Nakano once more

Nakano certainly has been a great place for us during our trip in Tokyo. We rented an apartment there and we had a lot of freedom to choose when we get in and out of the apartment. Also, since Nakano has a lot of shops and restaurants, we didn’t have to worry about food at all. I think it is a great place to stay and between Ikebukuro and Nakano, it is difficult o pick which one to lodge the next time we go.  Guess it depends on what is available and the price at the time.

We always walked by this ramen stand just outside the south exit of Nakano station but every time it looks full so we didn’t stop by to try it. Also, my Japanese is very poor and I know I would have trouble ordering…  This stand only opens at night and only after a certain hour, really it is targeting salary men who are on their way home after hanging out with their bosses drinking after work.  At least, that is what I guessed :P

This is a very cute cafe. But didn’t have time to try it :(

Other than food, there are lots of shops at Nakano Broadway. It is an arcade of shops spread out into 3 floors.

Loads of bookstores selling the currently published magazines, mangas, and books.  There are also other shops specialized in out-of-print second-hand books and mangas.  If you are a collector, chances are you might be able to find what is missing from your collection at Nakano Broadway.

There are also tones of shops for toys. Old and new, boxes and boxes of goodies that will wake up the kid in your heart!

How about dolls? There are also quite a few different shops selling different kinds of dolls. Most of them are owned by Mandarake and if you are lucky, you will find second-hand limited edition dolls at a reasonable market price.

You can even find original art work from anime here. Most are framed and some are not. But they make a really unique gift for your friends, or for yourself :)

Surprised to find this print shop in Nakano Broadway.

If you got hungry while shopping at Nakano Broadway, you can have yakitori here.

Or try the maid cafe here.

And I was quite impressed to see a wooden Gundam. This is worth 1,575,000 yen.  Hummm… one of the most expensive Gundams I have seen on sale ^^;

After we finished our shopping at Nakano Broadway, we went to have ramen at Santouka (火頭山).

We really enjoyed the ramen here. Even though it is not as tasty as the ramen we had at Yokohama, it still tasted great and will go back again when we visit next time.

5 replies
  1. Howie
    Howie says:

    Happy Chinese New Year Kam! Wish you guys a wonderful and prosperous new year.

    So what do you think about the NEX5 after shooting it extensively on your trip ? Honestly, I don’t see the advantage of a larger sensor from the pictures, so do you think this trumps the GF2 ?

    Reply
    • chun
      chun says:

      Hey Howie, Happy Lunar New Year! In place of Kam I will reply you LOL! (ahem) Yes it trumps the GF2, trust me ;) Kam was enjoying it very much and he praises it a lot out loud :D The photos taken at night are generally sharp and colourful, due to the larger sensor I believe ^^ And a lot less noise compared to GF2 (which had already found a new home :P)

      Reply
        • Kam
          Kam says:

          hi Howie, sorry I have been working a lot recently and didn’t have time to reply. Yes I really like the performance of the NEX-5N. I found the noise level a lot more acceptable and I have higher confidence of taking low light shorts. Also it is nice that it is rather small and I like taking it with me wherever I go. Hope all is well with you.

          Kam

          Reply

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