15Apr 09
Nakano is not as well known a place to find toys, but down at Nakano is Nakano Broadway with 4 floors of toy shops. Mandarake’s main shop is situated there amongst a variety of shops where you will find anything from Star Wars, Macross, Otaku, transformers, 12 inch figures, etc. I found this place has some rare finds as well as some good vintage toy shops. So how do you get there? Well Nakano lies 3 stops away from Shinjuku station on the JR Chuo line (Rapid). You can also take the line from Tokyo or Kanda station. The line is the orange coloured line. One you reach Nakano station, there are only two exits, North or South.
UPDATED Sep 2011
Take the North exit and you will see the crossing and building as in the first picture above. Walk towards the glass covered walkway and walk all the way till you see Nakano Broadway as in the visual below.
Once you enter there is an escalator on the left. That will lead you to the 3rd floor right to Mandarake.
Mandarake has smaller shops on the other floors as well. Altogether, check out the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors. You can use the staircase to navigate thru the floors.
I took more pics of Mandarake to give you an idea of the kinda stuff you can find there. Boxes and boxes of 2nd hand stuff. Some brand new too!
Just opposite the main store, Mandarake also sells comics! Though mainly Japanese comics with some english ones spread about.
Mandarake’s smaller stores on the other levels are themed and specialises in different toys and genres. Below is the vintage toys store.
Below is their store which has more mainstream stuff, especially new and old Transformers!
Below is where it lies on Google maps. Nakano and Akihabara are the places I recommend to visit if you are short of time.
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I couldn’t find many toy shops in Shinjuku except for two. Yodobashi is basically an electronics store which has a pretty neat toy section. The store has a few shops in the buildings around the area, you can check the store’s map when you get there to find your way around. The toy section lies in the basement of the section that sells the PS3, Wii and Xbox. It has a large variety of Star Wars, Gundam, Macross, Otaku and many others. Worth a look.
Pics of the Macross shelf. 
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Great info on Tokyo Toy Haunts! Thanks! I’m in Tokyo for six weeks, and I’ve already found some of these places (Akihabara, and Mandarake in Shibuya) but I didn’t know about Nakano. I’ll definitely be checking it out. Thanks again, and good luck toy hunting!
Glad you found the info useful! Nakano is a great place. haha can’t wait to go back myself!
Did you notice any shops that carry any ashley wood or threea toys? (these http://www.threeaonline.com)
Was hoping to snag a few. The company is an australian/HK combo company (artist in aus, factory/engineers in HK)
A tip for any future toy hunters – most of the toy shops in Nakano Broadway don’t appear to open until 12:00pm. I went there first-thing in the morning on one of my first days in Japan BEFORE I realised that 11:00am/12:00pm was the normal opening time for most stores.
Also, for those hunting more “Western” toys, I didn’t find the best selection at Mandarake, although Robot Robot had a pretty extensive and varied collection including some very odd items.
Thanks for the timings AJ.
Mandarake may not have the best selection of ‘Western’ Toys, but the thing I love about the place is that you never know what you may find. Sometimes you may find that rare item that you have been looking for.