Japan 2009: Tokyu Hands and Evangelion Store

So one of my favourite retail experiences during my first trip to Japan was stumbling over the exciting department store TOKYU HANDS. Not just because Tokyu Hands was the official outlet official merch for the (then-new) Neon Genesis Evangelion film Evangelion 1.0: You Are [Not] Alone. I mean, that was a big deal, don’t get me wrong, but it wasn’t the ONLY reason. It’s just a cool store, exactly what you might have in mind if I described it as “a department store by and for people who live in Tokyo, but no clothes.” All manner of personal and lifestyle goods abound, especially anything cool, weird, or beautiful.

We hadn’t make it part of our itinerary to go back this time out, but with locations adjacent to the Shinjuku Kinokuniya (which I’ve already blogged about), and in Ikebukuro where we ended up anyway (pictured above), I figured… why not check it out and see what’s new? And take a few dozen more photographs? Oh, and you anime fans will be happy to know that the Eva store was up and running, full-steam-ahead, for the release of the second movie.

And now, here’s a bunch of awesome random stuff!

Considering the frequency with which I lost my umbrellas in Tokyo… or anywhere really… I couldn’t justify buying one of these lovely ones. This lovely display graces the main-floor entrance of the Shinjuku store.

Indoor grills for making all of your barbecued favourites in tiny Tokyo apartments… complete with fake plastic food!

Tissue boxes.

These light-up hanging grapes were awesome. Unfortunately they were not $200 awesome.

Keep reading behind the cut to see 40+ more pictures:

So… these are bandannas/flags/cloths, emblazoned with art that mashes up Star Wars (original trilogy of course) and traditional Japanese artistic motifs. They’re AWESOME. We bought quite a few. Here’s a close-up of my two fav images:

Those are Fucking Amazing.

If you read Japanese, you can check out the manufacturer’s website here: http://heart-artcollection.co.jp/.

Everyone likes stickers.

Yeah, that’s right. It’s Division Chief Kosaku Shima pedometer game! Featuring the star of the insanely popular Salaryman manga (which saw three volumes get a sort-of English language release as part of Kodansha’s bilingual manga line 10 years ago… worth tracking down!), it’s a game where you can make decisions and get points for walking around… earning him the contract or the girl! Exactly the sort of thing I would’ve grabbed as a souvenir if it weren’t 50 bucks.

Ghibli tape dispensers. Catbus or Gigi! For the executive with huge balls, or the housewife who needs to spice-up her scotch-tape needs.

Barbapappa planter, with plant!

Clickity Click–Barba-trick.

So this is kinda neat. There are these… noodles… that are shot down a bamboo ramp as they’re made fresh, basically riding a water slide during which people sit around the bamboo and grab the noodles as they flow down. Ah here we go. They’re soemen, and when they’re riding the bamboo they’re “flowing somen” or “nagashi soemen”. Anyway, this little device replicates the regional noodle specialty at home!  Aren’t you lucky!

Speaking of food toys, I’ve kind of become obsessed with tiny fake plastic food from Japan, since my last trip there. Seeing this little automated home sushi conveyor belt for your fake mini-sushi nearly killed me. Despite only being $20…

…the box was surprisingly big. Seeing it on the first day, with 3 weeks full of buying to do, the idea of buying a giant box of ridiculous item was just… I couldn’t do it. Sigh. But if anyone would like to pick one up for me, BY ALL MEANS. You can send it c/o The Beguiling. 🙂

These are… banks. They are twice as disturbing as they look. You put change in the mouth. They’re made of a creepy sort of PVC. It’s like they’re num-num-numing on your fingers when you put change in. They’re awful. AWFUL.

Ugggggggggh.

Remote control transformers? YES. Remote control transformers from the godawful fucking movies? NO.

Sorry, childhood.

Tiny food!

Sadly, I hadn’t read the AWESOME metal manga Detroit Metal City before I got to Japan. If I had, I probably would’ve snatched these guys up. Actually, these are in the Revoltech line, and I saw them being cleared out for 600yen a pop at a discounter in Akihabara towards the end of my trip. So much regret, so much regret…

So Cute.

OKAY! Now it’s time for EVANGELION GOODS! This store-within-a-store was located right inside the main floor entrance of the Ikebukuro Tokyu Hands store, and it’s probably still there now!

It was pretty popular.

Replicas of the pilot plugs, featuring tiny little Shinji and tiny little Rei. Only a hundred bucks.

I showed a friend these pics and his response was “They even have Evangelion dildos!?” Which… I’m sure the manufacturer does not recommend these items for that purpose. That and they’d be waaaaaaaaay more likely to have Evangelion fleshlights…

You can’t really see it, but the Eva manga tie is lettered in English. In Comic Fucking Sans.

That thing ain’t worth two hundred dollars. You could have one CUSTOM MADE for half that price.

Heh.

…and Evangelion soccer balls. These are totally awesome. There was a ton more eva merch up ins, but you can only photograph a busy display so many times before you get the eye from the normally-polite staff. Ah, what the hell, one more of the back-side featuring merch from Gainax’s newest property, Gurren Lagan.

So that’s Tokyu Hands! If you want to see the pics from my first trip to Tokyu Hands in 2007, check out this post: https://comics212.net/2007/09/08/japan-day-02-ikebukuro-tokyu-hands/

Thanks for reading! Lots more to come.

– Christopher