TOKYO SHOPS

MAPS available by clicking on the all capitalized district names.
For the sake of detail, the maps are fairly large images, so please be patient.
All maps copyright to their various creators and publishers.

Tokyo Cross Reference
a guide to which stores sell what

If you have any questions, comments, corrections or additions, please email me. Thanks. ^_^

SHINJUKU

EAST SIDE

Animec
Hours: 11am ~ 7pm weekdays, 10am ~ 7pm weekends, Closed on Wednesdays
03-3354-2261
Shinjuku-ku, Shinjuku 2-1-1, Rapo-topia Biru 2F
Animec is down Shinjuku Dori (the main drag running perpendicular to the station, east exit). It's a long way. Keep going until you come to an intersection with a Wendy's catty-cornered to a Shinjuku Gyoenmae subway exit. At the station exit, turn right. It's the brick building at the end of the street, opposite the gas station to the left, and the Park in front, 2F. There should be a sign at the foot of the stairs. They carry lots of books, a decent selection of knicknacks and CDs, and a limited selection of cels, LDs and videos. Credit cards OK, over 3000Y. Animec has seiriken*, though they don't always give them to gaijin. ^^'

Anime Pero
Hours: 11am ~ 6pm daily, 10am ~ 7pm during summer vacation, Closed on Thursdays, except during summer vacation
03-3356-4393
Shinjuku-ku, Shinjuku 3-1-26 Toei Gekijo Chika (basement)
In the basement of the Toei Theater, Pero carries all sorts of anime knicknacks, but no books, videos or games and only a limited selection of CDs and LDs. It's located on the south side of Shinjuku Dori, about half way between Meiji Dori and Gyoen Dori, a good 8-10 minutes from the station. Pero has seiriken*.

The old lady who sells cels in front of Anime Pero does it on weekends and holidays, when the weather is nice. She mainly sells TV show cels.

Kinokuniya's basement has a good manga shop which has a limited selection of dojinshi. Kinokuniya is located on the northeast corner of a lighted intersection on Shinjuku Dori, about 2-3 minutes from the station. It's east of Marui Young and west of Mitsukoshi.

Ad Hoc
I've never been to this store, here's what Alice has to say about it:
Kinokuniya deserves a separate listing because it has Ad Hoc, the one where you have to walk past the main bookstore and cross a tiny street in its back and they have that manga section. It's not really a basement, so I got kind of confused. I know Ad Hoc from other ppl...Ad Hoc first floor is all manga, the newest available, plus anime magazines, and some artbooks. 2nd floor is cute stationery stuff, 3rd floor has computer stuff where I bought some anime CD-Roms. Right before you cross the little street for Ad Hoc, there is a computer game/hobby magazines' shop.
Please note that Ad Hoc and the shop in Kinokuniya's basement are two different shops.

Manga no Mori
Hours: 10am ~ 10pm daily
03-3341-0921
Shinjuku-ku, Shinjuku 3-35-1
This Manga no Mori is narrow and always crowded; don't bother. All Manga no Mori carry little other than books. It's a short walk down the stairs and a couple blocks east of the southeast exit of the station.

HYPERHOBBY Yellow Submarine
Hours: 12pm ~ 9pm weekdays, 11am ~ 8pm weekends
03-3352-2422
Shinjuku-ku, Shinjuku 2-12-4, Ako-do(Accord?) Biru 6F
Another model shop I've never been to. It's on a corner on the east side of Gyoen Dori, about three blocks north of Shinjuku Dori. There is a 'Jump Rent-a-car' on the first floor. The instructions recommend taking the C5 exit for the Morunouchi line's Shinjuku Sanchome, but the map suggests they meant to say the Toei Shinjuku line's Shinjuku Sanchome station. If you go, won't you let me know? ^_^ They seems to specialize in figure models.

WEST SIDE

Yellow Submarine
Hours: 10am ~ 9pm daily
03-3346-3839
Shinjuku-ku Nishi-Shinjuku 1-18-14, Hashiba Biru 3F
They carry standard anime stuff. Take the south exit, head west and around the corner. Head north just far enough to come to the first street perpendicular to the station. It should be called Kokusai Dori and have a Lumine and a bank on the corners. Head down that about a block and a half, past a Dotour. You'll find Yellow Submarine poorly marked on the south side of the street. Look for dark, narrow stairs. ^^ There is also a second store somewhere in the area which sells military models and RPG stuff. If you ask, they should be able to tell you where.

