Japan, A Shopping Overview: AruAru City and Fukuoka

Surprisingly there aren’t many large otaku shopping districts south of the Kansai region. In fact the largest of these types of areas outside of the Kanto and Kansai regions is way down in Kyushu, in Kokura in Fukuoka Prefecture. Not far from the Japan Rail (JR) Kokura station is AruAru City, a seven floor complex of mostly otaku type shops. The Tenjin area of Fukuoka also has a number of anime and hobby related stores, though spread out over a wide area. First up, let’s go to AruAru City.

If you’re coming from Hakata station and have a Japan Rail Pass, you can take the Shinkansen to Kokura station in around 17 minutes. If not it’ll take anywhere from 40 to 80 minutes on the JR Kagoshima Line depending on if you get the rapid, semi rapid or regular trains. If you take the Shinkansen exit, you’ll find yourself out on a walkway overlooking the rear of the station. Here you will find a full sized statue of Captain Harlock.

Leiji Matsumoto was born in Fukuoka, hence the statue outside the station. Next to Harlock there are statues of Maetel sitting on a bench (so you can sit next to her) and Tetsuro standing next to the bench. Both are from Matsumoto’s “Galaxy Express 999”.

Following the path to the right you’ll eventually come to a walkway which leads across to AruAru City (most shops open from 11am), a otaku shop complex which the promotional material claims has a focus anime, games, manga, idols and local comedy. It opened in 2012 and seems to be linked with the Tokyo Anime Centre in Akihabara. The walkway leads you to the second floor, however I’ll go through the shops from the top of the building the bottom. On the seventh floor is the Aruaru City Theatre which has comedy acts, idol group performances and karaoke nights in the evenings from Tuesdays to Fridays. The sixth and fifth floors have the Kitakyushu Manga Museum (open from 11am, closed Tuesdays). Costing ¥400, the small museum mostly features the work of Leiji Matsumoto (including another Harlock statue) and a Manga Time Tunnel which begins in 1945 and goes right through to modern times. The tunnel leads to a manga library. Unfortunately I came on a Tuesday and never got to go inside the museum…

From the fourth floor downwards, it’s all anime related shops (for the most part). The fourth floor has Smile Station (figures and other anime merchandise as well as purikura photo sticker machines). Also on this floor are branches of Super Position Recycle Shop (second hand figures and merchandise) and Mandarake (open from 12pm). The Mandarake branch at AruAru City is a little light on in terms of books and manga. They do stock loads and loads of figures and have a surprisingly good DVD and Blu-ray section. The third floor has a number of big chain anime related stores; Animate, C-Labo (cards), Gamers, Melonbooks (doujin) and Lashinbang (second hand figures and other goods). The second floor has a mix of stores including Machi Asobi Cafe (anime themed café in one shop, the other has various anime goods) a Jungle branch (second hand figures), Jiku Chushinha (local doujin circle goods), G-Stage (UFO Catcher and other games), a branch of Robot Robot (figures), AMPnet.jp (video and PC games, BDs and DVDs, figures and some anime goods) and Gatcha Gatcha Section (gatchapon of course). On the last two floors (the first and the basement), there’s a real mix of tenants including a real estate agent, a golf store, and internet café, a karaoke bar, a family restaurant, a slot car race circuit and a practice space/studio for bands. What really impressed me about AruAru City was the amount of really great figures for sale in the shops. The day I went there, most of the shops had a lot of really rare and unusual stuff there for reasonable prices.

That’s about it for Kokura. Now on to the Tenjin area in Fukuoka. To get there take the JR Kagoshima Line back to Hakata station, then transfer to the subway and get on the Kuko Line (the station number for Hakata on this line is K11). This will take around 60 to 90 minutes or a bit over 30 minutes if you take the Shinkansen from Kokura to Hakata station. Once you’re at Tenjin station (K08), take exit one. Walk west along Meiji Avenue and in the third block on the left will be the Mandarake Fukuoka store (open from 12pm). Like the one in AruAru City this is overflowing with figures and merchandise. There are more books here, but it’s not as comprehensive as other Mandarake stores. I was hoping for a selection of movie programmes like most other Mandarake stores have, but was surprised that like the AruAru City store they had none. Follow the road back to the main intersection which crosses the main road in Tenjin. Turn left up the main road, two blocks on the right will be North Tenjin Building and on the sixth floor is Book Off Super Bazaar Tenjin. In the building next door, the Daiei building, is Volks on the sixth floor. Like the other store in this chain they have a ton figure, model kits, accessories and supplies as well as a large range of Dollfie stuff.

Across the road from the Daiei building are branches of Gee! Store (on the second floor) and Melonbooks (on the third floor). Head south down the main road to the end of the block and turn right. In the next block on the left will be a local branch of Toranoana. Another set of otaku-like shops can be found back on the main street three blocks south. After the block with Tsutaya and Tenjin Core, turn left down the side street past the side of Tenjin Core. At the end of the block is the Vivre shopping centre. On the sixth floor is a branch of Animate as well as the Animate Café, another branch of Smile Station and Mint Trading Cards and Card Games Shop. There was a branch of Kotobukiya around here as well, but that shut down in 2014. Walking back to the main street, turn left and keep walking south for about four blocks. On the other side of the street is the Loft shopping complex. The basement floor of the building is a hobby shop called Tom Sawyer. They have model kits and supplies, figures, some merchandise and some garage kits.

That’s it for Fukuoka. Unlike other regions in Japan, there is a fairly up to date website called Fukuoka Otaku News which highlights all the otakuish type events and shops in the region. Unfortunately it’s only in Japanese, but it’s easy to navigate. There’s a lot of interesting things on the site including directions on how to get to the Gundam Bar Solomon and the Bar NERV Fukuoka Branch. Yes, unofficial Gundam and Evangelion themed bars. This concludes my series about anime shopping in Japan. Next up I’ll be looking at Jinbocho in Chiyoda, Tokyo which is well known for its used book shops.