Naniwa Camera Kyoto Store — Local services in Kyoto

TLDR: Avoid this shop. No professional integrity. They sold camera tampered so badly that it is beyond repair and responded with empty politeness rather than taking responsibility.

Full Review: My experience with Camera Naniwa Kyoto demonstrates a concerning gap between their polite customer service facade and actual business practices. While they claim to have "The largest selection of used cameras and lenses in the Kyoto and Shiga area," their handling of serious issues raises red flags about their integrity. After purchasing a used Pentax SLR that failed after just 11 shots, I discovered through professional inspection that the camera had been tampered with before sale, making it unrepairable due to poorly adjusted components. When confronted with this issue, the shop's response pattern was telling:

Their initial response seemed promising, acknowledging the issue and offering to help When provided with evidence, they retreated behind warranty terms They never addressed the core issue: selling a tampered camera Their responses were consistently polite but completely devoid of substance or any real solution

Most concerning is their failure to address the fact that they sold a tampered camera - this goes beyond normal used equipment issues or wear and tear. While they excel at Japanese-style customer service politeness, their actions reveal a lack of professional integrity in their actual business practices. The shop's approach appears designed to maintain an appearance of respectability while avoiding any meaningful responsibility. Potential customers should be aware that behind the courteous responses and impressive inventory claims, there may be serious quality control issues that the shop won't meaningfully address...

I have buy a film camera from this store but the light meters is broken and no a single staff tell me about that. (However, The camera error’s part will be written down in japanese, which I did not know about that at all)

Therefore, the next day, I bring the camera back to store to return and Ms. Tsugawa take care of me very well and return me a money which I very appreciate for that.

However, there is staff that can speak English but not care to talk to me at all and let Ms. Tsugawa deal with me by using google translate all the time. I very appreciate Ms. Tsugawa a lot and want to complain the staff that dont care to talk or listen to my problem at all his name is Mr. Kawa.. something a man with age around 30-40. I understand the fact that business want profit and money but fairness is also imortant which that man seems not to care at all....

This might be my new favorite camera shop. My wife and I took a trip to Japan for two weeks last month and I dragged her around to all the normal camera shops that you hear about (MAP and all those) but wasn't super impressed with their selection of used equipment. I happened across Camera no Naniwa Kyoto, while we were wondering around on our last day in Kyoto. I was blown away at the selection of used cameras. Not that there was anything super rare or ridiculously low prices (the prices do seem really fair though), it was just that the selection that was there seemed to be tailor fit to my interests as a photographer. I probably could have walked out of there with the entire store if I had the money! Just ended up with this beautiful Rollei 35 as a gift from my wife and I love it! Can't wait to go back to Japan and make...