Tokyo Revisited Day 3

The weather forecast predicted at 90% chance of heavy rain, so the covered and indoor mall Nakano Broadway suggested itself as a more practical destination for the day than Akihabara, as visiting Akiba on a rainy day would entail the trouble of placing our wet umbrellas in new plastic sleeves each time we entered a new building or shop. I strapped on my backpack, which I hadn’t used extensively the day prior but was certain that I’d use today, and walked to the train station with Jon. Nakano is a mere two stops away from Yotsuya via the Chuo express train, one stop prior to Mitaka, home of the Ghibli Museum. Since neither of us had been to Nakano Broadway in years, we didn’t remember if we should take the north or south exit. I suspected north and turned out correct.

After walking across the bus turn-around courtyard and entering the lengthy covered shopping arcade, I immediately noticed that the luggage store that used to be on the immediate right had been replaced by a row of Mandarake glass display cases exhibiting vintage Panda Ko Panda and Totoro collectables along with far older vintage Japanese tin toys, and an impressively sized assortment of Lucha Libre wrestling masks. The interests of Japanese collectors are wide and varied.

Jon suggested taking lunch at McDonalds before heading into the Nakano Broadway section of the mall. I stepped up to the counter and requested the “Japan Burger Set.” The cashier returned a confused expression. I assumed that my attempt at a Japanese accent had been poor. Jon explained shortly later that neither he nor, probably, the cashier had heard me specify “Japan”, just “Burger.” The World Cup commemorative “Japan Burger” was a breaded, fried patty filled with minced beef and cheese, topped with lettuce and minced tomato on a bun pressed to resemble a soccer ball. I’m pleased that I tried a unique Japanese-exclusive McDonalds burger, but part of my mind rebelled, thinking that a McDonalds burger should taste like beef rather than tasting roughly like a hash brown with cheese.

We entered Nakano Broadway, a dingy four-story mall with a flea market atmosphere, famous for its abundance of otaku-oriented shops on its second through fourth floors. I directed us to the elevator which we rode up to the fourth floor, intending to work our way down.

The shops of Nakano Broadway remain tremendously impressive, particularly to foreign otaku, because each store would practically constitute a museum in any other country. While the stores and their staff are all accustomed to foreign shoppers, the stores themselves are still not laid out with foreign shoppers in mind. Several shops the size of a single bedroom have aisles so narrow that I found that I couldn’t navigate them with my bulky backpack on.

I was quite amused to pass by a military goods shop that also randomly included a life-sized Ayanami Rei statue.

Jon & I traversed past and through CD shops, DVD & Blu-ray shops, a store specializing in vintage movie one-sheets, a doll shop, a store specializing in 1960s and earlier books and manga, a store filled with male pop star merchandise, a retro video game store, a small shop devoted exclusively to Kinnikuman merchandise, a shop of only Kamen Rider toys.

I was surprised to see that average prices at the Commit anime production cels shop had seemed to increase. While I have a large collection of production cels and original anime art, my primary collecting interests lie in other varieties of goods. I noticed an attractive shitakiji with original anime girl characters advertising the Commit shop in Nakano, so I purchased one as a memento for 350 yen. Yoshinaga-san Chi no Gargoyle shitajiki were a mere 100 yen each, so I bought one of two varieties also. In one of many stores with massive selections of loose gachapon, I spied the Koppu no Fuchiko ear plugs. The very concept of a female figure that sticks out of the owner’s eardrum is so bizarre and distinctly Japanese that I had to own an example. With a choice of green or purple clothing, I chose purple and purchased the figure for 450 yen. They originally sold in capsule vending machines for 300 yen each. I still don’t know if my purple-clothed miniature office lady earplug is twin sister An or Min.

I was diligently searching for the old Solid Works Collection Hoihoi-san in standard black & white maid outfit gachapon, but it continued to elude me. I also found a selection of the Phat! Company Mini Ika Musume gachapon figures, but the one that I wanted most, the squid girl holding a leaf in the iconic Totoro pose, was not there. On behalf of a friend back home, I searched for either set of the gachapon Bullmark Godzilla figures. While I did find a variety of Godzilla gachapon and even one loose Ultraman monster Bullmark replica gachapon, I didn’t find either Godzilla series. I was stunned to spot a Bullmark MechaGodzilla disguised as Godzilla with the disguise partially torn off. The figure was inside a rental case – a clear poly box which a private collector rents to display and sell personal goods. Jon did me the favor of asking the store’s manager for the price of the toy, but to my dismay, the figure lacked a price tag.

I was quite amazed to see several stores that had large size display figures of Mr. Contac, the mascot of the Contac cold medicine that I didn’t even remember existed until I saw the figure again. A Mr. Contac figure seems to run around 7,000 yen. Nakano Broadway is really a treasure trove of vintage and odd anime goods. I was amazed to see a soundtrack CD for the 1986 Prefectural Earth Defense Force OVA. I had no idea such a CD even existed. Evidently it’s quite rare, as it was priced at 12,000 yen.

