>>This is an entry in progress - Last update 2008/4/7<<
During my time on JET, I have travelled around Japan a bit, and whenever I go to some new place, I will checkout whatever Anime stores they have there. Now obviously I do not travel to places just for their Anime stores (with Akihabara being the big exception) but it is nice to have a change after sightseeing all day long. Trust me, there is only so much temple viewing you can do in a day.
I hope to Update this entry as much as possible and do note, this list is by no mean exhaustive. I am sure I am missing out on a lot of stores, but for the ones I have visited, I can give my personal opinion on what they are like. I will break the stores down by location instead of the store type as I reckon that would be easier for people who are going to certain places to find out what stores available
Sapporo
Animate - A pretty standard Animate, and relatively large too.
Gamers - Occupies only the first floor of the building, which has a big Gamers sign out in front. Smaller than the Animate in Sapporo and pretty standard in every other aspect.
Toranoana - Located right next to Animate in its own separate building. it occupies the first floor of the building with an extensive doujin collection at the back
Lashinbang - This store is perhaps one of the biggest in Japan. It is definitely bigger than the ones in Ikebukuro and Kobe. It is broken into 3 different parts, one focusing on cosplay items, another focusing on video games and the last one focusing on comics, doujin and figures. I did manage to find one of the elusive Limited Edition Azusa from Idolm@ster at this store and I highly recommend it for its selection of doujin goods and other Anime merchandise. I picked up a Prism Ark bedsheet for around 4000 yen at this store which is a considered a bargain for usual Dakimakura.
Melonbooks - The northern most outpost of this Doujin establishment. It is located in the basement of the building that Animate is located in.
Liveret.
Mandarake - This mandarake outlet is located on the 5th floor of a department store. It feels quite odd when you head up the esculators as you see floor after floor of fashion stores, only to meet a doujin mecca when you hit the 5th floor. Like any other Mandarake, it has -a lot- of doujin which are stacked neatly in shelves. It could be a bit hard to browse, but It is one of the biggest doujin stores you can find. Also available are cheap(er) second hand figures which are piled onto shelves at the back. You can spend a bit of time here looking for bargains, but do be careful, some may have defects as they are after all, second hand.
Sendai - Animate, Toranoana, Melonbooks
Fukushima-shi
Animate - By far the smallest Animate I have been to, doesn’t have that great variety of goods, probably because its located on a small corner on the 3rd floor of the shopping complex that makes up the station.
Koriyama
Animate - Oh the amount of money I have spent here….. Since Koriyama is the biggest town next to where I am located, I head to this Animate quite often whenever I need a dose of moe. It is a pretty average Animate outlet, on the 3rd floor of the ATi (pronouced Ah-tee). When you are walking towards the store, you will pass by a few fashion stores, even a lingerie store. Quite a few people come here but there is always enough room to move around or to browse whatever you are interested in. Definitely one of my favourite outlets.
Tokyo - Akihabara
Undoubtedly the center of the Anime world. Many things spawned from this place and it has the most anime stores in Japan.
Tokyo - Ikebukuro
Animate
Lashinbang
K books
Tokyo - Nakano Broadway
Mandarake
Osaka - Den den town
Located in Nipponbashi, this is Japan’s Western Holy Land. Stores are generally located along a long main road with both sides featuring covered pavements meaning you can still shop without getting (too) wet!
Animate
Sofmap
Volks - I am particularly fond of this outlet of Volks. It is much bigger than its Akiba counterpart featuring 5 floors, with the top floor dedicated to Dollfies. It also has many cabinets which people can rent out and sell things they no longer want. This Volks outlet -always- has cheap figures, usually ones that they want to get rid of (meaning not so popular). However, the discounts on these brand new goods are staggering, ranging from 20-80% off. Everytime I walk into this store, I always come out with big bags of loot.
Kyoto
Gamers, Melon books, Animate
Kobe - melon books, Yellow submarine, Toranoana, Animate (all conveniently located in the shopping complex just across from Kobe station)
Himeji - Animate (Occupies two stories in a building near the station. One of the larger animates I have seen outside of Tokyo)
Nara
Animate
As you can probably tell, I have been to many Animates around Japan. I will keep on adding and improving this post whenever I can.