Richard Haw's Classic Nikon Repair and Review

Hello, everybody! Today, I will introduce to you one of Shinjuku’s secrets! It’s not a secret for local photographers but it is relatively unknown to many travelers and that is Chuko Camera Box (中古カメラBOX)! Chuko Camera Box can be difficult to find because of their location at the basement but once you have found it, you may never get out of the shop! I have been a customer for years because the shop always has something for me. If you’re visiting Tokyo, make sure that you go there and pay them a visit!

This is how the shop’s entrance look like from the street. It can be very hard to spot since it’s located at the basement and the tiny sign is the only thing that will tell you where the shop is located. Many people miss this shop because of this.

Their shop can be difficult to find but with the help of the map above, I am sure that you can get there without any trouble. If you still can’t find it even with the help of this map, their address is 162-0023 東京都新宿区西新宿１－１３－７　大和家ビルＢ１ and you can just look for a police officer and ask for directions. You can also call them at 03-5339-2701 and check if they are open or not. The owner speaks some English so don’t worry about the language barrier. They’re open from 10:00AM to 8:30PM and they’re probably closed on holidays. Their website is http://camerabox.web.fc2.com and their simple catalog can be found here http://box.blog.jp. I am not sure if they ship overseas but you can contact them and inquire politely.

Walk into the narrow entrance and you will find the shop’s signboard. A spa is nearby so you can tell the wife to relax while you shop, it’s not “台灣飲茶” or “hao-siao” kind of spa.

Walk down a flight of stairs and you will get some semblance of a camera shop nearby.

(Click to enlarge)

What a lovely sight! The junk boxes are placed at the floor in front of the entrance. There is a proper junk section inside in case you are curious.

Finally! The entrance to Chuko Camera Box! See how cramped it is? The shop is literally filled with used camera gear! Their selection is more than decent as far as the Nikon side is concerned but they also got some nice Minoltas and gear from other brands as well. I remember buying a nice Rokkor here with a friend for a good price.

This is the inside of the shop. It’s just a 2x bigger than our bedroom. The inventory here’s amazing but they aren’t very well-organized so you may spend plenty of time looking for what you need. If you are in doubt, just ask the owner because he speaks some English.

Here’s more stuff. It can get difficult to walk-around here if there are a few customers in the shop. People with backpacks should put them in their front to make way for others.

A-ha, a rival! I don’t know what he is looking for but I hope he finds it! If you are into old movie cameras then this shop is for you. I recall seeing plenty of old personal recorders here as well. I only look for Nikon stuff so don’t count me on this.

Here’s the view leading to the counter. Beside the counter are items which they deem to be of lower-grade so they don’t deserve to be placed in the display cases. They have great deals there. Some of the stuff there are even free so and all you have to do is ask politely. Remember, always ask politely and never haggle. I recall that they accept credit cards or cash cards here. I’m not quite sure if they can waive the VAT for tourists but you can ask them politely just in case. The old gentlemen looking after the shop are friendly and your time might be split between shopping and friendly idle chit-chat.

Thank you very much for following this series. My main goal is to help you find junkpots so I’m showing you where all the great deals are. It looks like my shopping series is very popular with my readers so I will try my best and feature every camera shop here in the Tokyo Metropolitan area that I can recommend. See you guys next time and if you found something good from my recommendations then please share it with us! If you see me in any of these shops then please approach me, I’m not a snob and it will be very nice to see my readers in-person. See you guys again next time, Ric.

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Maintaining this blog requires money to operate. If you think that this site has helped you or you want to show your support by helping with the upkeep of this site, you can simple make a small donation to my paypal.com account (richardHaw888@gmail.com). Money is not my prime motivation for this blog and I believe that I have enough to run this but you can help me make this site (and the companion facebook page) grow.

Helping support this site will ensure that this will be kept going as long as I have the time and energy for this. I would appreciate it if you just leave out your name or details like your country and other information so that the donations will totally be anonymous it is at all possible. This is a labor of love and I intend to keep it that way for as long as I can. Ric.