Madarake
Continuing with the comics and anime, the largest collection of both mainstream and rare classic comics and anime, as well as a selection of Western comics and movies, is located at six Madarake stores in Japan. The main location is in Nakano that is split into twelve outlets representing various aspects of otaku culture. The Shibuya location is also massive and a smaller store located in Ikebukuro specifically for the ladies (as Ikebukuro is the epicenter of girl geek-dom in Tokyo).
Mandarake has all sorts of interesting items including old school Transformers from the ’80s, scale models of Godzilla vs. Mothra and the fully articulated Ultraman. Probably the most interesting thing that someone would actually buy is original animation cells of popular anime, including several from Hayao Miyazaki films like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away that retail for thousands.
Bic Camera/Yodabashi/Sakuraya
You’ll see these three stores everywhere in Tokyo. These chains basically dominate the market with their massive selection, nearly identical prices and nearly identical layouts. You’ll find nearly every brand of laptop, camera, DVD player, watches, audio equipment and everything else that needs to be plugged in. If you make a big purchase, be sure to bring your passport as foreigners usually qualify for duty-free shopping with purchases over 10,000Y ($100). Larger locations will have at least one or two staff members that speak English decently.
Kohjinsha SC3
There are a few gadgets available in Japan (and other parts of Asia) that are difficult to come by anywhere in North America. Kohjinsha’s tiny netbooks originally caught my eye when Futurelooks was in Taiwan for COMPUTEX but the latest release from this Singapore company is the most interesting. The SC3 is tiny with a 7-inch screen but packs features like GPS and a 1seg TV antenna and converts to a tablet-PC powered by an Intel Atom processor.
The only real problem is…there’s no way for anyone with human hands to type on this thing. The keyboard is beyond small and typing on it reminds me of that episode of The Office where Phyllis attempts to use a Blackberry. “How do you just press one button?”
Nissan GT-R
Sure, Nissan’s 480bhp beast will be arriving here in North America shortly, but Japan gets first shot at the homegrown supercar, which laps the Nurburgring in just under seven and a half minutes. It’s as fast as it is pretty and it’s even prettier in person. Make sure you hit the Nissan showroom when you’re there to marvel at its greatness.
Still Geek Mecca?
I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing that technology that was once found only in Japan is easily available for purchase on the Internet these days. On one hand, it sort of takes away a bit of the exclusivity and exotic appeal of the country. On the other hand, we get cool stuff easier. That isn’t to say that Japan is less fun than it used to be though as the last three months was absolutely awesome. In fact, it’s probably a better place for a vacation now than it was in years past, even though it might be tougher to find a unique gadget to wow you friends back home. Still, for sheer volume and concentration of technology, video games and general geekdom, it’s tough for any city to beat Tokyo.
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