I'm not sure who said it, or even if this is the actual quote, but it is sometimes said that "One man's garbage is another man's treasure."
In Japan, due to the influence of the Shinto religion, second hand items are sometimes viewed as "unclean" or "impure." Therefore, there is an aversion to buying second hand items or reusing things. I think this is slowly changing, though I still have a tough time finding thrift stores in Tokyo. (They all seem to be centered in certain districts of the city.)
Recently a friend of mine came to Tokyo, not to visit, but to shop. He runs a somewhat unique store in the US, that sells rare second hand items from Japan. The focus of his shop is on anime and anime related merchandise, but he doesn't only sell items from the newest and most popular current series running in Japan and America. He enjoys going out "treasure hunting" to find unique items from older series.
He only comes to Japan a handful of times every year, to stock up on merchandise and to prepare for the American anime convention season. I had run across him in March, pulling a handcart overladden with boxes and bags, as I was heading home from Ikebukuro. That meeting was wholly unexpected, as neither of us knew the other was in Japan at the time, but then we got to talking and decided to hang out the next time he was in Tokyo.
So this time, I knew he was going to be around, but we still couldn't spend much time together, as his trip was unusually short, and a delay in his flight made him lose some valuable shopping time. When we finally did get together, he showed me some of the stuff he had picked up, fantastic cels from classic anime series and movies, plushies, posters, and a lot of other random merchandise.
He remarked about how amazing it was to go to a shop where they had a "grab bag" for an old series for only 5,000 yen (~$50) and then he could turn around and selll it at a convention for ten times as much. Plus, since what he buys in Japan is all second hand, it doesn't get taxed when he goes back into the states.
It's hard to imagine the market for the stuff that he finds in Japan. Keychains, collectible cards, pillows, bedsheets, mugs, and animation cels. But since he travels all over the US to anime conventions, it seems that there is always someone around to pick up an item and say, "Wow! I loved this series so much! I've never seen anything like this before!" and be willing to pay whatever the cost to put it into a personal collection.
I'm also surprised at the number of stores dedicated to this market in Japan. If anyone were to wander over to Akihabara, the electronics district of Tokyo, beyond the flashing lights and the electronics stores, another district of Tokyo is revealed. The otaku realm. There are stores in Akihabara dedicated to video games, anime, manga, and all the related merchandise. If you want the latest figure for a popular anime series, you will be able to find it in Akihabara.In Japan, due to the influence of the Shinto religion, second hand items are sometimes viewed as "unclean" or "impure." Therefore, there is an aversion to buying second hand items or reusing things. I think this is slowly changing, though I still have a tough time finding thrift stores in Tokyo. (They all seem to be centered in certain districts of the city.)
Recently a friend of mine came to Tokyo, not to visit, but to shop. He runs a somewhat unique store in the US, that sells rare second hand items from Japan. The focus of his shop is on anime and anime related merchandise, but he doesn't only sell items from the newest and most popular current series running in Japan and America. He enjoys going out "treasure hunting" to find unique items from older series.
He only comes to Japan a handful of times every year, to stock up on merchandise and to prepare for the American anime convention season. I had run across him in March, pulling a handcart overladden with boxes and bags, as I was heading home from Ikebukuro. That meeting was wholly unexpected, as neither of us knew the other was in Japan at the time, but then we got to talking and decided to hang out the next time he was in Tokyo.
So this time, I knew he was going to be around, but we still couldn't spend much time together, as his trip was unusually short, and a delay in his flight made him lose some valuable shopping time. When we finally did get together, he showed me some of the stuff he had picked up, fantastic cels from classic anime series and movies, plushies, posters, and a lot of other random merchandise.
He remarked about how amazing it was to go to a shop where they had a "grab bag" for an old series for only 5,000 yen (~$50) and then he could turn around and selll it at a convention for ten times as much. Plus, since what he buys in Japan is all second hand, it doesn't get taxed when he goes back into the states.
It's hard to imagine the market for the stuff that he finds in Japan. Keychains, collectible cards, pillows, bedsheets, mugs, and animation cels. But since he travels all over the US to anime conventions, it seems that there is always someone around to pick up an item and say, "Wow! I loved this series so much! I've never seen anything like this before!" and be willing to pay whatever the cost to put it into a personal collection.
But on a side street, away from the main area of Akihabara, you will also find an 8 story store dedicated to second hand merchandise. Here you can find rare collectibles that were sold several years past, and classic video games that you were sure no longer existed. You can get a deal on second hand dvds and soundtracks for your favorite anime series. And the best part is that this store is not the only one out there. Each store has its own unique collection of items, dependent upon what the customers bring in to sell. For a dedicated treasure hunter, you have to visit each and every one of them, to have the best chance of finding the most rare, and the most unique.
The thickest collection of second hand anime, manga, and video games' merchandise stores has to be in the Nakano Broadway shopping plaza. In the upper stories there are a variety of stores, each dedicated to something different. This one is old movie and video game posters, that one is figures, and over here is one for fan comics. Nakano has its own otaku presence, made even more popular by the Nakano Fujoshi Sisters a band of otaku idols who all have geeky hobbies and interests. If you have an interest in dressing up as your favorite anime or video game character, there are also several stores dedicated to cosplay, or costumed play.
I know that I have spent hours browsing the second and third floors of the shopping center, looking at the massive collections of stuff. Maybe you will too. There are things lining the shelves of these stores that some people only dream about, while others don't even know they wanted it until their eyes fell on to the shiney treasures. I have been asked many times by my friends overseas to keep an eye out for this or that, and a good place to start is usually Nakano.
2 comments:
"There is a great treasure of gold and diamond buried in the Fukiage Gardens at the Imperial Palace. No one knows its exact location, but the clues are hidden in the Tokyo Subway. The early subway designers were all descendents of a clan of pirates who became gardeners at the Imperial Palace, where they buried their treasures.
"The clues are in the sections that went up between 1927 and 1940. The Tokyo mafia is determined to get the treasure before anyone else, and has threatened and killed several independent investigators over the last 30 years."
wow!!! then i should have a business like ur friend too!!!!
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