Yodobashi Camera - Tokyo's temple for photographers

Once in a while you come across a brutally magnificent shop which really stocks everything you need for your photographic exhibitionism. There is B&H in New York, Dinkel in Munich and my new personal favorite, Yodobashi Camera in Tokyo.

Two Tokio branches are especially worth mentioning - the "home store" in Shinjuku and the multimedia specialist Yodobashi Akiba in Akihabara. There are 9 floors of stuff you always dreamed about, from heated toilet seats to latest robotic gadgets, but the really interesting and useful stuff shines on 5 floors in one of Shinjuku's stores (there are several). They are dedicated entirely to photography.

Imagine seeing every Canon body and lens available on the market - and testing them, too (yes, there was the 1200mm lens on display). There is studio equipment, tripods and professional monitors, full analog medium format range (from Mamiya to Hasselblad and up to large format) and more stuff to blow your socks off.

But enough said, you have to see it for yourself.
You can do a virtual walk through the Akiba store here (I strongly recommend it!!!). In a true Japanese fashion they also have a very silly & annoying jingle (every store has different lyrics), based on the ol' Battle Hymn of the Republic (you know, Glory Glory Hallelujah...) which instantly becomes something you CAN NOT erase from your head the whole trip to Japan !"#$%&... It plays on and on and on the whole day (poor employees...)
Hear it here.

So y'all future Nobuyoshi Arakis and Koji Onakas, come on down to Tokyo for a slice of photographers' paradise!