Nakano Boulevard

I don’t know if you guys know this about me, but amongst many many other things I really like vintage tin toys. I don’t own a lot of them, in fact I only have 2, but I have a feeling that’s going to change soon. When we were in Japan, Shane and I just happened across, (by accident) this strange looking mall that unbeknownst to us was full of stores that sold only vintage/hard to find/beyond cool toys from all eras. Some of the small shops we went into had so many toys that your eyes literally crossed over and had no idea where to look first.

There were ones that were priced fairly reasonably and then ones that literally cost R500 000 for a tin robot. In fact their were quite a few that were in the R40 000 and up region and that is probably why I didn’t come home with any. There were also a hell of a lot that had prices that weren’t too bad, ranging from R300-R10 000. But it was amazing, it was like we were teleported back in time to a toy store full of magic, only problem was, just like when you were a kid you weren’t allowed to touch unless you were keen to buy.

If you ever find yourself in the area of Nakano, find the Nakano Boulevard and be prepared to have your mind blown back, fourth, left and right. Unless you hate vintage toys, then don’t bother.

Here are some photos I took of some of the stores we went into and some of the stuff that we saw.

These guys were R78 750 each.

The one on the left was R60 000

This was the most expensive tin robot that we saw, he was going for R500 000. So if you ever find one of these guys lying around a garage sale grab him with both hands and flipping run like the wind….to the bank.