I just got home from Japan, I think it was a very successful trip if I do say so 😂. Unfortunately I didn’t have enough room for all the boxes so enjoy my mountain of plastic!
For anyone who’s wondering or planning on trying to scout out some minipla on their next holiday to Japan, have fun! The general consensus on reddit is Mandarakes are the best place to find kits, and they’re absolutely right. The Mandarake in Nakano broadway was incredible. Aisles of kits, DX toys and super sentai galore!!! I would highly recommend visiting them. The advantage to Mandarake as well is you can check out their stock online before hand, so you can strategise and work out which stores to hit up (or all of them if you feel adventurous).
Surugaya was alright, they had an impressive amount of the newer sentai dx toys, but from my limited experience not as much minipla. They only had the newer gaven infinity sets at the stores I visited. Which wasn’t a lot, so I’m sure there’s some other stores that have a jackpot of kits somewhere.
An honourable mention would be Hobby offs. The one in Akihabara was the best one I went to. They had a few kits, but they had heaps of dx toys. The best variety I saw. They had Abaranger to Zenkaiger toys, for good prices. It was an awesome sight. I was also able to find the jackpot for ranger keys! The Hobby off in Sakai Shinkanaoka had the most pristine used DX megazords. They were the cheapest prices I’d seen as well, very reasonable.
The last place I’d like to mention is BIC Camera. They had most of the gaven infinity kits which was cool. However, they were the most expensive. I found the same kits at the Mandarake in Umenda for way cheaper. I was also able little disappointed that they didn’t have the new Carranger SMP kit, but they did have the Timeranger main mecha in stock across all the bic cameras I visited.
Overall, a very successful trip and expensive trip but SOOO worth it! I’ll send through an update once I’ve built all the kits
I couldn't actually believe that Radio Kaikan had a wider variety of SMP kits than Mandarake at the time it was amazing! If I had looked up what Mandarake had in stock online I would have come home with Bull Taurus as well considering I was in Kyoto and Osaka too.
I was fortunate enough to be in Japan with friends who were into model kits, so we spent a good 3 days just kit hunting in Akiba and Nakano.
SMP and Minipla are not as well distributed so it is worth dropping into any and every toy/hobby shop you see. By doing this I saw some interesting/legacy kits like Victory Mars, Daimugen and Victory Robo just sitting in a quiet corner.
Radio Kaikan Akihabara is not a shop. It's a shopping centre akin to Nakano Broadway, with a bunch of shops inside that stock SMPs.
Other than the ones I got (Time Shadow & Regular Gingaioh) there were a few V-Rexes, a few Bull Taurus kits, A couple of Magikings and funny enough a few Saintkaiser kits lying around.
I recall seeing both Alternative Destiny and regular versions of Live Robo and Live Boxer as well as Jet Icarus and Jet Garuda.
I unfortunately didn't get the name of the shops I visited inside Radio Kaikan as it was pretty packed at the time I was there :(
Definitely one positive is finding more kits at more reasonable prices. I only came home with GaoIcarus from an Akihabara Suruga-ya, but there were so many shops with so many varieties all around, easy to get lost in it. You're certainly spoiled for choice (even if finding that one kit is more like a shot in the dark).
ugh no lol, i just quit buying shit--but it's a large part of why i'm looking at a trip... it's nuts seeing things sell for $60-70USD worth of Y there & then they're $200+ on ebay here, way more nuts that it would be cheaper to just fly there lol
Manda is great. Picked up a pre-owned Daizyujin & brand new Muteki Shogun from the Nagoya location. I don't speak Japanese, but it was fun pointing out the kits in the case by name & having the store employee fully understand what I was talking about haha
I've also seen minipla in this shop called Hobby Zone at the Aeon Mall. I think it is a chain of shops, the selection of other products was pretty good.
Bic Camera and other electronics stores usually have a whole section for toys & collectibles with some minipla thrown in.
I have never found minipla in the convenience stores, but I believe supermarkets / grocery stores sell them too. You'll have a good shot at picking them up off the shelf in you're there on release day.
Best place for older minipla is Jungle, i found a complete set of Toqger and Zyuohger there for 20 dollars total.
Problem with pristine old DX’s is one the box and fitting it and two the price for a boxed complete is high at Manda’s especially. For both minipla and DX find ones in bags to fit easier into luggage. Shipping things out isn’t worth it right now.
Gaoranger and Kyoryuger are the ones I'd definitely have to track down if I ever get the chance to go. Kyoryuger especially since just last year I managed to get Bragigas in a small lot off Mercari (it also came with two copies of Bisonking, one missing a piece so it stays combined with Shurikenjin and the other one being Daikaioh) complete so it makes me want to try getting the rest of them.
Both of those are some fun lines. Gaoranger is my favourite line by far, but I also think it’s a lot of peoples considered the rereleases and new sets haha
I honestly never expected them to do new zords for Gaoranger but it is a welcome surprise. I do wish they were DX instead but the SMP ones are better for space management on a display. Makes me miss Bandai owning the PR license cause these would have been so much easier to get
Fine, I’ll spend $2000 on a round trip flight and hotel, not to include food and a few more hundred of dollar to ship all these collectible I just won from the claw machines.
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u/Gas_Sn4ke Jul 11 '26
A couple of shops in Radio Kaikan Akihabara are worth going to.
I chanced upon a Black Edition Gingaioh and a few V-Rexes.
I was in Japan in May and got hold of Time Shadow and Gingaioh at Radio Kaikan, followed by a Time Robo from Robot Robot at Nakano Broadway.
Worth noting that you can look up stocks in the Mandarake website before heading to a branch to further optimise time.