My wife and I recently returned from our first trip to Japan. We went to WonderFest, the Ultraman Festival, and the Ultraman Legend exhibit in Koriyama. We also did lots of toy shopping and sightseeing and met up with a few board members. I have promised a few people pictures, so I thought I would start with the toys I brought back. My wife brought back some nice fabric for quilts, but I don’t think you want to see that here.

WonderFest pick-ups:


Non-vintage pick-ups: Does anyone know anything about that Nessie set by Bear Model? I remember it being releaded several years ago, but were there any others in the series?


Vintage pick-ups: This was my real goal, but as you can see from the above, I kind of got carried away with the new and non-vintage stuff. Anyway, toy shopping was a blast. It was so cool to see these toys at stores where you could handle and smell them before buying them. I saw so many rare toys, but the prices were a little high. The first vintage toy I saw was a beautiful Bullmark Megaro (Megalon) at Mandarake in Nakano for 450,000 Yen!! Scattered throughout Tokyo, I think I saw all of the Bandai standard size Barom 1 villains with prices ranging from 100,000 – 400,000 yen. I did manage to pick up a few nice things, though, like the Tiger 7, the GariGari, the Popy mini Z-ton, and the Osato Toys Gold Satan finger doll. I tried to buy at least something small from every shop. It was the least I could do after spending so much time drooling over their display cases.



I will post more pictures and stories as I get the chance, but if anyone wants to talk about the trip, please feel free to pm me.

Wouldn’t it be a great idea if someone published a book with tips on traveling in Tokyo and with maps and detailed directions to locate all of those hard to find toy shops?

Mark, did you get that Gari Gari from the cube store on the ground floor of Nakano Broadway? If so, I was almost going to get that! I held off, though, because I didn't have a Bello Bello to go with it. Good score!

nice pick ups! that large tiger 7 is my favorite toy ever.

Roger, I got it from Ichiban-Boshi in Koenji at a better price. I think the shop you are talking about is Bow Wow case shop. I really liked that shop and picked up the rarer finger dolls, the Popy mini, and the M1 Hedora there. I don't have the Bello Bello either, but you gotta start somewhere. I was so afraid of bringing this guy back to the states because of the fragile neck and legs, but what a great prize from my trip.

I got the Tiger 7 from Mandarake in Nakano. I went back a week later to see if the stock had changed and there was an almost identical one in the same spot. They must have an amazing inventory. We got there to see the line of people being let in to sell their old manga and toys.

Ha ha -- I'm really looking foward to that book.

You scored some very nice things. That set of mini glowies by Ilanena is one of my faves.

That Nessie set just blows my mind!

Nice work.

When I was in japan I had to buy another suitcase just to get all my stuff home!

Yeah, that Nessie set is great- first thing that caught my eye when I went through this post.

Bear Model makes some very interesting things...

Yep, that's the place.I was worrying about the same thing! I was considering disassembling it with the hair dryer at the hotel, but I've never done surgery on a vinyl that old so I'd worry, a lot.

Wow! Now that's a toy shopping trip!
Nice purchases.

Glad the pre-empt copy of the book worked out for you. Nice scores as well, I think Tiger-7 is on the top of every discerning vintage collectors list....

Cool man visit those micro stores while you can. They're shutting down left and right. I hope Forest Gangu and Magic Box aren't in the book, since they're two recent casualties which exist no more! Akihabara and Nakano are the two toy Meccas, though Koenji continues holding its own nicely!

i love the mini dinosaurs in the 3rd picture - what are those? great pick-ups!

i spy dadaaaaaaa!

Forest Gangu is gone?!

Crap.

I thought they just moved...

I hadn't been to Forrest Gang in a few years (before one of their relatively recent moves) but the place blew me away. I saw most, if not all of those giant Marusan Original Kaiju there, and a beater 2nd version GA-01 Mazinger-Z in a Rubbermaid container on the floor. The place was overflowing with goodness.

Magic Box, though? Fuck 'em. I was always treated like shit there, and I heard the same from everyone else. Good riddance.

They moved once or twice in Sugamo, but last month when I was in Koenji I was told by a couple of folks that Gangu is gone for good. I have to say I didn't spend a half-day making the trip out to Sugamo to verify the news first hand, but it's from a good source.

And there's no way I was going to Kokobunji to verify that info about Magic Box. Hell, half the time I went out there in years' past they were closed for arbitrary reasons anyway.

Is that your blog?

Seeing how they also called it "Forest Gang," I'd wager the info on that site came from this thread.

Nope, that's the Toybox DX message board.Even though I did point Matt to this thread, I think we've been spelling it "Forest Gang" for a few years now. ;p

OK dokey, I figured this was the source of Matt's info. Tell him this pachi kaiju faddist says "you're welcome".

This IS the center of the universe, after all.....

(insert obligitory smiley face, since I hate using them)

Hah josh joshin. I think I actually met Matt in Tokyo at WF, in front of the BLobpus booth. Does he have a beard?

Heh, me too....I just enjoy being a knobhead.

No beard on Matt (unless he's going mountain man on us)...

Hmm, is he an older guy, around 50?

Nope, early 30s. He's in the center of this cartoon holding the Daikaiju Card Monsters:

http://www.dot-anime.com/tb/tb_essay/essay_05_06p.html

It doesn't look that much like him, though. Does that help? ;p