Best Place To Buy Manga In Japan
Where to Purchase Manga in Tokyo? 5 Collectors Share Tips & Favorite Spots
Engagement published: 21 March 2019
Last updated: 13 November 2020
Japan's famous comic book pop-culture industry known as manga has acted like an inexorable tourist magnet for many years at present. Understandably Tokyo is the epicenter of the industry and as such, information technology's where the vast majority of manga-hunting tourists (and locals) oftentimes throng to.
I spoke with v expats who have either lived—or still live—in the Japanese capital and learned about their manga hunting experiences. They were kind plenty to divulge some pro tips on where the all-time locations are for manga in Tokyo, which I'll be sharing with yous today! From the claustrophobic aisles of Akihabara's otaku-civilisation mega-chains to subconscious streets in Ikebukuro's anime and manga district to lucrative trips effectually second mitt books stores, the journey tin can seemingly have you anywhere. Continue your eyes peeled, there may be more few surprises in store!
The manga in this article runs the gamut from obscure Japanese titles to popular English re-prints. Hopefully at that place's a little something in hither for everybody.
Heather: "Ikebukuro; Otome Route; Book Off"
Past her ain access, Heather's taste in manga is relatively niche. Specifically, she's into BL (Boys' Love) manga, a genre which as well goes by the less familiar names of Yaoi and Shonen Ai. Her first suggestion, a place frequented past vast numbers of manga lovers, is Breathing. Animate is a chain store with various locations around the metropolis, including in Akihabara. Surprisingly however, the flagship shop is actually located in the eastern side of Ikebukuro. There are three full floors here dedicated solely to manga. This could be a decent place to start looking, regardless of your genre preferences!
Heather as well notes that bookstores all over Tokyo, from train station stalls and convenience stores to sky-scraping concatenation stores like Animate and Mulan, volition all have varying amounts of manga in store. She adds that in the world of BL manga, it'southward actually quite piece of cake to find what you're looking for unless you lot're on the hunt for particularly obscure titles and/or older editions.
Staying in Ikebukuro, Heather has a couple more off-beat recommendations. Firstly, Book Off. Volume Off is Japan's most famous second-hand book and miscellaneous appurtenances shop. There is ever a manga section and once more the Ikebukuro branch's collection of Japanese comics is particularly all-encompassing. Secondly (and this is existent goodun), is Otome Road. Otome can be roughly translated every bit "young women", and so different many of the manga stores in Akihabara, the shops here are specifically geared towards a female audience.
Although she does mention, "Exist forewarned; information technology is not equally near to the station as you might recall and the first time y'all go there information technology is definitely not the easiest thing to find," conveniently Alive Nippon has a map! She too advises searching on the Internet (and on forums) thoroughly beforehand and peradventure don't put all your eggs in 1 handbasket, so to speak. Consulting more than 1 map or map app may be a decent idea.
Otome Route is like a mini version of Akihabara's Chuo-Dori containing a variety of specialist manga and popular-civilization merchandise stores. Her top tip is to sift through the shelves at the M-Books stores (there a several on Otome Road, each occupying its own popular-civilization niche). This is where she was able to find some rare doujinshi (fan-fic manga novels) and accomplish a good deal of success in finishing her list of "BL manga I still couldn't find."
Lastly Heather points out that finding the store is sometimes merely half the boxing. Once y'all're in there you volition be greeted with the claiming of locating the specific titles that you're subsequently. The prevailing method of categorization seems to exist by "Genre > The magazine in which it was serialized > Title" (though this tin vary for more obscure forms of manga). Within these categories the novels will be alphabetized using the standard hiragana organisation.
Even if you're no expert in Japanese, asking a member of staff in the store may exist your quickest route to the prize. As Heather says "if yous think to search for the specific magazine that your title was serialized in this tin can aid save the clerk a lot of time, particularly if they don't recognize the championship yous are looking for; sites like mangaupdates.com or myanimelist.internet will provide this information," and in the days of modern smartphones a uncomplicated screen shot should do the trick!
