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Hi everyone, welcome back to the Solaris
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Japan channel. As you can see, today
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we're at Akihabara. And if you're
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planning a visit to the area, then this
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video is for you. We're going to be
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taking you around a little tour and
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ranking the figure shops in the area
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that are worth a visit and which ones
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aren't. Let's go. Starting off with Book
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Off. They've got multiple locations
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across Tokyo, but the Akihabra one is
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located very close to the station and is
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easy to find. The atmosphere isn't the
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most pleasant as it can get kind of
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crowded and it's not the most tidy
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place. Here you'll find secondhand
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figures, mainly prizes, including new
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releases. Items are in good condition,
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although don't count on coming across
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rare or special finds. Pricing wise, you
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can find some cheap figures. The
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selection isn't the most diverse, but
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it's a good place to grab something with
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ease from your favorite popular series.
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Also, this is probably one of the most
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tourist friendly places to shop at since
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there's a ton of English support through
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the staff tax-free, and a lot of payment
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options, English signage, and a money
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exchange machine in front of the store.
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Overall, Book Off is an amazing stop for
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manga, light novels, and video games,
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but nothing impressive in terms of
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selection, so it's a C-tier pick for us.
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Next up, Lashimang. There's two
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locations in Akihabara. one on the fifth
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floor of the Radio Kicon building and
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the other in Akuba zone. These stores
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are brightly lit, clean, and organized,
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and the figures are well categorized.
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Everything is used/se secondhand, and
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the figure selection is great. They
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mostly have prizes, but you can find
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some more rare items. As a side note, if
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you're into character goods like
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keychains or acrylic stands, this is a
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great place to check out. Pricing is
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good, although be wary that multiples of
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the same item may be on the shelf with
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different prices listed. And it's even
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possible that an opened box item will be
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more expensive than the unopened
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version. Staff will try to help to the
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best of their ability and understood
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English enough to answer our questions.
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They also offer taxfree lots of payment
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options and free postcards for tax-free
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shoppers at their radio kicon page.
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Overall, a good shopping experience and
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good pricing. For us, Lashin Bong is
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going in a tier. Amiiam has two
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locations. One is located on the third
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floor of Radio Kon, and they also have a
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much larger tower building. The Radio
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Kon location has some pretty cool
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displays, including pre-order items.
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There's also a pop-up corner with
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limited time merch for specific series,
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but this is mostly for general merch
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like t-shirts and keychains. The tower
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location is an eighth floor super
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wellorganized building with a huge
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selection of figures, both new and used,
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with a pre-owned condition scale for
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full transparency. You can find just
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about anything from all sorts of
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pososeable figures to model kits to
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American comic book characters and of
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course anime and game related products
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with a discount corner near the
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escalator on just about every floor.
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Pricing is generally pretty competitive
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but not always the cheapest. The radio
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Kaikon Amiiam Ami is a nice place to
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browse if you have time but not an
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essential to visit so we'll put it in C.
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However, the tower location with its
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amazing selection and shopping
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experience goes in A. Marudu is easily
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spottable on the main street and pretty
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close to the station, but the store is
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super cramped and extremely
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overstimulating, loud, and
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claustrophobia inducing. The selection
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is super small given the size of the
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store, and prices are not great. We
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couldn't spend more than 1 minute in
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this store, so that should tell you what
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we think. An F tier shop.
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Character Gmart is located close to the
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station near a handful of other figure
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shops. The store itself is very small,
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but the figures are very well organized
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and displays are adorable with a more
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unique selection of mostly used card
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captors, Sailor Moon, and a vast variety
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of Vocaloids. The clerk was friendly and
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spoke English, although figures here are
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a bit on the pricey side and no tax-free
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for tourists. Overall, some unique
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items, but not a huge selection to
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choose from. Puts Character GMart in C
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tier for us. The next shop is Mandarak.
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Probably one of the most popular
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destinations for tourists to visit. The
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building itself is huge, so you can't
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miss it. The store itself is a bit messy
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and can get hard to navigate through the
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narrow aisles. The inside definitely has
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that vintage thrift shop feel with tons
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of secondhand goods. This is the place
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to come if you are hunting for an old or
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rare figure. Item conditions will vary,
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but any sort of damage is disclosed, so
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you know what you're getting. Since a
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lot of the figures are special or harder
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to find, pricing is on the expensive
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side. If you aren't on the hunt for a
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hard to find item, the selection won't
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impress you much. Like we mentioned,
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it's a super popular place for tourists,
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so you'll have no issues receiving help
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from friendly staff, and taxfree is
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available. If you're in the area and
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looking for a rare gem or unexpected
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treasure, Mandarake is worth a visit.
