15 TOP TIPS for Nakano, Tokyo – More Than Just Anime Goods!

15 TOP TIPS for Nakano, Tokyo – More Than Just Anime Goods!

– Hey, everyone, welcome
back to Tokyo Cheapo. I’m your host, Patricia, and
today, we are exploring Nakano. I actually used to live in this area so I’m really excited to walk around and visit the spots I used to visit. But for those of you who don’t know, Nakano is actually in
the west side of Tokyo, only about a five-minute train
ride from Shinjuku Station. They’ve got three different
train lines, the Sobu line, Tozai line, and Chuo line, making it very accessible
from different parts of Tokyo. Whether you’re a foodie, otaku, or maybe just really like cameras, this place has a bunch of things for you as you’ll see later in the video. So without further ado,
let’s get on into it. (quirky music) (graphics booming) As soon as you get out of the station from the north entrance, you’ll notice, you see the Sun Mall Shotengai entrance. And this doesn’t just
apply to Nakano shotengai, but every time you see
a shotengai in Japan, I recommend you just walk through it because it’s basically a cluster
of, like, stores and food and restaurants and whatnot. This one too. (chill music) It’s crazy because despite
this being only a stop away from the busiest station, it still has this like
suburban local feel. Like, that’s completely different from like Shinjuku, Shibuya, so it feels a lot more local, quiet, calm. And you can also go
off to the side streets where you’ll find like a basically a network
of different other streets. It kinda gets like a maze pretty crazy, but I highly recommend you adventure into the smaller streets too. What I like about walking down the street is that they’ve got, you know, the very commercialized big branches, but they also have like mom and pop shops or they sell things that you wouldn’t really
find in bigger station. See, this is why you
gotta enter the stores. You can find cute little
knickknacks like this. Much better than the souvenirs
you can find at Shinshoji. Just saying. Look, I’m pretty sure
this is called a yunomi and these make for great souvenirs because it’s just like a cup. Everybody use cups, right? Look, Japanese style cups. You know, if you were to go to
Kappabashi’s Kitchen Street, which is really popular amongst tourists, these cost about, like, 600 yen. Whereas here, 330. This is what I’m talking about. Go to where the local shop
to get the good deals. Do you guys know what this is? (door clacking)
– Yeah, yeah. – This is an inkan. Basically you need this
with your name on it to do anything official in Japan. Any official documents. This is your signature. Look how many last names there are. We just came across this
cute stationary store that looks very much
like a mom and pop store. Stationary in Japan is top tier, so stop by and grab some cute erasers. If you walk to the very end
of the Sun Mall Shotengai, you’ll come across Nakano Broadway. So this is actually a anime
and manga shopping complex that was, I think, open
in 1966 or something, but it still has that very retro, you know, old feel to
it, which I really like. Shall we check it out? Come with me. We’re gonna start from the
bottom floor to the top to keep things simple. But this is the basement floor. As you can see, it’s got a very retro vibe and this is where you’ll find a lot of the local obaachan shop
for their food or snacks and this is where you’ll
get the pretty good deals. I actually have been to this store before to get all my Chinese snacks. So if you’re into like Southeast
Asian or Chinese snacks, you can find that there too. And it was a really cool ice
cream that is multi flavored. Can we go? – [Shah] Okay, let’s go. – (laughs) Yes. (chill music) Here it is. I got the small size. Can you believe in Japan?
Small sizes aren’t this big. So basically, I got the strawberry,
matcha and melon flavor. So they’ve got three sizes,
small, medium, and extra large. They don’t have a large. But what’s cool is even
if you get the small, which is what I got, you
can choose three flavors. So you can try different flavors without getting the huge one. If you were brave enough and were able to try the extra large, leave a comment to let us know. (Patricia speaks in foreign language) (chill music) Hmm, very nice, very creamy. Honestly, you would think
with a fun color like this, it wouldn’t be very creamy. I would think it’s kinda
like icy not good quality especially ’cause they’re really popular, but it’s really nice. 10 outta 10. Although, I don’t know if I
can finish this on my own. – [Shah] Ooh, you’re gonna
finish that. I don’t do dairy. – (laughs) Oh my god. It’s one of the few
viral content food piece or food that is actually worth trying. I think it’s worth it. It’s affordable. You can try different flavors. Tastes good. Why not? Maybe share. – [Shah] How are you getting on? – I wanna tap out. – [Shah] You look like
you’re strugglin there. – Definitely share, you guys. I genuinely respect you if you can eat the extra large.
– Even the shou size. – Even the shou size, I respect you. We’re here on the first floor where they’ve got a bunch
of just random stores. Like clothes stores, secondhand stores, watch stores, food stores,
and even an arcade. But when you come knock
on the Nakano Broadway, you’re probably here for the things that are in the floors above. (chill music) This is a place that
you’ve been looking for. They’ve got everything from
anime, figurines, manga, and probably the coolest
store in this complex. This is the store. It’s
called Havikoro Toy, and they’ve got different
things like badges or figurines and my favorite part, gacha toys. So you can get obviously
like capsule things like you have right next to the store, but this is kind of like luck. Whereas here, you know
exactly what you’re getting. Of course, the prices are
a little bit marked higher, so I think it’s worth the price. They do have stores like
this in Akihabara too, but for example, I found
this metro light up key chain and the same exact key chain that they were selling here for 1,500 was 6,000 yen in Akihabara. So that just goes to show, you gotta shop where the local shop. I wasn’t sure if I was
