Discovering Hobby Shops in Akihabara - Tokyo Japan

On my bucket list to go to Korea and Japan but the airfare prices are crazy.

Thanks for sharing this adventure. All very interesting to me.

So cool Mr. G.
I was in the Marine Corps back in 1977 to late 83. My first west-pac deployment to Iwakuni Japan was in Sept-79. I found a well stocked hobby shop in town, almost every payday I would go and buy a model, some paint, brushes, glue, etc. Then every two months or so I would ship everything home to my parents house. This hobby shop is were I discovered Tamiya. God such a long time ago.
Great video, thanks for the memories. Can't wait to see you build those Japanese aircraft as well as the Phantom.
Merry Christmas.

Thanks for sharing. I always go to Yodobashi Akiba every trip, a must stop! And when you're done shopping there's a great french style bakery on the ground floor just outside. I also love Leonardo's another great must stop shop, if you love building model kits you have to stop there!
Shizuoka not has only Tamiya's HQ, another must visit, there are alot of "mom and pop" stores as well.

Hi John, that sounded like a really great trip, and of course made better by all the 'treasts' you brought back with you, I hope you and Mrs G and the family had a great Christmas, all the very best for 2025, a safe and Happy New Year to you and your family, best regards from a Kiwi living in Melbourne Australia, Les

Volks has gone downhill over the years. What about Yellow Submarine? They were there there in 2023. For me I felt that the wide avail;ability of kits on the internet reduced the magic of finding something new or obscure in Akihabara. But the tools are still interesting to me. No pictures of Maids or Swans which are also part of Akihabara.

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Shopping capitol of Japan.

I'm glad I didn't have to go to Japan for the Myrt and Twin Seat Zero you bought. Still a Wonka-esque model shop scene, though. I'm glad Great Lakes Train and Toy in Utica, Michigan has a big dong Murrican storefront, those little Japanese stores look claustrophobic.

I'd kill to go to Shizuoka City and get a tour of Tamiya, Hasegawa, and Bandai's factories.

That Tamiya-related store looked like 5 floors of fun. Reminds me of a vertical version of the Original Squadron Shop in Hazel Park, MI before they ran off to Texas for lower taxes and to set up their mail-order and internet warehouse empire.

Did you ever ask anyone wth Hasegawa never bagged their decals? They wouldn't yellow as fast if they bagged them like Tamiya. I've burned through more sandwich and gallon storage bags resealing my Hasegawa kit decals.

Those Fine Molds kits are top-notch, especially the Star Wars ones. I think I get mine from Mission Hobbies' Ebay store. Adam Savage and his modeling buddy buy from their brick and mortar superstore in San Francisco. They have everything Mr. Hobby from paint to airbrushes straight out of Japan.

Those are some deep discounts, especially for Find Molds kits. I think my cheapest one was 28 bucks before shipping, I'm gonna say it was the J8M Shusei rocket fighter.

That's a magical shopping arcade alright.

Was there a Mr. Hobby outlet store?

My rarest Fine Molds kit has to be the 1/48 J4N2-Y Nightfighter Judy dive bomber with the 30mm cannon firing diagonally through the canopy between the pilot and bombadier-navigator.

I have that A6M2-K trainer Zero. Hasegawa did well scratching that niche itch.

Did any of those stores have the Creator Works Hasegawa kits like the F-8 Crusader and F-14 Tomcat in Area 88 markings? I had to get mine from Mission Hobbies.

That was the best A5M Claude kit till the Wingsy kit came out of Poland.

I was happy my local shop had all those Tamiya sanding pads. They even carried a lot of Tamiya tools. Thanks Great Lakes Train and Toy.

God Hand sprue cutters at the exchange discount, noice. They're like 40 bucks here.

Volkes/Zukei-Mora make insanely intricate everything. I only own the 1/48 Ta-152, but even that one is a mechanical marvel in plastic form.

Looks like you made out like a hobby pirate in Akihabra. Ichiban, indeed.

Whenever i am on holiday, get some grip seal bags from Daiso and a pair of cutters. By cutting most of the parts from the sprues, you can save a lot of luggage space. Place the parts in the bags and flat pack the boxes. Doing this reduces the space by about 75%.

More models, less.....

Any ideas on how to buy acrylics and ship them by boat back to California? I’d like to get about 200 USD worth of paint, if shipping would be reasonable.