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Otherwise, it can be a fun place to
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browse, but not a must-hit for your
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average collector. Btier, it is. Gear 2
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is located in a little alleyway close by
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to the station and other figure shops.
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It has multiple floors, but accessible
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by stairs only. The shop is small but
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clean and well organized. Loud J-pop
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music playing, but good atmosphere
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overall. Here you'll find a decent
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selection of figures from popular
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series, especially shownen, including
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some that are harder to find. New inbox
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figures, plus used and out of box are
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available, and everything is in great
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condition. Pricing is pretty average,
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but is worth a look if you're interested
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in figures from series like Dragon Ball
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or Naruto. Cashier was friendly and
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spoke English, and multiple payment
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methods can be used. First, we'll have
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no issues shopping here. And they're
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also offering free cards/goods up to 300
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yen for writing a Google review.
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Overall, a good spot to check out for
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your shownen figure fix with a good
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atmosphere gets geared to a spot in
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Btier. There are a couple locations in
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the area, but the main Sudugaya location
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is next to Mandake. The selection here
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is good, and they have a little bit of
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everything, both new and used, including
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a small adult figure section. Prices are
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a bit all over the place with some great
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deals and some overpriced items. This
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specialty store location also has glass
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display cases where you can find some
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pretty rare character goods.
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Unfortunately, the biggest drawback here
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is that the staff is fairly impatient
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and rude. The store itself has tax-free
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and signage in multiple languages, but
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they don't seem to enjoy interacting
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with foreign customers. This knocks down
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Sudogaya's rating to be. Yellow
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Submarine is located on the sixth floor
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of the Radio Kaien building, reachable
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by elevator and escalator like all the
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other shops in this building. The
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atmosphere was okay, a bit less neat and
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tidy compared to other stores, but not
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too crowded or cramped. The selection is
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weak for figures, but it is cheap. Not a
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must visit if you're looking for figures
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by any means, so this one is going in D
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tier. There are two Senu locations
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fairly close to each other, although
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they are pretty far from the station and
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a bit out of the way to visit. The
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stores are very small and a bit
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disorganized. The selection isn't the
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best. There are some new figures, but
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not many special finds due to the
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selection. Prices aren't the best
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either, so we'd say not worth the
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journey coming here. The senus are going
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to go in E. Trader has two locations in
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Akihabara. Trader 2 is located closer to
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the station, but is smaller in
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comparison to the headquarters location,
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which is a bit farther out, but has a
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wider selection due to its size. Trader
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2's figures are located on the first
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floor, so pretty easily accessible,
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while the larger location has three
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floors of figures, but elevator access
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is available. Trader headquarters is
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super spacious, bright, and shelves are
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well organized. As far as the selection
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goes, both locations have a lot to offer
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in terms of brand new figures, unboxed
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figures, and even multiples of these
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same figures can be found in the
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headquarters location. Both have new and
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used figures, differentiating between
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opened and unopened. Plus, you can find
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some rare items like coogis and harder
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to find figures. But the best thing
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about trader shops is the prices.
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Figures here are super cheap. Definitely
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some of the best deals in the area with
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500 yen figures and outofbox options,
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too. If you want to save even more for
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tourists, the larger location has
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signage and even instore announcements
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in English with store info for
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customers. No tax-free here, but they do
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offer a variety of payment options. With
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a huge selection of sought-after figures
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with amazing prices, the traders have to
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go in S tier. Mulan is extremely
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chaotic, very loud and overstimulating
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with the TV and speaker blasting with
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music and announcements simultaneously.
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There are cute handdrawn anime pictures
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scattered throughout, which is a nice
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touch. The shop is mainly secondhand
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goods, but the figure selection is
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pretty limited, and prices are meh.
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There are much better shops to spend
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your time at, so this one goes in E.
