I recently came back from a trip in Japan and being a tool nut, I had to visit some tool shops. I'll start off with a store that I visited in a city called Osaka. The name of the shop is Factory Gear, and it's one of perhaps a dozen stores located throughout Japan. Unlike most tool shops in North America, tool shops in Japan do business in rather small store spaces (understandably), but yet are packed full of tools from a wide array of brands. The Factory Gear chain of stores happens to be the most famous name in Japan for its wide selection of brands from around the world (primarily US, European, Taiwanese/Chinese, and Japanese).
Let's start of with the storefront picture. The characters underneath the English reads: "fine-quality tools"
One of the first things that greated me were these cute Snap-on's miniature cabinet/chests:
Many of you might be surprised to see Snap-on being sold in a tool shop. Fact is, in Japan (and perhaps in other parts of the world?), SO can be bought in select tool shops. There are of course SO vans that are operated by independent dealers (I did see one on the road) that sell directly to the end user, but the prices are VERY high. As a cheaper option, Factory Gear sells SO for a much lower price; however, they are still the highest priced tools sold in the store.
Next table around the corner was the SALE table:
The owner of the Factory Gear store is a ******** tool fanatic himself and his first love with tools started with Snap-On. As the story goes, when he started his first shop (I believe it was in the late 90's) he remembers a young student coming to his shop to purchase some tools for his future career. He fell in love with Snap-on after he had the chance to use it at school. He came to store to see what Snap-on was all about and told the owner that it would be his dream to have everything that he sold. But the student couldn't believe his eyes at the price. He left without a purchase, but after a few months, the student came back at the end of the summer with his hard earned money that he earned from working a job. It was very little that he could buy. The same student came back again after his winter vacation to purchase another small amount. It was this student that inspired him to create his own line of hand tools--tools that people would consider beautiful, cool, and affordable--all the qualities that tool buyers like that student looked for. After 3 years of numerous trips to Taiwan, meeting many tool manufacturers, he was able to create his brand "Deen". Here's their website if anyone's interested:
http://www.f-gear.co.jp/deen/
Here's a glimpse of the Deen area:
There are quite a few unique tools, many that aren't found in any other brand. That's proof that he has good ties with Taiwanese manufacturers, and their willingness to produce tools under a very small lot. Not very many tool manufacturers would accommodate small lots due to the cost reasons.
They now sell "large" cabinets filled with foam/tray tool modules in a set. These new lower cabinets are also Deen originals:
Let's move on to other stuff...
Torque wrenches from various brands. My favourite Stahlwille Manoskop is there
Oranizational stuff from various brands:
Some smaller hand-carry boxes (KTC and USAG):
Some air tools from KTC/Ingersol Rand, Shinano, Deen. The small metal boxes at the far bottom are cool:
They have tools to please the European fans too
Some Hazet and Stahlwille tools:
Some Facom ratchets, PB Swiss and Wera items:
Here's a look at their screwdriver rack with more PB Swiss, Wera, KTC, Anex, Ko-ken, and Snap-on:
Here's a look at the KTC (Japan) and King Tony (Taiwan) brands:
Here's a miscellaneous corner. I almost bought the Tsubosan set of no-clog files for aluminum:
Can't forget the Nepros brand (Japan). Occupying both sides:
And last but not least, here's the Snap-on section:
So, that concludes my first tool shop visit in Japan. More to follow...as time allows.
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Ok, time for a few more pictures of another store that was a short walking distance from FG. This shop is much older and more typical of a Japanese tool shop. Smaller yet in size compared to a FG store, where the wall racks are jam-packed with tools, tools, and more tools! Almost every available space is utilized. Unfortunately, time ran out for me. When I got there at around 19:00 the shutters were about to fall, so I couldn't go in, but did manage to snap 3 quick photos.
If you ever go to FG, I'd suggest going to this store and all the other stores nearby that sell all types of tools for different trades. They are in a cluster in this area, called Niponbashi (if anyone cares). This particular store is called 柴商 and is open 365 days/year, from 8:30-18:30.
Here's the address if you wan't to google-map it in street view:
大阪市浪速区日本橋 4-16-10
Their website address is:
http://www.4840.jp/
They sell tools for the various trades:
The Japanese screwdriver manufacturers have had a wide range of torsional bits available for several years already, but it's only recently that North America has started seeing such bits. You'll also find cutters from Olfa, and NT Cutter as they are both headquartered in the Osaka city area.
Brands like Tajima, Shinwa, Silky, for example:
There's a part ll that I started here in this thread: http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2323865&posted=1#post2323865
