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Nakano Broadway: Negotiate Nerdiness Without Negotiating THE LATEST FROM OUR TEAM By Laguna Levine on Dec 2, 2013 at 4:24 pm, in Uncategorized | Comments: 3 comments Ryan Raplee So I had a friend recently tell me about ’s Nakano Broadway. I’d heard the name once or twice, but never ➤ Pro-Tip – ArcheAge: Best Way to Deploy a thought much of it. She’d said it was like , maybe better, and some articles on the web said similar things Glider but… well, I’ve learned not to trust a lot of what I’ve heard on this subject, and it’s the same thing with Nakano Laura Hardgrave Broadway, except that if anything, it’s been downplayed in some key ways, even by more recent articles. ➤ ArcheAge: Auroria Opens November 4th

Don’t get me wrong, I still think Den Den Town‘s a pretty good negotiation for a Amanda Brand nerdy outing when taking a non-nerd out to Japan. Heck, it may be better with ➤ Review: The Flash Pilot people who don’t want to cling to you the whole time you’re there. But if someone can’t be left alone a few blocks away, Nakano Broadway is the place to go. Its nerd- Corrii Alexander ➤ Warlords of Draenor Release Date Do you need professional PDFs? Try PDFmyURL! level density is higher than Den Den Town, but you’d never guess it from the ➤ Warlords of Draenor Release Date Announced fashionable shops and people you’ll find there. And by fashionable, I don’t mean cosplayers, but girls and guys that look like they’d be at home on the cover of a Jason Dodge fashion magazine. I hate buying clothes, but I nearly broke down and bought a few ➤ No Man’s Sky – A Land and Space Simulator with No Boundaries items on my way out so I could fit in (you can thank $1 conveyor belt sushi for getting me out of that). Jessica Cook ➤ A Look Inside Steam's "Family Sharing" Beta First of all, it’s super easy to get to. Just take the JR Chuo line to Nakano, take the north exit, and walk straight ahead. There’s a covered street known as the Sun Laguna Levine Plaza Mall that leads straight to Nakano Broadway, a four level mall that, despite what you may have read elsewhere, ➤ Citizens of Earth Launch Discount has stores that should appeal to geeks on every floor, even the basement (if you like ice cream piled 8 scoops high, though there’s also a fish market down there, so mind the smell). Lauren Connally ➤ Putting the “Guild” Back in Guild Wars 2 The walk there is short and is the first area you can abandon a non-nerd. There’s jewelry stores, clothing stores, David Butterfield kitchen ware, bakeries, fast food, dine-in sushi, conveyor belt sushi… a very good mix of places I wouldn’t have ➤ Final Fantasy XIV: Dreams Of Ice 2.4 Trailer expected near a place some had mentioned as an hidden gem. However, if some of those places sound expensive, let me warn you that it does get pricey, but only if you’re looking for certain things, and even then, it can Kyle Murphy be half as much as you might buy online. ➤ ArcheAge: Leveling Guide Levels 1-10 East Harani Battlerage Once you’re in the actual mall, you’ll notice the first of many shops run by Mandrake, a rather famous company that sells second hand otaku- Kiwi Dream ➤ ArcheAge: The Quickest One Month Ever! culture goods that often don’t look used at all. This is their home turf, What Makes This Game So Addicting? and you can see why it’s made Nakano Broadway famous. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves yet though. There are other places to visit here, especially on the first floor. You still have some jewelry and clothing stores with a range similar to what you might find outside, though I ARCHIVES found some good deals inside. About $20 for jeans in Japan is pretty Select Month crazy , especially for American made products like Hanes. Of course, this is Japan, so if you’re a little tall like I am, you’ll still sadly have trouble finding clothes that fit. There’s also a nice snack shop that had some good deals and, overall, seemed well priced. Picked up a few items for my Monster Hunter buddies and their first year anniversary party. There’s also some POPULAR TOPICS used electronics shops, but not quite as many as Den Den has. Still, I found some legit stuff, like the first Wizardry A Realm Reborn beta bioware crafting daglar game just sitting in a plastic bin (the series is legendary in Japan). Oh, and there’s a maid cafe. Don’t ask what it’s like since I avoid those places. dev blog dev tracker dungeon expansion f2p featured1 featured2 FFXIV free to From the second floor on up, the nerd to normal ratio of stores play guide interview launch laura Do you need professional PDFs? Try PDFmyURL! guide interview strongly favors the nerd. There’s still places you can dump your shot third leveling live stream lore mmorpg boyfriend, like a used military gear shop or vibrating chair station, and nintendo patch notes Patch Notes podcast preview places a fashionable but not-so-geeky girl might like, like non- pts pve PVP Q&A roleplaying scott hartsman clothing stores and nail salon, but aside from a few music shops, screenshot screenshots Silverstrike Storm electronic shops, and food shacks, it’d going to be nerd heaven that’s Legion the galaxy is yours trion tutorial update largely hentai free, more so than even Den Den Town. You’ll still see video warrior world event wvw some pervy stuff, but seeing as at least half of the people I saw there were women from student to senior age and often not traveling with men, it’s safe… or safe-ish. I only checked inside the Mandrake store for a bit because I turned the wrong corner and found some of the… ah, “boy love” fan-made comics with many female fans standing and staring at me. There’s actually few stores that seemed more aimed at women than men, and I don’t mean stores offering a lot of pokemon plushies (though there was one, and yes, I did go in).

