Where can I find baseball equipment stores in Tokyo?

An interesting problem. You're looking for balls, bats, helmets, shin guards, gloves, etc.? Other than the catching gear and helmets, they have a limited selection at the local Daiei department store near me in Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama. So I'm surprised that you weren't able to find anything.

I have found that "real" sporting goods shops tend to be located in more rural areas. Usually "mom and pop" looking places where you can get pretty much anything made by Mizuno for any sport, including ordering custom jerseys for kusa yakyu teams. The only way to find such places, though, is to wonder around the neighborhood and take note of it should the need to visit ever arise.

When I worked at Ocha-no-mizu in Tokyo many years ago, I did notice that there are a lot of sporting goods stores in the area about a five minute walk to the south of the station. The selection on baseball goods wasn't that impressive as they appear to mostly serve the college students in the area - which means mostly ski goods. Camping goods were also plentiful. But the few stores that did have baseball goods, didn't strike me as having much better variety than the local Daiei.

It's good to hear that some are getting out and playing the game, too. I know that I would be in a lot worse shape if it weren't for the local softball team I'm on.

Gambare finding the equiptment, and with your team.

My favorite is Mizuno Sports Main Store in Kanda.

I have a 1979 indicator given to me by a Japanese umpire attending Bill Kinnonomon's Umpire School in St. Petersburg, FL. It has broken and I am looking to replace it if possible. It is a Hudson. Do you have any idea as to where I might get this? It is approx. 3x1" with strikes, ball, outs, and innings. It is smaller than the modern indicators available, and the numbers move backwards as to how the modern indicators move.

If anyone has any information on securing one of these would you let me know. Thanks.

Terry Roy - Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

We were wondering if you have found your Hudson indicator. My sister and I also umpire and would like to have one of these as we have also seen one other umpire receive one from someone in Japan.

I was wondering if you ever located the indicator you were looking for as both of my daughters umpire and they would like to find the same indicator.

Try Tokyo Bay. Get off the Yurikamome line at Ariake, look for Venus Forte and the Toyota car showroom. The sports shop is called Sports Authority on the ground level and it's huge, sells camping gear, most sports equipment/clothes etc. Prices are fairly reasonable for Japan!

Baseball Pro Shop Baseman [Yahoo! Shop - in Japanese] is by far the best equipment store in Japan. They sell all professional gear. They have almost every brand of equipment. Also, there is a store in Iidabashi that has an all-American floor. It is on the JR Sobu line about 5 stops from Shinjuku. Just go there and see for yourself. I did!

Someone beat me to recommending Base Man, the store in Iidabashi. They have 2 others as well, and can be found near the C1 Exit. I have been to a lot of stores here in Tokyo, but this is the Disneyland of baseball supply stores, in quanity, quality, and price. They do have a web site as well if you can read Japanese.

My recommendation is to leave the wallet and credit card at home the first time you go there, or you might not have rent money next month, as they have everything you need and then some. I saw 2 different umpire counters there as well for the person who was looking, one made of plastic and another made of metal.

[Old thread] Do you know if this store still exits?

The website is still up, and they still list the locations for all three stores.
Here's a link to the Google Street View of the Iidabashi store, located right next to the am/pm. The website says it's a two minute walk from the East Exit of JR Iidabashi station, so I can't imagine it would be that hard to find.