TOKYO

Akihabara

Ariake

Shinjuku

Shibuya

Mitaka

Nakano

Narita

Other

 

EAST JAPAN

Washinomiya

Yokohama

Matsushima

Nagano

 

WEST JAPAN

Kyoto

Osaka

Hiroshima

Awajishima

 

SYDNEY

Airport

Otaku goods

Other souvenirs

OTAKU GOODS

I ended up bringing about 27kg of goods home. I would have loved to buy more, but there was a limit as to what I could physically carry and how much I could take onto the plane.

 

LEAF / KEY

Various Leaf and Key related books. On the bottom left is a classy cloth-bound WonderThree book.

This particular Little Busters anthology comes with a set of cards which can be used to play various games.

 

HARUHI

Churuya-san books on the top row and various Nagucha doujins on the bottom.

 

NANOHA

Nanoha StrikerS design materials and the Nanoha/Nanoha A's Visual Fan Book. No one seemed to have volume A of the StrikerS materials in stock, but I looked all over Akihabara until I found a big pile at Animate.

Various Nanoha doujin. StrikerS seems to have been a hit, despite the reduction in loli power.

Some adult-orientated Nanoha books. What's the point of going to Akihabara if you don't buy some ero-doujinshi?

 

TOUHOU

I bought a whole ton of these. I'm especially fond of the Youmu/Yuyuko books near the bottom.

This charming Touhou storybook comes with a little book of birthday vouchers.

Touhou card games are all the rage lately. The one on the left is great in a crazy UNO kind of way.

A pack of Touhou hanafuda cards.

 

OTHER

Various artbooks and doujinshi. I'm a fan of all three artists in the top row, but I bought the bottom ones on a whim.

Doujinshi from miko virtuoso Nagomi. I bought all the ones I could find.

Books by Harada Takehito (of Disgaea fame). I loved his Kipple 1-4 compilation last year, so these were must-gets.

GOTO-P's new club activities-based artbook. It's kind of like an appendix to his School Girl series.

Utsura Uraraka's Waha compilation book.

I was expecting to see more Code Geass stuff, but I guess there'll be a revival when season 2 airs.

For those unfamiliar with it, Marin-tan to hanasou! is a textbook for learning to speak English like the US Marines do. Not one for the kiddies. It comes with a CD in the back which I'm afraid to listen to.

A textbook on how to colour school scenery and uniforms.

Maid RPG is a tounge-in-cheek tabletop RPG.

Artbooks I bought at the Ghibli museum.

Tsundere karuta and the Hyakuninisshu as read by Tanaka Rie.

Tsundere karuta is just like the traditional game of karuta where players aim to match the yomifuda ('reading cards') with the torifuda ('taking cards') before anyone else. Instead of proverbs or poems from the Hyakuninisshu, however, each card features either a tsundere phrase or an associated picture.

I won these figures at Club Sega after a valiant battle against the UFO catchers.

Here they are standing next to my existing Haruhi figures. You can see they're actually pretty big (1/8).

I don't have an Izumi figure, so here's Yuki as a stand-in.

The box of little Lucky Star figures I bought after giving up at the UFO catchers.

Here they are on my shelf. I got another set from the other five boxes, but alas, no secret figure.

 

FREE STUFF

Tora no Ana were giving away these lovely miko sticker posters and trading cards this month. There's a whole series to collect, with your obligatory 'secret' items.

Some of the big stores in Akihabara will offer special exclusive postcards with certain manga, with each store having a different postcard. I think this Nagi card was from Tora no Ana, but there were also cards with Maria and Isumi at other stores.

Coasters from Cure Maid Cafe. The one on the left is the standard one, but the one on the right I received for ordering the Hinagiku cake.

A moves sheet from the location test of Fate Unlimited Codes. You could pick these up from near the machine and study them while waiting in line. Everyone seemed to like using Sakura.

Fliers for various doujin events are available at practically every store in Akihabara.

These fliers are for Reitaisai, a big Touhou event where ZUN usually releases new material. As you can see from the pictures, it's being held at Tokyo Big Sight this year.

Niche events which revolve around certain franchises, attributes and even particular characters are increasingly common. This flier is for Poniket, a ponytail-themed doujin event.

 

 

B@A@C@K