What is Tower Records in Japan?

Tower Records got its start back in 1960 in Sacramento, California. The franchise dedicated its stores to selling music and music-related retail of all types and genres. Known for its vast selection, Tower Records continued to dominate the music retail world until 2006 when all of the stores in the United States were closed due to bankruptcy. Luckily, the Tower Records location in Japan made a move to be independent of the international chain and continued on to be one of the most popular locations to purchase music retail in Japan.

How to buy from Tower Records Japan?

Step 1: Go to tower.jp

To purchase from Tower Records in Japan head to their dedicated website at tower.jp.

Step 2: Search your items

Once you’re on the website, you can search for items using the search bar at the top of the page. If you use Google’s Translate extension, you can easily translate the homepage and make sorting through categories and using filters that much easier.

Step 3: Tell us what to buy on tower.jp

If you’ve found a product you’d like to purchase, all you have to do is copy the URL at the top of the page and jump to our web app. Paste the URL into the product web page bar and click “next” to proceed to the checkout process. It’s that simple.

Step 4: Ship your package to your address

All you have to do now is await our notification that your package has arrived. From here, you can select whether or not you want your items consolidated or repackaged before we send them to your final destination.

What to buy from Tower Records

Japanese CDs

If you want to purchase something from Tower Records’ website we recommend taking a look at the CDs. Tower Records in Japan has one of the largest collections of CDs in the world, and this is due to the fact that Japan is one of the highest-spending countries when it comes to music per capita.

J-Pop

J-Pop continues to grow in popularity in the United States, and if you’re already on the bandwagon, Tower Records in Japan is the place to shop for J-pop music and merchandise. You’ll find everything here from CDs to posters and more!

K-Pop

If you’re more of a K-pop fan instead of a J-pop fan, you’ll have no trouble finding your idols' merchandise on the Japanese Tower Records website. K-pop is once again growing in popularity in Japan, which means you’ll have access to nearly every major band and solo artist's music and retail.

DVDs & Blu-Rays

Aside from CDs and music-related retail items, you can also find a wide range of DVDs and Blu-Rays on the Tower Records website. If you’re trying to get your hands on authentic copies of your favorite Japanese movies or TV shows, this is the site to find them!

Japanese books

Believe it or not, Tower Records isn’t all about music. In fact, you can also find a huge selection of Japanese books both online and at their Japan locations. These books span just about every genre and topic you can think of from gaming to art.

FAQs

How to browse in English?

If you want to view the Tower Records website in English, you’ll want to download an extension that can translate the entire page including links and filters. We recommend using the Google Translate extension for Google Chrome’s web browser.

Where are the shops in Japan?

Tower Records has a number of locations across Japan. Their Japanese flagship store can be found in Shibuya. For a list of all of Tower Record stores around Japan, visit their website for an up-to-date list at tower.jp.