Don't forget to get your goodies in Tokyo...

[AdamTokyo]

Sorry for all Chinese readers here 'cos I typed in English. My PC doesn't have Chinese characters input system so I had no choice but to type my message in English instead.

 

Here I just want to let you guys know that you can actually have a chance to purchase some low price Celine Dion CDs (both Japan and overseas editions) if you happen to come to Tokyo for travel or work or studies. Now in Japan, we really have hard times in our economy and secondhand goods business is getting more and more popular nowadays. Japanese people now prefer to buy secondhand or used goods rather than their brand-new counterparts which are more expensive and less affordable for them.

 

I came to Tokyo about two and a half years ago for my further studies and I was a fan of Celine earlier than that when I was in junior high school. When I was in Malaysia (yeah, I'm Chinese Malaysian), the average price for an original (not pirated) CD was about 40 Malaysian Dollars (about 80 Renminbi) and I couldn't afford to buy her cds though I thought they're more durable than cassettes. So at that time, I could only buy her music in cassettes but not her CDs.

 

After I came to Japan, I was really surprised to find that CDs in Japan were far more expensive than the ones in Malaysia which cost around 2500 Japanese Yen (about 150 Renminbi?) for an average original CD (Japan edition) here. I was really disappointed at that time. I thought it's impossible for me again to own her CDs even in overseas.

 

One day, I remember it was about a year ago, I came across a secondhand goods store called BOOK OFF in Tokyo and I just went in curiously to see whether I could get her CDs in lower price or not. To my surprise, there was a section called 250 Yen CD section and immediately I looked for her name 'Celine Dion' and I found lots of her CD's with only 250 Yen (about 15 Renminbi)! I was so touched and so excited and you know what, I nearly yelled out on the spot like a mad guy in the store. So, with my utmost careful selection, I 'swept off' all the CD's that I've been longing for so long so far and believe me or not, now I almost have the whole collection of her CDs both in Japan and overseas editions, with only 250 Yen each. Thanks to BOOK OFF and its chainstores.

 

Details about BOOK OFF and its goods:

!. There are quite a number of BOOK OFF chainstores in Tokyo and in other parts of Japan and in some other countries as well. You can refer to its website here: http://www.bookoff.co.jp/ and from there you can search for its chainstores that can be found throughout the major places in Japan. (Sorry, they only have Japanese version for its web page. Well, maybe you can recognize some of the Chinese characters if you know Chinese.)

 

2. It's a pity that you can't order your secondhand goods by correspondence (mail) nor by phone locally or from overseas. Different from the system in Amazon.com, you can only explore for your favorite used stuff by going straight to the store and purchase it but not calling up the store and ask the guys to send you a catalogue or the goods to your place. No way. They'll never do that for you. Please understand their system. But if you have some used stuff that is too heavy to carry and sell it to the store, you can call them up and they'll help you to collect your things from your place and they'll bring your stuff to their store and calculate its value for you, yeah, free of charge, only that.

 

3. Besides 250 Yen CDs, you can also get some more expensive CDs like 750 Yen CDs or CD's with half of their original prices.

 

4. Different chainstores have different goods. So, depending on your luck, you might not get the stuff you want. But be patient. Well, I went to quite a number of its chainstores and searched for Celine Dion CD albums from one chainstore to another and sometimes there were a lot in one store and sometimes there were only a few or without much varieties in another store. The luckiest moments I can remember till now are when I found some of her CDs that were not released in Japan like 'Celine Dion A L'Olympia' and 'Dion Chante Plamondon' with two extra tracks in two of its different chainstores some months ago and I only got them for 250 Yen each.

 

5. Most of the used CDs in Japan are as new as they're just bought 'cos Japanese treat their CDs well and they really take care of them with hardly making any scatches on them. Well, I also heard from my Japanese friends that Japanese don't listen to their CDs as often as we do, especially pop music. They quickly get tired of them. So eventually they become the goods in those secondhand goods stores and who's the one who gets the most benefits? Us, of course!

 

6. In Japan, it's hard to find pirated CDs. 99% of Celine's CDs that I found in BOOK OFF were original. So, no worry about their authenticity. Anyway, on very very rare occasions, so far I only came across one or two Celine's CDs that were pirated (and they're from China! ) in BOOK OFF. I have a copy of it with me now named 'Xin1 Sheng1 Lai2 Lin2' (A New Day Has Come) which are in 2-CD set.

 

I guess that's all for the details about BOOK OFF in Japan. I don't intend to show off to anybody that I almost own the whole set of released CD albums of Celine in Japan. Who knows next time you'll have the chance to visit Tokyo and I think you'll never gonna miss the chance to step into the wonderful secondhand stores that I shared with you just now. Sharing something good is my main intention here. So, bonne chance to you guys!

