Last year when I was in Japan I decided it would be cool to grab a Japanese brand baseball glove from Japan. Of course I also wanted one actually made in Japan as that seemed better then just getting one made in China or somewhere else with a Japanese label on it.
I found a shop in Tokyo that seemed like it was findable and thought I would start there. It seemed easy enough to find from the Maranochi line. Honestly I had never gotten off at the stop that it was at but based on the map on their page it looked close to the station.
This store was pretty small but being in the heart of Tokyo I would imagine the space was not cheap. It was also crammed full of goodies. Certainly a higher end shop where they seemed to cater to the mid to high end gear.
Upon entering the shop I was greeted by what I can only describe as a baseball heaven. Looking in to the right there was the largest assortment of gloves that I had ever seen. Full range of models even the high end lines of these companies were well represented.
I honestly do not even know the name of this pace (could be Sugai51). If you are in the Tokyo area I suggest paying it a visit. The shop owner seemed very friendly and with help from my wife I was able to select a few items to look over. They had all the major Japanese brands and everything to fully outfit yourself.
Another shop that I hit while in Tokyo was a bit further out of the city. This one called Swallow Sports had a nice showroom which was not too far from the train station. They seem to do much more mail order business than walk in but it was fun to look around their showroom as well. They also had a great selection of gloves and gear.
On this trip to Japan I ended up with a Zeems Pro II 800G outfield glove. I had not had enough time to do much research but the glove felt good on the hand (needed much breaking in). I also grabbed a Zeems ESP II 688 infield glove (still working on this one). Both are great gloves and the outfield glove which I use most often is really getting worked in well. both gloves were purchased at Sugai51.
That was the extent of my baseball shopping last year in Japan. This year my wife was headed back to visit family so I had a chance to do some more research into some new gear. My next post will go into some of the new things I learned.
