Let's Talk Albums: Campus Summit

Have you ever scrolled on Pinterest (or really any photo sharing site) and seen something like this?

You may have stumbled upon Campus summit.

Gyarus, Gyaruos, and anyone alike may have seen these albums as cute-looking, so today (as someone who owns a few) I'd love to share some information about these compilations.

Before I start, this is my first blog post and my name is Bec. I'm a CD collector fighting to collect CDs in a tiny bedroom and on a budget. Feel free to add me!!

Alright, let's start

Campus Summit was a compilation series and a sub-series of another compilation series called "Gazen ParaPara!!" owned by Japanese record label Avex Trax. The series ran from 2000-2012 with two label changed that (I guess) randomly happened. Campus Summit 2002 had a label change from Avex Trax to i-Dance (lmao if Apple owned a record label), but in 2005, the series came back into Avex Trax's hands. In 2012, Farm Record had rights to the Campus Summit series, making Avex Trax getting kicked out in the involvement... AGAIN. 

Please note: I won't get into those two changed albums that much because the information surrounding them is pretty vague. 

The first two entries from Avex Trax was 2000 and 2001, which both included two discs that were labelled as "sides". The eurobeat side was the second disc and the first disc was usually a dance/trance side. Campus Summit 2000's full name is, "Gazen ParaPara Presents Campus Summit 2000 - Make A Movement" which is a mouthful. Campus Summit 2001's full name is, "Gazen ParaPara Presents Campus Summit 2001 - It's A Global Entertainment" which is still a mouthful. 

This series is based on an event that took place annually with the same name, Campus Summit. Held in Shibuya, Campus Summit was a great gathering of gyarus and gyaruos and was hosted by top gyaru/gyaruo models and music acts. These events were supported usually by Avex Trax themselves. This event was like a musical showcase of the gyaru subculture at its finest, with parapara dancing, DJs, and amazing fashion. BTW if you have any other info on this event, please share in the comments!

Here's a pic from Tokyo Fashion from this event: 

After 2002 when i-Dance took over Campus Summit, then Avex Trax got it back, Campus Summit 2005 featured something new, a DVD! Campus Summit 2005 featured a parapara routine DVD that would impact the rest of the series' production. What I'm really tryna say is that anything after Campus Summit 2005 usually included a parapara DVD.

Clicking the link below will take you to a YT vid of these routines from 2005 (feel free to dance with them lol)

Campus Summit 2005 parapara routines

Some Campus Summit albums sometimes have something that says "TeAmo presents" or a link, so to clarify this information PLEASE DO NOT GO ON THESE LINKS WITHOUT AT LEAST SOME SORT OF PROTECTION! These links are usually defunct (and even though I tried accessing them once) I don't really want to be held responsible if you get some sort of virus. "TeAmo" is just a brand, so (I'm not an expert at brands pls leave a comment if you know more) I assume they were just a sponsor.

There were even songs produced mainly for Campus Summit like, Campus Summit by Bazooka Girl.

Campus Summit also had vinyl record releases, but it was more like a single, usually containing 4 songs only. These records were usually promos too.

That's really it for major info about Campus Summit. 

Here's some info about the CDs (and a bit of the vinyls) themselves:

The CDs usually contained a patterned design of some sort, take for example Campus Summit 2009:

Some albums weren't fully mixed, but partially mixed (assuming that the tracking weren't fully blended together to create transitions usually from a DJ).

For some reason Discogs labels one of the vinyl records being released in Italy instead of the usual Japan. I cannot guarantee if this is true, but it does make sense as many eurobeat "sensations" have Italian producers or are Italian themselves (take for example Dave Rogers, his real name is Giancarlo Pasquini and he was born in Lombardy).

Some release have replicas of themselves, but as a promo. Not really sure why.

After the 2xCD anniversary release in 2009, Campus Summit stopped producing DVDs alongside (maybe they blew off all their cash on rights to the songs and couldn't pay the models anymore lol).

"I wanna get one of these so bad, where to buy????"

Purchasing a Campus Summit album isn't as hard as you believe. There are many different ways to get them, but I'll explain 4 ways (or really 3 and a half ways) (BTW I'M USE $CAD FOR THESE EXAMPLES)

FIRST METHOD: Japanese Proxy

THIS IS MY IDEAL METHOD! This is when you use a Japanese proxy website to purchase the album for you second-hand via an online listing (imagine something like Depop). 

I usually use Mercari JP, but something like Rakuten Rakuma may work.

First, open the marketplace website and search for "Campus Summit" (make sure it shows only available listings for better searching) 

Second, find a listing you're interested in and copy the link for it.

Third, open your proxy service and paste the link (if you need a recommendation for a proxy, try out FromJapan)

Fourth, you can add it to your cart and decide to purchase it whenever. 

Fifth, when you finished ordering and it arrives at the warehouse, just decide a shipping service (I usually go for the cheapest airmail)  and that's really it.

SECOND METHOD: Discogs

Many people sell these albums on Discogs usually in a range of $10-$35. The only issues with this is that you don't see an image for the listing, so you'd have to contact the seller separately for pics (which is ideal for scam attempts...) and you can only use PayPal. Sometimes it's harder to find an album on Discogs because they might never be on sale. So buying on Discogs could be a hit or miss if people lie about the quality of the album by using the wrong grades in the grading system. So really, just be careful.

THIRD METHOD: Personal Marketplaces

Sometimes, depending on where you live, some old collectors may be selling these albums (or at least these types) as they might not need them anymore, so try to take a look around.

FOURTH(-ish) METHOD: Japanese Stores (that are literally made for this stuff)

Stores like CDJapan also may have these albums in stock, but this is literally almost like proxy, just without the need of a service (MOST OF THE TIME).

And that concludes it. 

THANK YOU if you have read this far, I might continue to make posts like this eventually, just not sure when.

If you have any questions feel free to ask. If you have any additional things that I missed, please feel free to comment!

Please note: To clarify again this is my first blog, meaning that it looks like a visual piece of slop bc I'm fighting with HTML at the time of writing this and I almost deleted everything I've done so bear with it