Otaku Paradise and Ramen with a Twist

Yesterday, Chelsea and I were originally going to head to Odaiba for the day. However, the weather was not in our favor and the heavens decided to open up and drown us for the day (and I was told the rainy season was over). So instead, we opted for something more indoor. I had heard of this shopping arcade in Nakano called “Nakano Broadway” (who would’ve thought), whose second through fourth floors were filled with otaku merchandise stores. Seeing as neither of us was in the mood for museum hopping, and combating the desire to stay in and watch J-Drama all day, we trudged through the rain towards the subway station, hopped on the train that had just arrived, and headed towards our destination. After two train transfers, we arrived at Nakano. Following the scanty directions I’d found online, we easily found the shopping arcade in front of Nakano Broadway and mosied on through, taking stock of what these shops had to offer.

However, just as we were nearing the entrance of Nakano Broadway, I saw a huge store called “Mode Off” to our right. Mode Off is a chain thrift store in Japan. Austen and I had stumbled on one when we went to Osaka, and through the thousands of different articles of clothing, I had found something I liked for a rather cheap price. So I pushed Chelsea inside and after about an hour I emerged with a 240 yen mini dress. Win. Second hand stores are awesome. Second hand stores with sales are fabulous. Second Hand stores with sales that let you try on an unlimited amount of stuff are rare specimens of amazing.

Nakano surpassed its reputation of being a hub for Otaku (anime/manga aficionado) merchandise. In fact, I’m pretty sure it would be considered an Otaku heaven (save for the existence of Akihabara). There were manga stores, cosplay stores, tons of music stores, video game stores, DVD stores, stores of just random anime stuff, figurine stores…oh the list goes on and on. Mostly, we just set about walking around and looking at what each store had to offer. It’s fascinating to see Otaku consumer culture here in Japan; it’s so vastly different from the States. Anyway, we ended up stumbling upon a music store and perusing the various video game soundtracks. Because this was also a second hand store, a lot of the stuff was on the cheaper end, and for those of you that are unaware, game soundtracks tend to be pretty pricey as they have so many tracks on them. Chelsea and I both ended up spending pretty sums of money there; I ended up with two final fantasy soundtracks, one anime soundtrack, and one CD by one of my favorite composers that is basically out of print now. I’d say successful venture once again.

By the time we left the store, we realized how incredibly hungry and tired we were. That didn’t stop us from stopping at another store that had anime posters. The moment I saw a few of the Sailor Moon posters, I knew I was hooked…and so proceeded to make myself run away from the area as not to spend more large sums of money. The entire shopping trip was definitely a fun and overwhelming experience simultaneously. The only thing that made me sad was that the amount of Sailor Moon merchandise I saw was nil. Most stores only carry anime stuffs that are popular right now. Old anime is deemed as not worthwile in terms of consumer products. Sad much.

While it was that time between lunch and dinner, Chelsea and I decided to do early dinner in Shibuya. Instead of going home from Nakano, we transferred trains in Shinjuku and hung out at a McDonald’s, doing some reading and writing, until around five, when we went to go get…RAMEN (I know…big surprise). Anyway, we went to this ramen restaurant we saw the other day when we went to Book Off. The restaurant seemed normal enough for a ramen restaurant. But when we got our food, I was surprised to find that it was definitely Chinese-style ramen instead of Japanese-style. Ramen is originally a Chinese dish. However, they types of vegetables, meat, and broth they use are different. I felt like I was eating wonton soup with ramen rather than Japanese ramen. Still delicious, but not nearly as delicious as Japanese ramen. An interesting experience nonetheless.

After dinner, we rode the subways back home, stopped off at the grocery store to get rice for dinner next week, and happily sat down and watched Hana Kimi, a Japanese drama that was syndicated a few years ago. Absolutely fabulous. Good way to spend the day off.