Tokyo Tours 👑🐷 Manga, Anime, and Capsule Toys at Nakano Broadway

when people talk about Nakano they're  often referring to Nakano Broadway a mall located near the station described as a  place for anime fans and the subculture obsessed but people tend to visit this iconic mall and  leave without exploring the neighborhood the winding back alleys are brimming with character  with oodles of graffiti and stickers unique bars and cafes to explore oh and you know i'm gonna  share my favorite spot for good food and drinks welcome to Nakano Station... i'm na-go-no m

ake  a joke about it get it? Nakano? not gonna? So we're here at nakano station to head  to nakano broadway and i am going to get a single or maybe two capsule toys that's  my aim this video is not going to be about nakano broadway it's going to be about  stuff around it so we have to get out of the labyrinth which is nakano broadway and  that's gonna be pretty much the theme of this entire video i think the labyrinth and if you  haven't seen the labyrinth with david bowie you need to jump on th

at it's david bowie  and his bulge that's the whole movie and he does singing and i'm probably going  to theme song this entire tokyo tours into the library now once you arrive at nakano station you're going  to leave and go straight into this little tunnel area here it's called an arcade in japanese and  that just goes straight down to nakano broadway however mama didn't raise no fool and i've been  here many times before it is super packed with people and once you're on the ride you can't get 

off it so we're going to be taking a different side alley routes so when you leave the station  cross the street and instead of going down the sun road arcade hang around and you're going to see  the sneaky little side street waiting for you head on in and your little labyrinth adventures will  begin okay quick note ng here this is the skyman restaurant and the og one is in kichijoji like  right at the station and it is so freaking good tsukemen is the one where you take the noodles and  you di

p it into the broth and this one has this like yuzu veggie like i'm not even gonna tell you  about it just just eat here if you're hungry okay aha i arrive at my first crossroads luckily i  know exactly where i'm going i'm totally not lost thank you thank you google maps for that now the  one thing i'll say about nakano is that it has a lot of character if you will for example you are  definitely not allowed to just leave your bikes anywhere like where i live you have to find the  correct bike p

arking because if you don't you're going to get a grumpy person come over and leave  you a ticket but here people are kind of a little more freer you're also going to find a plethora of  stickers everywhere and if you can see stickers at the entrance of a subway station like right away  that means that you're going to find even more stickers because it's kind of like a sign  that the authorities near the station just don't even bother and let me tell  you it's freaking CROD paradise out here yea

h keep your eyes peeled spend all day  here look not even planned not even planned CROD got CROD, we got BAMS and we got  ourselves some classic scotch over here scotch CROD BAMS uh 24 killaz these are all  stickers that i see like most frequently but let's turn the corner shall  we and see what awaits us no i think the authorities cannot do anything  in this situation anymore we've got it's going to be bleeped out ... *dog bark*  F*ckpopstoreindo that's right you heard me now there are a lot of

photogenic locations  in japan but what i like about nakano is that it's kind of a two-for-one deal during the day  photography and videography is quite interesting and then in the evening a whole  new spirited away vibe comes out but more of that later on in the tour so if  you notice like way in the distance there's people kind of like walking back and forth and  that's the covered arcade from the entranceway it does go straight to nakano broadway but i find  taking the backstreets it's just

a little bit more flavorful a little bit more spicy lots  of exciting things to look at you know okay swear that i'm not lost basically  what happens is that that straight line that goes straight to nakano broadway  is the only straight line and all the back streets kind of like squiggle back and  forth and some connect and some don't connect but i know where i'm going as long  as nothing's been changed i swear this is the street that i wanted to go to because  it leads straight to the entrance

way of nakano broadway and i didn't have to do any of the  stress and pain of being crammed into a little hallway at least i think it is  otherwise i might edit it out no no but i wasn't lost i had conquered the curling  back streets the next challenge laid ahead the labyrinth which is nakano broadway do that's right this building was designed in the  1960s and i honestly don't know what they were thinking it's brimming with chaotic power  the color scheme and design feel like you've entered a t

ime capsule the elevators just like  skip some of the floors and the escalators will pass them as well the stairs connect to different  sides of the building but you know what trying to figure out how this absolute labyrinth of a mall  works is part of the charm of knock know broadway hello music so i took the escalator up to the third floor  because it is my favorite floor regarding not feeling super claustrophobic um it has this  beautiful kind of like fake sky ceiling it has nice lighting and

i just feel a little bit like  i can breathe here um also i'd like to mention the tremendous amount of restraint i'm going  to have in this video to not stop and look at all the items and go in and check with the sailor  moon stuff i shouldn't have even talked about it i'm starting to like drool inside my mask listen  purpose martina this is the labyrinth part where david bowie's like you know come to me you know  not going to sing that stupid baby song but um i must focus i must get the capsul

