Which Japanese electronics shop is your favorite?  Since moving to West Tokyo, it has been “mendokusai” (bothersome/troublesome) to travel to Akihabara, the electric/electronics town of Japan. Thank goodness to Bic Camera where it sells various electronic needs! Tachikawa City is fortunate to have one of their 41 consumer electronics retailer chains.

My first Sony laptop was bought at Bic Camera in the early 2000s. I lived in another city then but I traveled to Tachikawa City just to shop at this retail store. One of my well-loved shopped items was a 5-pixel pocket-size Sony camera. I considered it a wonderful treasure as I can capture memories of my overseas trips. Once I went to the US carrying this “golden” color small camera.  Nothing fancy, I thought.  It’s just a common thing here. I more than realized and confirmed the news that Japan is far advanced in technology as the New Year newspaper campaign in North America was the super sale of the latest 3-pixel camera.  Well, check the latest tech, gadget & decors for your school, office, and home at this 40-year old electronics shop.

When Apple’s iPhone “came into being,” I still visit Bic Camera but not to buy electronics anymore.   It’s interesting how this shop evolved into showcasing a wide variety of goods. Last night, I was on the 7th-floor shopping at a ¥100 shop (a dollar store). I also noticed they are also selling Gu brand fashion articles. They also house Yuzawaya (fabrics & sewing stuff) and Saizeriya (family restaurant).   I think it’s becoming a trend for business establishments in Japan to sell unrelated products.  For example,  a drugstore is now selling rice and many grocery items.   Eclectic could be the name of the game in business to survive & thrive and I should consider it. 

Last year when I accompanied my younger brother to open his first bank account in Japan, Bic Camera came to our rescue as the only shop in all the many cellphone shops in Tachikawa City that can sell a unit on the spot and can get the bank’s requirement of personal phone number! It’s also very convenient & fast for us to process documents as it’s just by the JR Tachikawa north exit’s escalator ground. You won’t miss it as it’s located in a prominent area. 

The downside I see in this store is their noisy music ad repeated a million times when you enter their building premises. If I can just bear window-shopping here for about 30 minutes, I wonder how their many uniformed staff cope with their deafening one-and-only-one commercial jingle.