Alannah: "Book Off; Akihabara; Breathing"
Alannah'due south tips start off with English language manga titles specifically. For her, Book Off is the order of the 24-hour interval. The caveats here are: (a) information technology's a chip of a lucky dip and (b) given that it specializes it secondhand books, none of the titles will be new (although she does add together that they're typically kept in near-mint status).
Alannah seemed to thrive on the hunt itself, peculiarly when it involved searching for manga that she couldn't acquire back home in Canada. Akihabara is a treasure trove of manga no doubt. Although it is an altogether vast and congested one. Alannah remembers spending days in Akihabara and searching through "nigh EVERY store." I sense in that location may be a lilliputian hyperbole used here but you get the point. If yous thrive off the search itself, and then set past a significant portion of time and go ready to beginning wading through championship upon championship from the annals of Japan'southward graphic novel archives. There's plenty to go through.
Alannah adds that, "For sure, Animate has Japanese manga... SO much Japanese manga, only I didn't see any English titles at that place." Her real tip is to avoid the beaten path. Shops that are invisible to the naked heart, hiding on the nth floor of some non-descript building down a vacant side street. These are where yous'll find the real treats. Quondam stuff, classics, obscure titles and in some rare cases, English manga also.
Information technology's hard to grasp the sheer volume of material in Akihabara'south manga stores until you lot see it for yourself. Although as Alannah highlights that, "If people desire the fun of the search, and to uncover some subconscious gems in the center of Akihabara, I would suggest a adept old-fashioned walk around!" In the course of doing this she was indeed able to detect something that she was on the hunt for, which was a "triumphant" payoff later a hard solar day's scavenging.
Pamela: "Otome Road; Chiliad-Books"
Pamela comes straight out of the gate with, "The hottest tips when it comes to Japanese manga and doujinshi for a female audition." In particular Ikebukuro and a return to our old friend Otome Route. Her favorite store is the Doujin-kan co-operative of One thousand-Books on Otome Route, where the selection of BL manga and doujinshi is, "Massive, arguably the largest in town!"
She also alludes to the fact that there'due south at least a couple of displays showcasing the staff'southward recommendations for the hottest new releases plus popular former favorites. Not only is the manga hither bountiful, but as well incredibly cheap. Even new releases tin go for every bit a lilliputian as 300 yen per championship, which is typically cheaper than other chain stores. On top of that, lots of the comics come with extras such every bit postcards, analogy books and other interesting titbits.
BL "smut" manga shopping tin can be particularly lucrative in Otome Route's K-Books store. This lends 1000-Books an temper that Pamela feels is more comfortable for female shoppers, especially when they're buying "spicier" textile. If you wanna pick up some merch from your favorite BL manga while you're at it, there'southward plenty of that here too, conveniently nestled correct beside the accompanying comics themselves! This is the kind of stuff that can be hard to find elsewhere.
She rounds off her K-Books tips by noting that although information technology'southward certainly female-focused, they practice have a selection of other genres in store too, like hetero romance manga, shonen and more. All in all "the whole arrangement with different, ofttimes low prices tin can feel similar a fun chance and makes browsing all the more enjoyable."
Beyond K-Books, Ikebukuro seems to be Pamela'south manga commune of choice, even alee of Akihabara. She reckons it's severely underrated in non-Japanese circles. Aside from the manga hunt, information technology's a cracking place to scratch all of those pop-culture itches. Ikebukuro is Tokyo'southward town of cosplay, particularly for female cosplayers. During early afternoons on the weekend, hordes of cosplaying women dressed as their favorite manga heroines will be wandering the streets which can add an extra little je ne sais quoi to your manga shopping experience!
Aaron: "Shinjuku; Kinokuniya; Tsutaya"
Aaron is however in the relatively embryonic phase of developing his Kanji reading skills, so his interest in manga occupies the—absolutely niche—realm of English language translations of Japanese graphic novels. Manga is rarely (if ever) written in English language, so the translations are usually via North American publishers that are trying to make the books more attainable to strange consumers.