gonna find anything I like, but we were looking around and
there were like these live… I dunno, like a tofu that
looks like it’s living or like a sausage that’s
like dancing or whatever. But I actually ended up
finding this bakibaki neko. Bakibaki basically means
something like strong, muscular, bulky, and so
it’s a bulky Maneki Neko. I’ve never seen anything like this before, but my first reaction
was, like, “It’s so cute” and Shah’s, like, “Cute?” It’s cute. – [Shah] I question
your definition of cute. – Once you come to the fourth floor, you have officially
entered the Showa era area. Right behind me we have the Mandarake but there’s a fricking Torii
Gate in front of the store. Look, I’ve actually never seen this before even though I’ve walked
past this corridor before. So a little bit of background
behind Mandarake in general is this complex actually has
26 different Mandarake stores all in this one building. A lot of people go to
Akihabara to get their anime or manga stuff, but honestly, if you
wanna avoid the crowds, inflated prices, or just
all the tourists, come here. You can get a lot more shopping done with a shorter period of time because you’re not
fighting with other people to try to get things. And also it’s all in one building. I’ll say, it’s pretty
easy to get lost here because there’s just
like endless corridors and all the store names are Mandarake so it’s pretty hard to find your way back. But I would say, just take your time. Look around the stores. Not every store is the same so you might find different
things at different stores. But yeah, maybe you’ll have something or find something that interests you. If you like trading cards,
come to the second floor where they have the Mandarake card shop and then all the other card
shops should be around it ’cause it’s pretty
confusing to get around. But look what I did. I have made a purchase. So I basically… As soon as I walked into the store and saw these trading cards, I was, like, I got to
find “Love and Berry”. I’m, like, “Do you know ‘Love and Berry’? Shah, do you know ‘Love and Berry’?” And I’ve basically been mocked
for the past 30 minutes. – [Shah] What is a “Love and Berry”? (Patricia laughs) – What is a “Love and Berry”?
– What is it? I’ve never heard of it. “Love and Berry”. – It’s a Japanese card game.
You, like, dance and stuff. So I need to know, do you
guys know what this is? This is a little bit of a collab, so I don’t know who
the other character is, but this is my entire childhood. So if you know what “Love and Berry” is, please comment down below. Respect. So if I was able to find this, whatever trading card obsession you have, they’ve probably got it ’cause
they had a lot of options. Another thing you can find
on this floor are anime cels. They have black and white
ones or colored in ones. And this might spark some
nostalgia for some of you. Very cool. I wonder what
the most expensive one is. I’m seeing 3,000, 6,000. Okay, so it varies. – [Shah] There was a Lupin
certificated one as well. – How much was that? So we’re right here in
front of Fujiya Camera and there’s actually a store here. And then right across the street, there’s another Fujiya Camera and each of them have two floors. But basically, you’ve probably
heard of Fujiya Camera on maybe like a camera guide or places to buy camera
gear, video gear, whatever. But it’s often overlooked. They’ve got both used and new stuff and it’s usually more
affordable than the places or things that you can find in like Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ginza. So I think that it’s actually worth coming all the way out to Nakano
just to pick up a few things. I actually get my gear from here because it’s closer to where I live. But also they have a lot of
small, really random parts that sometimes like you
need for your tripod, lens caps, filters, backpacks. I actually have a backpack
from Fujiya Camera and all the locals that come shop here. I think, Shah, you’ve
come here before, right? – [Shah] Yeah, all my friends do. Me and my friends, like,
if we need something, it’s usually Fujiya is like
the first store usually. – Yeah. So go to where the locals go. What? Joshi ramen. A ramen for ladies? Okay, this would never
pass in the Western world. (chuckles) Joshi ramen Welcome to Central Park. No, actually not really. It’s Nakano Central
Park, but close enough. What I really like about this park is it’s really close to the station. The station’s right there, and it’s a nice little pocket
of greenery, nice nature. Right by where we just
were with a different vibe. I see a lot of like kids
and office workers here, so it’s a nice little getaway. And Shah’s gonna get so
mad at me for saying this, but I used to come to the Starbucks, grab a cup of coffee and sit here. So yeah, it brings back
a lot of memories too. – [Shah] I guess Nakano doesn’t have any good coffee spots, does it? – (laughs) Or I’m just
not picky enough. (laughs) I used to live between Koenji and Nakano and Koenji is actually the next station. It’s right around the corner,
has those local vibes. We actually made another
video on that in the past with yours truly. So check that out for more local vibes. This park also holds like
seasonal events sometimes, one of them being the Nakano Bon-Odori. And what’s cool about
this one is that they have the bon-odori on a main stage with, like, live performances
acts and even DJs. So if you want something new
with bon-odori, then come here. A question slash comment that
we saw on our recent video is that it’s been really
disheartening to see people say “Don’t come to Japan when
it’s July and August,” but that’s really to do with the weather. It can be really hot, humid, and sticky, but there’s still a lot of great events and things that you can do. If you want that summer experience with the festivals and the liveliness, then you can still come
during those months. Just stay hydrated. Stay hydrated, you guys,
because Japan’s heat stroke and Japan’s heat level
is on a different level. We’re right here in front of Renga Zaka, which is our next spot. But the reason why we’re
not actually inside while we’re introducing this is because Celine Dion is in