e  toy that i want then i am leaving oh my god giant Rilakkuman oh it's only  77 i could totally fit this in my house okay i probably couldn't it would become like  the entire couch but no focus martina focus oh my god look at all the freaking pokemon this is amazing they have Clefairy whose  voice i love Clefairy but i can't do it now because it'll embarrass me in  front of everybody NO focus martina as you can see nakano broadway does house a  ton of shops for japanese collectible items but yo

u just need to come here and  explore on your own because it also has western toy collectibles train model shops used  luxury watches all alongside old school arcades it even has a formula one memorabilia shop with  vintage collectibles where my formula one fans at? this is not the place i was planning on going but  they have a tokidoki unicorn which i love but i have to point out to you that these are called  "vinyl artist gapcha" and for short... it's VAG VAG you guise... all right i brought w

ith me tons of little coins  ready for this and my purse says are you excited happiness depends upon ourselves very true words  this is awesome all right 400 yen is like four bucks and i love tokidoki and this is my first  tokidoki in japan because i have one in canada oh i got the pink one i got the pink one  also i'd like you to appreciate the asian squat that i'm sitting in this is what it's  called i didn't make that up it took me years to do the asian squat without tipping  backwards but no

w i can wait for buses i can use the toilets that are like  the ground toilets you guys oh my gosh she's magnificent now you might notice some shops around with  the name mandrake above it what began as just a used bookstore specializing in manga has since  expanded to mandrake being the largest second-hand comic retailer in the world it was founded in the  1980s and mandrake opened its very first shop in nakano broadway inside the mall itself there are  27 individual shops operating under the m

andrake brand and they've expanded to all the anime manga  collectibles of the rainbow now if you're not sure where to go i'd recommend heading to the  fourth floor and visiting this absolutely dope mandrake owned shop it houses super vintage super  rare and expensive collectibles honestly it's really just like visiting a museum or stepping  into a nightmare i mean however you see it "happy and sad magic face clown first he  smiles then he cries almost life-like" every time you turn the corner y

ou find  something new that you want to like look at and explore when you visit nakano broadway  and and that's why i call it a labyrinth because you can spend hours here just hours  upon hours upon ah wait a second wasn't i supposed to be doing like  one thing damn it david bowie's done it again you have no power over me i'm heading  to the capsule toy station and then i'm leaving now there are capsule toy places all over nakano  broadway but i am looking for this particular one because they ha

ve the best selection of real-life  objects just like miniaturized it's it's my thing okay okay it was a tough decision but i'm gonna  go for this one here which is like an old school convenience store japanese convenience  store so you can get a vending machine ice creams like there's so many choices i hope i  get a vending machine but the way i work with the capsule toys is that i have to be happy with like  five out of six of them before i buy it here we go okay ready what is it gonna be got

a vending machine that  is exactly what i wanted yes you see this well i am really happy with this one i think it's  time to get some food i am feeling really tuckered out we're gonna go to b1 which is where they have  a bunch of little food places that you can go to the elevators are really helpful but not as like  obvious you kind of have to find them and this one by my favorite Capsule toy place, it goes from  the fourth floor straight to b1 so it's perfect let's go so b1 is the place where i

f you live in  the neighborhood you can come here for groceries they have like fish places they have  chicken places they have an ice cream place which is super famous it has like a really  really tall ice cream that people come to i've not tried it supposedly it's very good  they also have some practical things like DAISO and they have some places for snacks they  have a shumai place which is steamed dumplings and they have udon and tempura but to my  surprise i discovered a new korean place i

don't know how long it's been here for but  it wasn't here the last time i came here wow hi i picked up some korean snacks so i am very  freaking happy stuff that i don't usually see at korean restaurants in japan so so  legit thank you the labyrinth thank you well i have completed my quest i have  entered the labyrinth of Nakano Broadway and i'm leaving with a capsule toy okay two  capsule toys but still quest complete it's pretty easy to leave the mall and head straight  down sun road and hop

back on the train but i recommend just leaving the mall and going out  to explore the neighborhood you never know what you're going to find look at that building  i need an architect to explain that again before i dig into this and cover my face in  delicious saucy yangyam chicken i bet you didn't know there was a gigantic park a five-minute walk  away from nakano station it kind of just comes out of nowhere if you're not used to the area but  it is a great place to like unwind after visiting na

kano broadway because it can be quite like  claustrophobic not a lot of windows but not a lot i mean zero you know but you just walk over here  you've got all these awesome places you can sit bring some food with you from the basement  that's my recommend just going to have a little bit of a snack and then head off exploring  the back alleyways let's see what this is like very messy it's even got the peanuts on top  man don't worry i'm going to share that's good even cold Japchae time! Japchae i

