Japan is renowned for being one of the best countries for vintage shopping, and that spans the spectrum from cars to fashion to Birkins and to my personal favourite: toys. But if you’ve never been to Japan and have a limited time to explore, what stores should you hit?
Well I am here to help - as an expert toy hunter and a former resident of Japan I feel like I’m in a great position to share my favourite stores with you - no gatekeeping.
First off I’m going to start with the best overall store/chain - if you can only go to one store, go to this one. Mandarake. A massive chain of vintage stores, Mandarake have locations all over Japan, and hold a huge amount of vintage toys, games, books, movies and ephemera.
My personal favourite location is Mandarake Kyoto, a new branch that isn’t even two years old yet. It’s inside the Takashimaya Department store, and we actually discovered it by chance. We were only in there looking for the Nintendo store so it was a nice surprise to stumble upon it. It’s one of the most aesthetically pleasing of the Mandarake locations I’ve visited and feels much less cramped than some of their other spots.
The first store I ever went to was the Shibuya location, and the steampunk vibes are still super nostalgic for me whenever I’m in Japan. On my recent trip I stayed in DenDen Town Osaka, so had the chance to visit their Grand Chaos location for the first time. It was huge and I found so many awesome things, and it was generally really well priced.
Price wise across the board at Mandarake, you can find great deals, and I’ve never found any of their products to be overpriced. Generally fair pricing with a few hidden great deals.
But what about good deals? As fair as chain stores go, you’re most likely to find a real steal in a neighbourhood Book-Off. Maybe not in the Akihabara or Shinjuku locations as much but if you go a bit further away from tourist centres, even in Tokyo, you can find some real bargains.
A couple of my favourites in Tokyo are the Ayase and Asakusa Matsugaya locations. Selection in these smaller locations feels a bit more of a gamble than at one of the bigger shops where you are more likely to find multiples of more popular things. A friend of mine recommended the large location in Kawasaki, but sadly we didn’t make it down there on my most recent trip.
[Which also reminds me, did any of you ever go to Warehouse Kawasaki when it was open? It was a 24 hour arcade built to emulate the old Kowloon Walled City - it was so flippin cool and I was devastated when it closed.]
What about if you’re as into the vibes of a store as you are into the products themselves? Then there are two places I recommend - one in Tokyo and one in Osaka.
In Tokyo, I recommend 2000Toys, a Koenji toy shop that has grown quite a cult following. Subtle and unassuming from the outside, inside you are transported to nostalgia heaven with every inch of the walls, including the ceiling being packed to the brim with toys and collectibles.
The pricing there is not the lowest, but definitely not the highest, so I would say if you’re a collector and find something specific you’ve been looking for it is a great place to pick it up. They don’t do tax free shopping here (actually most of the independent stores don’t do tax free so that is something to keep in mind) but it is super easy to do at places like Book Off and Mandarake.
My favourite vibey shop in Osaka is BB Amemura, which is definitely on the pricier side of things. You probably won’t find a good deal there but you will find some super cool stuff and extremely nice staff.
The aisles are very narrow so there is a bag check situation where they will keep your shopping and other larger bags safe behind a counter until you’re finished. What I love most about this store is that the cabinets aren’t locked - they encourage you to open the doors to pick up and test everything.
As a bit of an anxious girly, not having to find a staff member to ask them to open a cabinet for me every time I need a closer look was very nice and I honestly could do laps and laps of that store discovering something new each time.
Down the road from there is another one of my all-time favourite shops in Japan - Antique Mikes. It has a mixture of modern vintage-look items and genuine vintage items and the staff there are so warm and friendly.
The products are organised really well, section by section, and the staff were so quick to help me when I wanted to open a cabinet. It was full of awesome stuff, but its a big store so it never feels cramped. They had an AWESOME selection of McDonalds toys and Barbie playsets so if you’re in Japan you have to go there - since I know you’ll be vintage shopping in Amerikamura anyway.
Alright, so what about Tokyo’s iconic Nakano Broadway? If you aren’t familiar, Nakano Broadway is a shopping centre in Tokyo that is full of dozens of second hand stores - mostly toys and games, but also a decent amount of high-end watch and handbag stores.
It originally opened in the 60’s as a mixed use complex with apartments, shops, restaurants and even a rooftop pool, but faded as a destination as Shibuya and Shinjuku overtook them in the luxury commerce area.
But, in 1980, Mandarake opened their first ever location there and its popularity led to other similar otaku-catered stores opening within the complex. This revitalised the mall, and in the decades since has became world renowned for its massive range of retro stores.
Side note, the architecture is so interesting when juxtaposed against the stores it hosts, making it feel weirdly liminal even when the stores are open (side side note most stores open after 11am so do not head there early in the morning!!)
But is Nakano Broadway still cool in 2025? I would say yes. While at times it essentially feels like a Mandarake mall, that’s not necessarily a bad thing because Mandarake is great, and it is still where they run their head office. They also have a one stop shop where you can take all your Mandarake receipts from their various Nakano Broadway stores to get the tax free refund.
There are some really expensive tourist-trap feeling stores but there are also some stores that remind me of the old days of toy shopping in Japan, with my personal favourite being a little store called AiAi - it was tiny, had an adorable collection of little toys and had a sweet older lady manning the till.
The whole time I was browsing the little shop, two older ladies were browsing too saying “natsukashiiiiiii” which of course is the whole reason I got into this business, so it was great being in a store where that feeling was evoked.
When I open a brick and mortar, its the sort of store I want to have. The prices were probably too low honestly, but hey I am not complaining.
So to wrap up my recommendations:
For good deals: a neighbourhood Book-Off or AiAi at Nakano Broadway
If you can only visit one: whichever Mandarake is closest to you
My recommendation for cool vibes: BB Amemura and 2000Toys
And my favourite shops: Antique Mikes or Mandarake
I’m planning my next visit to Japan so would love your recommendations - have you found any hidden gems or do you prefer to shop in the mainstream places like Nakano Broadway?
