Japanese coffee-making equipment

Recently in the U.S. there has been a renewed interest in pour-over coffee.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/magazine/13Food-t-000.html)
Prominently used by Intelligenstia Coffee are Japanese drippers, carafes, and a very cool kettle by Hario. Blue Bottle Coffee in San Francisco features an 8-hour "Kyoto style" drip coffee. Last year an international Aeropress (not drip method, but my personal favorite) competition was held in Tokyo.

I'd like to check out some coffee-making equipment when I am in Japan next month. Specifically, I want to price a Takahiro kettle which retails for over $130 in the U.S. I will take a run through Tokyu Hands in Osaka, but am hoping to get a lead on a specialty coffee store in Kyoto where I will spend most of my time.

My best friend and roommate is from Japan and .we live in North America...He has been making great coffee for years with a basic plastic cone from a German company and paper filters from Costco.

What matters the most, obviously, is the coffee itself...he has tried many types of coffee, settled on a flavour he likes, buy a relatively small amount of beans, then grinds them at the last minute.

The main thing about the drip method is that one should make only one cup, 2-3 at the very most, at one time just before serving it.
making lots of coffee and leaving it in a carafe on a hot plate for quite a while is the worse thing to do. Tastes absolutely awful!!!!!!!! .

My buddy prefers to make individual cups (using a new filter every time) by placing the cone+ filter+ coffee on top of a mug. This also allows him to make it stronger or weaker as needed.

He carry a cone, filters , coffee, sugar, small mugs etc. in his suitcase wherever we go (he grinds beans hours before we leave and store the powdered coffee in several small sealed pouches).

We only drink that coffee first thing in the morning in the hotel. The rest of the time, especially in Europe, we drink espresso.
His relatives in Japan only make espresso at home..

There are quite a few coffee shops in Japan that do coffee the European way and it tastes great.

The Melitta cone dripper does make a good cup of coffee. I bought a Japanese Hario cone dripper online which makes an excellent cup of coffee, and its design is distinctly different. But I am looking for pieces of equipment that are harder to get (and more expensive) in the U.S. I will go to Tokyu Hands in Osaka, but am hoping that someone can direct me to a specialty coffee shop.