Books Ain (sp?)
Hours: 11:30am ~ 8pm weekdays, 11am ~ 8pm weekends
03-3342-2781
Shinjuku-ku, Nishi-Shinjuku 1-11-12, Shoda (?) Biru 3F
I've never been here, but it seems to be a ladies dojinshi shop. If anyone goes there, please write me back! ^_^ Take the central west exit and look for an Asahi Bank. That should be the beginning of Plaza Dori, which runs perpendicular to the station. The building is on the south side of Plaza Dori, about a block and a half west of the station, in the same block as the Hokkaido Bank.

SHIBUYA

Comic Station
Hours: 10am ~ 8pm daily
03-3406-9319
Shibuya-ku, Shibuya 2-21-12, Tokyu Bunka Kaikan 6F
Comic Station is located in the Tokyu Bunka Kaikan, across the street from the east side of Shibuya station. It displays many signboards and some art by which ever artist they're featuring at the time (usually a more obscure artist, like Shu Katayama). 6F, to the right as you exit the elevator. They're primarily a book store, but they also carry art supplies in the back.

Animate
information unavailable, hours of other stores are: 10am ~7pm daily
This shop lies east of the station, somewhere in Shibuya 1 Chome, not too far from the station.

Manga no Mori
Hours: 10am ~ 10pm daily
03-5489-0257
Shibuya-ku, Udagawa-cho 12-10
Another impossibly narrow wedge of a store, though usually not as crowded as the Shinjuku branch. This one carries some US comics. All Manga no Mori carry little other than books. Like many places in Shibuya, it takes some effort to find this place; I hope the map and my friend's directions to Mandarake help. As I recall, it's right next to a McDonald's. Alice says Shibuya Manga no Mori is right across from the main entrance of Mandarake and it's next to a fast food restaurant.

Mandarake
03-3477-0777
other information unavailable, hours of the old store and the other stores are: 12pm ~ 8 pm daily
The new Mandarake has a cave-like enterance with an escalator leading down from the first floor of the BEAM building, a department store like place across the street from Manga no Mori. Mandarake are amazing; expect to spend a whole day shopping there. The employees have to dress like characters and, in this store, they have to do karakoe when no customers want to.

Here are directions from a friend of mine: (Thank you, Dave ^o^)
To get there, go out the Hachiko exit in Shibuya station, and cross the street at that major intersection (probably the busiest pedestrian intersection in Japan ... worth going just to see that!). Walk down the pedestrian street, go past the Kentucky Fried Chicken and the First Kitchen (both on the left). At the next intersection past First Kitchen, you can turn right or keep going straight. If you turn right, go to the next corner (they'll be a clothing store on your left), and a Y in the street with a police box at the wedge-shaped corner. Take the right fork, and an entrance to Mandarake will be on your left. You can also go inside the Beam building and take the elevators (B2). If you kept going straight back at the turn off, turn right at the next corner, then left again, and you'll be at the back side of the Beam building. Just go inside and take the elevator to the B2 floor.
This Mandarake has coin lockers where you MUST put your bags. They take 100 yen coins, but refund them, and if you don't have a coin, they have change machines right by the elevator.

Alice also wants to give the directions a try:
Thanks for telling me to get off at the Hachiko exit because going out any other exit would have meant prolonged and unnecessary walking. Walk down the street and it will split into three. You want to take the street that has Seibu Loft, which is the right fork (yep, this is where I didn't see either KFC or First Kitchen and got lost--we finally got there by following directions from a Tokyu Hands employee, which is very close by Mandarake). Be careful because the Beam Building isn't that well marked, it's got silver lettering that's hard to see. Try not to be distracted by the "Shibuya Beam INTI produced by NAMCO" Entertainment/Game Center which you can see when you are waiting for the elevator (the ground floor of the Beam Building) to go down to Mandarake. Also look for Plaza Equus (Horse-Racing Center) on the first floor just to make sure you are in the right place. And go earlier in the morning cuz it gets kind of crowded later into the day.
Other tips: If you go during cold weather, stuff your jacket into the locker because it gets super hot down there. You are going to root through stuff and carry goodies so it's good to not wear your jacket. And if a person who starts singing karaoke is REALLY bad, try to keep your mean comments to yourself ;p laugh Oh, don't line up with everyone to go in. I figured out that that was the line to get in if you want to sing karaoke and the saleslady dressed like Ryoko thought I was a retard when I was like, I just want to go in and shop, I don't want to sing! No seriken.

