e.g. AH-1S Apache for JR Ergo). Irisawa's sale policy is stricter than Mitsuboshi's, but the chance of them chasing you out is not big, so why not have a walk?
Tamaya is the smallest amoungst the other two, but it has the most extensive helicopter stock. However, people working in Tamaya is the meanest, and the chance of slipping into the doors of Tamaya by chance is almost non-existant.