The Japanese is well known for their advanced gadgetry and many tourists have beaten a well-worn path to the famous electronics hubs of Akihabara and Shinjuku in Tokyo. While many will enjoy the experience of just seeing the endless range of the latest digital gadgets, most will be disappointed to find that the prices aren't all that cheap if you compare them with the Asian electronics hubs of Singapore and Hong Kong.

On my recent trip to Tokyo, I was quite pleasantly surprised to find that the cost of photography equipment in Tokyo is significantly cheaper than Singapore which is where I normally indulge my photography hobby. Finding the best prices in Tokyo takes a little bit of research. Shopping is all about information asymmetry - ie. the difference between what you know and what the merchant knows. The greater the information asymmetry in favour of the merchant, the less likely are you to find a good bargain. Basic rule : do your homework !

The first thing is that you should know how much the item costs in either your home market or your next best alternative (in my case that's Singapore). In the photography context, the Singaporean photography forum, Clubsnap, offers a wealth of information, especially pricing. You will be able to find price guides (search the discussion forums) on a huge range of equipment contributed by local enthusiasts. These price guides will help you assess how good the prices are in Tokyo.

The next step in the process is to do some pricing research in Japan itself. A great price comparison site is Kakaku.com. Don't be intimidated by the Japanese interface as it is quite easy to find the right product category once you know the trick. Kakaku is organised using a directory hierarchy. Move your mouse cursor over each of the links and if you look carefully at the status bar of your web browser (usually at the bottom), you can see what the category it is in English. For example, this is the page for cameras. Using this process, Kakaku will serve up the best online prices for whatever photography equipment you are looking to buy. Once you have found them, I would recommend that you print out the page with the prices. This will come in handy later on.

Now that you've done your homework, what's next ? Well, let's go check out some stores. While you'll be able to find many camera shops in Akihabara, Shinjuku has a concentration of some of the largest camera stores you will find anywhere. Before you head out to Shinjuku, make sure you have a good map as there's a good chance you'll get lost. Another thing to bring along is your passport as the stores will offer you a duty free price but you will need to show your passport.

In Shinjuku, I would recommend that you make a pit stop at Map Camera. While they are not the largest store, I did find that they offered the best price straight up - no negotiations. I bought a Tamron lens from them and they beat the best price for the lens that I was able to find using Kakaku. The shop assistants had reasonably good English skills and they accepted credit cards and were very helpful. An excellent first stop. As the store is not as big as some of the others, you may find that they may not have an item in stock that you're looking for.

For a huge camera store that is 2 minutes walk away from Map Camera, you have to check out Yodobashi. They have two huge six storey stores in Shinjuku - that's twelve combined floors ! I could easily spend three hours looking through their stuff. The posted prices in Yodobashi are not as competitive as Map or the online prices but they are very open to negotiation. When I bought my lens at Yodobashi, I showed them my print out from Kakaku and I asked them to match the price as they have originally quoted higher than the cheapest price on Kakaku. They went one better and they actually beat the cheapest price from Kakaku (that's why you should get a print out !). Again, they were quite helpful and their English was reasonably good. I had no problems using my credit card.

The only strange thing I found is that while photography equipment was very cheap as compared to Singapore (don't know about Hong Kong), their memory cards are hideously expensive. So don't bother buying memory cards in Tokyo.

Discuss this article on the forums. (0 posts)