the back belting her heart out. So we’re gonna have to do it in front. But this is actually on the
southern side of Nakano Station and as you can tell, it’s
got a very different vibe. It’s a lot more European
S ’cause you can see it’s got a lot of like
Italian restaurants, French restaurants, and some izakayas. But this is a little bit
more of a quiet vibe. If you want a more like upscale
vibe, you would come here. There’s also a restaurant
called Vivo Daily Stand and I’ve been there several times. I really like the deal that they have. You can get two drinks in one deli or one deli and two drinks for 1,500 ish, which is really good. I don’t think there’s a service charge. Check the website, please.
But it’s a great deal. (chill music) We’ve just walked into
this store called Aonisai, which is in the Renga Zaka street and we’ve got a bunch of
different finger foods. Let me start by introducing
the first thing, which is actually an otosi. In case you don’t know, otosi is basically like paying a tip but you’re getting some sort of food or little dish in return. We’ve got what Shah
wanted to come here for, which is the corn tempura. Okay, you guys have probably
heard about tempura before, but it’s really rare to find corn tempura. Japan loves their corn. You’ve got corn drinks, corn soda, and apparently, corn tempura. So I’m really excited to try all of these. Which one are you most excited to try? – Corn.
– Corn. There you go. (Patricia speaks in foreign language) (people chattering in foreign language) Mm. That’s really good. You would not think to
put horn into a deep fryer and it’s so sweet. The outer layer is savory
because they add like salt to it. You’re not gonna find corn tempura in every place that you go, which is why it’s special, rare. This is the first time I’m seeing this, but you’ve probably
heard of chicken nanban, but I’ve never seen shiitake nanban. I guess it’s now vegetarian. I’m excited. Oh my God, it is really nice. A little junkie, very creamy,
chewy, lots of textures, but I think they use, like, smoked mayo. – [Shah] I’m goin’ in. – Go in.
– Yeah. – You can’t see, but Shah’s
over here like… (groans). (Patricia laughs)
(graphics chiming) This gyusuji they actually have a big pot right by the counter. So it’s been stewing for hours, I’m sure. In case you don’t know, gyusuji nikomi is
basically beef tendon stew. And this one has like lotus
root, lots of different veggies. This is a very classic otsumami food or things that you have with alcohol. Oh, that’s slaps. Nice and tender because
it’s been stewed for hours. Even this… I don’t think it’s a lotus root, sorry. Renkon (speaks in foreign language). – [Shah] Renkon is lotus root. – Lotus root, okay. – Gobou is burdock. And you say you grew up in Japan. Don’t trust what she said. – Stop calling me out. – [Shah] That’s my job.
I’m the fact checker. I have to check everything that you say. – That’s true. Another thing, Japan loves
their nagaimo or yamaimo and we had this nagaimo dish. It was basically a, like,
yam and soaked in soy sauce. So nice and flavorful. And usually this yam is
very slimy and sticky, which Japan loves these kind of stuff. But this one was surprisingly kind of put together basically. It was chopped up and
presented really nicely and it paired really well with the wasabi. So I think when you’re coming to Japan, yes, go to the izakayas,
have a couple drinks, but while you’re having the drinks, make sure you order some food. When the sun sets and the lights turn on, Nakano has a very different energy. It’s got this kinda like buzz. There’s bustling bars,
izakayas, restaurants, and you can feel the genuine
energy from the locals. Especially when you go
down these side streets. When you’re in somewhere like Shinjuku, which is only like two stops away, it’s kind of like tourist-heavy. They’ve got, like, you know,
inflated prices, the signs. The way that people talk to
you is a little different. Whereas when you walk down these streets, you can feel, like, it’s really got this,
like, local feel to it. It’s not overly touristy. There’s no flashy signs luring you in. It’s genuine. It’s like people calling you in, saying (speaks in foreign language). It’s like it’s got that real local buzz and that’s why it’s actually a
really popular place to live. Especially on this west side. Like, you know, Asagaya,
Ogikubo, Koenji, Nakano, these stations are really
close to Central Tokyo, but got this vibe. We were walking down the streets and there’s a lot of standing bars and this one lured me in
with their craft beers. This one I got is the yuzu lagger, lager. Oh my god. I’m gonna get canceled.
– Lagger, lagger. (Patricia laughs) – Yuzu lager. So I’m pretty
sure this is a Japanese one. Kanpai. (speaks in foreign language) (chill music) Mm, nice cold beer at
the end of the day hits. Also something that you can
say at the end of the day to your coworkers or your
friends is “Otsukaresama.” Kinda just shows, like, “Good
job for doing all the work.” you know, “Finish your day, good job.” How would you translate otsukaresama?
– You can’t. There’s no way to translate otsukare.
– There’s no way? – [Shah] You just have to learn Japanese. Yeah, there you go. – Learn Japanese.
– So next time, learn Japanese.
– Yeah. – You can probably tell, but this area, especially in the back streets of Nakano, it’s got this really like
vibey, it’s not too busy, but there’s things going on. It kinda feels like each bar lures you in, which is this is what happened. And with that note, like we
covered a lot of places today, showed you guys that this spot. Nakano is very underrated. It’s basically got the
energy and the character of a lot of busier stations
or more popular stations, but it’s not as busy, it’s not as chaotic, it’s not as annoying, and there’s a lot more
locals in there are tourists, which is a good sign. And there’s more to
Nakano than just the anime or otaku culture. So you gotta come and see for yourself. I’m gonna finish my beer, but let us know what your
favorite part of the video was. Is there another station that
you would want us to cover in a future video? Let us know in the comments. But without further ado, kanpai, and I’ll see you in the next one.

