(Japan Trip) Day 1: Nakano Broadway

Just like my previous post said, I just came back from my HK/Japan trip. I left on Aug. 5 and came back yesterday Aug. 30. It was a pretty last minute decision as I decided to attend my cousin's wedding in Hong Kong just under two weeks before actually leaving on the trip. Then since I thought I would be in Hong Kong, why not take a trip to Japan as well? To add to the excitement, I decided to backpack it. So I left Canada with only a backpack of my necessities.

This was a picture I took at the Toronto airport...just me and my backpack...

I didn't take many pictures in Hong Kong since I was mostly with family, so I won't talk about those here. I actually thought my time in Hong Kong could have been longer since I love being with my family and the 1.5 weeks I was there didn't seem like enough. I was there from Aug. 6 to Aug. 16. I left on Aug. 17 to Tokyo. I arrived pretty late to Haneda airport and to add to it all, the SIM cards that I bought from China Mobile did not work! (That was like $50 down the drain! Thanks China Mobile!). So I had to rent a mobile WiFi from the airport before heading off to Yugahara which was where I was staying for my four days in Tokyo.

Anyways, fast forward to the next day. For my first trip, I decided to go to Nakano to visit the infamous Nakano Broadway. Armed with two Japanese phrases (Sorry and Thank You), I proceeded to the train station. Long story short, I got lost and after asking some locals, I eventually got to Nakano.

This is the pathway leading up to Nakano Broadway.

First thing I did when I got there was to find something to eat, I settled for a unagi donburi from a shop next to the entrance of Nakano Broadway.

If I remember correctly, the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floor of this mall were mainly dedicated to toys. The special attraction of this place is that the Mandarake stores are there. Mandarake is a chain that specializes in 2nd hand toys. I love shopping at 2nd hand shops because I prefer the older stuff rather than the new releases. It's just more exciting since you don't know what you are going to find and if you will find a good deal too! There were so many toy shops here that I think I got a little dizzy after looking through probably 60% of them.

There were a bunch of Mandarake shops in this place, each specializing in something different. There was one for capsule toys, one for Tokusatsu (Kamen Rider and Power Rangers), one for western toys such as Star Wars, Alien, Predator, etc, one for Transformers, pretty sure there was one for 1/6 figures as well.

I didn't really take too many pictures here, partly because most shops don't allow taking pictures of their displays and partly because I was too busy checking the shops out lol. I spent pretty much the whole day here. I scored a few things here, but more on that later as I am still going through with organizing my loot from Japan haha.

I was in Japan for 12 days, I spent a couple of days in Tokyo, then traveled to Kyoto for a couple of days and slowly traveled back to Tokyo before departing. I will write a post for each day I spent in Japan. This has been a very satisfying and unforgettable trip for me, I already miss the place after being back in Canada for 2 days.

Tomorrow: Day 2 in Tokyo, which was more concentrated on sight-seeing rather than toy shopping.