Asaka Camera, Oji (streetview)
Fuji Fotorama FP-UL & FP-14 ID Photo cameras
I’ve passed Asaka Camera many times on my way to and from Rocco’s New York Style Pizza in Oji- about a week ago I stopped in this mom & pop & son shop for some batteries for my flash- Seeing that this shop still prints 35mm film with a Fuji Frontier minilab machine (!), I had to come back a few days later with a roll of color film for processing & prints. Most photo stores that still do 35mm prints on site do so with digital dry minilabs- older Frontiers like the one at Asaka Camera are proper chemical/photo paper minlabs. There is a difference in how these prints look and feel, and to me it’s worth the trip and cost.
Asaka Camera is similar to the (dwindling) little one-hour photo labs that spot the city. It has a wonderful amount of character- family owned for 50 years, this one doesn’t sell equipment but over the course of our conversation more and more gear was pulled out from behind the counter. These Fujifilm passport cameras were both loaded and good to go.