VOLKS
Hours: 11am ~ 8pm, closed Wednesdays
03-3780-0875
Shibuya-ku, Udagawa-cho 38-1
This is the super fantastic model shop, not the steak house. ^^ I'm not a model buff, but I find this store mesmerizing. If you're a FFS fan, Volks is heaven. Besides tons of amazing mecha and character models, they also have lots of modeling supplies and a small selection of LDs. Good luck in finding this place, though; it's tucked away on the edge of the club district down a short stair. It's a nice little brick building with a blue awning near a bend in the road. I hope the map will help you. Be warned, it's one of those stores which is sometimes closed for no reason.

MARK
Hours: 10am ~ 8:30 daily
03-3464-6627
Shibuya-ku, Udagawa-cho 15-1, Shibuya Parco Part 1, 6F
A nice store with a wide variety of models, though not a lot of mecha. They also have modeling supplies and a decent RPG selection. If you buy a lot, be sure to get the seiriken. It's in Shibuya Parko Part 1 on the west side of Koen Dori. That's north of the station, on the way to the NHK building(s) and Yoyogi Park. Werner couldn't find it and believes it may be gone. ;_;

B-CLUB Yellow Submarine
Hours: 12pm ~ 9pm daily
03-3462-7466
Shukuya-ku, Jinnan 1-20-8, Hogaden (?) Biru 4F
I've never been here, so any info would be great (like the yomi of the building ^^). It's a model shop on the northeast side of Koen Dori. It's in the middle of the block after the Marui main store, heading north from the station. I hope the map helps.

IKEBUKURO

Animate
information unavailable, hours of other stores are: 10am ~7pm daily
It's across the street from Sunshine City, one of the largest buildings in Tokyo and one of the beloved landmarks trashed in the movie 'X'. ^^ The first floor has all the latest anime knicknacks. The second floor has CDs, LDs, videos, etc, and art books. The third floor has manga and some dojinshi. Be sure to get your seiriken*. Though I seldom shopped there (I had an Animate close to my place ^^), for some reason this shop is very popular with foriegn fans. I have encountered attitude problems with more than one staff person on the first floor, a charming legacy left by other fans (she says with icy scarcasam -_-#). So, try to be a good customer, OK?
To get there, take the station's east exit and head southeast a bit, following Green Odori, a big street with a bit of vegitation in the middle. Get to the northeast side of the street. There should be wide sidewalks with street vendors and a K shaped intersection a few blocks down. The smallest of the roads, usually too crowded for cars, is Rokujukkai Dori. Take this through the swarming masses, past Tokyu Hands, (don't let the game centers distract you! ^_-) until you come to a big intersection. Cross the street and keep going straight for two blocks. This should bring you to an intersection with a park across the street and a commanding view of Sunshine City to your right/south. Turn right and you'll find Animate in the middle of the block.

Alice suggests: It's a LONG walk from Ikebukuro's main station to Sunshine City so I went to the Higashi-Ikebukuro stop on the Yurakcho Line to walk to Sunshine City.

K-BOOKS
Hours: 12pm ~ 8pm daily
03-3985-5456 2F, 03-3985-5438~9 3F
Toshima-ku, Higashi-Ikebukuro 3-2-1, Saniwa Biru 2F, 3F
K-BOOKS is like Mandarake only smaller and with seiriken*, but no LDs and the like. It's on the same street as Animate, across from Sunshine City. According to Mike, K-Books now takes up 3 floors. Here's what he had to say: 1st floor - Newer manga & art books. 2nd floor - More manga, tons of men's dojinshi and adult manga. 3rd floor - ALL lady's dojinshi, regular and adult.
I don't know what the deal is with K-Books, but this store changes constantly. I have put the most recent report of what they sell on which floor.