I was also tremendously surprised to see a rental case filled with American underarm stick deodorants. As I mentioned, the collecting fields of Japanese otaku are wide-ranging.

At the Lashinbang outlet in Nakano Broadway I finally found a used, perfect condition Churuya-san Nendoroid figure priced at 2,500 yen. I bought her. I was very surprised to see a Queen’s Blade Listy Nendoroid figure complete but with a shopworn box in the bargain bin for only 1,000 yen. At the Mandarake trading cards shop I discovered that I’d forgotten to transfer the katakana note I’d written explaining that I was searching for Dancing Blade Katteni Momotenshi Trading Seal Collection cards 3 & 31. So at some point in the next two weeks I’ll have to go back and ask. The shop’s glass display case held a selection of 80’s and 90’s shitajiki. Jon & I were amazed to see one for the obscure 1985 fantasy OVA Greed. I didn’t purchase it at 1,000 yen, but I probably will on my return trip. In the same glass case were two Cream Lemon shitajiki; one priced at 1,000 yen, and one bundled with two idol cards for 3,000 yen. While I collect Cream Lemon merchandise, I’ve never paid more than $15 for a single shitajiki, so I’ll have to give some thought to purchasing both of those examples. Inside the store I was exuberantly excited to find about a half-dozen Dirty Pair shitajiki priced at 600 yen each, including one that I didn’t previous own. The bargain bin had two thick stacks of shitajiki. The thicker stack was priced at 900 yen. Jon & I agreed by looking at the top and bottom pencil boards that the entire pack was likely representative of early 2000’s galge anime. The thinner 600 yen stack appeared to date from the 90s, so I purchased it. I typically avoid brown bag grab bags, but when I know that all of the contents are a single variety of item, such as H doujinshi grab bags, or all-shitajiki assorted lots, I’m far more likely to indulge just to enjoy the momentary surprise of seeing what I got.

At the Mandarake store for collectable anime books, I immediately aimed for the rear right wall where the magazine back-issues were kept. I’d glad that I found four of the 1980s anime magazines with Dirty Pair covers that I was looking for, but sadly several of the issues I was specifically looking for were not there. For example, in 1985 four issues of Out Magazine had Dirty Pair covers, but all four issues were missing from the store’s selection. Jon found a used copy of Buichi Terasawa’s Gundragon Sigma manga, his only purchase of the day.

At the Mandarake men’s doujinshi store, I felt a sense of satisfaction by being able to locate the selection of Saigado Publishing doujinshi on my own. I selected 8 of the circle’s latest releases that I needed for my ongoing collection. Jon located the selection of Skirt Tsuki doujinshi for me, allowing me to also purchase the artist’s latest Dirty Pair doujinshi, “Deka Pai.” As much by luck as diligence, Jon found the section for Mental Specialist doujinshi; however, the selection didn’t go far enough back to include any of Yoshimasa Watanabe’s vintage Dirty Pair books. I was disappointed to find that the store evidently didn’t have a section for doujinshi by Nawanoren, author of the NNDP series of Dirty Pair ero-doujinshi. I’m missing two of the, I believe, eleven NNDP doujinshi.

On the second floor, in a toy shop I spied at the very top of a shelf, just above my arm’s reach, a boxed 1:1 scale replica of the Cosmo Dragoon, the large handgun that Tetsuro carried in Galaxy Express 999. The 2008 Taito crane game prize that originally could be “won” for 100 yen was marked at 8,000 yen. The cheapest one available on Ebay at present is 16,300 yen. I promised Jon that I’d likely purchase it on my next visit to the store. While $80 for a cheap plastic toy seems quite hefty, it’s still half the amount I’d pay if I bought one from home in Florida.

I stopped to use the toilet. Jon took the opportunity to sit and rest. Outside the restrooms, I was amused to see a row of gachapon machines that offered, among other toys, “Salaryman Judo” figures, literally small capsule figures of Japanese men in business suits judo-throwing fellow businessmen. As I exited the loo, Jon & I took in one more store before deciding that we were worn out. The advantage of such a lengthy vacation stay is that I don’t need to jam-pack every day with activity. In roughly three hours of exploring Nakano Broadway, I’m sure that Jon & I saw most of the place and explored most of the stores that interested me.

On our way back to Jon’s apartment, we stopped at a small (the restaurant only seated 12 people) Thai food restaurant in Yotsuya Station’s Atre shopping center before walking past Jon’s apartment to the Aeon liquor store. I was impressed by the store because, unlike typical American liquor stores, this Japanese store sold both spirits and cooking ingredients for alcohol-infused dishes. Jon purchased a bottle of liquor for himself. I purchased a bottle of Belgian Liefmans Fruitesse mixed fruit beer and a bottle of Red Bocq. The former I quite enjoyed. The later turned out to be far too sweet for my palate, so I could only stand to consume half of the bottle before going to bed early at 8:30pm.