[Day 10] Akihabara and Nakano: Victory and Defeat
I always seem to mix up Nagano and Nakano. Note to self: Nakano was never an Olympic city. It IS, however, an awesome mix of Harajuku and Akiba.
Got up early, determined to find Ragnarok Online volume 2 figures that day.
…what? You thought I came to Japan for the temples and castles and assorted culture? Ahahahahahaha! Fools! Not while I’m in Tokyo, hehehe.
After the quick look around Akiba I had on Friday, I didn’t feel confident about finding some there. It does tend to be the newest sets available in Denki Town, and generally the same ones available in each shop (although Aso Bit City had both Volume 1 and 3 in stock, which were released between 1 and 2 years ago). But I figured I’d give Akiba a quick look before heading off to Nakano - where Nakano Broadway is famed for having the largest range of rare, out-of-print and second-hand otaku goods in Tokyo.
Arrived in Akiba and checked out the larger shops (there’s just too many small shops hidden away in office blocks to explore). As expected, I couldn’t find any Volume 2 figures, just a few Volume 1 and 3 boxes. Did find a few good second-hand shops though, which had a nice selection of CDs and DVDs plus a few collector items. Must restrain myself until my last week in Japan though. Then I can blow all my cash. I might need it until then for things like food, heh. Made a few small purchases for the Lucky Dip Of Doom and after a Mister Donut lunch (gods bless Mister Donut), I jumped onto the Sobu-Chuo line to Nakano, marvelling at how the two best geek places in Tokyo are within 20 minutes of each other on the same train line.
Aaah, Nakano. This place is truly a mix of my two favourite places in Tokyo, but with slightly less style. On the plus side, there’s a lot less people, too. On weekends, the Harajuku kids can also be found out here in full glory (but generally unwilling to pose for photos - I guess that’s why they escaped to Nakano) shopping for cheap manga, cosplay outfits and other geekery.
Not many around on a Monday though. So! Off to Nakano Broadway - 4 floors of assorted stalls and shops selling retro toys, second-hand books and magazines, electronics, cosplay outfits and the like. Here you can find shops that have already opened boxes or capsules with figurines and sell them individually, or will group together an entire set and sell that in, basically, a plastic bag. This is probably a huge time and money saver since the capsule machines and figurine boxes are generally a lucky-dip. When I first bought Ragnarok Online figurines, I got Roan the first three times >.<
Found a good second-hand CD store two where I dropped about $150 on the pillows, BEAT CRUSADERS and Lupin III tributes, heh. Retail Therapy = Awesome.
Most of the character and figurines shops didn’t have any Volume 2 characters, some didn’t even have Volume 1 or 3. Asking the staff, they seemed to know what I was talking about, but they all made emphatic ‘no’ noises. I was beginning to think that both Nakano AND Akiba were going to fail me. Every shop is a jungle full of small plastic things though, so they really need a thorough examination. Every shop averaged 15 minutes of my time, and were usually fruitless.
Was getting frustrated, but I made my way to a store in a back corner that I remembered from my last stay in Japan. I had bought figures of Squall and Cloud as well as full sets of chibi Fullmetal Alchemist characters. They weren’t big finds either then or now, since all of it is fairly readily available, but because of those purchases, it probably qualified as my favorite shop in Nakano Broadway.
Walked in, scanned over the walls of little plastic packages that had individually wrapped figurines, didn’t see anything promising. Looked at the figures in the glass cases in case they’re so limited edition that they might not be for sale. Still nothing. Scan down near floor level in the baskets full of miscellaneous toys. Spot the Volume 3 boxes for sale. And perched on top….
!!!
Blue boxes! 2 blue boxes! Quick! Grab them! Holy crap, I actually found two Volume 2 figurines! I knew I could depend on this shop! Yay, Nakano! Ask the staff if there are any more. No, and completely expected since searching half of Nakano had only turned up two. But still! I have 2 figures! Quickly buy them and open them. An axe Blacksmith and a sword-wielding Knight. I don’t think either of those are the rare characters and I think (although I won’t be sure until I get home) that I already have the Blacksmith. But they could still be used as trades, should I find anyone else with duplicates! And now I know that they can actually be found in Nakano, so I’m keen to keep searching.
