【レコードマップ/国分寺】珍屋 国分寺南口店 in Kokubunji, Tokyo【Whole Earth Record Store Map】

【レコードマップ/国分寺】珍屋 国分寺南口店 in Kokubunji, Tokyo【Whole Earth Record Store Map】

My name is Tamura from Mezurashi-ya, South Exit store in Kokubunji. We’ve been in business for 43 years here in Kokubunji, and we carry records across all genres. Together with the staff from our North Exit store, we brainstorm ideas over drinks, thinking of ways to stock interesting records. Even if they’re not super rare, we try to feature titles that aren’t typical bestsellers in most stores— that’s what we aim for. That’s the concept we came up with. We opened the North Exit store in 1982, and one year later, we opened this South Exit store. Two years after that, we opened our first store in Tachikawa. Then came a second Tachikawa location, followed by the Koganei store in Musashi-Koganei. After that, we even opened a shop in Koenji. But now, both the Koenji and Koganei stores have closed. — Where are you from originally? I’m from Kashiwazaki, in Niigata. There were only about two record shops in town. Most of the music info came from the radio. I used to listen to late-night radio shows. After junior high, there was this diner along the main highway— mainly for truck drivers— and they had a jukebox there. I’d go just to listen to it, dragging my friends along, clutching a 10-yen coin in my hand. When I was in junior high, my older sister brought home a big stack of 7-inch singles from a friend. Among them were records by the Stones, The Who, and a bunch of old singles on the Gramophone label. I listened through all of them over and over. I think it was in 9th grade when I heard Otis Redding on the radio, and I just instantly fell in love with it. The first LP I ever bought was by Otis. That really sparked my love for Black music. I started with Atlantic Records, and then moved on to Motown, which felt a bit more stylish and polished. But then I listened to Sam Cooke, and totally fell in love with his music. After I moved here for school, I started going to a ton of live shows. Japanese artists were cheaper to see than international acts, so I’d go to places like Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall. That’s when I got into Japanese folk music. Then I realized a lot of it was rooted in American singer-songwriters. So naturally, I started really diving deep into that scene too. Among Japanese artists, I really liked Maki Asakawa. She did a joint concert with Takuro Yoshida. And then, of course, I saw visiting international acts— I even saw Led Zeppelin on their first Japan tour. There was Togawa Records in Shinjuku, and also Chikkodo, where I trained. I think I spent the most time at Togawa. I went to a computer technical school, and I even had a job lined up, but deep down I knew that wasn’t for me. I realized I had a stronger desire to work in a record shop. So I turned down the job and decided to train at a record store. There was a store in Iidabashi that specialized in traditional Japanese music. Since it was Iidabashi, most of the customers were geishas, or dance instructors and the like. That was interesting in its own way. I learned how new records were ordered and how to sell them. Once I got the hang of that, I left after a year, and joined Chikkodo, the shop I had been going to for a while. I worked there for about 10 years. Back then, Haruki Murakami used to come in a lot. The manager used to call him “Haruki-kun.” — Did you feel a new wave in the music scene at that time? Yeah, like the Chanels or Ōtaki-san, and then after that came Tatsuro Yamashita. It felt like something different from what came before. Yeah, I definitely felt that. — Did you experience Sugar Babe in real time? Yes, I did. At that time, a senior at my part-time job had a copy of *Add Some Music to Your Day*. I thought it was amazing. And it was an original pressing. There was also a senior who knew a lot about soul music, and I learned a lot from them. I decided to team up with the guy who now runs our North Exit shop. He used to work at Disk Union. We bonded over our mutual love for The Band. That’s how we became friends. There was this famous bootleg from Rubber Dubber. He had a copy of it. I was like, “You have that too?” Then he said, “Actually, I’m more of a Bob Dylan guy.” So we decided to start something together. From that point on, we learned everything we could, step by step, and saved up money. Our plan was always to do it without taking on any debt. And to this day, we still haven’t borrowed a cent. It’s not glamorous, but we built it all with our own sweat and savings. At first, we stocked records from our own collections. Eventually, we started to run out. We heard about a Japanese guy in the U.S. who knew a lot about records. So we started sourcing from him. We bought from him for a while, but the condition just wasn’t the same. The quality we requested and what we got— there was always a gap. At that price, the quality just didn’t cut it. So we stopped after about a year. After that, in-store buybacks were rare, so we looked elsewhere for inventory. Some record shops held sales at university co-ops, so we visited them. We’d ask, “Can we buy some stock?” Sourcing records was really tough. Back then, new records were just over 10%. We used new ones to fill what we couldn’t find used. But we barely stocked any new releases. Only older titles we personally found interesting. Mainstream store stuff always ends up here in 5 or 10 years. So we decided to carry what they don’t. We focused on things you wouldn’t find in typical stores. At first, we focused on rock from the ’60s and ’70s, along with soul, jazz, and Japanese folk and rock. That was the core of our selection. Kokubunji had a lot of really interesting shops— some with a kind of underground or indie vibe— there were so many of them. That’s when I knew Kokubunji was the right place. There was a place called Horagai near the north exit, and some vintage clothing shops around the south exit. Under the Kokubunji Mansion, there was this quirky shop called GARAKUTAYA. Since Tokyo Keizai University is nearby, a lot of students from there would come by. And Musashino Art University is in Takanodai, so we had students from there too. At Hitotsubashi University, there was an interesting club— like a soul music society— and when they held an event at Musabi, they asked us to set up a booth, so we actually did that once. At that time, it just so happened that Otis Clay performed live at Hitotsubashi University. It was a really fun experience. — Someone actually brought Otis Clay there? Yeah, that person is still active today— writing for magazines like *Stereo Sound* and others. The town has changed a lot. There used to be many subcultural shops, and it was really a charming place. But now, those kinds of shops have decreased. They even built twin towers in the area, and the whole town changed drastically. College students stopped coming to the shop. But lately, maybe because of the vinyl boom, we’ve been getting some young customers again. And strangely, it’s more women than men who are buying records now. It’s the opposite of how it used to be— back then, girls would just watch