BookOff - What's that?

Bookoff / Book Off is one the biggest brands for used items in all of Japan. It's famous across the whole country and one can find those shops in every region, from small town shops to big size stores in metropolitan areas.

From used books over to CDs, DVDs, games and other used items like smartphones you will find the perfect preowned product for you, very often in a condition that seems to be new.

Before going to Japan for the first time of my life in 2010 a good friend of mine recommended me to visit a shop called BOOKOFF, he went to Japan several months before me and he loved the shops offering many games and old game guides,I remember he talked about and presented to me a guide book for Fire Emblem 6 Sword of Seals (Fuin no Tsurugi) and I was almost instantly on fire to get my hands on my own copy of the game and this particular guide. And at the end of that vacation in 2010 I had the game for ~3500Yen and owned the guide twise with a third one already being shipped to me from Amazon.co.jp, because I found the book in an average condition at a store in Shinjuku, close to the JR Yoyogi Station (〒151-0053 東京都渋谷区代々木１丁目５８−1) and I wanted to get a better one, which I found on Amazon, purchased it and chose delivery to Germany. Unexpected and maybe karma related I saw a nearly new version of this guide and bought it thinking I could still cancel my Amazon order - pas possible - so I have 3 now.

Whenever I'm in Japan I need to visit those stores beside the big tourist attraction and sightsseeing spots because they always offer a good bargain.

The awesome item condition, the nice prices are the wide variety are just a few reasons to make that stores worth visiting, I've already spent hundred of hours there and found many treasues, mostly games and game guides but also "normal" books, e.g. a few F.R.I.E.N.D.S "encyclopedia" books or a SEINFELD script from the US.

Just to give you an idea, here's my 2010 LOOT:

I'm looking forward to my next visit and the items that I can find. It's hard to decide for a favorite store per region, because the stock always changes and it also depends on your target ignoring everything else, but the one in Tokyo Akiba is a very big one with 6 floors but it got famous abroad and not just throughout Japan so the prices are a bit higher than elsewhere. Ueno and Ikebukuro are pretty good as well, in Ikebukuro I almost everytime found and bought something (more or less) useful, sadly the one with 40.000 foreign books in Tokyo close to the Shirokanedai Metro station is closed.

In Osaka the one in Namba is quite nice. During my working holiday in 2015/2016 while I was in Yufuin I did a Bookoff tour in Oita and Beppu for one day finding treasures like Castlevania Symphony of the Night for 2000Yen and other cool stuff.

Beside the Bookoff shops there are Hardoff, Hobbyoff and other brands that all belong together.
Here are a few pictures of my early years:

Shinjuku

Ikebukuro - Sunshine City

Already closed - Shirokanedai

Gotanda -nice one

Ueno

To round up the BOOKOFF shops and to give a hint about the item variety of the stores and to make you laught I linked the current coomercial campaign, the reactions of the customers in video 3 and 4 are gorgeous

That's all 4 now - See you soon at Tokyo Game Show 2019 or any Bookoff close to you.

Akiba 3.33

Today it was the third visit of Akihabara, because the first was only a half one, due to the lack of sleep and the second was only a half, too, after visiting another district.

It started with the exit of the Metro in Akiba, where I shot some pictures. It's close to the Shosen Book Tower, you can also see it in the background.

The first place I went to was the Book Off above you have a picture of the crossing.

On this day I went from one hobby store to the next, searching for some MonHun Gashapon or other interesting stuff, I also went to the Mandarake (there are 3 in Tokyo, in Shibuya, Akiba and Nakano (still there?)). On the homepage of Mandarake it's said, that the Mandarake in Nakano closed in February, but when I asked one of the workers at the Akiba Mandarake he said 12:00-20:00, maybe he understood, when does it close or when does this shop close, we'll see, maybe I'll do my own research, when I'm in Nakano.

A list of some of the stores with no comments but just some pictures.

The last 3 pictures where about doll kits, bodies dresses and so on, in this shop you buy a doll body and a head and customize everything on your own, even the eyes can be changed, they also sell tights.

Well for every need there's a shop to satisfy that need.

Wouldn't it be nice if it were like that... decide for yourself

Which Akiba Ranger are YOU? I think RED suits me.

The next picture is about a restaurant, it's called Japanese King Noodle, look at the picture and the "Noodle King" yourself and think... I would never eat there.