Wandering around some more and I spot a familiar font - FRUiTS! Hooooooooooboy, there’s a lot here! Hooray for the Japanese and how the never throw anything away! Even old issues of magazines can be found for sale! Bloody hell….issues 9 and 10?! Do you KNOW how much I could get for this on eBay?!
Still, I’m keeping these for my own collection. Any duplicates can get eBay-ed. Glee! I’m not sure which is more awesome! FRUiTS back issues for dirt-cheap and excellent condition or two RO figures? Trip to Nakano is thus far very successful! The woman who ran the magazine shop had such big eyes when I plonked the pile of magazines on the bench, asking if there were any more, heh.
A few more shops left to explore in case I spot any more Volume 2 figures. The magazines are bloody heavy so I won’t try to find any more FRUiTS, but I’ll be back in Tokyo later for that.
There is one likely-looking shop. I’ve found few Volume 1s individually wrapped and judging by the other characters for sale, it seems likely that this shop could have other Ragnarok Online figures hidden somewhere. This is as opposed to the shops that specialise only in mecha or DragonBall. I ask the girl at the counter if there were any RO characters. She says “Hai!” very confidently (the first store staff to have done that all day today) and bustles off to some drawers full of yet more figurines and pulled out that I hadn’t spotted until now. Sadly, they were Volume 3. But now I had an example to show her of the ones I want!
I reach into the bag to pull out the blue box…aah, dame, that was the Lucky Dip prize I bought in Akiba. Where’s the RO figures? Wait, where’s the bag the RO figures came in?! Wuuaaaaaahhh! Where’s the bag?! I lost the bag? HOW COULD I LOSE THE FUCKING BAG?!
Jesus H. Christ, I searched every damn corner of Akiba, Nakano and Den-Den Town in freakin’ OSAKA to find TWO LOUSY FIGURINES and then I managed to LOSE THEM?!
Head. Wall. Repeat.
At least….at least they weren’t the rare ones. Christ, I hope they weren’t the rare ones. And, at least I didn’t pay more than $8 for the pair of them. But…I lost the pair of them. Head. Wall. Head. Wall. Head. Wall. Fucking hell.
My arms ache from the heavy magazines and my feet ache from walking all day. I find an information booth but nothing has been handed into lost and found. I backtrack to shops where I may have put down the bags for a moment but find nothing. This is like that day I went to Pan no Mimi and managed to lose my camera case. Something about Kyoto makes me lose my camera case repeatedly. This time was a bit more worrying because the spare battery was in it but luckily I found it again. I was hoping I could have that luck again this time. But there’s so many people here with kids, one of them probably picked it up and decided they had found a free toy. Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!
Need to sit down somewhere. Why aren’t there public freaking benches in Japan?! And most of the restaurants here are the eat-at-the-counter types! All I want is something cold to drink and a seat, Nakano! Damn you! I settle for McDonalds. Children are screaming and running around behind me. Shut up, shut up, shut up! And give me back my RO figures you little shits! You took them, didn’t you?! GAAH!
Struggle back to the hostel, arms arching, feet dead, not happy. I have the magazines, which are great, and they weren’t expensive losses - those figures - but I’m still pissed after spending so much time and energy trying to find the bloody things.
It’s either a) been dumped in the trash, or b) been found by children who just scored free toys, never knowing how collectable they are, or c) been picked up by the store owner of wherever I dropped them, who DID know how collectable they were, and have since put them up for sale in their shop >.< Or eBay. Hah.
Wait, I should check the Japanese Yahoo! Auctions in case they put it up! Long call, but hey.
Didn’t find my lost figurines, but I did find someone selling the entire set of regular Volume 2 figures and the rare Blacksmith (turns out that the axe Blacksmith was the regular one, the rare one has a hammer). Make a bid. Have since won it, but it cost a bucketload. Still, day was somehow salvaged.
Nakano is going to get raided when I get back to Tokyo in case someone is selling my figures. Plus I can try and get more FRUiTS.
