I slept until 10:30 while trying to ignore the loud noise of the house next door being demolished. Finally Phil and I left the house and headed to Shibuya. As we walked out of the Hachiko Gate and toward the station, I reminded Phil about the history of Hachiko while pointing out the statue of the eponymous dog. We crossed the famous Ningen Crossing. I originally wanted to navigate to the Shibuya Mandarake store from memory, but I found that I couldn’t remember whether it was to the left or right of the Shibuya 109 building. I also had trouble finding the police box that serves as a landmark. So Phil consulted Google Maps to guide us on the right route.
To conserve Phil’s leg strength, I pointed out the stairwell that led to the second floor of the basement, and we walked around to the elevator bank to descend.
I navigated to the H doujinshi section in the corner. I found the Saigado section, but it doesn’t contain the manga I’m looking for. Then I noticed that none of the other creator groups I was interested in seemed to have a dedicated section on the bookshelf. As I was flipping through my new inventory of uncategorized fandom on my bookshelf, I came across something particularly odd, a collection of more than 200 vintage newspaper ads for the 1978 film Dawn of the Dead. The 600 yen doujin is too unique for me to pass up. Among the new fandoms, I also found a copy of Circle Outerworld street fighter The manga “Haru no Otozure” sells for $2,000. Although not cheap, this comic was cheaper than what I had previously found online, so I decided to buy it.
I noticed that the selection of movie comics had moved from one side of the store to the other. There is one in the store Creamy Lemon Hardcover movie comic, first edition of 8 volumes, without belt, priced at 2,500 yen. My collector’s copy is the second edition. I would have preferred to find a copy with a belt, but I decided to purchase the book anyway. Phil found it on the shelf Kochi Turtle The first volume of the manga is priced at 300 yen. I was attracted to a 1981 edition in excellent condition and worth 7,700 yen Shonen Jump which contains the first occurrence of cat eye. But I decided that if I was going to spend that much money, I should spend it on an item I didn’t already own. My copy is in pretty bad shape.
Next to the elevator, we see a poster announcing that Mandarake will pay 3 million yen for a specific vintage Kamen Rider vinyl figure in any condition.
We took the elevator to the Animate store on the third floor. I would like to find and purchase a second copy of the current edition dirty pair Illustrated book, but this Animate store doesn’t have any in stock.
We left the building and walked a block to the Shibuya Parco department store. We took the escalator to the sixth floor. On each of the first five floors, Phil and I wondered if we were in the right place. At first glance, the Parco building appears to be a trendy, upscale shopping mall rather than an otaku-focused venue. However, this view changed when the sixth floor came into view.
About half of the sixth floor is dedicated to the Nintendo Store. The sixth floor of the Parco Building also houses the official branches of the Godzilla Shop and Jump Shop, the Capcom Shop, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Shop and Cafe, and the Remote Control Vehicle Shop. To my dismay, I couldn’t find items in the Capcom store with images of Chun-Li or Juri and the Capcom store logo. At the Jump Store, I did spend 200 yen on a machine that produces flattened coins embossed with a bust of Lufy D. Monkey and the Jump Store logo.
We returned to the station and took the train to Akihabara, mainly so that we could see the Broadcasting Center building and Phil could see the city.
Akihabara has long been a store focusing on unique Akihabara anime merchandise. It now has a larger selection of anime-themed bottles of wine than the last time I saw it. I also saw a plush kogal hello kitty I originally planned to go out and buy it, but forgot.
We took a quick tour of the first nine floors of the Broadcasting Hall building, skipping the fourth floor (which was entirely the amiami store I was familiar with) and the tenth floor, which is the building’s event space. In Akiba no The price is about 150 yen more than the price at Nakano Broadway, but in order to not have to go back to Nakano Broadway to look for figures, it is still worth spending the extra 150 yen. So I bought this figure in Akihabara. It’s worth noting that the ninth floor is technically a trading card store. Then I took Phil down the road and across the street to the Mandalak Building.
My phone rang. My friend Jon is calling from Yotsuya. I told him that after Phil and I left the Mandalak Building, I would return his call and arrange for us to have breakfast together.
After visiting the Mandalak building, Phil and I rested in the courtyard behind the second Mandalak building, waiting for Jon’s arrival. Jon found us at five after six p.m. He took us off Chuo Avenue to a Torii Izakaya, where the three of us spent two hours ordering chicken and beef skewers, cheese croquettes, drinks, and desserts. To our surprise, after two hours of eating and talking, the bill came to 8,970 yen, which seemed very reasonable for a hearty dinner for three people.
We parted with the loose promise that Jon would meet us on Sunday for the SDF17 doujinshi convention at Tokyo Big Sight.