The Next picture is about a gashapon figure, it's from the Dragon Quest series which I like very much the funny thing about this shield and boomerang is what you can read at the bottom "wearable", I guess it's a great accessory for a tuxedo, a suit or so, gives you Strenghth +5 and Stamina +3 but Coolness -10.

And if this doesn't work you should maybe shave yourself, what I will do later, too, but that's not the point, the point is the next picture - SHAVE YOURSELF WITH THE HELP OF ASUKA AND REI OF EVANGELION

On almost every screen in Akiba I saw a trailer of Evangelion 3.33 today, maybe because it was released on Blu-Ray and DVD today, in front of the Yodobashi Akiba a man was yelling something about this and they came and bought it like being hypnotized, I hardly could resist.

Just before I got there I went to the Hobby Off, just like Book Off but for Hobby, Figure and Game stuff, I bought a figure of a Jinouga there for only 1050 Yen, this figure could only be won in a prize game so this was a real treasure.

I'll go to bed now, but shave my beard first and play some Fire Emblem Awakening - in Japanese this game is pretty hard to understand, but if one has learned the Kanji for the different Status Values you can get it, because Fire Emblem is still Fire Emblem and that's good and awesome!

See You tomorrow, maybe tomorrow it's time for a Book Off Tour or it's time to visit the Gozilla Statues in Hibiya Chanter and in front of the Toho Studios, we'll see, stay tuned.

Shinjuku added 4kg to my baggage..

Today I went to Shinjuku.

I took the Hanzomon Line until Aoyama-itchome, then I changed for the Toei Oedo Line until Shinjuku.
The Toei Oedo doesn't belong to the Metro, so I had 100 Yen extra to change the lines.

I left the train at Yoyogi station to get to the Book Off which is near the station, a very small Book Off with only 1 floor and a small product range, but never the less I found something.

Then I went up some stairs to the Tokyo Time Square Plaza, went into the Eddie Bauer store, but left it very soon, because the prices were a bit too high.

Then I went streight to the Kinokuniya after taking some pictures.

There I bought some guide books from Fire Emblem and Last Story I also asked for the Fire Emblem Awakening artbook and a Guide book for Tokyo Jungle, they didn't have it there but at the Main Store in the eastern part of Shinjuku, so they preserved these items for me.


At the Book Off I saw a sign of 2 other Book Offs in Shinjuku, one I already knew, but not the second, so I began to search for it, it should have been close to the JR station and almost next to the Yodobashi Camera store, maybe it was but I didn't find it so I went back to the JR area and headed for the eastern Book Off and Kinokuniya.
I also passed a huge place, where many people meet and which seems to be the border between the skyscraper district in the west and the amusement district in the east.

Around 150 m from there was the Book Off, on the lower floor there were stores where they offered clothes and accesoires, like the Suit Company and others.
On the 5th floor Book Off started, they had an enormous range of products, many game guides, games DVDs, CDs and so on, I got kinda stuck at the game guide section and couldn't decide which to take, finally after I guess 1 hour I took a guide for Decidia Final Fantasy 012.


The Book Off was followed by an empty stomach and the will to fill it, so I went to restaurant area under the Kinokuniya, which was only a few seconds away, I had great curry, it was the stamina curry, very very tasty.
As fast as it was served it was eaten for 700 Yen, very awesome one.

There were 2 things left on my list, visiting the Kinokuniya and there shop called Forest, where the artbook was already waiting for me and the Artnia Square Enix shop, which I forget after the Forest but that's OK, so I have one more reason to get to Shinjuku again.

I headed back to the hotel very early today to ensure enough sleep and to relax a bit.

I guess that's all for now.

Tomorrow it's time for rest of Akiba and maybe the Artnia Square Enix Shop.

Here I am, rock you once again.

Saturday, 22:11, Tokyo - Day one is over now.

Almost everything happened as it was planned.

I took the plane in Leipzig at 10:55, my hand luggage was too big, so I had to hand it over to let it stow in the belly of the plane.

I arrived at Frankfurt perfectly on time, so boarding started at 13:15. The flight started at 13:50 after driving very long on the apron.

Lufthansa has a great entertainment program, some films, which are not even released as DVD are already available.

I started watching the Hobbit - an unexpected journey before the plaine lifted off, because I had a tight time scedule, 3 films to watch and only 10 hours of flight witch food and the try of sleep between the films.