 

p.s.: Sorry if my English sounds awkward to you cos it's been a long time I've never used English after I came to Tokyo. Hope you guys can understand what I'm gonna convey to you here.

[Bellamy]

that's some interesting and useful info. and your English is very good.

[cilin]

晕~~这么多,等我有时间再慢慢看吧.是说在日本买便宜CD吧?!

[AdamTokyo]

To Bellamy, thanks for your compliment. I really hope the information that I gave above is clear and informative enough for you guys.

 

To Cilin (Your nickname's from the French pronunciation of 'Celine', I wonder?), sorry to have written such a luo1 suo1 (verbose) message here that really makes you wanna da3 ke1 shui4. Yeah, it's about the information of where you can get cheaper and yet nice CDs of Celine here in Tokyo.

[Bellamy]

thanks, hope to hear more from you.

[callingdion]

thanks for your info

[RONIN]

OMG..why i'm no in tokyo

 

and thanx for adam's info

[florence5829]

可以的話,我真的很想到 Ri4 Ben3 buy celine's cds,thanks Adm!!!!

[kevincheung410]

thanks for your info ！！！

[AdamTokyo]

Welcome, guys! Have fun!!

[AdamTokyo]

Before I forget, these are some of the used CDs I got from BOOK OFF so far, with only 250 Yen each... (sorry, the attached picture is a bit small... ) So, start your treasure hunt in your local secondhand stores from now!

[Nomad]

OMG ，好吸引人阿，真希望我也能到日本東京一趟(或是去日本玩)，看看能否找到些寶物；沒辦法，即時是eBay worldwide上賣得日本版二手CD或單曲對我來說都還太貴了(尤其還要加上國際郵資)。

 

謝謝AdamTokyo提供這麼寶貴的資訊，Thank you very much.

[arika]

maybe you can get us some 2nd hand cds locally

[AdamTokyo]

To Arika,

 

Well, as a matter of fact, I've already made my reservation for "On Ne Change Pas" [Europe (France??) import version with 2 CD + 1 DVD] through HMV Japan earlier. The (un?)official release date for it in Japan (so far I've only seen it on HMV Japan but not in any other websites, maybe I was wrong) will be Oct. 18. That means few days more for me to wait for it to be delivered to my place. The US and Holland import versions have already been released earlier than the European one (with a DVD) in Japan but I prefer to wait and get the version with a bonus DVD ('cos ironically the prices for these three versions don't change much and the one with a DVD seems to be much cheaper than the other two in terms of their pre-discounted prices). Check them out at: http://www.hmv.co.jp/search/index.asp?keyword=celine+dion

 

Because this album is still very new, I don't think they will have it in secondhand stores now. Maybe we gotta wait till next year then only we can get it in cheaper prices (well, maybe they will still sell it in around 70% of its original price I guess).

[cilin]

Your nickname's from the French pronunciation of 'Celine', I wonder

 

yes,I like people call me cilin.I think its pronunce likes Celine's name though not exact。But cilin is my creation，and there isn’t any dictionary having it。

[arika]

adamtokyo

do you use msn stuff?

in that way we can have a online talk

what do you think

cestarika@hotmail.com

 

p.s.

i'm interested in jp 2nd hand store

[Shall]

Thanks so much for your info.

I'll need it when i come to japan:)

[sge]

THANK YOU ADAM,

 

BUT I HEARD THAT THE QUALITY OF JAPANESE VERSIONS IS SOMEWHAT WORSE THAN THAT OF OTHER VERSIONS,

 

AND WHAT HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THIS SO FAR?

[AdamTokyo]

To Nomad, well, if you have a chance, please do come to Japan. If you're lucky, you'll get some wonderful stuff here in Tokyo, such as not-so-expensive CDs and books (sorry but mainly in Japanese). Yeah, I do agree with you that some goods from eBay are quite expensive, especially after they're added with shipping and dealing charges.

 

To Cilin, maybe we can include your name 'Cilin' in our dictionaries if you ever make a great music history like what Celine has been doing so far.

 

To Arika, yeah, I use MSN sometimes. I've already added you in my list. Let's chat sometime.

 

To Shall, YOUKOSO JAPAN!! (Welcome to Japan!!)

 

To sge, well, not exactly. 'cos I think American CDs are worse than Japanese ones, in terms of quality, I mean. I listen to Japan-made CDs all the time and I wanna say that I'm very very satisfied with them. I have an American version of "A New Day... Live in Las Vegas" (with a bonus DVD, though) but I'm quite upset with its quality (the upper surface of the CD was very lousily coated and it peels off easily).