Heroic's Toy Shop Guide Maps for HK, Osaka, Tokyo & SG

I'm 3 weeks into my 5 week trip and I have Done Tokyo and Osaka.

I have been primarily looking at G1 toys and any printed materials and I can basically reiterate what everyone else has said;

For Tokyo - if you want tonnage just go to Nakano Broadway and the Mandarake/other stores there. There is either too little quantity, or what is available is of lesser quality in any other location including Akihabara.

For Osaka - Mandarake Grand Chaos is a good place for G1 (Mandarake Umeda is just for Manga, although there are a few Transformers Generations books there), as is Hero Gangu in Den Den Town. I did not go to Jungle as I was just too mentally overwhelmed and I have since left the city.

Pictures available on request.

Remember that you can haggle prices with the manager at Hero Gangu, although if you don't speak Japanese you will need to bring along someone who can (as staff do not speak English). You can get a better discount over the tax exemption that most places offer if you spend over 5000JPY and produce a non-Japanese passport.

Eruntalon: Have you been able to meet up with any fans in Japan? If so, feel free to post news/pics about it on the Japan Meetup 2016 thread (and anyone else who may have done likewise is welcome to share on that thread too ;)). I always love socialising with other fans, and sometimes socialising with fans overseas can offer fresh insight which I otherwise may not come across with local meetups here (although I still enjoy those too :D). :) I did meet up with some anime fans in Tokyo but didn't post it on the thread since they weren't Transformers fans (I'm just keeping that thread about TF meets). :o

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

...Have you been able to meet up with any fans in Japan? If so, feel free to post news/pics about it on the Japan Meetup 2016 thread ...

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No I am sorry, I have been travelling around by myself and my itinerary is already too jam packed. Thanks for the suggestion though.

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Originally Posted by Eruntalon

Pictures available on request.

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Enjoy your trip. Pics would be much appreciated if it's not too much hassle.

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Originally Posted by Megatran

Enjoy your trip. Pics would be much appreciated if it's not too much hassle.

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Just a quick upload, descriptions are in image name:

http://smg.photobucket.com/user/erun...?sort=3&page=1

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Originally Posted by Eruntalon

I'm 3 weeks into my 5 week trip and I have Done Tokyo and Osaka.

I have been primarily looking at G1 toys and any printed materials and I can basically reiterate what everyone else has said;

For Tokyo - if you want tonnage just go to Nakano Broadway and the Mandarake/other stores there. There is either too little quantity, or what is available is of lesser quality in any other location including Akihabara.

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How much time would you recommend setting aside to go through Nakano Broadway? I'll be in Tokyo later this week but need to work out my Transformers hunting timeframe(and I know Manadrake Akihabara already but never got over to Nakano last visit).
Also anyone remember/know which Toys'r'Us there is the largest? Is it Ikebukuro?

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Originally Posted by Bladestorm

How much time would you recommend setting aside to go through Nakano Broadway?...

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Nakano Broadway consists of multiple shops on multiple floors all packed together. I was not able to visit all of them the day I went (I intend to go back in a few days before I leave the country) so I recommend at least 2 hours to properly look at the shops, I only gave myself about 1 hour after visiting The Ghibli Museum (same train line).

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Originally Posted by Eruntalon

Nakano Broadway consists of multiple shops on multiple floors all packed together. I was not able to visit all of them the day I went (I intend to go back in a few days before I leave the country) so I recommend at least 2 hours to properly look at the shops, I only gave myself about 1 hour after visiting The Ghibli Museum (same train line).

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Thanks for that. I'm going to assume it is something similar to In's Point or Sino Centre here in HK. Hopefully hubs won't mind too much being dragged around there for a couple of hours. ;)

Hoping to go TF shopping at some point in the next month, hopefully at Akihabara. I've got my eye on the Specialist Autobots set, which there are quite a few of on the Mandarake website. Should I expect them to likely have the item in store at the complex? Do they have many items like United or Henkei in store, consistent with their site?

Any help is appreciated. I've had a look at the maps, so any further recommendations for those kind of figures would be cool.

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Originally Posted by Bidoofdude

Hoping to go TF shopping at some point in the next month, hopefully at Akihabara. I've got my eye on the Specialist Autobots set, which there are quite a few of on the Mandarake website. Should I expect them to likely have the item in store at the complex? Do they have many items like United or Henkei in store, consistent with their site?

Any help is appreciated. I've had a look at the maps, so any further recommendations for those kind of figures would be cool.

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I found the website to be a lot different to their stores, but it could still be good to use as a guide as to what might be on the shelves. I assume that what is on the website is not on the shelf, because it would be hard to keep up with inventory that way considering the size and quantity of their stores. Perhaps if you went in with your phone and showed them what you were after on their website page they could help you out.