Tackle Shops of Japan
First impressions of the tackle shops we visited in both Osaka and Tokyo Japan, were just jawdropping. No matter the size of the building itself, each shop made it work to fit as much product on the shelves as they can in an orderly manner. Some of the shops we visited were so big they provided maps to navigate their stores, a true fisherman's heaven, or hell to their wallets. From telescopic rods to reels not even available in the states, every product was hot and we for sure walked out the doors with some.
But not for our personal use, but to bring into the store for you, our dear customers to use and enjoy. A lot of the standout sections at all of these shops included their butterfly jigs, trout lures, infinite squid jigs, and sabiki rigs. They have such a unique fishery and their tackle shops dedicate so much attention to detail to fine tune every aspect of said fishery. From rods specific to stocked vs. native trout to intricately detailed handpainted micro fishing lures everything was informative and important to have stocked on the shelves.
For me, I was most impressed by the interactive displays the shops had for certain lures. One way to really catch the customer into buying a lure is to display a tablet and have it play videos of fishermen catching on that lure. The videos were not muted so the sounds of drag pulling, splashing, and cheering caught the consumer’s eye and created an “awe-moment” that makes you want in on the action of catching on that lure.
Another feature seen at these shops was the “used tackle” section. Something we’d see in the states at the local fishermens flea markets, the shops in Japan take the time to assess the items donated to see if they are fit to be reintroduced to the shelves to fight a fish another day. From custom tuna plugs to refurbished reels, these shops provided anglers with the option to purchase a higher end reel,but at a more frugal cost.
