Best Stores and Useful Tips  

Japanese guitars are a combination of high-quality craftsmanship, great sound, and refined Japanese style. They are suitable for both those looking for their first musical instrument and those in need of a professional guitar for performances. Japanese craftsmen have been making these instruments since the early 20th century and have reached a global level of excellence in less than 100 years, competing with the best Western brands.

Whatever type of guitar you’re looking for, Japanese brands can offer you quality instruments in any price range: from affordable options to signature guitars from world-renowned artists. You can read more about the types of guitars and Japanese guitar brands in our separate material.

How to find guitars in Japanese terms?

Here we will also tell you how guitar types and brands in Japanese terms, which will help you directly find the desired product in Japanese online stores. For many categories, there will be two options – the full name and the abbreviated one. Japanese people like to use abbreviations, so most often you will encounter them on websites.

• Classical Guitars (クラシックギター, kurashikku gitaa or クラギター, kuragitaa);
• Acoustic Guitar (アコースティックギター, akousutikku gitaa, or アコギ, akogi);
• Electroacoustic Guitars (エレクトリックアコースティックギター, erekutorikku akousutikku gitaa, or エレアコ, ereako);
• Electric Guitars (電気ギター, denki gitaa, エレクトリックギター, erekutorikku gitaa, or エレキ, ereki);
• Semi-acoustic Guitars (セミアコースティックギター, semiakousutikku gitaa, or セミアコ, semiako);
• Bass Guitars (ベースギター, beesu gitaa, or simply ベース, beesu).

Important! When buying a used guitar, make sure to check the conditions of the neck, the truss rod inside it, and the frets. The product description usually indicates the degree of wear of these guitar elements. For example, フレット残り (furetto nokori) indicates the remaining supply of frets – if the indicator is around 7-8, then the frets are 70-80% intact, and accordingly, 20-30% worn. They may need to be replaced in the future. The phrase トラスロッドの余裕 (torasurodo no yoyuu) is the range of the truss rod, it mustn’t be worn to the limit. And of course, do not forget to evaluate the condition of the guitar from the photos, and if this is not possible or not provided, then we suggest not purchasing the used product from that seller.

Where can you buy guitars directly from Japan? 

The easiest way to purchase guitars from Japanese online stores is using ZenMarket (proxy service shopping) that has popular Japanese online marketplaces integrated into the site:

Popular Japanese Guitar Online Stores

If you want to shop a fuller assortment of new and retro Japanese guitars or have not found the model you want in our integrated stores, you can also buy a guitar from Japan on almost any Japanese website with ZenMarket.

1. Ikebe Music

Ikebe Music is a well-known chain store for guitars, whose outlets can be found throughout Tokyo and Osaka. And of course, you can order different types of guitars from their online store. The Ikebe Music website has separate sections for electric, acoustic, electro-acoustic, and bass guitars. The store sells both new instruments (in Japanese term 新品, shinpin) and used guitars – there is a separate section for them. Used goods can be easily distinguished from new ones by words such as 中古 (chuuko) or ユーズド (yuuzudo).

2. Yamano Music Rock Inn

If you love rock and heavy music, then Yamano Music Rock Inn store is probably the guitar specialty store for you. It offers a huge assortment of acoustic, electric and bass guitars from various brands: both Japanese and popular foreign ones. Here you can find not only new instruments, but also rare versions of custom and exclusive guitars, so collectors should definitely check out their website. Some rare guitars can cost up to one and a half million yen – a choice for the most sophisticated connoisseurs.

3. Yamano Music Gengakki

If you need a classical guitar, then go to Yamano Music Gengakki. This is a separate company store dedicated to classical stringed instruments such as the Spanish guitar and mandolin, which also sells violins and cellos.

4. Big Boss 

6. Hard Off

If you’re interested in used guitars, we also recommend checking out Hard Off. This is one of the largest Japanese chains of various used goods, including musical instruments and guitars. The store carefully checks the products it sells and provides detailed descriptions of them. You can view the used guitars in the photos to better assess the condition.

7. Ishibashi

Ishibasic Music is a specialty store for well-known new and vintage guitars, accessories, and other musical instruments. They often have limited edition guitars and new models at good prices!

Find good deals on both new and vintage guitars, guitar accessories, and more directly from Japan! 

How to buy guitars from Japan online

If you decide to buy a guitar from Japanese online stores with ZenMarket, here are the steps to do so:

1. Add product to cart (you can shop on ZenMarket’s integrated stores or copy & paste the item URL from other stores to the search bar)
2. Make payment for the item once the checking is done
3. Wait for the item to arrive at the warehouse
4. Create a parcel, and select your preferred shipping method
5. Pay for shipping and wait for your new guitar!

Japanese guitar terminology

To make it easier for you to navigate Japanese websites when choosing a guitar, it will be useful to know some words in Japanese. Often Japanese stores additionally include basic guitar terms in English. Or you ou can use the built-in translator in Google Chrome to automatically translate a product page into English. For easier reference, remember the most important guitar terms in Japanese and English below:

• Guitar (ギター)
• Body (本体 or ボディ) and Body Material (本体材質). Can be made from various types of wood, such as maple or mahogany. Sometimes the type of material is additionally indicated for different parts of the body
• Color (色 or カラー). Guitars can be of different colors. For example, natural wood-colored acoustic guitars are labeled ナチュラル (natural), while guitars with a black body are labeled 黒系 (black series) or ブラック (black)
• Strings (弦). Strings are the main consumable on guitars. Often, after purchasing a new instrument, it is advised to immediately replace the strings with new ones of higher quality. From time to time, strings break or wear out, so they need to be replaced periodically to keep the instrument sounding great. In the description of guitars, look at such parameters as the number of strings (弦数) and string material (弦の材質)
  
• Neck (ネック). The longest part of the guitar that holds the strings. Inside it is an adjustable truss rod (トラスロッド) that helps the neck withstand the tension of the strings
• Frets (フレット). Metal bridges on the neck of a guitar, against which the strings are pressed when playing the instrument. They mark areas for hitting a certain note. There are fretless guitars on which you can make smoother slides – transitions between notes
• Bridge (ブリッジ). The place where the strings are attached to the body. There are many different bridge designs for different types of guitars. Electric guitars may have strings running through the body or attached to a bridge with a built-in tremolo system
• Pickups (ピックアップ). They read the vibrations of strings on electric guitars to amplify the sound through a combo amplifier. There are different types depending on the location of the guitar (near the bridge, neck or in the middle) and the frequency of the sound being picked up (single coil (S) – higher sound, double humbucker (H) – lower). Their number of pickups may vary on different electric guitars. For example, if you see the designation H-S-H in the pickup types, this means that the guitar has a humbucker near the bridge, a single coil in the middle, and a humbucker closer to the neck.