Musical Instruments

The area around Ochanomizu station is the place to go for musical instruments. There are dozens of guitar shops, violin showrooms and piano stores, as well as quite a few sheet music and music book outlets that offer new and used wares in various languages. Electric keyboards and pianos can be found at most of the big electronics chains such as BicCamera and Yodobashi, and in some department stores. Shimamura Music is probably the country’s biggest music emporium, with multiple stores. It sells everything from sheet music to software and instruments. You can also arrange lessons here if you haven’t quite mastered your piece yet. For a more retro touch, the area in and around Kichijōji station has a few vintage guitar shops.

The most popular traditional Japanese instruments are the taiko drum, Japanese flute, and shamisen (a three-stringed guitar-like instrument). Most guitar shops also stock shamisen and will give you a demo. It’s worth looking in the ‘Classifieds’ section of magazines like Metropolis as used guitars, amps, and other equipment is often advertised at cut prices.

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