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1
Abbey Road (1969)
Released
Apple AP-8815, Japan, 1969
The first Japanese pressing gives itself away by what is missing: "Her Majesty" is not printed on side B's label. It came with a shaped obi, an English lyric insert and a plain black paper inner sleeve, with ¥2,000 printed on the obi and back cover. Red vinyl copies exist too: the earliest also leave "Her Majesty" off the label, while a later red pressing adds it and carries a gourd-shaped obi. The red wax is the copy that photographs well, but the label text, the vinyl color and the obi shape together tell you which pressing you are actually holding.
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Made in Japan (1972)
Released
Warner-Pioneer P-5066~7W, Japan, 1972
In Japan this double album of the August 1972 Osaka and Tokyo shows was titled Live in Japan, and the first press has green labels. Initial copies were announced with a color negative film included, and some early copies add a foldout promotion sheet, while the white-label promo copies hold only black-and-white photos and no negative. Every copy has Japanese liner notes, and the list price was ¥3,000. A first press with its film still inside is the complete version of this package, so ask about the negative by name.
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The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
Released
Harvest/Odeon EOP-80778, Japan, 1973
The Japanese first pressing, released April 20, 1973, packs a lot into its gatefold: an obi, a 32-page booklet, two posters and an art postcard. The tracks are lettered A to G rather than numbered, durations appear nowhere on the label, sleeve or inserts, and the run-outs carry the British SHVL-804 matrix. The first-issue price is ¥2,000 on the obi and inside the gatefold. Count the posters and the postcard before buying, because loose inserts are the parts that drift away from a copy over fifty years.
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Waltz for Debby
Riverside/Victor SMJ-6118, Japan, 1975
Victor's 1975 stereo reissue of the Bill Evans Trio's June 1961 Village Vanguard set is an affordable way into Japanese jazz pressings. It was made in Japan by Victor Musical Industries from Milestone's master recording and comes with an orange obi and a one-sided Japanese insert, at a list price of ¥2,200. It is a reissue, not an original Riverside, so buy it as a well-made copy to play rather than as an investment, and check that both the obi and the insert are there.
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SUNSHOWER (1977)
Released
Panam GW-4029, Japan, 1977
Taeko Ohnuki's second solo album, released July 25, 1977, came with a lyric sheet and an obi and sold for ¥2,300, with mastering credited to Toyokasei. The trap with this one is the number of later pressings: a 1984 reissue under GW-4107, then Crown vinyl reissues from 2014 onward, several of them in limited City Pop on Vinyl runs. Check for the GW-4029 number and the Panam label before paying an original's price, and make sure the lyric sheet is still tucked inside.
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Cool Struttin'
Blue Note/King GXK 8043, Japan, 1978
King Records issued this stereo pressing of the Sonny Clark session recorded on January 5, 1958 as part of its Blue Note Masterpiece Selection 150 series, with an obi and a Japanese liner-note insert, at ¥2,300. A Japanese Blue Note reissue like this is a sensible way to start a jazz shelf without paying for a New York original. An earlier Toshiba EMI issue, LNJ-80072 from 1976, also came with an obi and a single-sided insert, so the catalog number is how you tell the two apart.
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Cheap Trick at Budokan (1978)
Released
Epic/Sony 25•3P-5, Japan, 1978
This is the edition that came first. The album was meant for release only in Japan, came out there on October 8, 1978, and sold an estimated 30,000 import copies in the United States before Epic released it domestically in February 1979. The Japanese copy comes in a heavy gatefold with a gold obi and a 12-page black-and-white booklet of photos, lyrics and liner notes, at ¥2,500. The booklet is where the lyrics live, so a copy without it is missing more than decoration.
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Solid State Survivor (1979)
Released
Alfa ALR-6022, Japan, 1979
Yellow Magic Orchestra's second album shows how much the obi matters for dating a copy. The first version, released September 25, 1979, is pressed on translucent yellow vinyl with red labels and has a red obi that mentions the yellow vinyl. Every later version is on standard black vinyl, and the third came with a yellow obi instead. All of them shipped with a printed inner sleeve, at ¥2,500. A yellow-vinyl copy with its red obi is the first issue complete; the black-vinyl copies are the cheaper way to hear it.
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Pocket Park (1980)
Released
See-Saw C25A0077, Japan, 1980
Miki Matsubara's debut album, released in January 1980, has one of the fuller packages on this list. The sleeve opens on the left with the obi on its right edge, and inside are a 30cm insert with credits on one side and lyrics on the other and a 60x90cm fold-out poster. Some copies add a photo insert for the single. The list price was ¥2,500. Ask about the poster by name before paying, because a listing that says "with obi" can still be missing it.
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A Long Vacation (1981)
Released
Niagara 27AH 1234, Japan, 1981
Eiichi Ohtaki's album, released March 21, 1981 and manufactured by CBS/Sony, wears Hiroshi Nagai's illustration on the front, with an obi designed by Yasushi Nakayama and an insert carrying the credits and lyrics. The useful dating clue sits inside: copies pressed from 1983 onward add a printed inner sleeve advertising other Niagara releases, so its absence points to an earlier run. The original price was ¥2,700. The album sold over a million copies, so be patient and hold out for a copy with both obi and insert.
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FOR YOU (1982)
Released
Air RAL-8801, Japan, 1982
Tatsuro Yamashita's album, released January 21, 1982, is the exception on this list: the original was issued without an obi. What it does have is a lyric sheet, a colored inner sleeve and vinyl pressed by JVC on its SuperVinyl formula, cut at Victor and mastered at JVC's Yokohama Cutting Center. The list price was ¥2,800. Do not pay extra for an obi on a first pressing; look for the lyric sheet and inner sleeve instead, and note that the 1985 picture disc, RAL-8827, is a separate later issue.
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Thriller (1982)
Released
Epic/Sony 25·3P-399, Japan, 1982
The Japanese Thriller is a gatefold with a blue obi, a single-sheet Japanese information insert and a glossy 10-page foldout booklet whose last four pages open into a double-sided poster of Michael Jackson. Read the obi closely: a gold star on it advertising "The Girl Is Mine," "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" as hit singles marks a later repress. Mastering is credited to Bernie Grundman, and it was manufactured by Epic/Sony in Tokyo, at a list price of ¥2,500. A limited picture disc, 28·3P-455, came out the same year. That one looks better on a wall; the standard black LP with its booklet is the copy to play.
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TIMELY!! (1983)
Released
For Life 28K-63, Japan, 1983
Anri's album, produced by Toshiki Kadomatsu and released December 5, 1983, came with an obi and a foldout insert at ¥2,800. Initial copies have a slightly different obi with extra blue writing and add a fashion calendar for 1984, so the obi alone tells you whether a copy is early, and the calendar tells you whether it is complete. A late copy plays the same music; pay the premium only when both are present.
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Variety (1984)
Released
Moon MOON-28018, Japan, 1984
Mariya Takeuchi's album, released April 25, 1984, comes in a gatefold with an obi and the lyrics printed inside the cover, so there is no loose lyric sheet to lose, only the obi to check. Tatsuro Yamashita produced and arranged it, and it was mastered at CBS/Sony's Shinanomachi Studio, at a list price of ¥2,800. This is the original pressing of the album that holds "Plastic Love"; later vinyl reissues, including a 2014 double LP and a 2021 remaster, carry WPJL numbers, so check for the MOON catalog number.
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