from behind, but now it’s the other way around. Girls are the ones digging through the records more eagerly. Back when they were art students, they used to come to Mezurashi-ya a lot. That place is an apartment now, but it used to be a 4-story building. The drummer from Yura Yura Teikoku lived there— the original drummer. Everyone would gather at his place before heading to the studio to practice. And before that, they’d always stop by our store. It was around the time they debuted and started gaining popularity that we realized, “Wow, they’re really taking off.” — They had a name, right? Yeah, “Chinta-kun.” Things have really changed from the old days. Now it’s like, “You can only sell it for *this* price?” Like with folk records—customers bring in originals, and there was a time when we really wanted those. But nowadays, they just don’t sell anymore. Same goes for Japanese folk music. Prices have completely dropped, across the board. I guess the generation has changed. The biggest thing now is definitely Japanese jazz. Back when I was at Chikkodo, someone from Three Blind Mice— the sales guy—came by with a bunch of stock. They just couldn’t sell them anymore. The boss bought them all for like 300 yen each. In bulk. Huge stack. Those records have shot up in price since then. And it’s the ones with the obi strips too. That’s probably why foreign buyers come for them. It’s incredible, really. Back in our day, we just threw the obi strips away. Hardly anyone kept them. — We’d love to have you show us around the store. Sure, happy to. When we first opened the shop, we really pushed singer-songwriters. That was our main focus. Singer-songwriters, folk stuff… — Do SSW records still sell these days? Yeah, they do. Our generation still listens, of course— but even younger people are starting to get into them. — Are there any particularly popular artists? Not long ago in Japan, this one was reissued for the club scene… Yeah, this one here. Also, Maria Muldaur is still popular, and so is Ry Cooder. They’re definitely still in demand. There’s this British female swamp rock singer— Carol Grimes, from the band Uncle Dog. They’re also fairly— well, kind of a hidden gem, I’d say. Yes, I do. This artist named Peter Case— he’s a singer-songwriter, but also leans into a bluesy style. Seems like Peter Barakan really loves him too— he features him often on his shows. Quite regularly, in fact. And his records are pretty affordable. Most people don’t even realize it. Honestly, I’d love to display something like this right here, but I figured no one would know who he is. Soft rock, AOR, and alternative stuff. Rockabilly, garage, psych, Japanese rock, punk, hardcore, British beat, and prog rock— that’s the kind of selection we have. This section is for Japanese music. Along the Chūō Line, RC Succession is probably the most popular. Yeah, RC is really popular. They’ve still got a big following. Shinji Miyake, who played guitar for Kiyoshiro Imawano, has been coming here for a long time— and he still drops by now and then. — I heard Masamune Kusano from Spitz used to come here? That’s right, back when he was a student. — So Mezurashi-ya is kind of a pilgrimage spot for Spitz fans? Yeah, I guess you could say that. — What do fans usually buy? Mostly Spitz, of course— but Spitz records are pretty hard to come by. So they end up, kind of reluctantly, buying something else instead, since they made the trip. Like, “Well, I’m here anyway, so why not?” They still buy something in the end. Yeah, even Spitz records hardly ever come in. So when one finally did the other day, I was like, “Yes!” This is our new arrivals section. — Is city pop popular? Yeah, it is. It’s really popular right now. I think the trend will keep going for a while. But, you know… Some of the records getting reissued on vinyl— you can’t help but think, “Why this one?” It just doesn’t feel right. Like, did anyone even check properly? No way that’s going to sell. Even if vinyl is booming, some of those releases just make no sense. You’re like, “Come on, seriously?” This section is jazz. It’s divided into vocals, piano, and others. Fusion, too. This area features older stuff that’s popular again. Kind of a “trendy vintage” section. Like sample-worthy records. You know, those kinds of things. And over there is blues. I really love our blues section, too. John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, and Sonny Rollins— they’re the classics. ECM is still popular, but not as much as before. This section is for soul and R&B. The records are arranged alphabetically, but the stock keeps shrinking because we don’t get many coming in. — Are there fewer listeners now? I think that might be the case. People who have them just don’t let go of them. This section is for house music and hip-hop-related records. And for some reason, classical is right next to it. But classical still has a loyal following, with regular customers who keep coming back. And then— Along the wall here, we have 7-inch singles. We used to display them right at the entrance, where the J-pop section is now, but that’s where they used to be. But we figured— —it was kind of a waste of prime space, so we moved them over to the wall. But being on the wall makes them harder to see. Ideally, we’d like people to pull them out and really look through them. That’s the idea behind the setup. This “PIRATE” piece— —it was given to us by a Musashino Art University student. He was graduating and asked us to display it here. He was a big blues fan, and he played in a band himself. And over here is a poster of Yura Yura Teikoku. Oh, this one— An old friend of mine, who’s a designer, he made it for me. When I told him I was opening a shop, he gave it to me as a gift. — It says “’82” on it. This poster— It was a gift from Mikio Ariga,
the official photographer for the Rolling Stones in Japan. He gave it to me as a present. Mr. Ariga lives near Hitotsubashi Gakuen, so he still drops by quite often. This is one of his photographs. These singles on the wall— back in the days before the internet, we used to hold auctions. Among those, there were records I thought I’d never get again, so I made color copies and put them up on the wall like this. After I put them up, one of our regulars who loves oldies said, “I’ve got a bunch too, so make color copies of mine and put them up.” He actually brought them in just for that. — What about this figure of Kiyoshiro? A customer brought it in, saying, “Please display this in the shop after he passed away.” So we put it up here. — Takeshi Kaneshiro shot a commercial here? Yes, that’s right. It was for a Taiwanese mobile phone commercial. It was filmed here. The script behind Naoto Takenaka is from a film called *Tokyo Nocturne*. They also used this place as a filming location for that movie, so that’s the script from it. There are people who say, “I finally found what I’ve been looking for.” Like, “I’ve been searching for this for years.” Sure, nowadays you can search online, These days, you can probably find it online, but there are people who still say, “I prefer coming here and looking in person.” There are a few customers like that, and it really makes me happy.

