ASAKUSA Underground

Pawnbrokers

質屋　(Shichi-ya) is the Japanese word for pawn broker. As a part of a shop name, they tend to use 質店　(Shichi Ten). Ten means shop in Japanese.

If you stay in Kiyokawa area, Aikawa Shichi Ten is close.

-Aikawa Shichi Ten あい川質店
2-12-3 Kiyokawa, Taito-ku, Tokyo
Tel. 03-3873-4536


If you want to buy second hand goods cheaply, Kameya Shichi Ten is a good place to look to. They buy your goods as well.

-Kameya Shichi Ten ディスカウント　かめや
4-3-9 Kuramae, Taito-ku, Tokyo
Tel. 03-3851-4088
No holidays


If you are badly in need of money but have nothing valuable to sell, you can sell your used clothes to a shop that serves only for a particular type of customers. They are normally discreet, so the shop is not easy to find.

There are also a few requirements. You have to show your ID in order to prove that you are more than 18 years old. (Please respect the laws!) You have to pose for a photo to prove that you are the former owner of the object.

In the shop, boys and girls are not equally treated at all, so please don’t be upset if they refuse to buy yours.

The worse the condition of the object is, the more they pay you.

This is the limit. We cannot give you more information. For the rest, we hope that you will use your imagination to read between lines.

It is exactly like a chapter on hitchhiking in a travel guide. They give you information, but they clearly tell you that there is a risk. The Asakusa Underground editorship is forced to take the same position. We do not encourage you to go there. Nevertheless, this is obviously a sort of cultural institutions in Japan, and, when you think of the long history of fertility worship starting at the period of Kojiki legend, there is nothing to be ashamed of. As for risk, visiting the shop is as safe as crossing the street. All the risk you are taking is their refusal of purchasing your object. Sincerely we hope that you will understand what we mean.

-Wing ウィング
Daikan Plaza A-kan 401, 7-1-7 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Tel. 03-5330-1424
No holidays

The shop doesn’t look like a shop. Rather, it looks like an office in a clumsy corner of a building with flats and offices mixed together. Look for the shop name in Japanese.