I had to stop the first film, because of announcments by the captain, the crew and so on.
In addition two women sat right next to me. I did the online check-in on Thursday afternoon to ensure a seat on the aisle, in the A380-800 I had 90D - left side of the middle row, enought space for my feet, I didn't expect that both women who could also have used the right way out of their seats, always used the left way, so sleeping or wathcing a movie or just relaxing wasn't really possible, I guess I only slept 1 hour.

During the hole flight I watched the Hobbit, Here Comes the Boom (with Kevin James) and Rise of the Guardians awesome movies.

For lunch I had Yaki Niku, some kinda pork with onion a shitake mushroom - very tasty.

The pink stuff they had for lunch were cold noodles with soy sauce - nothing for me.

Between lunch and breakfast they had a small "buffet" prepared, I helped myself and ate two onigiri.

Breakfast was kinda normal, scrambled eggs, some broccoli, and very delicious potato cubes.

At 7:50AM, Tokyo was arrived, here you can see the Airbus A3800-800 right after landing.

After that everything went very fast, immigration hall - 15 min, baggage claim - less than 2 min, thanks to my eagle eye.

Next stop Narita express - 2.940 Yen (approx. 25 €) to Tokyo, 9:15 the train left Narita, arriving at Tokyo central station at 10:15.

After getting out of the JR Area, I took the Marunouchi Subway from M17 to -M18 and then the Hanzomon  Line from Z08 to Z10 Suitengumae.

I left my luggage there because check-in was at 2 PM, and it was 10:45 AM and went to Akihabara, using the Hibiya line from Ningyocho (H13) until Akiba (H15)

In Akiba I realized that the lack of sleep showed it's ugly face, I was so tired and exhausted, btw, it was very cold, not 16°C as expected but 10°C, so I only went to the Shosen Book Tower, which was very close to the Metro exit. After Shosen I had only enough power for 10 min. of Book Off and 15 min. of Yodobashi Akiba to buy a LAN cable.

Food was gathered, too.

After that I headed back to the hotel. I fell asleep, being totally tired, until 9 PM to finish all the preps for tomorrow and to write this entry.

Time to go to bed now and to finally recharge all my batteries.

Tomorrow it's time for Shibuya and Harajuku.

Shinjuku, the next dejà-vu and other small parts of Tokyo

Monday, September 17^th

I've learned from yesterday, so I didn't get up that early, because I didn't want endanger not yet opened stores. I had some sleeping difficulties, also because of the hits by the moskitos or other insects, 3 at my left arm and hand and 1 per foot.

I started with buying a Suica card, a kinda prepaid card for driving with the JR railways and the Metro (subway), to prevent time problems at Sept. 29^th I asked someone, when the first train departs in the morning, they didn't know but thought the first would leave at 5:00AM.

I went to Kinshicho for a Bookoff but also wanted to see a bit more of the part than 2 years ago by using the Chuo line over Ochanumizu and then the Sobu line.

Again I asked for MonHun and Yotsuba, both found very fast, some can speak english better than others (although my english and its grammar has become some kinda rusty over the years).

The Bookoff was followed by a huge shopping centre, which wasn't worty to observe, so I went out after a short. Around the JR station there was nothing of interest, so I went on to Hamamatsucho, I had to go over Tokyo and from there by using the Yamanote Line. To go on with the dejà vus I was going to head to tthe Pokémon Center, I only wanted to take a short look and take some photos we didn't take the last time, but this day, there were more than 300 people – I asked one of the PC empoyes, but there was no event this day, so the amount of people was a bit less than half a German Pokémon Day and this every day, I was also allowed to film a bit inside, it was very crowded and I also had to wait half an hour to get in. There were also 2 special downloads, which are done every day until the end of October. It was somehow tricky to get all the information, what was going on there. After an hour I left the place and headed on to Shinjuku, which has 2 parts, the amusement part and the skyscraper district. Iwanted to go to the Metropolitan Government Office for a panorama view of Tokyo and for a Bookoff close to the JR station, but I decided not go there, because I will visit this building together with Gerhard next week, I was also confused, because I used the wrong exit, after more than an hour I finally orientated myself using a high shopping center to look out of the window and finding out where I am – this was my only chance, because there were no maps provided. The southern terace entrance was the needed JR exit, I found an Kinokunya, a huge book store, where I found the artbook of Valkyria Chronicles 3, which I was searching for months even before the vacation, this store also helped me last time to find an artbook, I was searching very long in and out of Japan. After this there was only the Bookoff, which wasn't really helpful and something to eat left, I went to Subway and ate an Chicken Teryaki, which tasted completely different from the German Version and it's not only the bread issue or the missing of bbq sauce, it just tasted wrong but not bad.

