Journey with your underground soul

What would be the majority of people’s favorites during their trip to Japan? Famous tourist attractions? The food? The nature? How about a place where all the Indy musicians gather around trying out their gears? You might ask yourself, why would I even care about a town that is full of instrument retailers? Because it definitely influenced some of the oldest street musicians in Japan, making the town filled with INDY CULTURE. Lets take a quick tour to Ochanomizu, one of the biggest instrument retailer gatherings, and see if you really have the real taste of music underneath you.

OCHANOMIZU station, on the Sobu Line

Ochanomizu station is located pretty close to the center of Tokyo, capable of accessing both JR Chuo Line (RED) and Sobu Line (Yellow). Literally a lot of people prefer taking the Chuo Line because the train is designed to be an express all day long. On the other hand, Sobu Line stops at every station that Chuo Line does not service, making the trip a bit longer. However, the Sobu line has much better accessibility to the main street, where all the retailers are, so a lot of people switch to Sobu line recently.

Kurosawa Violin

Just the corner of the train station, you would see a huge violin retailer. A lot of pro-musicians actually visit this shop to check out some of the oldest-used products for their own performance. It is too bad I do not know much about violin.

Shimokura Used Guitars Chain #2

 This shop buys and distributes some of the best used-guitars. What are best-used guitars? Well, there are couple of things that decides a guitar’s condition. First, it is the cosmetic condition of the guitar; the neck should not be bent and there should not be any damages in the main frame of the guitar. Second, it is the wood;  wooden products tend to wear and produce different sound in the time being. It is very hard to determine whether the wood is still in a good condition or not; you might have to jack it in and follow your instincts =)

Here are some of the Unique Guitars that were used by Famous Artists.

Burny Mockingbird Yellow Heart : X-Japan’s guitarist Hide’s Signature

Fender Telecaster ’52 Vintage: Eric Clapton’s beloved signature

USED EFFECTORS : Many of them cannot be purchased in New condition these days

  As you can see from the photos above, most of the products that these retailers carry are in used-condition. There are some arguments between INDY musicians whether it is good to use USED equipments or BRAND NEW equipments. It is debatable because USED gears are considered to be rather expensive, than that of any other products at which people tend to consider the depreciation. However, a lot of musicians claim that the best instruments are made in a certain period of history. For example, classic fans might call “Stradi Varius” the best violin ever exited, while band geeks would claim “Gibson USA ’58 Les Paul Elegance” the best guitar ever created.

  Another reason why people would invest so much money on these used items is, depending on the time, instrument manufacturers differentiated the materials of the guitar and the origin of where it was made. Guitars that are made in USA are still considered to be the better of all, while Japanese made effectors are considered to be the best. 

Unlike any other retailers around the world, Ochanomizu specifies the taste of Japanese musicians by carrying the products that creates the most amazing sound for Japan Rock. While it is considered that American Rock relies more on Amplifiers and Effects, while Japanese Rock especially relies on the string-equipments. It was 2008 that I last visited Japan, and it was very short. However, among the places I have been to during that trip, Ochanomizu definitely was the cherry on the top.

  Whether you are into music or not, visiting Ochanomizu would allow yourself to have an brief idea what led the Japanese music industry. 


Boston/Bryan