s really good when it's not  put in the fridge, like if you make it, don't put it in the fridge that's the best time to eat it  those looks really good this is such a nice place to like dog watch there's a little pug, golden  retrievers like and there's a Spudgy dog amazing hi little one i know you protect okay i got my korean food and i  got my Spudgy *heart swells* wow i smashed that food there's no evidence that  existed i barely even got photos to show you guys i was that hungry i feel quite

renewed now that  we've come to the park it is really nice just to get that breath of fresh air um but the reason  i'm not talking that much about it is because it has a lot of like you know like mcdonald's and  starbucks places that you've never heard of before but if you come here on the weekends you can  get really lucky they usually have festivals they might have like food trucks that pull up they  have like a beer thing that they were advertising so it's a place that has lots of activities

but  we are heading back into the nakano broadway area to go to one of my favorite coffee shops okay  let's go the mosquitoes are freaking coming from you guys i saw like two of them already i had to  murder two we need to get out of here right now so feeling recharged after a snack and a sit  down we'll be returning to the back streets as nightfalls the snack bars and ramen  shops open up and the streets transform into a lantern-filled wonderland warm  lights dredge the air and colorful izakay

a signs form an organized chaos  this is a place to eat drink and be merry nestles amongst all this colorful chaos  is the delightful and elegant cafe LOU i haven't had a beignet in forever very naughty i love LOU it is such a nice coffee  shop which coffee shop is not even the right way to save it it's more like a cafe they serve  food they've got amazing cake really good loaves excellent salads like the kitchen is  great the theme of how the place looks like they have like a metal with wood bl

ue and  brown kind of vibe so nice keep your eyes peeled for all the details of the wood they actually have  a friend who does the wood carving for them which right away i asked like what's with all this  detailed wood stuff it's a place to just like enjoy the atmosphere and they serve  bio-wine which i love and they have beer on tap plus amazing coffee it's like  did somebody invent this out of my mind? now one of the confusing parts about  japanese nightlife is that there's more than just a ba

r in japan you have izakayas  which are dedicated to eating food and drinking but you also have snack bars (スナック) a snack is a  place that is run by one person and you're kind of paying to sit and chill with the owner and  the vibe that they're producing in their shop there's even one here that has a cat who seems  to be uh pretty famous there's like photos of this cat and i saw him and i was really tempted  to go inside so don't be surprised if there's an additional fee added to your bill major

ity of  snack bars and some izakayas add a table charge this has led some tourists to believe they're  being targeted and taken advantage of but honestly it's a normal fee that all customers  will pay now picking a place to eat in nakano can be a little intimidating so allow me  to share one of my favorite spots located outside of the busy bar area on an unassuming  neighborhood corner is a craft beer haven Citraba i really love this izakaya they have two things  that i really enjoy one a large

selection of craft beers on tap you can even bring a growler or your  own take-home cup and you can like take it to go but they have such a neat selection like the last  time i was here they've already changed it all listen to this omnipollo and dougie's passion  fruit cheesecake it's a pastry sour what is what is that okay this is amazing and then okay  so i got distracted the other thing that's neat about this place is they have an amazing lemon  sour selection lemon sours are a very japanese

normal go-to kind of drink it's shochu which  is like not sake but like a potato alcohol mixed with ice and lemon and soda water normally  but they have this massive cool selection like lemon sours made with ginger or my favorite  one which was sherbet and they did like a scoop of lemon sugar ice cream and i thought  it was gonna be super sweet and it wasn't it was just freaking amazing so they have these  really neat things on the menu to choose from and food wise well we'll get to that it's be

en  a long day of filming and it's hot as hansel so hot right now as night falls it's now the  perfect weather for drinking cold beers outdoors i order Electro Squash a super refreshing Sour  IPA from Isakadoya Microbrewery and nothing says summer quite like a crunchy goya salad made  from the okinawa gourd, bitter melon. My gourds! the menu has many delicious izakaya items  but since it's rare to find shumai at a bar i indulge in the sampler set i'm a big fan  of dim sum and these have a japane

se twist these little steamed noodle parcels with  meatballs made of shrimp and pork have edamame and spicy pepper however the real winner  is the lamb shumai served with fresh cilantro that perfectly balances the rich gamey flavor i'm not  kidding you when i said i had to order two more i hope i've convinced you to give  the backstreets of nakano a chance and if you dare head into the retro chaotic  time capsule labyrinth which is nakano broadway and don't forget to visit the basement links to 

all the spots in this video are in my youtube info box and if you like what i'm doing consider  joining King Kogi Memberships on YouTube or Patreon to support my drunken food explorations  plus i have to feed and water my cameraman and he wanted more of the lamb shumai as well you