Japan Game Junk

Hellooooo and hear as I talk about Mandai Shoten in Kawagoe city, Saitama prefecture, as visited on July 26, 2024. The 2nd floor stuff recently moved to the first floor! I got some cheap junk game discs! Serial Experiments Lain was so expensive!

A store visited on its day of grand opening of July 26, 2024, this is Momotaro Kingdom in the Hashimoto area of Sagamihara city, Kanagawa prefecture! It's kind of nice and has a few interesting items and I got a free drink!

A true must-visit store, as visited on July 21, 2024! This is the Hard Off located in Kimitsu, Chiba, and it is the most south-easterly Hard Off in Japan. It is noteworthy to have some very rare systems available, sometimes unseen anywhere else in the country, and this visit surely lives up to the expectation. Plus I get a second copy of F1 Circus on the PC Engine!!!!!!!!!

On July 6, 2024, I visited the Hard Off store at the Across Plaza in Yamanashi city in Yamanashi prefecture and it is worth a visit! The long regretted lack of a Sanyo 3DO purchase aside, I always find stuff to enjoy. Including a TV Boy! Yes!

Joy be upon us as I visit the recently-opened first Surugaya store in Yamanashi prefecture! In the capital of Kofu, there are pricy rarities and cheap game soundtracks. And pricy game soundtracks. Maybe not the best Surugaya but you're hours away from any other so might as well go in!

Not Nintendo 64 but episode 64 as I talk about one of my favorite Hard Off stores, being the Satoyoshi store in Kofu, Yamanashi, as visited on July 6, 2024. A must-visit if looking for MSX or Laserdisc stuff, and maybe you can get some action in an elevator.

A visit to a Hard Off on a hill, with the Futaba store located in Kai, Yamanashi. On July 6, 2024 I unfortunately left empty handed, but it may be a worthwhile visit for fun with Harry Potter or tiny PC CD-ROMs.

There is no one true mecca of game stores in Japan for collectors looking to buy, and even if there was one it would certainly not be in Akihabara! However, there are a few must-visit stores, and this is one of them. Here I describe the original and best Mandai Shoten store in Kai city (very close to the border of Kofu city), Yamanashi. It may be a long drive from Tokyo or Nagoya but it may be wor...

What a day as a new region of the country is breached, as after Kanto and Tohoku, this is the first episode describing a visit to a store in Chubu! Even if the store was not great! This is the Book Off store in Iwasa Hirose in Yamanashi visited on July 6!

On July 1 of 2024 I visited a store to which you have not been before! Unless you live in the area or are a driver trying to visit the far reaches of used gaming in rural Japan! It's the Ibaraki Kanteidan store in Kamisu, Ibaraki! Get yourself an instant Famicom collection or a bottle of liquor if that is your thing!

A Hard Off visited on July 1 of 2024, this one gets some good stuff as it's the only one to be found in almost an hour in any direction! It is the store in Kamisu, Ibaraki! This is the best character ever made, Kamisu-Koko-kun: https://www.city.kamisu.ibaraki.jp/kanko_sports/coco/index.html

Way back when on June 30, 2024, I visited the Oizumi Gakuen branch of Hard Off store in Nerima ward of Tokyo! It had a number of games at 2000 yen that were good buys! It had untested junk consoles! It had a huge Pikachu!

A store that happily hasn't changed much since being bought out by a different chain, this is the Koriyama, Fukushima branch of U☆Pura visited on June 24, 2024. I wonder how a beautiful 3DO console can be sold for just over half the price as a little screen performing the same function as a smartphone.

Not the best Hard Off store was visited on June 24, 2024 as the Shimo Kameda branch in Koriyama, Fukushima is described. MIDI is appreciated.

Visited on July 26, 2024, this is Mandai Shoten warehouse style used shop in Kawagoe city, Saitama Prefecture! It was recently remodeled with the game stuff moved from the second floor to the first floor but that likely does not matter to you! Serial Experiments Lain was there and very expensive!

The second Surugaya related store visited in Koriyama, Fukushima prefecture on June 24, 2024. This Book Market had video games and video game accessories. You are allowed to take these home after providing currency through cash, barcode payment, or credit card.

Back to Momotaro Kingdom, this is the store in Hashimoto of Sagamihara city in Kanagawa prefecture, visited on July 26, 2024, the date that it had its grand opening! There were some deals and some rarities and I could get a free drink!

This episode marks the first visit into the Tohoku region, being the Surugaya store in Koriyama, Fukushima prefecture! This visit on June 24, 2024 followed a pleasant meal in Iwaki city.

This episode describes visiting the newest Hard Off store in Japan at time of publishing, the Kami Yokota branch in Utsunomiya, Tochigi, as visited on June 17, 2024. It is so clean and nice.

The first episode with a repeated visit to a previously featured store! What has changed between the first visit and June 17, 2024? Hope many new boxed copies of Virtual Boy games remain? The only way to find out is to press play!

The second episode from a Hard Off in Sagamihara in Kanagawa, this time the Shimokuzawa store visited on June 10, 2024

Monumental timing as episode 50 marks the completion of a region; adding the Hard Off store in Yabe, Sagamihara, Kanagawa. This store was visited on June 10, 2024. Now all prefectures of the Kanto region have been represented. Not so much treasure in this store unless you want slightly inappropriate underage girl fan service media from the mid 1990s.

One of the better stores in Akihabara, this is the original Surugaya store in the area visiting on June 3, 2024. You are actually MORE likely to find software for the Apple Pippin than to run into Scotty Pippen! Plus more games with naked women and the best MSX ever.

A true must-visit store in Akihabara in Tokyo, this is BEEP as visited on June 3, 2024. Computer parts from the 70s, lots of 8-bit wonder, arcade boards, and naked girls.

Happy episode 47, and I'm happy to share the Mandarake store in Akihabara as visited on June 3, 2024. Well worth a visit and some unique finds. Just don't make the long climb of the stairs.