Nakano Guide – https://tokyocheapo.com/locations/west-tokyo/nakano-2/
Discover Koenji: Tokyo’s Hidden Gem – https://youtu.be/7vzjkHbbdb4
Klook – https://www.klook.com/?aid=513&aff_adid=947706&aff_pid=&aff_sid=&utm_medium=affiliate-alwayson&utm_source=non-network&utm_campaign=513&utm_term=&utm_content=&aff_klick_id=89526363264-513-947706-627bab2

Patricia – https://www.instagram.com/whatthepato || @whatthepato
Shot & produced by @Anocam

Nakano is full of cheap retail, hospitality and accommodation options. The long, covered shotengai (shopping street) to the north of Nakano Station is full of both cheap chain stores and shops run by locals and leads right to the entrance of Nakano Broadway — a seemingly windowless 13-level commercial complex built 45 years ago and jam-packed with 350 shops selling everything you can imagine — from secondhand manga, anime and retro goods through to sewing supplies.

== CHAPTERS ==
00:00 Intro
00:37 1 – Nakano Sun Mall
01:12 2 – Get lost in the side streets
01:24 3 – Souvenirs at local prices
02:31 4 – Nakano Broadway
02:49 Basement and First Floors
03:10 5 – Trying to eat the biggest ice cream – Daily Chico
04:45 2nd Floor and above
05:02 6 – Havikoro Toy (gacha store)
06:06 7 – Mandarake
07:05 8 – Trading cards
08:00 9 – Anime cels and artwork
09:08 10 – New and used camera goods – Fujiya Camera
10:12 11 – Nakano Central Park
10:57 12 – Nakano Bon Odori
11:14 Quick Q&A
11:40 13 – Renga Zaka – Great food and great drinks
12:27 14 – Aonisai – Dinner time!
15:09 15 – Nakano at night
16:01 Explore the local bars!
16:50 Outro

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★★★ Credits ★★★
Intro sequence by the most talented Peter Laugesen : http://pjlaugesen.com

Creative commons images used in the intro:
* Gundam Robot Statue in Odaiba https://www.flickr.com/photos/picsoflife/8154554047
* Japanese Salaryman Asleep https://www.flickr.com/photos/istolethetv/
* Domestic Cat https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Alvesgaspar
* Saraninman https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:%E7%AB%B9%E4%B8%8B%E7%AB%A0%E5%A4%AA%E9%83%8E
* Wild Cat http://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/34298
* Ginza Holiday Promenade https://www.flickr.com/photos/yoshikazut/
* Shibuya Crossing https://www.flickr.com/photos/31029865@N06/