Where to Buy English Manga in Tokyo, Japan

October 16, 2008 by Jeff · 5 Comments

While I was in Japan one of my goals was to find some Manga or Anime. Obviously, I never had a problem finding any Manga or Anime as the great action comics are basically available almost anywhere. However, the one problem we did have was finding some English Manga. I thought for some reason that it would be readily available, albeit in small quantities. Unfortunately you have these massive Manga stores with zero English Manga. Anyway, I finally found two ok sources of Manga that I thought I'd share.

Manga Museum

If you're really into manga you can visit the first ever Manga Museum in Kyoto which we did one afternoon. It's a neat little place with a TON of manga that you can sit and read if you like with an English section. There's also a neat area upstairs which gives the background of how Manga came into exsitance and it's current state. It includes a ton of Manga from different years. Definitely the highlight of the museum for us!

However, you can't actually buy any English Manga from the Kyoto Manga Museum!

Akihabara

Akihabara is the Manga and Anime capital of Japan. You can find TONS and TONS of different Manga and Anime stores everywhere. The Comicatron (I think that's what it's called) store is actually 5 floors of Manga. Literally walls upon walls of Manga packed into the store, yet no English Managa.

For English Manga in Akihabara you can go to Yodobashi Akiba across the train station from Electric Town. On the 7th floor you'll find a large bookstore. At the back left end of the bookstore you'll find three book cases of english books. Here you should be able to find a small selection of Manga.

Shinjuku

The other place we found English Manga was in Shinjuku. When exiting the station look for the Takashimaya (Times Square) or the Tokyu Hands Deparment store (they're basically connected). Go to the 5th floor of Tokyu hands. You'll come to a gateway between a book store and it'll actually be floor 6 of the bookstore. This is the foreign languages section of the bookstore. Here you'll find a rather large (read: approximately 100 books) or English Manga.

Anyway, hopefully this helps someone find some English Manga while in Japan. Manga is such a great art and story that I'm glad I was able to find and buy some Manga (that I can understand) in Japan.

Of course if you're back in North America (or elsewhere) you can always find some Manga on Ebay! Good old ebay!

EIKEN Vol 8 manga in English by Seiji Matsuyama
Paypal

US $8.00

Pokemon Adventures Manga Vol 1 33 IN ENGLISH
Paypal

US $313.50

KAMISAMA KAZOKU GN VOL 1 ENGLISH MANGA BOOK
Paypal

US $10.00

JUNJO ROMANTICA GN VOL 12 YAOI English Manga
Paypal

US $14.99

GENJU NO SEIZA GN VOL 8 ENGLISH MANGA COMICS NEW
Paypal

US $12.99

KIMI NI TODOKE GN VOL 5 FROM ME TO YOU ENGLISH MANGA
Paypal

US $9.99

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Filed Under: Japan, Tokyo
Tagged: Akihabara, english manga, manga, shinjuku

Akihabara Electric Town? I call it Crazy Town!

October 6, 2008 by Jeff · 2 Comments

The day before we left Tsukuba, I headed to Akihabara in Tokyo also named Electric Town. Let me tell you that I'd rather rename it Crazy Town.... Or even possibly China Town (of Japan).

Lindsay didn't come with me so the best way I could describe Akihabara to her was this. Picture something electronic, anything electronic (Ipods, TV's, Air Conditioners, cables, video games). Now picture something anime and/or manga (Manga being the comic book rather then the action film). Now picture Chinatown. Now remove all the trinkets and crap from Chinatown and put in electronics, anime and manga in it's place. That's Akihabara or Electric Town!

It's seriously a crazy neat place. You can walk down one street and see a Comodore 64 and the next shop over can have Manga Porn. Seriously. Check out the pictures below they were right beside each other...

Anyway, I spent the day wandering around in amazement at the sights and sounds. Not only should you visit Electric Town (or street) which is on the Eastern Side of the JR Train Station. Here you'll see all kinds of arcades, manga shops, electronic stores, more arcades and more manga.

The other side of the tracks you should definitely visit the YodoBashi Akiba buildling. It's basically a gigantic Best Buy (for us North American folk). This accounts to seven, yes 7, floors of electronics. Instead of having a TV area it's a whole floor, another one for cameras, phones, computer parts, mp3 players, video games and toys.