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Akiban No X's main store is located
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super close to the station next to Book
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Off. Before the shop even opened, there
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was already a line forming of customers
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waiting. The shop itself is small and a
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bit cramped with an anime OP playlist on
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full blast. A little much for 11:00
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a.m., but hey, the selection is good for
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the shop size with prizes, Nendos, and
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scales. Plus, they may have some rare
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items you're interested in. Pricing at
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this location is also good with some
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cheap options. Staff isn't super
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friendly or enthusiastic, but will
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answer your questions with some English
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ability. Not a bad shop by any means and
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might be worth a stop to see if you can
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get a good deal or a rare item. Akiban
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No X goes in Btier. Well, located in
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Electric Town, Wilks' figures are on the
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fifth floor. We didn't see the elevator,
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so we walked up five slides of stairs,
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so if you do decide to visit, don't make
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the same mistake as us. The store itself
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is organized, and figure displays are
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well curated, but everything is new and
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pretty expensive. If you're looking for
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model kits, including beginner friendly
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ones and related accessories, however,
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this is a nice place to check out. Plus,
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you can find interesting character
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goods, and it's a great pop-up event
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location. Staff is helpful and try their
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best despite limited English and
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tax-free is available, but for figures,
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this one is skippable. D2. Atop is
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located in the Radio Kon building on the
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second floor, accessible by escalator or
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elevator. The space is open and brightly
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lit with lots of organized displays, but
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can get pretty busy and hard to navigate
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through the displays when it gets
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crowded. The selection of figures here
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is huge, mostly used from a wide variety
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of different series and even custom
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stuff. You can also find some rare items
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in great condition. Be wary though, it
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can be expensive since the store
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utilizes space rentals for private
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sellers who are the ones setting the
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prices. Staff are English-speaking and
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helpful with showing items and answering
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questions. Purchasing method is a bit
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unique, but there is signage in multiple
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languages explaining the process. A cool
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place to browse, but private seller
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pricing means you're likely to get
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ripped off. We'll put this one in D.
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Next, we have Tokyo Hobby Center.
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Location-wise, it's further out from a
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lot of the other places and is a bit of
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a trek from the station, but we think
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it's worth it. The overall aesthetics of
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this place are amazing. The inside
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smells fresh, and they were playing some
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fun, upbeat music. The shop isn't huge
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by any means, but the selection is
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decent for the size with some harder to
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find and older figures in good
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condition. Pricing is good, and you can
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definitely get some sweet deals and
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cheap figures here. Staff is friendly
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and the store is easy to navigate as a
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tourist with signage in English and
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multiple payment options. And as a
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bonus, they offer a shipping service to
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transport your purchases to your home
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country. Hobby Center is a fantastic
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experience. And if you are planning to
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be in Akihabara, it's definitely worth a
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visit based on vibes alone. With that,
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we think you'll be able to find a great
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deal. So, this shop is going in S tier.
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Liberty has multiple locations
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throughout Akihabara. Most of them are
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pretty concentrated in one area and a
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bit far from the station, but easily
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accessible on the main street. The
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exterior has an automated loudspeaker
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voice in English with info about the
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store and the types of figures sold to
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entice foreigners to shop. Inside, the
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store was bright and pretty crowded with
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lots of tourists. They had a good
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selection of prize figures with and
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without boxes in perfect condition,
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including brand new releases. Pricing is
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marked up on a lot of items compared to
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other stores, so we wouldn't recommend
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buying here right away without
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comparing. A bit of a tourist track with
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inflated prices puts Liberty in Dtier.
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Oh, and as a little bonus, right at the
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Electric Town exit of the station, you
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might run into this inviting display of
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figures. It's not always there.
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Sometimes a different store or a food
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truck has these spots. The items here
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change pretty regularly, and there have
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been some rare items on occasion. pretty
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enticing and super well located. But
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don't get sucked in because the prices
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are a bit outrageous. Points for
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convenience. And if you're in a huge
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rush and need to grab something, sure.
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But otherwise, it's leaning towards
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being a trap. We'll put this one in D.
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This has been our tier list of the
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figure shops in Akihabara, so you know
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exactly where to go if you are coming to
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visit. After all that figure shopping,
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we're getting a little hungry, so we're
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going to go eat. Check out our next
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video for our top food recommendations
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in the area. Thanks for watching. Bye.
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[Music]
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It wasn't a burning ambition. It only
