Chaos and Kanji is the blog where I write about my adventures through Japan!

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Saturday, August 9, 2014

Card Stores in Japan: Quad Sports, Takadanobaba, Tokyo

Quad Sports is certainly one of the best card shops in Japan.
In the very large store, there must be at least 200 monster boxes full of base cards (not all shown, of course), including NPB, Japan soccer, MLB, NBA, NFL, and idol cards. The best cards are in the showcases, which hold hundreds of autographs and relics, parallels, and more. Inserts are stored in binders in the cabinets behind the photo.
 Prices for NPB base cards start at 40 yen, as cheap as the Akihabara Mint location, and they naturally have a much bigger selection. This means they have more copies of each individual card and they carry nearly every release issued by BBM and Epoch. I don't think I've seen any Front Runner sets here yet. Most stores don't carry a lot of box set singles, but this one makes sure to include several full sets as singles for player collectors.

The older BBM card selection is pretty good too, though when it comes to pre-2000 cards, it can be hit or miss, though set selection still seems to be better than any other store I've seen yet. And of course, some sets have been stripped of most of the best singles by now. I believe a small handful of stars have been pulled out of all of the older sets, and they might be stored elsewhere.

The only real drawback of the store, though, happens in the organization of these sets. All of the boxes are labeled in Japanese, and boxes are stacked three high, plus two 1.5-meter (about 4.5 feet) stacks (and growing) of boxes that don't fit on the shelves. Getting to the right set requires a bit of Japanese knowledge. Older sets are a bit unorganized due to handling by customers, with early-90s BBM sets having major card-locating issues due to originally being sorted by team, not card number.

I only looked once or twice in the MLB boxes. Card prices are generally as you'd expect in Japan, overpriced compared to the US. However, I recall seeing a few cards priced at only 10 yen (10 cents) each. These boxes are sorted by player/team, and thus are really only useful for player collectors.
The idol cards are sorted by set, but I haven't looked much beyond that yet. Someday I plan to explore those boxes to build a nice personal collection.
 The low prices carry over to the inserts and parallels. The selection of somewhat-recent issues is again pretty good, and they open a lot of product which means that newest releases have plenty of the basic insert sets and a good handful of limited parallels and other hits.

The store is a 2-3 minute walk from Takadanobaba Station, conveniently located on the Yamanote Line, Seibu Shinjuku Line (which I've never used) and the Tozai Subway Line, which also goes to Nakano Broadway. If you come by the Tozai Line, take Exit 4 and turn left when you reach the street.
It can be difficult to find the right building. You want the NT Building (NT ビル), located right next to a pedestrian crosswalk, across from a giant building which is an elementary school. Take the stairs or elevator up to the second floor; Quad Sports is in the back past the restaurants.

Quad Sports doesn't have a website as far as I know, and I'm not really sure when they're open, but they seem to hold at least standard hours and they're open on Sundays and Mondays for sure.

English here is really good for a store in Japan, and the guys who work here can answer most basic questions. They're pretty friendly and recognize me; they even have a basic idea of what I'm interested in when I visit and have shown me the latest product if it's not on the shelves/in the binders yet.

5 comments:

  1. I remember going to this store with you once. I still remember how amazingly cheap a lot of the commons/base and inserts were. I'll have to go back a second time the next time I'm in Japan.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi ZZ

      I saw one of your website listings and notied u specialize in Japanese BB cards etc.
      I hope u can help me.

      I am trying to locate any person or dealer in Japan who may either have autograph BB cards
      of former NY Mets players who come from Japan, OR can help me locate the addresses
      of where I can contact these players

      Can u help me?
      Do u have any autograph bb cards of such players? i can send u my list of 11 players

      thanks

      Dave

      Delete
  2. Their ad on page 23 of the latest SCM (#106) says that they are open from noon to 8, but I don't know enough Japanese to know if there are any days they are closed. There's no website listed with the ad.

    Loved this store. I spend several hours (at least one with you) sitting at that table in the foreground of your picture going through boxes of commons. I am looking forward to getting back there on my next trip.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kenny: I definitely remember our trip to the store. I have never had a chance to really look through the MLB singles, though it seems like there are plenty of overpriced cards to go along with the bargains. Hit-or-miss, but worth visiting again!

    NPB Card Guy: Thanks for the details. I haven't picked up issue 106, and I don't see their ad in the other issues I have. They might be open seven days a week. I'll try to remember to look in a store copy of the magazine this weekend when I go out. I think I've spent about 100 hours at this store in all - I've sat down for hours going through boxes as well! Since I've expanded my type collection a bit, I'll eventually go through all those boxes again looking for cards I need.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I saw one of your website listings and notied u specialize in Japanese BB cards etc.
    I hope u can help me.

    I am trying to locate any person or dealer in Japan who may either have autograph BB cards
    of former NY Mets players who come from Japan, OR can help me locate the addresses
    of where I can contact these players

    Can u help me?
    Do u have any autograph bb cards of such players? i can send u my list of 11 players

    thanks

    Dave

    ReplyDelete