As I tried to come up with some clever title for my Tokyo recap, I really struggled to find the perfect name… it finally dawned on me that the most common question I got leading up to the trip was: “You’re traveling for toys?” So I figured the “Traveling for Toys” was quite fitting… we’ll go with it anyway.

After having a bit over a week to reflect on my trip to Singapore and Tokyo, I wanted to do a nice recap of the various places I visited in search of toys. This article will focus purely on Tokyo, as it was the primary destination for toys on my trip. Keep your eyes out for Traveling for Toys: Singapore, though, as I was fortunate to find a few nice pieces while visiting friends there as well.

The Trip

I started the Tokyo portion of this trip when I landed in Tokyo at 8:30am local time on a Monday. After taking the train to Shinjuku station and finding my hotel, I had one goal left for the day: Make it to Nakano Broadway.

Nakano Broadway

This is basically the promised land for toys in Japan. Nakano is quite literally an “Otaku heaven” (Otaku is used to define a person with a fanatic obsession with pop culture). In Nakano there are four floors of pure collector goodness and while it isn’t 100% toys, it’s not far from it. Nakano is home to a huge variety of small shops and chain stores alike. One of the largest collectible chain stores, Mandarake, has 12 different stores focusing on anything from plastic models to Power Rangers as well as a full store focused solely on high end robot toys.

The Small Shops

There are plenty of small shops in Nakano that are very much worth visiting. A large number of these shops act as mini-antique malls and lease space to other local sellers. To a buyer, this means an absolutely awesome variety of options. In some shops you’ll see a case full of Ultraman items, while the next case will house a completely random selection of collectibles. I found these to be the prime means of finding the truly obscure (and most often valuable) purchases- take for instance this incredibly rare Japanese Masters of the Universe promotional pin by Mattel that was buried in a case full of Godzilla toys.

Mandarake

Let’s circle back to the chain store I mentioned earlier- Mandarake. You’ll see this one further down, as they have a number of locations across Tokyo. For this portion, I just want to cover the various specialty stores in the Nakano Broadway. One of the first specialty locations I stumbled upon was focused primarily on Keshi / Gashapon offerings – this included a huge Kinnikuman (M.U.S.C.L.E. here in the USA) display, a variety of Battle Beasts, a great mix of video-game inspired collectibles, many US Wrestling figures, and a huge selection of luchador type wrestling masks.

Movie Posters

Next, I ran into (but unfortunately didn’t take a lot of pictures) a movie poster store. This Mandarake shop specialized in vintage movie posters- having thousands filed away for a wide range of movies from Godzilla to The Godfather.

Transformers

Next, and definitely one that I spent a lot of time in, I found Mandarake’s Transformers specialty store. This was an awesome sight to behold, with options ranging from G1 Takara (mostly in the window showcase, but also some inside the store) to knock off transformers, to modern offerings.

Power Rangers

Another favorite was the Power Rangers shop- focusing on Japan’s Super Sentai, Kamen Rider, and much more.

Retro Gaming

While not specifically toys, there’s a full Mandarake store that specializes in Retro Video Games. This place was pretty awesome, and while I didn’t end up spending much money here, I certainly could have. The selection was incredible, and there was a ton of vintage gaming goodness packed into this shop!

Models

Another Mandarake worth mentioning is the one focused on model kits. While I’m not a huge collector of model kits personally, I definitely appreciate the draw to them- the artwork on many of the boxes is absolutely stunning. This one was very small, but was an impressive display. The entrance was neat, even if it was about two feet too short…

The Mack Daddy Mandarake

The last, and certainly not least, Mandarake store in Nakano was on the top floor. This one had an amazing display of vintage robots and various sofubi outside of the store. The entrance to the store was a replica cobblestone-like walkway, underneath an elaborate Torii (Japanese archway) tunnel leading you into the store. In the hallway leading into the main shop, there were a number of display cases featuring some incredible Super Robot (Shogun Warriors) offerings ranging from affordable loose Popy die cast, to absolute top of the line offerings. This theme continued inside of the store, with an impressive selection of both Japanese tin toys, vintage sofubi, robots, and plenty of space ship toys.

