Big Drive for Laserdiscs

sorry for the copy and paste job (now times 2) but its late and theres no way im typing this lot out again- Oh and I can delete if it looks like the screen is throwing up spoilers all over the place. Just thought some might be interested in having a look)

So my wife was out with friends today, so I thought it was a good opportunity to go for a drive to as many Junk Stores as I could in search of Laserdiscs.
The place you want for used LDs in Japan is a chain of stores called Hard-Off (luckily not the other way round hey:eek:)

Anyway I took a few snaps of the journey and some finds along the way. (sorry if this post is too big)

Here we go!

HARDOFF 1

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HARDOFF 2

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HARDOFF 3

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HARDOFF 4

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HARDOFF 5

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HARDOFF 6

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HARDOFF 7

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So I left the house this morning at 10am and got back at 7:30pm. So all up nine and a half hours of sweet Laserdisc action. Though the time does include 30 mins x2 heading in the wrong direction on the paytoll way (that sucked).

Heres what I managed to pick up:

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Thought this was pretty cool. It contains a ticket to a live event in Osaka for August 1993:

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Also found a Closed Caption Decoder brand new:

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Don't really need it, but it was only 20 bucks so I figured I might as well get it just to have the option if I ever find I need to use it.

Anyway that was my day. Good fun but I'm glad tomorrow is a public holiday

Thanks bullruckle for posting these pictures , the hard off stores you have are a little similar to our cash converter stores here in the uk but you would be lucky to find any of the cash converter stores that have any laserdiscs. Seeing all that stock of laserdiscs makes me quite envious , sure wish we had stores like that in the uk and if there was one I would be willing to travel quite a way just to visit but japan is just too far away unless I could convince my wife that a holiday in japan is a good idea
Good finds well done I think Ants is getting pretty hard to come by so its great to see you have managed to find a copy and you also have good taste in music . We went to see guns n roses live at manchester last year and although a little past their best and slash is no longer in the band but they are still excellent , although they did play a little too much chinese democracy I prefer the earlier stuff.

bullruckle wrote:

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Love this pick, I'm glad I'm not the only one still rocking facial hair : )

I am extremely jealous, it is very rare in the UK to find laserdiscs in any kind of shop as they never really took off as a format here. You still see the occasional stack of them in a Cash Converter or Charity shop but never more than around five to ten. And I kept my eye out for a player for years in Cash Converter style shops and never saw a single one.

Great pictures, thanks for sharing.

HippieDalek wrote:

Love this pick, I'm glad I'm not the only one still rocking facial hair : )

Ha nice on HD. Crazy thing is though, that is all shadow I'm clean shaven at present (well bar a little 2 day stubble- it was a Sunday after all).
Crazy that photo though. Actually, the Shadow Mo looks pretty good. Maybe something worth considering for the future

WOW! That must be, like, laserdisc heaven, man! I would have paroxysms if I'd been let loose in there with a credit card.

I'd bet my last dollar that you wouldn't find anywhere like this outside of Japan. For a nation so into cutting-edge technology they also seem surprisingly retro-oriented. The best of both worlds, what?

I, too, noticed the face fungus in that reflected image and will ignore your pathetic attempts to pass it off as shadow. It looks pretty cool - and, if it ain't the real thing, then it must be some kind of rare oriental caterpillar. Either way, it looks really classy!

As an aside, when you buy a job lot of LDs, how do you decide which one to play first? If you're like me, you sit down immediately with one or two of your latest acquisitions and leave the rest for 'later'. Somehow, that 'later' doesn't always arrive. In fact, I've got discs I've had literally for years and still never got round to playing. There's always something more recent to watch, or an old favourite that draws me back. Do you have any LDs that you still haven't watched yet?

Ha lol
Don't worry guys, if I had a sweet mo, I wouldn't be denying it. I'd be showing that bad boy off

As for unwatched discs in my collection, I got tons. Probably still haven't watched around three quarte'rs of the lot. Plenty of time though, they aren't going anywhere. Gone all right tonight though. Watched the special features on the Boogie Nights' Criterion, 'Rush Hour' dts, half of 'the Fan' (got bored) now 20 mins into 'What about Bob'.

That shop looks exceptionally clean and organized. It also appears to be quite roomy, which contrasts our local record shops stocking inventory from floor to ceiling with as much junk as they can cram into free, open space. This particular place looks like a real treat to spend an afternoon and they obviously know what they're carrying with such an assortment of rare discs and exotic players. They'd probably also be fun to 'talk the hobby', assuming their English is pretty fluent. Great photos - we've never had anything near such a store in well over a decade, the closest coming to dedicated laserdisc sections in Tower Records and Suncoast (and Camelot to an extent, though they never had a good selection here). I'd say that trip was well worth the trip even if you came home without a single purchase; just seeing all those LDs and players in a brick and mortar store in 2011 would be a delight.