Newsgroups: rec.arts.anime

$Header: stores.japan,v 1.2 91/10/07 14:56:01 okamoto Exp $

Shopping for Anime in Tokyo
Provided by Jeff Okamoto

Last Modified: October 7, 1991

Thanks also to: Gordon Engel and Steve Mah

Books Libro (Jeff)
	Phone: ?
	Hours: ?
	Location: Books Libro is located on the B2 level of Seibu
	department store's main branch in Ikebukuro.  Get off at
	Ikebukuro station, enter Seibu, and look for a map.  The
	anime selection is towards the rear of the store.

	Selection: Books, books, books.  This was the only place I
	was able to find the "Art of ..." books and Roman Albums.

Books Kinokuniya (Jeff)
	Phone: ?
	Hours: ?
	Location: Get off at Shinjuku station.  This is by far the
	most confusing station in all of Tokyo, perhaps because it
	is one of the largest.  The exact exit escapes me, but I
	believe you want to head towards the central exit.  If you
	get out, you may be able to see Studio Alta, the giant TV
	that was featured in Megazone 23.  The street that Studio
	Alta is on is called Shinjuku-dori.  Keeping Studio Alta
	on the left, Books Kinokuniya is on the next block.  Go
	up the escalator to the CD and LD section.  Manga is on
	the 6th floor and in the basement.

	Selection: Their CD and LD selections are fairly good.
	Although the manga on the 6th floor is sparse, the selection
	in the basement is said to be quite extensive.

Anime Pero (Jeff)
	Phone: (03) 3356-4393
	Hours: ?
	Location: Continue down Shinjuku-dori.  On the right-hand
	side of the street will be a movie theater.  The entrance
	to the store is just before it.  The actual store is below
	ground and is quite small.

	Selection: Lots of posters and small stuff, including lots
	of idol and phone cards.  No CD's or LD's.

Animec (Jeff)
	Phone: (03) 3354-2261
	Hours: 11:00 - 19:00  (Sunday 10:00 - 19:00)
	Location: After passing Anime Pero, continue down Shinjuku-dori.
	You'll eventually find a Wendy's on the left-hand corner.
	[The Wendy's is still there, as of this date.] Turn right
	and go one "block".  Animec is on the second story.

	Selection: Lots of manga, some posters, CD's, video tapes.
	Some LD's.  They also have a good selection of manga and books.
	Some cells.

	Note: Animec is a good mile or so from Shinjuku station.  If
	you don't feel like walking, or the weather is bad, one
	entrance to the Shinjuku-gyoenmae station of the Marunouchi
	subway line is at the corner where the Wendy's is.

Animate (Ikebukuro) (Jeff)
	Phone: (03) 3988-1351
	Hours: ?
	Location: Get off at Ikebukuro station.  Follow the signs to
	the Seibu department store.  While still underground, there
	will be entrances on both sides of the corridor.  Ignore these
	and continue until you get to the street level.  If you look
	around, you should see an extremely tall building, the
	Sunshine 60.  Head in that general direction.  It's about a
	10 minute walk.  Animate is just across the street from the
	Sunshine 60 building.  It's on the side closest to the
	station and next to a store called Taro.  Thus, if you head
	more or less towards the Sunshine 60, turn left so the
	building is on your right, and the store will be on your left.

	Selection: Lots of different things, but no real depth.  They
	have manga, CD's, LD's, posters, small stuff, etc.

	(The elevators to the top of the Sunshine 60 hit a peak velocity
	of 600 meters/min.  Supposedly on a clear day you can see Mt.
	Fuji (which is 95 km away!).  The night-time view of downtown
	Tokyo is pretty nice too.

	Note: Animate can sometimes be very crowded.  Obvious times would
	be Saturday after school lets out, Sunday, and holidays.

Yamano Music Store (Ginza) (Jeff)
	Phone: ?
	Hours: ?
	Location: The one I went to is right in the middle of the
	Ginza section of Tokyo.  If memory serves, it's close by
	Mikimoto Pearls.

	Selection: Their anime CD section is pitiful.  But they do have
	a large selection of LD's on the top floor (4th?).

Ishimaru-denki (Jeff)
	Phone: ?
	Hours: ?
	Location: Get off at Akihabara station.  Follow the signs to
	Akihabara Electric Town.  Once you leave the station (from either
	direction), you will be in a kind of cul-de-sac.  Walking one
	block places you on the "main drag" of Akihabara.  Ishimaru-denki's
	1, 2, and 3 are all towards the left (to get to 2 and 3 you go to
	the intersection and turn right.  2 is on the left, 3 on the right).

	Selection: Ishimaru-3 had a large selection of LD's and CD's.
	Ishimaru-2 had smaller selections of both.

	NOTE: Ishimaru issues coupons worth 10% of all purchases, including
	purchases made through coupons.  They also give away freebie posters
	and other kitsch depending on how much you buy.

Disk Map (Jeff)
	Phone: 3253-6088
	Hours: ?
	Location: After getting to the main drag of Akihabara, turn right,
	go past the Yamagiwa Soft Shop (CD's and LD's) on the right, until
	you reach Kuramae-dori.  Turn left and left again at the next
	intersection.  Turn right at the next intersection.  It should be
	on the right.

	Selection: Used CD's and LD's, plus the more recent releases.
	I picked up Nausicaa for only Y7400 (list Y9300), and found some of
	Kinuko Ohmori's and other anime CD's at discounts of 33% to 50%.

