We Made It To Nakano, Tokyo For The Day!

Okay, why did it take this long... convincing myself that I could do it! Ha. Gosh, its probably been more than 8 years since Leo of Poupee Mechanique told me I should go to Nakano Broadway... What?! Yup, he shared with me back then when we emailed each other often, that I should check it out. It is now, Saturday, November 11, 2017 and I finally took his advice. There is a shop there, that I've found some of my best vintage goodies, online now! But, I figured I could convince myself, that if I could make it to Nakano, then maybe going their myself and picking up merch for my shop, will be less expensive, etc. Right? Read on to find out my discovery.

I told my husband, that since it was a 3 day weekend for most of us here in the US. I decided to take the girls and try for a quick visit to Nakano Broadway. A shopping plaza in Nakano, Tokyo area. He agreed to it and the girls and I packed super light, backpacks and extra change of clothes. We slept early and made out way to the Airport at 3am...

 After check in and TSA, we got to the gate and sat, as per usual, and waited. Our flight left a bit late and we got to Narita, Japan by 10am. Okay, now to make our way to Nakano. We got our tickets for the Skyliner into Shinjuku Station. We sat and ate a quick snack, before heading to the platform.

 It was pretty quick too, by way of Nippori train station. Then, on the Yamanote Line to Nakano. We arrived at about 12:45pm or so. The girls wanted to eat lunch. We left out of the North Exit and there was Nakano Street. We saw a KFC just to the right and decided to have lunch there.

 We all got meals, and what was very nice, was that each of our meals even had a little dessert. I got a chicken sandwich, wedge fries, a drink, and dessert. The cream dessert was like a cream cheese flaky pie, yum!

 I shared it with Sara. Very light and fluffy too. They don't have this on Guam.

 We sat for awhile, just to get our plan of action set. We decided to walk down Nakano and see what we could find...

 Once you enter, this is what you see, basically a street of shops, and very festive with holiday decor. It was very busy, lots of people.

 The girls spotted this pet shop, "P's first". They decided to go in and see all the cute pets. Kittens at the window and some really cute puppies too! A lot of people were going in to adopt pets. I know Taby wanted to get one, but seeing the prices made her freak out a bit. LOLs

 I didn't go in, sadly my allergies might go haywire. When they got done we started walking further into the street and sure enough at the end, was the infamous sign for "Nakano Broadway"! Yesss, we made it.

 It was just like walking into a dream, but this time it was real! I was giddy like a child. Then, Taby noticed as soon as we walked in... "Mom, isn't that, that girl from Galaxy 999?!" I turned to the right and sure enough, it was Maetel, life size too. OMG, "Quick Taby, take a photo of her for me!" She asked if I wanted to stand next to her. I was like, no, just take her photo. Sorry, I'm just not a selfie person. Hehe.

 It was awesome. They were selling her costume for cosplay, or eyelashes, etc. I think?! I didn't go over to look closely. My plan was to find this famous place where all the vintage dolls and toys were!?

It was four floors of retro and modern anime, games, gatcha, etc.!!! Oh snap! From the 1st floor we could see a game room, and lots of manga or book sales. So, we decided to head up to the 4th floor and make our way down. From the 4th floor, we found this one store as I turned the corner from the steps, Candy Candy in the window!

 A man was standing in front of this display looking at the dolls. Beside him was the entrance to a shop, that had a lot of "Sofubi" or "Soft Vinyl" vintage toys. I made sure to take a quick photo of the girls by the red temple makeshift gates. So cool!

 Mostly, guys in this shop, checking out all the vintage sofubi toys. I loved the light up floors. Very space like feeling too!

 It was just one of the small shops inside. We walked around and then headed back out. When I turned left, I was floored...

 ...drooling, it was vintage Mattel Barbie dolls and some rare ones made in Japan!! A Japanese Francie version mint in box, Japanese Midge loose, Ike Ike Eli just to name a few! Holy moly! I hit the jackpot!!

 I had died and gone to Dolly Heaven, seriously! Just as Leo had told me!!!

I turned around and across from the Mattel section, was a little nook and there was vintage 1st generation Licca chan!! I just died!

I had always wanted to be here to see all the goodies. Finally, let's mark this place off my "Bucket List" please! Yippee! I took a moment to look around at everything as quickly, but yet ever so slowly, and there was Rune Naito dolls in another section...

 Then, Sailormoon everything section, Ball-jointed dolls section, Blythe, Momoko... Oh my gosh people!

 Kewpies, cute big tan dolls... cute little dolls, Monchichi plushies...

 Rune Naito ceramic coin banks, etc...

 This one shop, had glass cases through out, and I saw a lot of very rare dolls, toys, even Alice Tears by Sekiguchi, Miss Take, and a Miss Nancy, still mint in box!

 I told Taby, that I would try to buy something to commemorate this joyous day!! Sadly, I left the place with nothing. What?!!!! Yup, not because I didn't have money with me, only because, I felt bad for Sara. She was not happy to be there, she was bored, and tired and her feet hurt. Sara just isn't a shopper like Taby and I. So, I felt it was okay, besides, I could always try to get something another time, in the future, when I come to visit this place again. We worked out way down to 1st floor, and with all our feet in pain, we went back out into the street of store, and found a restaurant with desserts. I even forgot to take a photo of the name of the dessert place.

 We sat and rested our tootsies. I said to the girls okay, let's have dessert then. We got served nice hot tea. The smell of the tea, reminded me of "Ahu" a coconut dessert on Guam. Delicious too! We also got iced water. There was ice cream on the menu. Taby got two scoops of vanilla ice cream with a waffle cookie, Sara had one scoop with two waffle cookies and sweet red bean paste and mochi. Mine, was the smorgasbord of fruit, mochi, sweet red bean paste, vanilla ice cream, and clear jells. It was definitely an interesting combination.

We finished, and decided we'd better head back to the airport. It was nice outside, but the wind was a bit chilly. We sat for a bit to rest our feet more and decided what to do to get back to the airport. We just worked out way backwards and this time we paid for the cheaper fare, and it took us a bit over 2 hours to get back to Narita Airport. This left us not much time to do any shopping. So, it was not a promising day for buying any goodies. We got through customs, and TSA, by the time we got to our gate, there was just 45 mins. before pre boarding. We made it on the 9:30pm flight back to Guam. We also noticed that we were not the only passengers that took a day trip. There were other United employees and their families taking a day trip like we were. Nice!

We got into Guam about 1am. Exhausted and please with myself for having made it to Nakano, we drove home, got there by 2am, and just took a quick shower, then, went to bed. It was awesome! Definitely a goal completed. But, I must admit, with all the food and train tickets purchased. We spent about $160 US dollars, mind you that was for three people. It was not worth me going there physically, unless I went alone. Having the items shipped to me, is more feasible, at this time. An experience learned.

Thank you for reading! ~ ggsdolls