Disk Union Umeda — keith r foster

In this first installment, we find a mighty record shop in Osaka despite its smaller footprint

I took my first trip to Japan in October 2024 and jammed in as many record shops as I could for the visit. I came across many helpful resources - record store guides, yelp reviews, and blog posts - in my research and figured hey, why not put another one out there?

Because of both limited time and a desire to get as many dope records as cheaply as possible, this series will focus on the accessible places. I didn’t have any inside knowledge off the off-the-beaten-path spots, so these places are quite “beaten path”. But if you’re like me, and you wanted only to experience the majesty of Japan’s record stores and enjoy the fast that that records are mainstream (!) there, then hopefully this will help. I’m going to tackle the stores in the chronological order of my visit, and our first stop was in Osaka. We arrived early in the day and there was some open space to shop, so I hit up Disk Union Umeda.

Disk Union is a chain of record stores throughout the country and is a well-known spot to get good, cheap records. The world’s supply of records (especially United States origin records) have made their way to Japan over the past four decades, and the depth of records shows it. While the expensive records and gems make headlines, what stuck out to me was finding the kind of $5-$10 records I used to find in American stores in the 1990s that I just don’t see there any more. My tastes favor soul, funk, and jazz, so coming across records by Harvey Scales, Bootsy Collins, Hank Crawford, and Jimmy McGriff, to name a few, took me back decades.

The Umeda store is a short walk from the Umeda Station in Osaka - odds are you’ll have a phone with you, and the major cities in Japan are well-mapped. Disk Union is one store among a few in a shopping plaza, and all of the genre sections are in the same building. This shop is small compared to other Disk Union locations, but is a jam-packed record store on its own. If your tastes span three or four genres, an hour should be enough time to find / evaluate all the records you want.

When I first set foot in the shop, it was a rush - finally, after months of saving and preparation, I was in a real record shop in Japan - and I wandered without purpose before I got my bearings and flipped through the bins. The store is roughly L-shaped, with vinyl on one side and CDs on the other. The picture at the bottom of the article represents about 70% of the records in the store.

Some of the Soul and Rare Groove records at Disk Union Umeda

Jazz was where I went first, and the specific genre I was digging for was J-Jazz. I assumed J-jazz would be mixed in with everything else and I’d have to hunt for it, but the first thing to know about Japanese record stores is that they’re organized (which a close study of the picture above makes clear). There isn’t one jazz section, there are 8+ subsections of genre, such as “fusion” and “big band” or featured instrument. J-Jazz was one of those subsections, which made my digging easy.

You can find cheap records at this Disk Union! I walked out with six records for 6,000 Yen. I didn’t find anything on my want list, but the whole point was to buy on vibes and take chances on cheaper vinyl. I didn’t know any better at the time, but this location had the fewest amount of records of the Disk Union stores I went to, and the sections are balanced. Store stock turns over quick from what I hear, so odds are you’ll find a few records worth taking home with you.

Among my records: Yosuke Yamashita Trio’s Tribute to Mal Waldron, Rainbow Island by Masaru Imada, and The New Herd at Monterey by Toshiyuki Miyama & the New herd.

Do you like comics, funky music, podcasts or all three? Then check out music from my band Big Pimp Jones on Spotify (funk), find the ‘Store’ link above to check out some of my comics, or listen to the Making Comics podcast featuring me and Scott Lost!