Uchida Radio
One of the few shops in Tokyo dedicated to vintage radio equipment
The woman with the gentle smile behind the counter is Mrs. Uchida, proprietor of Uchida Radio. The store is located on the second floor of the Radio Center building in Akihabara, (Tokyo's famous "Electric Town"). Home to a number of small shops for roughly fifty years, this building was once at the center of the city's postwar radio action. Most of the shops now sell computer parts, peripherals and other high-tech items, leaving Uchida Radio as one of Akihabara's last stores dedicated to radio equipment.
Mrs. Uchida's husband was quite famous in radio circles. In fact, I've run across articles he wrote and a picture of him in a leading radio magazine that dates back to around 1955. When Mr. Uchida passed away a few years ago, his wife couldn't bear to see the business he loved so much close its doors. She decided to run the operation herself and continues to give local radio buffs a place to shop, talk, and communicate. Definitely a recommended stop for those visiting Tokyo. And yes, that is a Buddhist monk in the store shopping for vacuum tubes.
Update Note (08.02.07): I updated the link to Radio Center.