Manga no Mori
Hours: 10am ~ 10pm daily
03-5396-1245
Toshima-ku, Higashi-Ikebukuro 1-28-1
This Manga no Mori is a much nicer space than many of the others. It's on the first floor, a little off the street. All Manga no Mori carry little other than books. It's on a little street with several other fan shops, behind Tokyu hands.

ANIME FANTASIA WORLD
Hours: 11am ~ 10pm daily
03-3986-0902
Toshima-ku, Higashi-Ikebukuro 1-27-2, Sunrise Biru 2~4F
Located across the street from Manga no Mori. 2nd floor - Used video, LD and CD. 3rd floor - VIDEO RENTAL ONLY (they will only rent to residents of Japan). 4th floor - manga and a decent selection of dojinshi.

COMICBANK
Hours: 10am ~ 10pm daily
03-5391-3490
Toshima-ku, Higashi-Ikebukuro 1-20-3
Mike spent 2 hours and couldn't find the place, nor did local anime shop owners recognize the name. Looks like Comicbank is history. ;_;

Garage Box
Hours: 11am ~ 8pm
30-3983-8988
Toshima-ku, Higashi-Ikebukuro 1-14-15, Suzuki Biru 5F
I've never been here; please tell me what it's like. It's in the most active part of Ikebukuro, just off of Rokujukkai Dori. Find Rokujukkai Dori and head northeast, toward Tokyu Hands, until you see a Wendy's. Turn north. Garage Box is on the west side of the street about half a block up. Lots of models and supplies. Mike thinks this may now be a Yellow Submarine.

Post Hobby
Hours: 10am ~ 8pm
03-5391-8365
Toshima-ku, Minami-Ikebukuro 1-28-2, Ikebukuro Parco 5F
Where better to get your modeling needs than a store run by one of the premier model supply companies? This is another place I've never been to. Parco can be confusing; just be sure to get on the right elevator. The Parco building is part of the station, just north of the east exit (though you can get to Parco without leaving the station).

Liberty
03-3983-8890
other information unavailable, hours of other stores are: 10am ~10pm daily
This Liberty is on the second and third floors of a narrow little building with a stairwell facing north in a building on the west side of the station. As you leave the west exit, turn south, following the sidewalk in front of the Tobu department store. Cross the street when you see a Mitsubishi Trust; it'll be a block down from the Fuji Bank. The entrance is in the block just south of the Mitsubishi Trust. The road it faces looks more like an alley.
Or if this sounds too complicated, try Mike's directions: As you leave Ikebukuro station's west exit, look to the left, down the street, and you will see a giant red and white sign that reads "CD", with some smaller print underneath, this is Liberty Ikebukuro.

Alice thought some of you might like to know that Kiddy Land, in the Metropolitan Dept. Store, sells Totoro plushies, Moomin plushies, and other really cute stuff. I believe she is refering to the Tobu Departnent store on the west side of the station. Most department stores have decent toy stores; Tobu Ikebukuro has one of the better ones.

NAKANO

Mandarake/Mandrake
Hours: 12am ~ 8pm daily
books 03-3385-6459, dojinshi 03-3388-5513, gallery 03-3388-3336, everything else 03-3387-3335
Nakano-ku, Nakano 5-52-15, Broadway Center 3, 4F
This Mandarake is located in the Broadway Center, just north of the JR station. You have to walk through a covered shopping area called Sunmall to get to the main entrance of the building. If you exit the north side of the station, the shopping area is pretty obvious. This Mandarake is divided into several sections on several different floors.
The main section primarily has books/manga. If you use the escalator to the 3rd floor, you can't miss it.
The model/toy/CD/LD/cel section of the store also has an obvious entrance. It's on the 4th floor, up the stairs closest to the station.
Across from this section, next to the stairwell, is a gallery of expensive rare stuff, including autographs and sketches. The gallery wraps around the corner. If you want to buy something, you have to get a clerk to help you. Not everything is for sale; some items are sold in a lottery.
If you continue down the hall, you will come to the dojinshi section of the store, called Ladies. Just look for lots of women; there are usually a few posters out and sometimes a table and chairs.

