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.

Jan 2010 UPDATE: Updates in Blue. Check the pics out below!

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 one that specialises on SciFi stuff, including 12 & 31/4 inch toys. This has pretty cool stuff! New and 2nd hand.

And of course there are the random stores that sells all kinda stuff, heaps of Star Wars toys, Gundam, 12 inches, DC, Marvel, Marcross, Transformers, etc. I could keep on going.

Below is where it lies on Google maps. Nakano and Akihabara are the places I recommend to visit if you are short of time.

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.