??? (Jeff)
	Phone: ?
	Hours: ?
	Location: Take the subway system to Jimbocho station.  When you
	exit, look for a branch of the Dai-Ichi Kankyo Bank.  Nearly next
	door is a building with a glass elevator visible from the street.
	The anime and manga sections were, I believe, on the 5th, 6th,
	and 8th floors.

	Selection: I found some really old anime books and movie programs.
	They also have a pretty extensive manga section too.  Strangely
	enough, some of their manga is on the same floor as, and right next
	to, a whole pile of Japanese adult magazines.

My City (Shinjuku) (Jeff)
	Phone: ?
	Hours: ?
	Location: On top of Shinjuku station.  You can't miss it.  On
	the fifth (?) floor is a branch of Yamano Music store, which
	has a small selection of anime CD's, LD's, and Videos, but
	sometimes has those hard-to-find CD's.

Kotani Music Store (Shinjuku) (Gordon)
	Phone: (03) 3351-4151
	Hours: 10:30 - 19:00
	Address: 1-73 3-chome, Shijuku, Shinjuku-ku
	Location: On the other side of the theater (next to Anime Pero),
	on the same side of the street is a vertical sign that says
	DENON CD, but the store is actually called Kotani Music Store
	(they may have changed ownership, so look for the word "Kotani"
	on the front door).  It's a big (for Tokyo) music store, and
	has a large (1/2 bookcase) selection of Anime CD's, as well as
	a few CD singles.  This is where I bought most of my CD
	singles, since they seem to sell them a day earlier than the
	release date.

Hoshindo Books (Iidabashi) (Gordon)
	Phone: (03) 3235-5111
	Hours: ?
	Location: On the second floor of the Ramla department store,
	which shares a wall with the Iidabashi JR station.  It has a
	fair selection of manga, including many back issues.  Like a
	condensed version of Kinokuniya.  I wouldn't go out of my way
	for this one, it just happened to be conveniently near my hotel.
	[Gordon spent three months living in Japan.]

AILD (Steve)
	Phone: 03-5391-3261
	Hours: I think they close around 9:30 or so
	Location: If you're taking JR, get off at the Ikebukuro station and
	leave thru the West exit.  When you come out, there should be a
	McDonalds directly facing you (unless you take the underground
	passage beneath the street in which case you come out right next to
	it).  To the right of the McDonalds is a small alley, which is
	exactly where this place is.

	Selection: Almost exclusively LD's (they sell a few tapes).  Anime
	is on the ground/first level, and the selection is quite good.
	However, they don't seem to have discount coupons like Ishimaru
	Denki.  At the time I went, however, they were giving away free
	video release posters (Patlabor P-series, F-91, etc.- needless to
	say, I grabbed a bundle :-))  And if anyone is interested, the
	basement had Karaoke, the second level had regular movies, and the
	3rd was totally X-rated video tapes.

Manga no Mori (Manga Forest) (Steve)
	Phone: ???
	Hours: they close at 10PM on weekdays- I forget on weekends
	Location: also in Ikebukuro, it's right behind Tokyu Hands/Sunshine
	City.  If that's a little vague, let me know.  It's kind of in a
	back alley.  Basically, if you're facing Tokyo Hands, walk into the
	alley directly to the right, and make a left when you get to the
	next street.

	Selection: A very impressive selection of manga (they even sell
	American comics!) as well as some CD's, telephone cards, and LD's
	and video tapes of the more popular anime titles (e.g. Patlabor,
	BGC, Madara, Detonator Orgun- you get the idea).  As far as manga
	selection went, I'd say it had the best variety I'd seen in Tokyo
	(and none of the manga are bagged, so you can freely look at
	anything you want- at least for a little while; some clerks always
	seemed to be walking around saying something that I didn't quite
	catch).  I think they even book-cover the stuff you get (at least
	they did when I picked up Silent Mobius vol.3).  They also carried
	those "The Art of..." books (altho it seemed to be mostly from
	Miyazaki films).  Their selection of adult manga is to the right,
	when you enter and is the biggest I've seen. (I don't know if you
	want to print that last line :-))

Wave (Steve)
	Phone: ?
	Hours: ?
	Location: also in Ikebukuro (I guess you can tell I was staying in
	Ikebukuro, huh?).  If you come out of the Ikebukuro station's east
	exit, make a right and walk for a little while.  It's directly
	opposite some kind of museum of modern art or something.

	Selection: a good selection of CD's on the main level.  The
	selection of LD's on the bottom level is pretty good too, although
	they're catagorized by subject, so it's kind of difficult to find
	specific titles.  They don't offer discount coupons either, but
	there was something called a "Wave" card- I don't know if this gives
	you discounts or what, but it was prominently advertised.  If you go
	to the upper levels, you can find musical scores for various anime
	shows/movies.  (a/v fans might be interested in the HDTV display, as
	well as the surround sound demo setup).

Miscellaneous (Steve)

There was also a bookstore in Ikebukuro that had some manga, but I
don't remember the specifics.

Also, the Yodobashi Electronics store in Shinjuku has a whole level
devoted to LD's, but their anime selection isn't the greatest.  They
have a "Yodobashi Card", however, that gives you discounts on future
purchases, depending on how much you buy.

There were just tons of other smaller stores, but I don't remember
enough about them, so I'll just stop there.  But it might be
worthwhile to mention Harajuku- there were a couple of places there
that were selling anime-related toys, posters, dolls, etc. in that
extremely crowded store line-up that you see when you come off the
subway.

Oh, and just _one more place_.  There's a toy store on the bottom
level of Sunshine City directly facing the video arcade that sells
models, as well as Kiki/Totoro dolls (all sizes).  Maybe you saw it?
I know all of this is kind of vague- I have all the bags at home, so
maybe I can be more detailed later.