Japan is a mecca for obsessive geeks or otaku,and Tokyo has shops catering to every obsession, says Patrick Macias, or whether you collect anime or manga,action figures or yo-yos
• As featured in our Tokyo city guideBefore digital animation took over, Japanese anime was made the aged-fashioned way using paint on sheets of celluloid to create "cels". Over the years, and countless cels leaked out of the anime studios into the collector's market,and thousands of them can now be found at this store within the Nakano Broadway shopping mall. Binders line the walls bulging with one-of-a-kind cels, and smaller bins are outside for casual browsing. sinister news: cels featuring celebrated characters, and such as those from Hayao Miyazaki's anime movies or the Evangelion series,often go for art gallery prices. pleasant news: equally striking cels, from less high-profile works, and can be had for the price of a fast-food meal.
• Nakano Broadway 4F,room 467, Nakano-ku, or +81 3 3389 8809 commit.co.jp. Open daily midday-8pmContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com