Forum - View topicNEWS: "Otaku Cultural Mecca" Welcomes Foreigners in PR Blitz
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Nerv1
 Posts: 601 |
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That's funny, I always thought that it would be more expensive to live in Japan. After all, it is the most expensive country to live in... |
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linlinchan
Posts: 286 |
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It seems to me that most of the information we get about Japanese housing prices are very Tokyo-centric. This seems to me to be much like asking how much it is to live in the US and quoting prices for penthouses in Manhattan. Just for additional comparative purposes, I'll tell you that my husband's family owns a house just outside of Osaka, Japan's second city, and my family owns one just a little further, distance-wise, outside of New York City. The two houses are almost identical in size and age, as well as general type of locale. His house cost less than half the price that ours did. Additionally, I think it's hard to say that Japan is the most expensive country in the world right now. I think it can be, but doesn't necessarily have to be (meaning that going to the country, you could spend an insane amount of money in a week if you set out to do so, but you don't need to.) Since I've never had loads of cash, I learned how to love living cheaply in Japan (and believe me, it can be done and felt WAY less excruciating than living on the same budget here ever did.) For the sake of brevity, though, I won't necessarily bother you with all this information here. |
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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Mandarake is often described (by locals) as the biggest anime store in Japan. So I was expecting a store like an American dept. store, like Sears or something, but only anime goods (since Animates tend to be "tall", ie large but array vertically instead of horizontally). Instead, I found that Mandarake was as described here many small stores spread over a flea market like mall. To it's credit, there are a LOT of those, but unless you're tastes tend to semi-used anime toys like you might see at one of the smaller local comic shops here in US, often obscure or pretty old, you'll probably be disappointed. If you want the "currently hot" anime stuff, Akihabara definitely will suit you better. Altho a map will help, FINDING Mandarake in Nakano was harder than I expected, and since Akihabara is on the Yamanote Line and Nakano isn't, just getting there in the first place is more of a hassle than for Akiba.
I also agree that if Japan is still considered the most expensive place to live it no doubt gets SOME of that designation from it's density. America easily smooths out it's cost by having places like Nebraska and the Dakotas (or shoot, Detroit right now) to lower the average from places like NY and California. |
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Akukaze
 Posts: 185 Location: Stony Brook, NY |
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Karaoke bars do sometimes, but not always, and manga cafe's rarely do, based on what I've heard from friends who've traveled through Japan and native Japanese (I've never stayed overnight in either, personally). Manga cafe's usually have all-night discounts and booths with comfy chairs you can dose in. Some even have some (semi-)permanent residents and as long as they pay, the owners don't seem to care. |
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linlinchan
Posts: 286 |
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Yeah, but for almost the same price you can stay in a bed or futon at a hostel or minshuku (bottom rung start at 1600 yen/$14-15,) so I fail to see the benefits of sleeping in a highly lit manga cafe with other people sitting around you. If you've got any sort of luggage, you're likely to become an annoyance for the other patrons, so while they may not throw you straight out, it's not exactly in good form. |
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Swissman
Posts: 769 Location: Switzerland |
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The Mandarake store in Nagoya is also very small and everything is located in one store on 6 floors.
That's the reason why I have fond memories of the stores in Nakano. If you're looking for merchandise from old 70' and 80' classics like Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku or City Hunter, you have to check out Mandarake Nakano and all the other speciality stores like Anime World Star and Fujiya Avic (I hope this one still exists). Akihabara, on the other hand, is rather boring for hunting older merchandise - that's at least the impression I had of the area last time I was there (summer 2005).
How come you had trouble finding Mandarake Nakano? It's so easy: One has just to go to the end of Nakano Broadway until reaching the stairs/elevators, and voilà, there you are. The different small stores in Akihabara, on the other hand ... |
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mrgazpacho
Posts: 316 Location: Australia |
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Don't forget, Nakano isn't within the Yamanote line, so it might drop off the edge of some tourist maps.
Then, when you alight at Nakano (not necessarily easy if your map doesn't have Romaji), you have to figure out which building to head for - once again, unless you know your directions, you could even end up on the wrong side of the tracks. Then, Broadway itself s a fair way down the end of the mall and you could give up in despair before even reaching it. Finally of course there is not single "Mandarake Nakano" as we all have read that it's a bunch of individual shops spread out over several levels. I couldn't even *find* Fujiya Avic 1 or 2 last time I went (April 2005; I wnated to see if they had any Ghibli gi Ippai LD boxsets) - maybe I just got lost... 
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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Yeah, I'm sure if you really hunt you can find stuff, but for the most part, Akiba is more of the newer stuff. Unfortuntely for me, my tastes tend to really OBSCURE (in many cases "nonexistent") stuff. I like some older shows and several newer shows but I like really ODD stuff (ie. not your basic garage kits, pencil boards and most gashapon). Often the series I LIKE don't have cool stuff made for them or the stuff made is really rare or something, so I just browse in search of things I might like. Altho, getting to know people has yield some really cool stuff the last year or two. 
Because I had NO IDEA what I was looking for. My experience was going to Animate and K-Books in Ikebukuro and Animate and various other stores along the strip in Akihabara. So I was wandering from the train station in Nakano looking for a store with a big logo/sign plastered on its side that's visible from the street. Needless to say, I never found THAT. Instead, I found a smaller anime shop (I think it was an AsoBitCity shop) and found a real life honest to goodness Japanese Otaku who really wanted nothing to do with human contact. (he wanted to stare at anime figures in a case) But I was able to use my superior American power of "personality" to ask him where Mandarake was and get a pointed direction. (I jest in my descriptive of the exchange, I was polite and asked in Japanese in case anyone was wondering, but this guy really didn't wanna deal with real people) But for the record, Mandarake IS easy to find if you're IN the right building, it is exceedingly difficult to find if you are not IN the right building. (especially when you don't really know what you're actually looking for) |
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