Anime World Star
03-3386-0231
03-3386-0389
This is a cel shop which, according to it's site, now has two branches on the 3rd floor of Broadway Center. One is on the west side of the east wing, the other on the east side of the west wing, close to the main section of Mandarake. They carry a wide but expensive (for Japan) selection of cels as well as some anime odds and ends and X-rated cels. One friend has reported that they are a good place for finding collectable cards.

Fujiya AVIC LD-kan
Hours: 10:30am ~ 8pm daily, closed for a few days in the middle of August
03-3386-5925
Nakano-ku, Nakano 5-52-15, Broadway Center 3F
This new and used LD shop is on the third floor in the northeast corner of Broadway Center. You can get some great prices from them, but sometimes they'll mix box sets and sell them together in a group.

There are also used CD and record shops in and around Broadway Center. One friend has reported another cel shop on the 4th floor, too.

Nakano is on the Chuo line. Don't be afraid to use junkyu; I believe all regular Chuo trains stop there.

AKIHABARA

K-BOOKS
Hours: 12pm ~ 8 pm daily
03-5295-1517
Chiyoda-ku, Soto Kanda 1-8-10, Bowhouse (?) Biru 5F
According to the ad, it specializes in mens dojinshi. I hope the map helps. Werner says it also has manga, artbooks, posters, some cels and other manga related stuff.

Hobi- Shop Kyara
Hours: unknown
03-5256-0423
Chiyoda-ku, Soto Kanda 1-8-10, Bowhouse(?) 6F
I've never been to this one, either. Please, tell me what it's like. ^_^ It's one floor up from K-BOOKS; I hope the map helps. According to it's ad, it sells not only CDs and LDs but a variety of character goods.

There may be a VOLKS in Bowhouse or nearby. According to Werner, when you leave Akihabara station the buildings in FRONT of you are full of manga shops: VOLKS, K-Books and some others. Under VOLKS is another shop with a lot of model kits. I am assuming he is refering to JR's Akihabara station.

Liberty
Hours: 10am ~ 10pm
01-2036-1288, 03-5295-2427
Chiyoda-ku, Soto Kanda 4-4-3
There are 4 of these in Akihabara. They carry new and used LDs, CDs, etc and have seiriken*. Their new CDs are discounted and the turn around on some of the used stuff is amazing. I've seen used LD box sets in Liberty the same week they were released. They're all on the northwest side of the station. Akihabara station can be tricky, so be good luck.
I recommend Liberty 4, because it's the easiest to find and has the most room to shop in. If you're looking for LDs, be sure to take the little elevator to the other LD floor. To get there, first find Chuo Dori. Just walk west from the station, it's the monster street with all the lights about 1 long block west. Take Chuo Dori north about 10 minutes, depending on how well you navigate the crowds. Liberty 4 will be on the east side of Chuo Dori, on the corner of a narrow street. It'll probably have a couple displays of LDs out front.
Liberty 1 is a narrow little building across the street from Liberty 4, on the west side of Chuo Dori.
To get to Liberty 3, follow the street which parallels the train lines headed west. Cross Chuo Dori and it's in the middle of the next block, down a flight of stairs. It's the smallest of the bunch.
It's hard to give directions to Liberty 2, after all this time away from Japan. I hope the map helps. It has 3 floors and is a narrow little place.

Ishimaru Denki Soft One
Hours: 10am ~ 7:30 pm, daily, until 8pm on Fridays and Saturdays.
03-3251-5555/3550
Chiyoda-ku, Soto Kanda 3-1-16
This is a new LD place on the second floor of a big electronics shop. The escalator on the left side of the building will take you there. It's west, up the main street intersecting Chuo Dori, on the north side of the street. Look for the big Ishimau Denki sign.

