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My wife and I were lucky enough to visit Tokyo recently, and
one of my most anticipated sites to see was a little shop in the
west end of the city called Turbo Sonic. This shop sells nothing
but vintage boomboxes and stereo accessories! I believe this may
very well be the only ghettoblaster store on the planet. If you
don't have the ability to hop on a plane and check out
Turbosonic, hopefully the photo tour below will suffice.
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I finally arrived after a frustrating 90 minute metro ride
and one hour search for the shop. The shop is on the 7th floor of
a building pretty close to the subway station. But if you don't
know Japanese (like me) getting around can be very
difficult.
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The left wall...see anything you like? Some of the most sought after radios
are present on these shelves: The Sanyo Big Ben, Panasonic RX-7200, RX-7700, JVC RC-550,
2 Sharp turntable boomboxes!
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The owner keeps a select collection of headphones and vintage
audio tapes under glass. Somewhere in there is a new in the box
Soundburger!
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As you enter the shop you instantly notice that all of the TV
boomboxes are displaying the same thing--these hypnotic videos
synched to '80s homegrown beats. Very cool effect.
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The owner also collects 12" vinyl.
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More classic radio against the back wall. Check out the
Pioneer Disco Robo in his own little box.
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That arcade shaped thing was homemade by the owner's friend
who's an expert in plastic. The illustration in the back was done
by some well-known Japanese designer. It also serves as the
illustration for the "official" Turbo Sonic t-shirt.
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Shouro and Hisami are the owners of the shop. Incredibly nice
people--they kept bringing out stuff to show, old catalogs,
brochures, articles, etc. I wish I could've stayed longer!
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I was pretty overwhelmed by all the stuff in here. Just now
I'm noticing the boombox in the back with the color tv.
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If you can make it to Turbo Sonic, please
check it out. You can take the Marunouchi or Chuo Line to the
western part of the city, the address is: Turbo Sonic, ACP
Building 7F, 4-23-5 Koenji-Minami, Suginami-Ku, Tokyo. tel:
03-3313-5717.
I had a hard time finding it, but it's just a 2 minute walk south
of the Koenji stop on the Chuo Line. It's on the 7th floor of an
office building with a white facade and a large green sign on the roof.
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