Disc Union

Disc Union (also written Diskunion) is one of Japan’s most legendary record store chains. Founded in 1969 in Tokyo, they now run more than 30 specialized stores across Japan, with the flagship in Shinjuku spanning multiple floors, each dedicated to a different genre.

Their reputation among record collectors is hard to overstate. Disc Union is the name when you’re looking for:

• Rare and out-of-print Japanese vinyl
• City Pop, Showa-era jazz, classic J-Rock
• Used Western imports that are hard to find back in their home countries
• Original pressings in the kind of condition you almost never see in European or American second-hand shops
• Reissues and label distributions that often go nowhere else

The Japanese love their records, treat them well, and grade them strictly. A Disc Union "VG+" record is usually closer to what a European or American shop would call NM. This makes it one of the best second-hand vinyl sources in the world, full stop.

Beyond the catalog itself, Disc Union has a few things going for it:

• Honest grading. Their staff actually listen to and inspect records before grading. The grades are conservative.
• Massive turnover. Stock changes constantly. Items sold out today might not return for years, but new arrivals appear daily.
• Genre specialists. Each store is dedicated to a specific genre, and the staff actually knows the music. The Shinjuku Jazz store is run by jazz heads. The progressive rock store is run by prog heads. This shows up in the curation.
• Their own label. Disc Union also operates as a label, releasing reissues and exclusive pressings of Japanese rock, jazz and city pop that aren’t available anywhere else.

This is the tricky part. Disc Union doesn’t ship internationally directly. The path you take depends on whether the item is new or second-hand.

For new items: WorldShopping

Disc Union has integrated WorldShopping into their online shop, similar to Tower Records. When you access diskunion.net from outside Japan, the WorldShopping cart appears automatically, and you can buy any new items through it.

How it works:

1. Browse diskunion.net (translation extension recommended; the site is mostly Japanese with some English).
2. Click the WorldShopping "Add to Cart" button on new items.
3. Pay WorldShopping for the items, plus a 10% service fee on the product total (including domestic Japanese shipping).
4. WorldShopping receives the items, then sends you a second invoice for international shipping, handling, and any other applicable fees.
5. Pay the second invoice, and the package ships to you.

WorldShopping accepts credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, JCB), PayPal, Alipay and UnionPay. Available in 125 countries.

Important: WorldShopping only works for new items. Second-hand items are excluded. This is the single biggest catch when buying from Disc Union.

For second-hand items: a proxy service

Most of what makes Disc Union special is their second-hand stock, and that requires a proxy buying service like Japan Rabbit. The proxy team places the order at Disc Union on your behalf, receives the record at their warehouse, and ships it on to you.

The flow:

1. Find the second-hand record you want on diskunion.net.
2. Copy the URL into your proxy service.
3. The proxy buys it, receives it, inspects it, and lets you know.
4. Pay for international shipping and the package goes out.

The fees depend on the proxy, but for a single record Japan Rabbit’s structure (a flat fee plus a small per-item charge) is usually fair. The bigger cost is always international shipping itself.

A side benefit of using a proxy: you can buy new and second-hand items together in one transaction, and combine multiple Disc Union orders (or orders from other Japanese shops) into one international parcel. That saves a lot on shipping for collectors who order multiple records at a time.

Forwarding services don’t really work here

Unlike CDJapan or HMV, Disc Union doesn’t generally accept foreign credit cards on their checkout. So a forwarder-only service like Blackship (where you’d place the order yourself) doesn’t fit. You almost always end up using WorldShopping or a proxy.

When a proxy buys from Disc Union on your behalf, the items first ship from Disc Union to the proxy’s Japanese warehouse. Disc Union’s domestic rates are very simple:

• Flat 440 Yen for any order via standard delivery (Yamato).
• Free shipping over 5,000 Yen. The 5,000 Yen threshold is per order, before tax.
• Larger items (vinyl, box sets): Disc Union sometimes charges a slightly higher rate for outsized packages, but the standard 440 Yen / free over 5,000 Yen pattern covers most music orders.

In practice this is one of the cheaper Japanese music shops to ship from. A typical order of two or three records easily clears the free shipping threshold.

If you’re going through a proxy service (which is the realistic path for most international buyers), the proxy handles everything. You don’t need your own Disc Union account.

If you’re going through WorldShopping for new items, you also don’t need a Disc Union account. WorldShopping uses its own checkout flow.

The only case where a Disc Union account makes sense is if you have a Japanese address (or a long-term forwarder address) and want to buy regularly:

• Order history and reservation tracking for pre-orders
• Disc Union point card, which gives you 1 to 5 points per 100 Yen depending on category, redeemable on future orders. The points are in-store and online linked.

Account quirks to watch out for

A few things specific to Disc Union:

• Site is Japanese-only with partial English in some category pages. Use a translator extension; the navigation makes more sense in Japanese.
• Different stock per branch. Disc Union’s online catalog is split by physical store branch. The same record might appear at "Disk Union Shinjuku Jazz" and "Disk Union Shibuya Indies" with different conditions and prices. Pay attention to which branch is selling what; ordering from two different branches counts as two separate orders.
• Second-hand condition grades. Disc Union grades on the Japanese A/B/C scale, where A is roughly equivalent to NM and B is VG+. Their grading is conservative compared to most Western shops; a B-grade Japanese pressing is often nicer than an NM-graded record from a European or American second-hand shop.
• Foreign payment is not supported on direct checkout. Disc Union accepts Japanese credit cards, bank transfer, cash on delivery, and konbini payment. Foreign cards are not accepted, which is the main reason forwarding setups don’t work.

A full step-by-step on buying second-hand from Disc Union through a proxy, including how to read condition grades and identify Japan-only pressings, will be in our upcoming Disc Union ordering guide.

• Only new items, single Disc Union order: WorldShopping is fine. Built-in, simple, 10% surcharge.
• Any second-hand items: you need a proxy service. WorldShopping won’t help.
• Multiple records, mixed new and used, possibly combined with other shops: a proxy service like Japan Rabbit. Consolidates everything, one international shipment.

For collectors who order regularly from Disc Union, a proxy is almost always the better long-term setup, simply because most of the interesting Disc Union stock is second-hand.

Through WorldShopping: credit card, PayPal, Alipay, UnionPay.

Through a proxy: whatever the proxy accepts (usually credit card or PayPal).

Disc Union itself does not accept foreign payment methods on their direct checkout, which is why both routes go through an intermediary.

Standard rules: 19% VAT in Germany plus a courier handling fee on delivery (around 6 Euro for DHL). Neither WorldShopping nor most proxy services prepay VAT under IOSS, so you’ll pay on delivery regardless of order size.

Use Disc Union when:

• You’re looking for a specific second-hand vinyl release that’s hard or impossible to find elsewhere
• You want a Japan-only pressing or original Japanese release
• You’re collecting jazz, city pop, Japanese rock, prog, or other genres where Japanese second-hand stock has the best condition
• You want a Disc Union label reissue or exclusive pressing

For new releases that are also available from CDJapan or HMV, those shops are simpler because they don’t require a proxy.