世界中の魅力的なレコード店を紹介し、店主の魅力やレコード文化の多様性を掘り下げる本企画。

今回は、東京・国分寺にある「珍屋 国分寺南口店」さんをご紹介します！

珍屋 国分寺南口店は、1982年に創業したオールジャンル対応の中古レコード店です。姉妹店である北口店と連携しながら、定番やヒット作ではなく、他店では扱われないようなユニークで面白い作品を中心にセレクトしています。フォークやシンガーソングライター、ソウル、ロック、ジャズ、AOR、ガレージ、パンクなど幅広く網羅し、中央線沿線の音楽文化を長年支えてきました。学生や若い音楽ファンから、昔ながらの常連まで世代を超えて親しまれています。新旧を問わず、音楽愛にあふれた選盤が魅力で、「探していた1枚」に出会える店としても知られています。レコードファンはもちろん、国分寺の文化的な空気に触れたい方にもおすすめの一軒です。

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■SHOP INFO
営業時間：11:00〜20:00
東京都国分寺市南町２丁目１７−１０
042-326-0359

新譜取扱：なし
旧譜取扱：あり
取扱ジャンル：オールジャンル
在庫枚数：約10,000枚

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ELLA STORIESは、東京のヴィンテージ・レコード・ショップELLA RECORDSの運営をはじめ、音楽を中心とした様々なカルチャー・コンテンツを発信するELLAの公式YouTubeチャンネルです。

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毎週月・水・金曜日配信中。