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Hi guys,
In the past, I've been asked to take some photos of some Japanese toy stores, and on my latest trip I finally did. The bad thing is that most places have a strict "no photography" rule when you are inside the store. I'm too nervous to break the rules, but I managed to take some pics of the exteriors of the stores, which do have display windows full of toys.
One of the first places I like to hit is the Nakano Broadway mall. Included in this mall is over 20 separate stores owned by Mandarake, a famous chain of stores located all over Japan that sells used toys, manga, videos, magazines, models, movie memorbilia, etc. But Nakano is their flagship location, and they have separate stores for each commodity (even separate stores for various types of toys).
This is their manga store, I wanted to take a pic of the cool steampunk looking decoration at the top:
Mego sighting! This is from the outside of Mandarake's US toys location. That MIB Spider-car works out to about $200 and change. Other Megos I saw inside that store included an incomplete Robin ($85), a boxed 12" Steve Trevor ($250), a boxed Moonraker Jaws with a torn off side flap ($115) and some Micronauts. Also saw some incomplete 8" Tomlands for about $90 a pop.
The outsides of some of their other stores in the mall:
Here's a shot I tried to take through the door of one of the stores to try and show the interior. Those glass cases are jammed full of toys. That big Godzilla box is a really cool remote control toy. I really wanted it, but the logistics of transporting the huge box on two crowded trains back to my father-in-law's house, let alone trying to get it back to Canada gave me second thoughts!
Here's a shot of a bunch of stuff that Mandarake wasn't selling here, but were up for auction on their website. Those two guys are very rare Jumbo Machinder villains (and their boxes in the middle). The guy on the right, Green Ghost, is especially rare. The signs say the starting bids were the equivalent of about $7000 each. Signs also say no photos allowed, but I risked it for these toys.
Also went to Shibuya. These shots are from where you exit the train station. Nothing can prepare you for this huge intersection. Towering buildings with TV screens, music and advertisements blaring from all directions, and just a huge mass of people everywhere (can't really see them in these pics, but when the traffic light changes, huge crowds of people start crossing the intersection from all directions):
Here's the Shibuya Mandarake location's entrance. Unfortunately not much to see other than the cool steampunk decor. When you enter the door, you descend about 3 flights of stairs into a huge subterranean basement full of toys and comics.
Other random pics:
Here's a toy aisle in Toys R Us, with a crapload of Ultraman and Kamen Rider vinyls.
Yodobashi Camera is a huge chain of stores in Japan. Take Best Buy, combine it with Toys R Us, and make it a hundred times bigger and better, and you might get an idea of what these stores contain. This is their Akihabara location. I think it's around 12 floors full of electronics, computers, DVDs, toys, models, video games, musical instruments, even porn!
Speaking of Akihabara, here's a street shot. This main road has about 10 blocks full of electronics, computer, video, toy and various other types of hobby stores. It's basically the capital of geek culture in Japan.
Only in Japan would you find a huge Gundam statue outside of a shopping mall.
A lot of stores in Japan like to use English because it's cool, but often times the meaning is completely lost in translation. This is a woman's clothing store.
That's it for now, hope you enjoyed them!
In the past, I've been asked to take some photos of some Japanese toy stores, and on my latest trip I finally did. The bad thing is that most places have a strict "no photography" rule when you are inside the store. I'm too nervous to break the rules, but I managed to take some pics of the exteriors of the stores, which do have display windows full of toys.
One of the first places I like to hit is the Nakano Broadway mall. Included in this mall is over 20 separate stores owned by Mandarake, a famous chain of stores located all over Japan that sells used toys, manga, videos, magazines, models, movie memorbilia, etc. But Nakano is their flagship location, and they have separate stores for each commodity (even separate stores for various types of toys).
This is their manga store, I wanted to take a pic of the cool steampunk looking decoration at the top:
Mego sighting! This is from the outside of Mandarake's US toys location. That MIB Spider-car works out to about $200 and change. Other Megos I saw inside that store included an incomplete Robin ($85), a boxed 12" Steve Trevor ($250), a boxed Moonraker Jaws with a torn off side flap ($115) and some Micronauts. Also saw some incomplete 8" Tomlands for about $90 a pop.
The outsides of some of their other stores in the mall:
Here's a shot I tried to take through the door of one of the stores to try and show the interior. Those glass cases are jammed full of toys. That big Godzilla box is a really cool remote control toy. I really wanted it, but the logistics of transporting the huge box on two crowded trains back to my father-in-law's house, let alone trying to get it back to Canada gave me second thoughts!
Here's a shot of a bunch of stuff that Mandarake wasn't selling here, but were up for auction on their website. Those two guys are very rare Jumbo Machinder villains (and their boxes in the middle). The guy on the right, Green Ghost, is especially rare. The signs say the starting bids were the equivalent of about $7000 each. Signs also say no photos allowed, but I risked it for these toys.
Also went to Shibuya. These shots are from where you exit the train station. Nothing can prepare you for this huge intersection. Towering buildings with TV screens, music and advertisements blaring from all directions, and just a huge mass of people everywhere (can't really see them in these pics, but when the traffic light changes, huge crowds of people start crossing the intersection from all directions):
Here's the Shibuya Mandarake location's entrance. Unfortunately not much to see other than the cool steampunk decor. When you enter the door, you descend about 3 flights of stairs into a huge subterranean basement full of toys and comics.
Other random pics:
Here's a toy aisle in Toys R Us, with a crapload of Ultraman and Kamen Rider vinyls.
Yodobashi Camera is a huge chain of stores in Japan. Take Best Buy, combine it with Toys R Us, and make it a hundred times bigger and better, and you might get an idea of what these stores contain. This is their Akihabara location. I think it's around 12 floors full of electronics, computers, DVDs, toys, models, video games, musical instruments, even porn!
Speaking of Akihabara, here's a street shot. This main road has about 10 blocks full of electronics, computer, video, toy and various other types of hobby stores. It's basically the capital of geek culture in Japan.
Only in Japan would you find a huge Gundam statue outside of a shopping mall.
A lot of stores in Japan like to use English because it's cool, but often times the meaning is completely lost in translation. This is a woman's clothing store.
That's it for now, hope you enjoyed them!
-Tallahassee 
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