Kinokuniya is his starting time recommendation. "The Takashimaya Kinokuniya Bookstore is crawly for anyone who wants to purchase English books in Tokyo," he tells me. Existence in Japan, a natural past-product of this is (of form) English manga. "From my experience at that place's no bigger or improve pick of foreign manga in the metropolis," he continues. The reason he uses the give-and-take "foreign" is that they also have books in French, German and other selected languages. On peak of comics, the shop also has other manga-related material like art books and history/tradition of manga-themed titles. Having walked the isles of Kinokuniya myself, I can tell you that is also my own favorite locale in Tokyo to purchase English language books. The selection actually is every bit varied as it is vast.
He likewise notes that at that place are other Kinokuniya Bookstores in Tokyo that sell varying amounts of manga, but the branch in Takashimaya Shinjuku seems to exist the choice of the bunch.
Tsutaya is another common chain of video rental shops and bookstores in Japan, and once once again Aaron claims to take found a certain degree of manga-hunting success in these establishments.
The Tsutaya store on the corner of the famous Shibuya Crossing has go synonymous with photo-snapping tourists clambering over one another to get the perfect shot of the crosswalk in activeness. Aaron recommends that you accept a quick browse around the manga sections and beyond in here. "Aside from manga, if you're into Japanese pop culture in general, there's quite a lot here that may involvement yous." Shibuya is a popular commune and if y'all're a start-timer in Tokyo, there'southward a good risk you'll end upwardly here. This is 1 of the easiest stores to discover in all Tokyo, so probably worth a trivial sojourn!
Kunanya: "Book Off; Mandarake"
Kunanya appreciates a practiced bargain and that'southward exactly what she looks for when she's looking for manga. So where to buy manga in Tokyo? "Usually for second-paw manga yous can get it at Book Off or Mandarake. Very Cheap!" Every bit already alluded to, Volume Off is a real favorite for Tokyo'southward otaku, particularly those looking for cheap versions of sometime manga titles. She suggests that the longer a manga has been effectually for, the more likely you are to come across it in a Book Off store.
Mandarake is a pop-culture chain-store with branches all over Tokyo. The bulk of their stock is looking for a second home, meaning you can find some seriously-tasty deals. In Nakano Broadway's Mandarake shopping heart alone, there are a collection of Mandarake shops, each one focusing on its own niche genre. The shelves of Nakano Broadway'south shops are flood with comics, simply also figurines and diverse other forms of manga-related trade.
Kunanya's tips for where to buy manga in Tokyo are a little more than surprising. "For recently new items you lot can buy information technology at whatever bookstore around Tokyo," she tells me. This is especially the instance if your preferences tend to prevarication with the more than popular series' on the market. I asked her if there were any areas in particular that you should visit. Her response, "I ordinarily wander around Akihabara, Ikebukuro, Shinjuku and Shibuya."
Where to buy manga in Tokyo?
According to 5 expat manga enthusiasts, hither are suggestions on where to purchase manga in Tokyo:
1. Otome Route in Ikebukuro
2. Animate Sunshine Ikebukuro
3. Animate Akihabara
4. Book Off in Shinjuku
five. Mandarake in Nakano Broadway
half dozen. Grand-Books in Ikebukuro
7. Kinokuniya in Takashimaya Shinjuku
eight. Tsutaya in Shibuya
9. MULAN in Akihabara
Ikebukuro and Akihabara have already been touted equally Tokyo's resident manga-havens, just Shinjuku and Shibuya may have merely as many bookstores (if not considerably more) lining their streets. So if you lot find yourself in either of these areas be sure to keep your eyes peeled for any of the aforementioned volume store chains!
Written by:
*This information is from the time of this article's publication.
*Prices and options mentioned are subject to change.
*Unless stated otherwise, all prices include tax.
Source: https://livejapan.com/en/article-a0003041/
Posted by: coopereaververs.blogspot.com
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