Toy stores in Japan

[Houndog22]

Hi I was wondering if anyone can recommend some toy stores or interesting robot landmarks, museums I should visit. I am interested in Gundam, Transformers, and Super Sentai. Any city is fine for now but I am interested in the Tokyo area and any cities south to Okinawa.

[narita]

As most people would suggest would be Akihabara. Bic Camera and Mandarake are the 2 I always go to. Mandarake in Nakano station is pretty big as well. The Nakano area is starting to become like another Akihabara.

http://www.mandarake.co.jp/en/shop/

[3rdStryk3]

Here is a link to a previous thread:

http://www.cybertron.ca/boards/showt...shopping+japan

[SleeplessKnight]

I wonder if the giant Gundam statue is still there. If it is, I'd go check that out.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1468856.html

[Houndog22]

Thanks I think the Gundam statue is still around the Tokyo area and the Bandai Museum isn't too far away.

I have heard of Akihabara before for the toys. For robot searching are the stores in Akihabara and Mandarake stores generally places collectors go to find rare stuff or are they mostly up to date toys where if we wait a few weeks here in Canada we will probably get it? Would I have better luck finding some other figures in areas outside of Tokyo?

I am actually curious if there is a Takara/Tomy museum. Tried to google it but got Takara sake museum instead and an old link to an event.

[teruo313]

Originally Posted by Houndog22

Thanks I think the Gundam statue is still around the Tokyo area and the Bandai Museum isn't too far away.

I have heard of Akihabara before for the toys. For robot searching are the stores in Akihabara and Mandarake stores generally places collectors go to find rare stuff or are they mostly up to date toys where if we wait a few weeks here in Canada we will probably get it? Would I have better luck finding some other figures in areas outside of Tokyo?

I am actually curious if there is a Takara/Tomy museum. Tried to google it but got Takara sake museum instead and an old link to an event.

A number of the stores in Akihabara are hit or miss. For some of them, the contents of the store are actually all owned by other people and they "rent" a small section for their goods with the shop taking a percentage cut.

It really depends on what you are looking for, but if you hunt around, you can sometimes find some really good prices on items. However other times, you might find next to nothing worth while. One year I went I found a large selection of Japanese G1 and Beast Wars figures, while another time I found nothing but movie figures....

I would also suggest looking at Yodobashi in Akihabara. It's an electronics store, but they have a large section for toys. If you are looking for recently released items, they're a good bet since they are large and carry a large stock than the smaller shops in Akihabara.

Hope that helps.