Now I felt shot because of the weather – it also started to rain – and the bad sleep showed their effect. I wanted to do some preparations for the next day, but I instantely fell asleep after getting back. I woke up 2 hours later, because of the weather and finally did my preparations for Odaiba and also did some research about the departure day at Sept. 29^th, only found a timetable of the N'EX which goes at 5:55 from Shinjuku to Narita arriving at round about 7:15, so I will have enough time to check-in and everything needed, when a train from Higashi-Koganei goes early as giving me the chance to get the wanted Narita Express.

Next will be Odaiba, so hurray for Odaiba and the eCapcom Shop there and also the Gundam, if it's still there.

3 Parts of Tokyo and a too heavy bag

Sunday – September 16^th 2012

After an exhausting and very long Saturday the day ended with Skype an 5 hours of sleep.

My plans for this day were Kichijoji with a Bookoff and the corry restaurant, whrer we ate 2 years ago. I got up that early, because I couldn't go on sleeping since 3 o'clock and also because I wanted to use as many hours of the day as possible.

Kichijoji is only 3 stations after Higashi-Koganei (Higashi Koganei – Musashi-Sakai – Mitaka – Kichijoji), so I was there very fast at round about 8:20AM, I remembered the Bookoff to be close to the JR station, so I went around the station, but couldn't find any Bookoff, the place it was before was different because it was without the wanted store – I was confused.

After that I started from scratch, going back to the JR station and the JR exit/entrance that leads to the famous shopping street and there I saw a sign with an arrow directing to the street, so I went in, but it was kinda weird there, because... the hole street was almost empty – 2 years ago it was very crowded, so I was wondering – and I got the clue almost instantly after I noticed the empty street – the shops opened at 10:00AM and at 8:35 or so there were all closed, the same with the Bookoff which I found very easily, they opened within the week at 9:00AM and on Sundays, well I guess u got it. So, it's more than 1 hour to go until any store opens, it was hot, my bag was heavy, my mood was down so quickly, that my day was almost over before it just began..., I noticed a Yodobashi store right next to the Bookoff, but that couldn't help a bit, at this part of the day, it also didn't change for the morning.

I had to waste,eto pass time and so I started to go for a walk – hard to imagine I was walking – I also found the shrine we saw the last time, the Capcom Plaza (Open at 10:00AM, too) and many other things, I also saw a German store Lind's Backwaren, then there was a 2^nd shrine with very loud insects, a ModeOff, seems to be a kinda Bookoff for clothing stuff.

After all that I ended up at Starbucks, taking a grande Caramel something something unknown name something something, I went up the stairs and took out my netbook to write some notes, but I was unable to get it going good, so I let it go, also the free Wifi, that should have been provided didn't work, so I had no chance to browse my wanted places at Kichijoji, so I was just relaxing with my 3DS getting all the met Miis into my Mii-Lobby and also thinking about the following day and about the mistake of taking my netbook, which had only one effect, getting my bag heavier...

It was finally 10:00AM, but I wasn't yet finished with my coffee, so I went out, because I didn't want to wast any more time. My first target was the Bookoff, it was right next to the Starbucks.

At this store I beat my old record of "tortured" bookoff workers, it needed 2 to find Monster Hunter Comics, she also had to use a kinda headset to communicate with others to find my searched stuff – 2 years ago in Kichijoji they asked for help over the speaker – in the end they found something right for me, but then there was my 2^nd request, I should have searched and asked the 1^st worker, because she understood enought english, to get what I was talking about, but another poor little guy went right into my asking arms: "I have to buy some Yotsuba mangas, please tell me, what it is about in general and for sure where it is..." - these 2 questions were followed by silence combined with eyes that starred at my mindless..., after this he just skipped the fact of asking in english and answered in japanese – I don't know, weather he knew what I wanted or understood anything or weather something of the eto, eto answer belonged to the question.

