So like it says in the subject, I'll be in Tokyo for the first week in October as a 3 year late honeymoon. Most of the trip is planned out already (Harijuku for her, meeting grandma, etc, but one day is specifically being fully dedicated to shopping for music and video games in Akihabara. So far, we have plans to stop at a few Book Off locations, an amazing location called Super Potato, another simply named "friends", Square-Enix's cafe and gift shop, and a couple other potential spots.

However' I'm still open to other places to check out as well. My focus will mainly be looking for game and anime soundtracks, but there are some other albums on my personal list to hunt for too.

That being said, to those who have been there the last few years or are there now, does anyone know any good spots to hunt around in? This is probably a once in a lifetime trip for me, so the one shopping day I have set aside is something I want to make as good as i can, so if you have any suggestions, I would welcome and appreciate them. Thanks!

Go to the robot restaurant in shinjuku, kawaii monster cafe in harajuku, take the train out to Kyoto to see all those arches. Tokyo Disney sea, etc. Spend time seeing stuff instead. You'll appreciate it more than picking up a bunch of tapes.

I would be interested in some license plates, if you can find any =)

Kyoto is going to be too far out from where we are, even by train,  but we already have a day set aside for Harajuku and Shinjuku. The wife instantly veto'd Tokyo Disney about 2 weeks ago too - apparently she has some bad memories there from her childhood. Honestly, the shopping is only one of the seven days.

I was in Japan for two weeks this April/May, so fairly recent. Akihabara will of course be your best bet to find expensive or obscure games, but you're gonna pay a lot for it. Book Off / Hard Off is EVERYWHERE in Japan. I would recommend stopping by them whenever you get a chance, even if you only have 10 minutes. Games that were $8 in Akiba were $1 (no joke) outside of Akiba. Super Potato is probably the most well known and is also probably the most expensive, but you can find good deals. I got a mint Gamecube Hori game pad for about $60 from one.

I don't know if it's still going on but there was a Monster Hunter cafe in I believe Shinjuku when we were there. The food was actually really good which is surprising for a themed cafe. I would check and see if they've got anything going on there if that sounds interesting to you.

Some just general tips if it's your first trip... A lot of stores are tax free if you provide your passport. Not sure of all the rules and restrictions of this but you could research it. Also Lawson's, 7 Eleven, and Family Mart have really tasty food if you need a cheap snack. If your Japanese is lacking Google will be your best friend. You can take pictures of signs, menus, etc and it will usually translate it well enough to where you have an idea of what it's saying.

Feel free to message me if you've got any specific questions! It was my favorite trip I've been on and we are already planning on going back 2021.

My brother and I went last summer. We had a great time doing her multiplayer Virtual reality gaming. Some are located on the top floors of the sega towers, but there is also an entire VR Park you can go to which is awesome.

Oh this is definetly the first place in Tokyo I'd want to go to...SQUEE!!!!! ^^








Oh even better still, visit Aoshima Island!





Hello Kitty...pleeez, who needs some anime/stuffed toy make-believe cat (if she even is a cat) when you can play with all these REAL kitties in Japan? ^^

And this looks like a neat place too; BTW if she had her hands all over me like that, I would be so blushing and turning red...





Cute kitties, cute girls, what more could you ask for?  

Dude, I WISH I had the time for the cat island - I wanted to go to the rabbit island too, but the consensus was they were both too far out of the way. from where we're staying. Same for Nara. Basically we were planning to keep our travel to being about an hour to 90 minutes away by train from our airbnb location in Hon Atsugi.

Rabbit island would be on my to do list. Seeing them hopping around would just relax me for the day or week in disconnecting. Everything else would be a plus to the trip, imo

I've been there last year in April.
Super Potato is cool and a must-go place to visit but I expected more from the selection. The prices are also on the higher side, as already said in this thread.
But I found a few games that I wanted there and since I was already at the store, I bought them. I remember that a lot of the customers were from abroad so it's was easy to walk through the store speaking in English but the cashier didn't speak English.

A store that I liked was Mandarake.
As Super Potato, it isn't a cheap store but there was a lot of hard-to-find stuff there.
I bought F-Zero Climax for the GBA there since it was the only store that I found this game during my whole trip (Tokyo and Kyoto).
It's definitely worth going.

There are also a lot of small stores that you can go to.
One thing that I didn't know was that on Sundays they close the streets so there are no cars there.

Super potato is cool but unless you read Japanese plan to spend some time pulling carts out to look at the labels. The mini arcade in the top floor is pretty cool too if there aren't a bunch of people chain-smoking.

Friends had some unique things but is definitely on the smaller side, Google took me around the block a few times before I noticed the entrance up a random staircase.

Also recommend retro game camp and traders (book off as mentioned above has some sweet deals--picked up a horri rap4 for 360 for like $25 if I recall).

Here's a guide I wrote to shopping in Akihabara!

http://www.chriskohler.biz/retro-...

A few tips:

- DON'T miss Mandarake in Akihabara. A lot of first-timers skip it because there are so many other game stores right on the main street, and because you can't see video games from the outside. It's a big 8-floor shiny black monolith of a building with nerd stuff on every floor. Games are on the 6th floor and it can be a great place to buy rare stuff at low prices because the Mandarake staff can be really particular about condition, and will mark the price down lower for a small issue. ALSO, they do tax-free shopping, which most Akihabara game stores do not do! So you'll get money back if you bring your passport and present it at the register. Sales tax is 10%, so it's significant! ALSO: Don't forget the "boy's toys" floor in Mandarake! There's a whole glass case full of Japanese Nintendo toys. I found the original 1970s "Duck Hunt" mechanical toy in that case, the last time I went, for a really low price.

- DON'T miss Beep and Surugaya, which are helpfully located right next to each other but again, ever so slightly off the beaten path. Beep specializes in vintage Japanese computers and PC games, which, even if you don't want to buy any of it, are super cool to look at! But Beep also has console stuff, and it's usually much cheaper there. Surugaya, right next to it, is an amazing store with a huge selection, lots of discount bins full of great low-priced stuff, and lower prices than Super Potato etc.

- DO go to Friends, but know that their selection has been dwindling a bit since their heyday, and also they're cash-only, so bring cash!

If you're able to do another shopping trip, I would say for sure take your wife to Nakano Broadway. It's just a few stops away from Shinjuku. The main attraction is a huge shopping mall that has tons of Harajuku-style fashion stuff for her and lots of great game shopping for you! The Mandarake there has a HUGE game soundtrack selection, and a great game section too.

Let's talk about soundtracks specifically now.

- Super Potato: They do have some, but I've never bought any there - prices pretty high.
- Trader: The big Trader on the main Akihabara street has a decent selection of soundtracks and they tend to be pretty cheap.
- Surugaya: The video game Surugaya next to Beep *doesn't* have game soundtracks - the soundtracks are in another Surugaya, the one close to the JR Akihabara station entrance! Definitely go there.
- Friends: Has a very good selection of rare soundtracks on the upper floor. Again - cash only.
- Mandarake in Akihabara: Good selection of soundtracks, on the same floor as the games.

Google Map links and other links to everything is in the guide I linked! Good luck!

Bookmarked. Your guide is FANTASTIC for me.

I just got back last week. Check out the swap meets. There's lots of gaming deals at those:

https://tokyocheapo.com/shopping-...