Book Tower
hours: 11am ~ 7:30pm weekdays, 11am ~ 7pm weekends, Closed the first and/or second Tuesday every month
03-5296-0051
Chiyoda-ku, Kanda-Sakuma-cho 1-11-1
Look for the tall, blue glass building southeast of the station, right in front of the Hibiya line's Akihabara station. I've never been here, but I hear that it's nice. Won't you tell me if you go? ^_^

Yamagiwa
sorry, no information available
There are multiple Yamagiwa stores in Akihabara, along Chuo Dori. They're a good place to get new CDs and LDs and they have seiriken*. The anime oriented shop is hard to find, up a narrow stair in the back of one of the stores. If you visit the site, look for the 'SHOPS' button; it should take you to the store directory. The second Akihabara listing gives you a picture of the front of the shop.

HARAJUKU

The setting for 'Neighborhood Stories', Harajuku is famous for it's unusual shops which tend to cater to a younger crowd. On the weekends, Takeshita Dori is packed with highschool students, eager to accessorize in following with the latest trend. To accomodate the crowd on Sundays, Omote Sando is blocked off to vehicular traffic between the station and Meiji Dori. Though the anime pickings are fairly slim, Harajuku is worth visiting just as tourist. Since directions would be a little difficult to give clearly, I hope the map helps. I hope to have spacific store information available soon. If you have any questions, just email me.

Besides the shops on the map, there are several other sites worth mentioning.
Further east on Omote Sando, past Meiji Dori, there is a toy store called Kiddy Land on a corner on the south side of the street. Several stories tall, it is one of the only toy stores of its size I ever found, though now there are appearantly Toys 'R' Us in the suburbs.
Further still along Omote Sando, you will come to the Oriental Bizarre, again on the south side of the street. Oddly enough, this is one of the few places where you can buy T-shirts with Japanese on them. It's a good place to shop for omiyage/presents and they accept credit cards.
A few blocks north and east of the Meiji Dori/Omote Sando intersection is a Tin Toy museum.
On the west side of Omote Sando, across from Kiddy Land and the Oriental Bizarre, there are the Dojunkai Aoyama apartments. Besides it's shops, Harajuku is famous for being home to many artists. Though they may look a little old, these apartments are famous for housing many young artists.
South and west of Harajuku Station is Yoyogi Park. If you visit on a Sunday, you will find the main path to Shibuya lined with groups of young people doing their thing. Synchronized rollerblading, dancing, music and more will be performed for the passing crowds. Closer to Shibuya, the path is home to a sprawling flea market. If you want to see just how unusual and non-conformist Japanese can be, you've got to visit Yoyogi on a sunny Synday.

If you're going to Takeshita Dori, I recommend using the Takeshita exit, the smaller, northern exit of Yamanote line's Harajuku station, to save backtracking.

SHIMO-KITAZAWA

Shimo-Kitazawa is considered the best place to shop for antique toys in all of Japan. If you can shell out the money for a genuine, original release Iron Man 28 toy or are looking for those last few cards in your Mobile Suit Gundam collection, this is the place to find them. Besides that, it's just a very interesting place to visit. Full of narrow, twisting streets, tiny shops, and an incredible variety of architecture, it's one of the facets of Tokyo your average traveler will never see. There's no way I could give any comprehensible directions, so I hope the map will help you find the stores. Eventually I'll give a write up on the stores there. Some of them are quite a hike from the station, so good luck. If you're interested in any information I have not yet posted, feel free to email me.
How to get there:
Inokashira line is the line you need to get to Shimo Kitazawa's antique toy shops. The station is hard to find in Shibuya's Station. As I recall, signs leading to the Inokashira line are a royal blue color. All trains leaving from Shibuya on the Inokashira line will stop at Shimo Kitazawa, so just hop right on. The Odakyu line from Shinjuku will also take you there, but I can't advise you about it, having only used it once. Shimo Kitazawa station is confusing; just keep following the signs to your train.

THEATERS

The theaters which have had special anime events are Shinjuku's Cinema Milano in Kabukicho (4F) and the theater in Shibuya's Tokyu Bunka Kaikan (4F?).

*Seiriken are like coupons you can save up and use for your next purchase. Sometimes you get stamps in a booklet, sometimes you get little slips of paper. For every certain amount you spend, you get a certain number of stamps or slips. With stamps, you usually need a certain number before you can redeem the booklet. If you're doing major shopping or shop with a group, you can save some money this way. One method is to have the first people give the last person their seiriken. Seiriken usually end up giving you about 10% off.
"Seiriken ga arimasuka?"