A Visit to the new Godzilla Store in Shinjuku Tokyo

It’s only been three days since Halloween. The monster parades are over, and yokai are no longer haunting up Tokyo Station. But, Japan’s resurgent obsession with Godzilla continues as November the 3rd 2016 marks the king of the monster’s 62nd birthday. Not a landmark year to be sure, but with Shin Godzilla standing as the second highest grossing film of the year in Japan, Gojira deserves all the love he’s getting. Enter Japan’s first Godzilla store, newly opened at Shinjuku’s Marui Annex, Tokyo.

Finding out where the Godzilla store actually was online was quite a challenge. Not because the websites are in Japanese, but because the location of the place is rarely included in any articles! Nevertheless, once I found the address the store was extremely easy to find. Right next to Shinjuku Sanchome station on Marui Annex’s first floor. Pretty hard to miss right?

Then there was the doorman.

So, the store itself! As the sign states outside, it’s less of a store and more of an event space kind of like pop up stores that you would see in a convention hall, but they really had gone all out, at least for the opening. Whilst the store will be there until the end of November, the opening in honour of Godzilla’s birthday had staff dressed up as anti Godzilla troops, and the Shin Godzilla VR experience on Playstation 4 for shoppers to try.

I had hoped to bag myself the elusive cinema exclusive Shin Godzilla figure (which now fetches crazy prices online). Unfortunately it was not to be, as rather than stocking the store with the initial release merchandise, new Shin Godzilla, store exclusive goodies have taken their place. It seems to be a new logo for the film featuring Godzilla stood in front of Tokyo Station, as featured on my t shirt here.

The store also set its sights on the crowd after something cute, no doubt a response to the Japanese fan reception to the now dubbed ‘Kamata-kun’.

But my favourite thing was no doubt the Godzilla Store medals they had on sale. If you’re not aware, at least since the 1990s whenever a new Godzilla film releases, cinemagoers are able to buy a medal that goes with the film in the lobby. So what makes this one particularly cool is that it marks the opening of the Godzilla Store with today’s date marked on it. It’s hard to say if these medals will be available during the entire time that the store is open, or if they’re exclusive to the opening day.

Chances are this is one of the last gasps of the Godzilla resurgence until the anime arrives next year. Either way, being in Japan this year, eating Godzilla snacks, seeing Takarada on tv, having the opportunity to buy endless amounts of merch has been great fun.

So where is the Godzilla Store? It’s on the first floor of the Marui Annex in Shinjuku, Tokyo and will be running from the third of November 2016, through to the 30th. 〒160-0022 Tokyo, 新宿区Shinjuku, 3−1−26

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