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:
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| Shinjuku |
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| Ikebukuro - Sunshine City |
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| Already closed - Shirokanedai |
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| Gotanda -nice one |
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| 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.
