This article is based on a visit made on 14 November 2016.
As a shopping destination,
Akihabara is famous among fans of anime and manga, myself included, but it only really gained that distinction during the 2000s. Before that, there was Nakano, in the western suburbs of Tokyo, and in particular the Nakano Broadway (中野ブロードウェイ,
Nakano Brōdowei) shopping complex.
The road to Nakano Broadway begins right out of Nakano Station, and takes us through the Sunmall covered shopping arcade.
The Sunmall goes on for 250 metres (740 feet) and takes about 3 minutes to walk across... that is, unless you get distracted by its variety of shops and restaurants. Also, is it just me, or does that floor tile pattern make for a good optical illusion?
The entrance to Nakano Broadway itself stands at the end of the Sunmall. At the time of my visit, there was an ad campaign for a new movie trilogy based on
Cyborg 009, an old but popular manga series written by the prolific Shotaro Ishinomori. It's pronounced "zero-zero-nine", but I can't help but to say it "double-oh-nine", because I'm such a James Bond fan.
Nakano Broadway's shopping area consists of four floors plus a basement. While each floor has a mixture of store types, most of the otaku-focused places are on the 2nd and 3rd floor. The 1st floor has more places to buy clothes and accessories, many of them second-hand, where the basement has the most grocery shops, frequented by locals.
One brand with a very strong presence in Nakano Broadway is Mandarake, a store for pre-owned anime goods.
I've mentioned Mandarake before, specifically their store in Akihabara, and indeed they have branches all across Japan, but Nakano is, by far, their densest focus. Within Nakano Broadway alone, Mandarake has a whopping 30 stores! Mind you, some of them are smaller than others, but among them, there are stores which focus on specific interests. Many of them (such as Mandarake Headquarters on 3F, shown) just sell manga books, either professionally-published works or fan-made
dojinshi. If you have something you'd like to sell and share with others, they have a "buying desk" location on the 3rd floor, just a couple of doors down from the shop shown here.
I'm a little surprised that all those book sets appear to be standing out in the open, not behind any sort of protective glass. Maybe the Japanese can be trusted not to shoplift, or maybe they're scared to make such a move under the watchful eyes of Tetsujin-28 over there. (Or maybe there are just some security cameras I can't see in this shot. Yeah, it's probably that.)
One unique service offered by some stores in Nakano Broadway, and elsewhere in Japan, is the "rental case". Clients can pay a flat rate for one of the cases (which varies depending on the location; cases at eye-level are more expensive) and use them to store items they no longer need. Then, other shoppers can purchase either specific items or the entire contents of that case. These here aren't examples of rental cases; they're just sample displays outside a Mandarake store (Mandarake Katsudou Shashin (Movie), 2F), but you get the idea.
You can even buy cosplay outfits, too (Mandarake Cosplay, 2F)! Magical girls (from
Sailor Moon,
Madoka Magica, etc.) and Disney princess (from
Snow White,
Frozen, etc.) seemed to be perennial favourites when I was there. Of course, with prices for pre-made costumes reaching as much as ¥20,000 (US$200), not counting wigs or accessories, most cosplayers I know prefer to make their costumes themselves. At least, that's how I know it to be in countries like the US; I wonder if that's also the prevailing wisdom in Japan's cosplay scene?
Of course, it's more than just anime and manga fandoms that draw people to Nakano Broadway. Some people like to collect model cars, so there's a Mandarake for that. This one (Mandarake Daisharin (Car), 2F) had a bunch of James Bond cars and toys on display in the window, so of course I had to take a picture of that. Strangely, even though I'm a huge fan of 007, I didn't buy anything from there. That's probably for the best; some of this stuff was also going for tens of thousands of yen (hundreds of US dollars)!
From model cars, we go to model trains. Yes, this hobby has spread to Japan as well, and the wide array of limited-express trains that have operated over the years makes for an interesting variety. This store (Train Models Bigyard, 2F), which surprisingly is
not a branch of Mandarake, sells many kinds of model trains, including those (seen here on the front shelves) based on the "Azusa" and Odakyu "Romancecar" limited expresses. Hm, perhaps I should write up some
Know Your Trains articles on them...
Need a break from shopping? There are a few eateries and cafes in Nakano Broadway, mainly on the 1st, 2nd, and basement floors, complementing the restaurants along the Sunmall outside. The Fujiya bakery on the 1st floor has a small statue of its famous Peko-chan mascot up front, dressed in a seasonal kimono.
If you head back outside and off onto one of the side streets crossing the Sunmall, you'll find an even greater variety of restaurants, primarily noodle joints and
izakaya pubs. It's quite a densely-packed neighbourhood back here. And that's to say nothing of Nakano Broadway itself, where I got lost a couple of times. But I managed to find my way out in time for my next excursion: a tour to the one and only Studio Ghibli Museum, next time on Sekai Ichi!
Hours: Varies by store. Most stores open between 10:00 AM and 12:00 PM, and close around 8:00 PM. Closing days also vary by store, but are usually Wednesdays.
Access: Nakano Broadway is 3 minutes on foot from the north exit of Nakano Station. From Shinjuku Station, take the JR Chuo (Rapid)
(JC) line to Nakano (JC06, 5 minutes, ¥160, JR Pass OK); Chuo-Sobu (Local)
(JB) trains only take a couple of minutes longer. From Tokyo Station, take the Chuo line (20 minutes, ¥220, JR Pass OK), or walk to the nearby Otemachi Station and take the Tozai
(T) subway line (T01, 20 minutes, ¥200).
Website:
(English) (Japanese)