Other shops in Nakano

There were a number of impressive small shops in Nakano Broadway. Unfortunately, I can’t read Japanese, so there’s no way I can tell you the names of any, but I did want to give you an idea of the selection available here. Check out the misc. pictures below for some of the random shots from the non-Mandarake shops at Nakano!

Next Stop… Mandarake – Akihabara

I mentioned before, you’ll see Mandarake again and here it is as #2, but this time it’s the Akihabara location. This one is quite impressive, featuring 8 floors of collecting goodness ranging from Robot and Monster toys to Anime and everything in between. Each floor is grouped by type- the top floor offers much of the miscellaneous stuff from vintage transformers to new Star Wars. The 7th floor is focused heavily on sofubi, Super Sentai, and Chogokin themed toys. I spent the vast majority of time on these two floors, and took the most pictures here as well, so that’s mostly what you’ll find below.

Super Potato – Akihabara

I wanted to check out the Super Potato close by in Akihabara, which primarily focuses on vintage video games and less on toys, however there are some toys offered here as well. I didn’t take a ton of pictures, but if you’re into video games this is definitely a great place to check out if you end up in the area.

Star Case – Koenji

As a Star Wars fan and collector, this one was a must-do. If you’ve got any interest in Star Wars, even if you don’t collect it, this one is worth the trip. They don’t allow photos inside of the shop, so there’s not a lot I can share here. There was a huge mix of stuff- literally just everything branded Star Wars. I found a couple great items here- some Japanese Myojo cards, a US issued two pack, and a carded Tskuda figure.

2000Toys – Koenji

This one was a hail mary visit, as I had only briefly heard of the shop. It’s not too long of a walk from the Koenji station, so if you’re going to visit Star Case anyway, it may be worth a visit. You’ll notice immediate that it is a cozy (okay, it’s tightly squeezed) shop that primarily has loose US figures. That said, though, there was a pretty solid selection- including an 18 inch Kenner Alien and more. I did find one nice Takara issued TMNT 10-back at a great price – so it was definitely worth the visit for me.

Mandarake – Shibuya

Did I mention Mandarake has a bunch of locations? Not all of them are as toy/collectible focused as the ones I’ve mentioned here, but the Shibuya location is definitely one that you’ll want to check out. The entrance can be a bit tricky to find- there’s a street level entrance on one side of the building, as well as elevator access if you find yourself inside of the main shopping center. This Mandarake is all on one floor (a very distinct wooden floor, even!) in the basement. About half of the basement perimeter is wrapped in glass display cases and full of toys all sorts – sofubi, vintage diecast figures and vehicles, tin windups, and much more. There’s a large selection of collectible cards, books, comics, and records here as well.

So, then what?

There’s a load of shops to check out in Tokyo, and I’m sure I’ve only scratched the surface here. If you have enough time to hit all of these and more (these, combined with the times I re-visited shops mentioned above, consumed most of a 6-day stay in Tokyo) – it’s worth going back to some of these as stock is regularly refreshed and you never know what you’ll find. Even at Nakano, I spent a significant amount of time there the first day (4+ hours) and went back the next afternoon and found things I had missed the day before. I circled back to Nakano one last time at the end of the trip and had plenty of new selection to choose from. Some of the smaller shops, like Star Case and 2000Toys, you’ll probably only need to budget one visit during your stay.

Bonus: Food!

Okay, it’s not toy-related, but it’s definitely worth mentioning for a Tokyo trip… If you’re remotely interested in Asian food, it’s tough to beat the food options in Tokyo. I definitely overdid it on food, but it was well worth it! Here’s a handful of my favorite meals from the trip!