March 4, 2018 (Tokyo) by Tosh Berman

Jun Togawa

March 4, 2018 (Tokyo) by Tosh Berman

I spent a great deal of my time today at RECOfan in Shibuya.  Those who know me are quite aware that I’m addicted to vinyl record buying.  It’s an obsession that borders on a sexual disorder.   Before I left for Tokyo, I made a pledge that I wrote in my notebook that I would not purchase one album on this trip.  In fact, I will not even go to a record store.   After making this promise to myself, I felt right about it.   To eliminate an obsession or a passion cleans the soul.  I decided that what’s important to me is to make new friends here and be entirely devoted to listening and understanding my fellow human beings.   Everything went well until I arrived to meet a friend in Shibuya. 

I arranged a meeting at a location that is a distance, or at the very least; I thought it was,  from any record store, and it was at the Shibuya Beam that our get together was arranged.  I was supposed to meet him at the anime shop on the fifth floor, but another person in the elevator was going to the fourth floor.  As he left the elevator, I notice it was RECOfan, one of the more exceptional music stores in Shibuya.   Without thinking or even remembering my pledge, I got out of the lift. 

My friend is ordinarily late, so I thought there is no harm in just to look around.  As I searched in their new arrival section of used records, I found a copy of a Jun Togawa album that I have wanted for years.   The album is called 好き好き大好き, and it has been since the 1980s that I wanted this masterpiece, yet could never find it on vinyl.   I then remembered the pledge, but then thought ‘how can I possibly pass this up, and it’s only 1,900 yen 

As I held it in my hand, I started to feel guilty.  I was thinking of the luggage issue, as well as adding another item in my household, which apparently I have no room for.  Perhaps it’s best that I give the 1,900 yen to charity?  Then again, I thought that I could write a story about this album, and therefore it can be a tax write-off.   At that point, I have decided I was working, and then with my grip on the record, I went onward to my next purpose in life.  To find more albums.  

Around two hours later, I found a rare copy of Japan’s “Quiet Life” album.   What’s unique about this record is that Japan is a British band, and to buy a Japan album in Tokyo struck me as ironic, which will be put to good use in my story.   Overall I spent four hours in RECOfan, and I only purchased two albums, which I was proud of.  It meant that I’m not an addict, but a careful buyer or consumer.  Oddly enough I forgot about the meeting with my friend, and it was important because it was a job.  Nevertheless, life goes on, and as darkness approached the sky, I whistled a tune off 好き好き大好き and went back to my room in Meguro. 

- Tosh Berman