At this point, you may be noticing a bit of a pattern. Unlike Den Den town with its french fry smelling or Akihabara and its full embrace of otaku culture, Nakano Broadway has a lot of regular folks who just like geeky things. If you’re with someone who likes Disney movies, Star Wars, Gremlins, Walking Dead, Simpsons, comics… things I think most westerners are at least somewhat familiar with, they’ll find something they like, and probably something rare too. I have some pictures I promised certain store owners I wouldn’t share online but have sent to my brother because it was just so odd to see these things in person.

That isn’t to say that Nakano is not for otakus. I normally don’t buy stuff at these places unless it’s something on my list, but I found some Pokemon and Chrono Trigger stuff I hadn’t heard of before, and nearly gave in to a rather expensive purchase. One store had a ton of Mother/Earthbound stuff on display but not for sale. Another had old school Nintendo stuff from my childhood. I saw Hello Kitty KISS plushies and in one comic shop, I saw manga so old that it made Astro Boy look super new.

This may be why some people reviewing Nakano Broadway may just mention it has some rare stuff, but mainly just older /manga, or that only certain floors are good. That’s not true. Aside from the basement which only sells food, I found rare goods that were well priced on every level, and while the fourth floor is mainly an arcade… well, do I need to finish that sentence on this site? I saw Attack on Titan plushies and Walking Dead t-shirts along with costumed McDonald’s nugget toys from the late 80s. Even some rarer things that looked expensive were actually er than what I could find online, and often in what looked like mint condition. Granted, most of the stuff from Mandrake is used, but I couldn’t always tell. Do you need professional PDFs? Try PDFmyURL! The other interesting thing is that there’s a few shops that rent out display cases for people to sell their own stuff in. Toreka, for example, lets you rent cases based on location (bottom shelf is est, top shelf is the most expensive), then you simply label the items for people to buy. If anything is sold, you’ll get a call to come down and pick up the money whenever you’re available. This is where some of the real odd pieces can be found, like hand-made figures and old Mister Donut collectibles.

Like Akihabara, you’ll find some cosplay shops, but not so many cosplayers. If you want to brutal, otaku experience, with its perverse visuals, literally unwashed masses, maid cafe girls only after your money, plus the business people passing through, Nakano Broadway won’t satisfy you. For games and music, Den Den Town might be a better option, especially if you need to leave someone at an eatery to keep them entertained (though I did see some unique ice cream flavors in Nakano, such as rose, chestnut, and sweet potato). If you need new, unused items, Nakano may disappoint a bit. If you’re looking for a place to hide out and game all night, Akihabara is going to be the better choice. However, if you want geek gear that’s hard to find, and don’t mind if something’s been used, I’d say hit Nakano instead. You can satisfy your inner geek while your less geeky traveling companion plays darts, gets a massage, gets their hair done, or looks through Nascar memorabilia. Call it a negotiation, but don’t feel like you are. You’ll certainly find something there that you can’t find in Akihabara, and probably for less money too.

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Tags: akihabara, anime, attack on titan, chrono trigger, comics, den den town, Earthbound, Gremlins, Hello Kitty, KISS, Mandrake, manga, mother, nakano broadway, otaku culture, star wars, the walking dead, wizardry

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Laguna Levine Editor

Teacher by day, writer by part of the day, and sleeping sometimes at night, Laguna is a critical Nintendo fanboy that can often be found playing PC games. He also writes about Japanese culture for Tofugu.com.

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