Shopping Guides

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#003333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="0e8c8c00dduajq.jpg"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="95" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 46 WIDTH="91"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="46" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="91" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Kenshin stuff"><U><IMG SRC="397a0300.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="48" ALT="Kenshin-related things-includes a gallery, fanart, etc." ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id46.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Doujinshi"><U><IMG SRC="3a9a0300.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="48" ALT="Rurouni Kenshin Doujinshi Guide!" 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ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <IMG SRC="3ace03c0.jpg" border=0 width="480" height="60" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">     |    <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="_"><U><IMG SRC="3ab7e260.jpg" border=0 width="126" height="38" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tokyo Pics"><U>Tokyo Pics</U></A>   |   <B>Shopping Guides</B></div> <div> Shopping Guides</div> <div> Uhm, basically what helped us get so much anime things was the fact that my roommate did a lot of research ahead of time on the net to know where to find anime stores.  Also, contrary to what I might have thought, finding an anime store (or anything for that matter) in Tokyo is not an easy matter.  If we didn't know exactly where to go ahead of time, we would have never found anything and gone home relatively empty handed.  </div> <bR> <div> My reccomendation is to hit as many used book and anime stores as possible if you don't have much time.  That way you can get more for your money and possibly find some nice rare or out of print manga or doujinshi or other things.  Plus, you'll really be amazed at the low prices.  </div> <bR> <div> Also, what we did is hit about one district per day.  Make sure you look ahead of time what days certain stores are closed on.  It's not like the US where things close on Sundays.  In fact, if a store closes a day out of the week it's usually wednesday.  Be sure to find out ahead of time when plannin an itenerary.  We only had about three and a half shopping days, so really didn't have time to make a lot of subway transfers AND walk all over a district to the stores, not to mention the time it takes to find them even with good directions.  Then there's the time spent in each store.  If you're like me, you can spend HOURS in a single store poring through all the stuff.  Each store has different things- things I'd never seen before- stores I'd never been to before... it was WONDERFUL!  </div> <bR> <div> When you get to Tokyo and have your districts planned out, it is a good idea to plan out your connections on the subway before you actually go.  Some of the maps can be confusing as far as which connections are JR rail only, which can cause delays if you go all the way to one junction only to find out that you have to backtrack a long way because your next planned transfer was JR only.  Also, if you ever have any trouble with directions, don't feel hesitant to ask someone.  The Japanese are very helpful and will most likely walk you to your destination if they can or if they know how to get there.  Also, it really helps if you know even a little bit of Japanese.  The store owners will be more likely to try to help you find something and people you ask for directions will be able to understand you better.  Also, it is a good idea to ask multiple people along the way if you don't understand Japanese well- that way you know if you are on the right track.  (We had to do this a LOT in Akihabara.)</div> <bR> <div> K-Books and Mandarake are two chains of used manga, doujinshi, and other anime goods that have branches scattered about a couple districts. You can find really good prices there (ie Doujinshi for usually about 200 yen ($2) and manga for 150-300 yen.  Surprisingly, it wasn't cash that limited how much manga I bought, but the fact that whatever I bought I would have to carry around for the rest of the day.  While it is definately worth it, and you really don't care THAT much while you are high on anime, your hands and feet do start to really hurt.  I suggest to wear a backpack- that way you can put things you buy in it.  While it probably won't be enough, it will help your aching hands from more heavy plastic bags biting into them.</div> <bR> <div> The two best rescources on the net that I've found for shopping in Tokyo are the shopping guides on the <A HREF="http://home.att.ne.jp/yellow/wtbfh528/WAS07.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://home.att.ne.jp/yellow/wtbfh528/WA"><U>Anime Vi Shop</U></A> homepage and <A HREF="http://www.mindspring.com/~theduffields/Japanese.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.mindspring.com/~theduffields/"><U>Aka Tombo Japanese Files</U></A>.  They have maps, written directions, and information about what each carries.</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.mindspring.com/~theduffields/Japanese.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.mindspring.com/~theduffields/"><U><IMG SRC="229c8280.jpg" border=0 width="200" height="40" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A>  BTW, a <A HREF="http://www.mindspring.com/~theduffields/songs/songs.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.mindspring.com/~theduffields/"><U>branch</U></A> of this site also has the transliterations of most of the RK openers!</div> <bR> <div> A couple of pieces of advice:  If you only have a little time, you probably want to go to <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000BF" FACE="Arial" >Nakano</FONT>. It has a lot of anime stores in a small area that is easy to find.  As soon as you exit the subway station (from the north I believe) right across the street is a mall area.  (see the picture of Nakano on my Tokyo Pics page.)  The first bit of it is a kind of covered, yet open air mall.  When you see a sign that says "Broadway" over your head your are entering the indoor mall.  There's next to nothing anime-ways on the ground floor, but there are 3 more stories.  Each of the others has anime stores.  There are even escalators that lead directly to the storefronts of some of the anime stores.  There are maps of the mall in some of the stores that show directions to other stores.  There are 2 branches of<A HREF="http://www2.neweb.ne.jp/wd/anime/aws/e-aws.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www2.neweb.ne.jp/wd/anime/aws/e-a"><U> Anime World Star</U></A>, a cel shop in the mall, I don't know how many branches of Fujiya anime shops, each specializing in a different type of merchandice (ie LDs, videos, posters, etc.)  and like 3 storefronts on different stories of Mandarake, a used manga/doujinshi store!</div> <bR> <div> Akihabara<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > was the most confusing district in my opinion.  We had 2 maps that we had printed up, one was in black and white.  For the longest time we thought that the river was a road and visa versa.  Take my advice:  IF YOU HAVE CROSSED THE RIVER YOU ARE GOING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION!!!!!!  We literally wandered for hours because we had the maps at right angles to eachother.  There are some really nice stores there if you can find them, especially if you are in the market for cels.  Some of the stores are on a higher story, so you have to really have good directions or keep a close eye out.  Also, it is not incredibly apparent how to get up to some of the higher stories- sometimes a stairwell is hidden in the back of a store on a lower story.  There is also a K-Books here relatively close to the subway station with a nice selection of manga.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Ikebukuro<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >, or more specifically Sunshine City, has 2 K-Books and an Animate right next to eachother.  It's not that hard to find with a map and they each have a large selection of merchandice.  The Animate sells miscellaneous anime goods and knick-knacks like cards, pencil boards, and all sorts of paraphanelia that the companies decided to have an anime theme.  They are full-priced, but that is still cheap compared to the rate at which things go for in the states.  One of the K-Books (the one on the left when you face them) has doujinshi, manga, and other book-type things, while the other focuses on toys, LDs, Cards, videos, and a few cels.  Animate is between the 2 K-Books.  There was also a raman store between the Animate and  a K-Books, which makes a fairly cheap (around 700 yen) but satisfying lunch.</FONT></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>