Somewhere near the front, I think, of the Tokyo Midtown shopping mall.
There was some sort of outdoor festival going on at the time when I arrived. I don't know what it was about, though. There was also an event for very young kids inside, too.
A very ritzy place with shops to match. I didn't even bother looking at them after seeing some of the well known high end names. Henry Winston, anyone?
This funky looking sculpture captured my attention for a while.
I like smooth rocks!
The main entrance to the Nakano Broadway shopping mall. Now, this is more my speed.
Looking sideways down one of the side streets while "inside" the mall.
The main branch stores of Mandarake are here. The next few pix are of its many stores scattered throughout this shopping mall. No photos are allowed here, though!
Fake sky! It's just a painting backlit by lights, or maybe backlit by real sunlight. Hard to tell. It's on the top floor, though. So, anything is possible.
My fave part; Volks Dollfie Dreams! But, check out those prices, though! Normal Volks pricing is only around US$600.
The Mandarake store back in "Akiba" (Akihabara).
Today started in Roppongi, then to Nakano and ended up back in Akihabara again. It was another very long and tiring day! But, an enjoyable one at that.
I had heard of Roppongi before and wanted to see what it was all about. There is supposed to be another very tall building there that you can go up and observe the city via the sky deck. But, I did not manage to find the building. Maybe next time. The place I ended up at, and where the photos come from is called "Tokyo Midtown". It's a very high end shopping mall right next door to the Ritz-Carlton Tokyo Hotel. You can imagine that I was way out of my league there. The only thing I managed to do at that mall was to eat some lunch. And, not at some restaurant either as that was way too expensive. But, at a grocery store with their cold take-out foods. It was not a very enjoyable lunch to say the least. I did not stick around there long after lunch and left shortly there after.
The next stop of the day was Nakano. There is a shopping mall directly across the street from the Nakano subway entrance. It's Nakano Broadway. It's hard to miss unless you're me! I didn't even see it as my attention was attracted by another building slightly to the left of it. It is a big white building and it captured my attention in the bright sunlight. Plus, the map out front did not name the shopping mall, nor indicate it in any way that I could read, or figure out. So, I took a guess and went for the white building. Mistake!
I eventually found the right place, though. It's an interesting "inside" lane of shops of every description selling almost everything, and at cheap prices, too. More my speed these days. But "inside" is not really inside for most of the mall as all it is is a roof built to cover the outsides of a series of buildings closely set together. Think of it as the backs of buildings facing each other, but made into the "fronts" now as they all face into the alley. Looking down some cross alleys, you can see what I mean (see one of the pix). It's an interesting place like I said.
The main reason I went to Nakano Broadway was to visit Mandarake's main flagship store. Mandarake being one of the main sellers of Otaku related goods in Japan; and the world via their website. Their items are "second hand" and include hard to get, out of production, items. As all these items are produced in low numbers, relative to other mass produced goods, this is the place to go to if you want something specific. And, "second hand" does not mean used in this case. Most of the items that I collect are also collected by others, but these others just buy them and resell them for a profit to Mandarake at a later date when they go up in value. They are usually bought and put into storage with this in mind. So, "second hand" here in these cases just means previously owned as an investment and not used. The boxes are still factory sealed. Obviously, the stock can change at a moments notice given this business model.
Anyways, at the end of this very long series of blocks that make up the mall, is a building that is four floors high and houses the many separate stores of Mandarake intermixed with other stores thoughout its four floors. I have lost count as to how many stores they have here, but it is well over half a dozen it seems. Each store caters to a specific area of interest; books and magiazines, figures, dolls, Mechas, Gundams, CD's and DVD's, etc. I spent the better part of the day here.
At the end of my day, I decided that I wanted another bowl of that delicious noodle soup from Chabuton inside Fort Camera. So, I headed back to Akiba for dinner. I was not disappointed, especially after today's less than stellar lunch. Afterwards, I wandered Akiba some more and also went to the Mandarake store there as well. I missed this store yesterday. I like the Akiba store's one stop location much better than the Nakano store's many locations. It's easier to see everything in one location.
Later, I went back to Volks and, as I was looking around, I accidently ran into some fellow collectors on a figure and dolls forum I belong to. It's a small world after all! We chatted for a while and hung out for a bit. And, after that, it was back home to my hotel for me after another very long and very tiring, but very enjoyable, day.
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