We ended up in a deadend, so he hushed away and got someone else, I had in mind, that the 1^st worker will come – me wrong – a smaller guy came, who looked somehow ill, but he didn't speak any english, neither – the only thing I got was eto, eto, when he was explaining some whatever, I had to stop myself etoing back – I also had told my laughter back – but both ran away searching for a third guy, he spoke english and could help me with the where, at this point, I didn't want to know anything more of the "WHAT", the ironic thing about this 10-15 min of no communication, the Yotsuba manga were just 1 meter away..., if I don't count the cashier, I only took the will of 5 workers, who cursed the bothering MonHun/Yotsuba guy and were glad, when he was finally gone.

I've also asked, if there are 2 stores in Kichijoji or if this one had moved – they moved.

Next I went to Yodobashi right next to the Bookoff, found something very soon, some Monster Hunter trophy heads – it was hard to describe, that I wanted a complete sealed box to ensure no figure doubled. Next was the Capcom Plaza – many arcades, winning games and also prize games.

The strangest thing was a prize winning game of Monster Hunter, doing a quest and winning the jackpot, if the quest is cleared, I don't know how tho do this, but somehow an elderly woman won the jackpot of 1600~ coins (maybe 1 coin~100Yen(?)).

There was also someone playing a Taiko drum game, he managed to get a combo of 511, I didn't notice any fault, so it seems to have been a perfect run...

When I went out, I was very sad about not finding the curry restaurant and about my empty tummy, but I hoped that I will find something tasty in Shibuya.

I started with the Hachiko statue, Hachiko was a dog, that came every day to the Shibuya station for his holder and even after the death of his holder he came there every day, so one exit/entrance of the JR station was named after that dog – also honored with a statue.

Shibuya is the part of Tokyo the boutiques and huge shopping areas like Shibuya 109, nothing for me, only girly something whatever stuff.

At the streets around the Shibuya 109 some people were jelling around transporting some kind of devine looking box. They had they same way I had, so I heard them a long time. After a while it started to rain, so I rushed under a bridge, but this bridge was also the finish of the festival contest transportation, where also another group in green has arrived. I asked them what event this was and they got me an english speaking man, who seemed to be exhausted because of carrieing that box.

It was a festival, that was for a Kami (Goddess) to go for sure the the rice(?) harvest will be good, at least that's all he could explain. When finished this Q and A I found myself somewhere I didn't know where I was, I ended up disorientated, because I used the wrong street, so going back to Hachiko. Then I went right and found the next Bookoff, but didn't find anything in there, so the Mandarake was my next aim, also nothing found. My shoulder started to hurt more and more and my tummy had a big black hole inside so I decided to walk into a interesting looking restaurant, there I got my Curry, which I wanted some hours ago, japanese curry is totally different to all the other curries.

The next part of Tokyo was the Yojogi Park, it needed to be this day, because every Sunday the Tokyo Rockabillies meet there, 2 years ago we couldn't find them, so hopefully it will work this year...it did, but not at the beginning, at first I went into the park to relax from the noisy city.

I had to stop almost every 50 meter, because it was so hot, I had to carrie so much and I was sweating all over, I was looking forward to the cleaning procedure in front of the temple to meet the Gods, so I cleaned myself and went in, at the entrance I also bought 3 new charms, because they lose their powers after 1 year – one for luck, victory and against evil – as two years ago, I saw a marriage again, once again a dejà vu, even if I didn't notice a black cat.

When I got out, I didn't go to the Takeshita-Dori, which is famous for their special mode style, but it doesn't meet my interest, it's kinda gothic or visual kei style.

As the last time I noticed loud music near to the entrance of the park but not at the bridge, the last time we went wrong and couldn't find the source of the sound, but this year I accomplished this mission finding a second blue bridge, where there was a place right next to it, and there I saw them dancing, the Tokyo Rock & Rollers or Rockabillies, after their dancing I asked one of them what, why and when they are doing what they are doing. They like the music of the 50s, especially Elvis and so on, they meet every Sunday afternoon and dance and talk and just enjoy hanging out together – I think that's a short summary of what they're doing.

After a long day I finally went home, asked at the JR station in Higashi-Koganei, how to get a Suica Card, so I needn't always look how much I have to pay to get back, when the maps are not in english, and also bought some food and something to drink and tried to start sleeping, it worked, but I woke up at 1:00AM or so and then I was unable to sleep again instantly, because of the hot weather in and outside of my room, so I used Skype and contacted good old Germany.

That's for Sunday... and Monday morning, after sleeping it will go on with Shinjuku.