Japan has more old-fashioned music stores than anywhere else

When I visited Japan for the first time a few months ago, I wandered upon a record shop that had the largest selection of Beatles records (both re-releases and originals from the 60&#x27;s) I&#x27;ve ever seen. And the speakers in the store played only Beatles song covers by all types of different groups (country, punk, new-age, you name it).<p>As a Beatles junkie, it was so cool. And a very grounding moment for someone still experiencing a bit of culture shock, to share something in common with this culture.

I went to a very large music store in a heavily trafficked area of Portland recently and realized how useless this type of store has become. Unlike a bookstore, it&#x27;s not fun to &quot;browse&quot; music physically, we have become spoiled by services such as spotify.<p>Here is what it looked like inside, nearly empty of shoppers: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;i.imgur.com&#x2F;kcrYKG6.jpg" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;i.imgur.com&#x2F;kcrYKG6.jpg</a>

Tower Records spun off their Japan division and it is still going strong. Back at home, they declared bankruptcy closed all their US stores

I witnessed Tower Records asplode in 2007 in graphic detail when a very large and very well-stocked Tower shop jn Portland, OR was forced to sell off every scrap of inventory (allowing me to stock up on Danger Mouse (the cartoon, not the DJ) DVDs, among other things).<p>Imagine my surprise when I landed in Osaka in 2011 and saw Tower Records still very much a thing there.

I remember reading article about Japan and fax machines. A lot of lunch takeout places still have a very high fax traffic because they accept orders via fax.