Tokyo / Shibuya / District

Udagawacho record shops and Shibuya vintage

宇田川町のレコード店と渋谷の古着 うだがわちょうのれこーどてんとしぶやのふるぎ

The densest square kilometre of record shops in the world — jazz, city pop, hip-hop, each on its own floor.

For a second visitShopping · Modern · Local life · Rainy day

Shibuya's Udagawacho, up the hill behind Tower Records, was the capital of record buying in the 1990s and never quite stopped: Disk Union's floors sorted by genre, Manhattan Records for hip-hop, Face Records and HMV Record Shop for the Japanese city pop that the world discovered on YouTube, and a dozen one-room specialists up narrow stairs. The same streets hold the vintage shops — American denim, 1990s Japanese labels — that dress the city's youth. It is a district you shop by floor, not by street.

Don't miss

Map of central Tokyo Tokyo Ueno Akihabara Shinjuku Shibuya Shinagawa Ikebukuro Shimbashi Kabukiza Theatre Chuo-dori and the Sunday promenade Ginza Six Ginza Itoya Hama-rikyu Gardens The Ginza gallery walk Tsukiji Hongwanji The Ginza bar streets Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building Imperial Palace East Gardens Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum Marunouchi Naka-dori KITTE and the rooftop garden Idemitsu Museum of Arts Nihonbashi Bridge Mitsukoshi Nihombashi Main Store The old shops of Nihonbashi Artizon Museum Fukutoku Shrine and the Coredo lanes Nihonbashi river cruise Sensoji Temple Kappabashi kitchen street Sumida river water bus The craft and coffee streets west of the temple A kimono day in Asakusa Tokyo Skytree Asakusa Shrine and Sanja Matsuri Tokyo National Museum National Museum of Western Art Ueno Park and Shinobazu Pond Yanaka Ginza and the Yanesen lanes Nezu Shrine Ameyoko market street Asakura Museum of Sculpture Akihabara Electric Town Jimbocho book town Kanda Myojin Shrine Holy Resurrection Cathedral (Nikolai-do) Kanda's old noodle houses Yushima Seido and the Confucian hall Mori Art Museum and Tokyo City View The National Art Center, Tokyo Tokyo Midtown and the Suntory Museum of Art Azabu-Juban shopping street Tokyo Tower and Zojoji Temple Roppongi after dark Nezu Museum The Omotesando architecture walk Aoyama Cemetery Meiji Jingu Gaien ginkgo avenue The Aoyama and Minami-Aoyama back streets Meiji Jingu Yoyogi Park Takeshita Street and Cat Street Ota Memorial Museum of Art Togo Shrine Shibuya scramble crossing and Hachiko Shibuya Sky Nonbei Yokocho and the Shibuya alleys Udagawacho record shops and Shibuya vintage Tomigaya and Kamiyamacho Live music in Shibuya Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building observatories Golden Gai Omoide Yokocho The Isetan food hall Hanazono Shrine Tsukiji Outer Market Toyosu Market and the tuna auction teamLab Planets The Tsukiji-to-Ginza walk The Meguro River cherry trees Daikanyama T-Site Daikanyama's low-rise streets Ebisu Garden Place and the Ebisu restaurant streets Nakameguro's back streets Kagurazaka's stone lanes Akagi Shrine Dining in Kagurazaka Zenkokuji Bishamonten Ryogoku Kokugikan and sumo Edo-Tokyo Museum Kiyosumi Garden Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT) The Kiyosumi-Shirakawa roasters Udagawacho record shops and Shibuya vintage
A hand-drawn sketch for orientation — each place links to an exact map.
Tip
Records are cheaper in Japan than almost anywhere and well graded; bring a stiff bag to carry them flat.
Best time
Weekday afternoon, when the shops are quiet and restocked.
Allow
120 min
Station
Shibuya, Hachiko exit, 5 minutes uphill past Tower Records
Official site — hours, prices, closures
www.city.shibuya.tokyo.jp · Map

Appears in

In this area: Shibuya

Landmark Essential

Shibuya scramble crossing and Hachiko渋谷スクランブル交差点とハチ公

Three thousand people per green light, a bronze dog who waited ten years, and the best free view from the station's upper floors.

30 min · Shibuya (JR / Ginza / Hanzomon / Fukutoshin lines, Tokyu, Keio), Hachiko exit
Viewpoint Worth it

Shibuya Sky渋谷スカイ

An open rooftop at 230 metres, with the crossing directly below and Fuji, the Tower and the Skytree around the horizon.

75 min · Shibuya, direct from the station's east side
District Worth it

Nonbei Yokocho and the Shibuya alleysのんべい横丁と渋谷の路地

"Drunkard's Alley" — forty bars of five seats each under the railway, unchanged since 1950, a minute from the crossing.

90 min · Shibuya (JR), Hachiko exit, 2 minutes along the tracks

All places — Shibuya →