I wanted to post this sooner but the holiday season is a busy time of year and I hadn’t had a chance to reflect on the awesomeness of my trip to Japan in November. But here we are!
If someone were to ask me if I ONLY went to Japan to look for dolls, I would answer, “of course not, silly. I went to eat Japanese food, too.”
The truth is I definitely had designs on a few epic toy runs, but I also wanted another crack at immersing myself in a city that is both foreign to me as an American and familiar to me as the country where I first started planning my doll collection.
Here’s a recap of the fun stuff:
An amazing superstore of all things toys, with multiple levels of fun! Having learned about toy burnout, I planned this trip carefully, focusing manly on the doll floor. There were amazing Licca-chan displays, but I have to admit, the Pullip and Blythe section was a little ho-hum. Still, it was great to get my first look at Naoko, who wasn’t yet available in the store.
This place was misleading as the main store is full of cute plushies, novelty toys and every other crazy creation that buzzes, whistles, or sings strange chipmunk karaoke. Not that I’m not in to that, but had I not seen the secret downstairs entrance to the doll shop, I may have only done a drive by this place. Thank goodness life-size Licca beckoned me.
While the bulk of the shop was Licca oriented, turning a corner led me to my first audible gasp of the trip. A wall of Pullip dolls! Momokos! Ball joint dolls the size of 4 year olds!
Junie Moon Shop – Shibuya Parco
Shibuya crossing is a famous stoplight where impossible hordes of people cross the intersection in 6 different directions in a most orderly fashion. It has to be seen to be believed! Here we are waiting our turn to go.
Our next stop was the elusive and tiny Junie Moon shop hidden within the PARCO departmet store. This place looks like a little doll house it’s so adorable. Though mostly a Blythe shop, many of the accessories and outfits fit other dolls as well. This was the season of Alice in Wonderland, and the shop definitely had a theme going…
Radio Kaikan Building – Akihabara
The promised land! Last time I visited Japan, I was so overwhelmed by the abundance of cute stuff that I malfunctioned like Number 5 in Short Circuit (go look that up kids, it’s a classic.) This time, I came prepared to shop. It was 9(?) floors of anime toys, dolls, gadgets, artworks, and everything else that would make a toy/doll/anime nerd’s heart skip a beat. I was still unprepared for one store that had ANOTHER wall of Pullips, not to mention endless Obitsus, Make it Own kits and more, but I made it out alive.
Ok, that was doll overload! I’ll save the Azone Labelshop store and Mandarake for Part 2 of Nippon Adventures!
Oooh thanks for sharing! I have dreams of going to Japan and wow, I wonder if I will survive all that stuff! Just looking at it now is giving me palpitations…ugh! I can’t handle!!
Post 2 of your trip was on your blog first, and when you mentioned part 1, I was like ‘no! How did I miss Part One?!?’ Phew good things come to those who wait hehe. Thanks again.
Wow, I wondered if anyone saw that. I accidentally scheduled it for January 2015 instead of January 2016. So it will pop up again in a week or so. Oops!! Anyway there were so many pictures that I had to split it in half!! If you decide to go to Japan, just take a deep breath, do your research, and enjoy the doll overload!!
Wow!!! Thank you so much for sharing. Doll overload but I love it. I don’t know if I will ever go to Japan but your visits and photos make up for that. I am glad you had such a great time. 🙂
I never realized the doll selection in Japan is so different than what we usually see. Thank you for sharing!
I don’t know how anyone could live in Japan and not just live in a doll store! The prices were mostly reasonable, too. 🙂
Thanks so much for parts 1 and 2. Loved every single photo. Japan truly is a doll collector’s paradise!
Oh it is! I wish someone had captured the crazy, eyeball popping reactions I had upon stumbling into walls of dolls!