Japan Lego Scene?

[aroprat]

Hey Guys,

I'm try to find out if there are any second hand lego stores in the Tokyo area? I imagine there has to be some, I'm just at lost as to where to find them. I'm not looking for brand new items but more along the longs of some kind of collectors shop like they have with everything anime related.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks :)

[i would'va posted this on the buy/trade/sell forum but I can't post there yet *( ]

[def]

In my many years looking for Lego in Japan, I've almost never seen any second hand stuff. At best, some Duplo buckets at "recycle" stores. Twice, I've seen discontinued sets displayed at toy collector shops, at prices that reflected that.

For used sets, your best bet is Yahoo Auction. I've found a pile of good deals there on used sets, the shipping is cheap, and you can pay by direct deposit. The only catch is that you need to read/write Japanese, in order to communicate with sellers.

Tokyo is a big place, so there might be shops dealing in that, but the decision I came to is that Lego is a major hassle to deal in second hand (ie. confirming complete sets), and even the big second hand shops don't bother with it.

Good luck!

[aroprat]

Thanks! Been in Japan on and off for about a total of 4 years and usually when I buy legos I just ship them back to my U.S residence and wait.... Amazon japan seems to have the cheapest sets with them usually getting discounted immediately but even then they are still really expensive....Was really hoping there was a handful of stores where AFOL addicts went where could indulge myself while I'm stuck here...

[def]

I tend to buy a majority of my Lego off of Amazon, and recently at BicCamera, which is near the same price.

Toys R Us is amazing when stuff's on clearance, but I suspect, the bigger the city, the faster stuff disappears. I've been in a big city (Sapporo) for near a year, and haven't found a single deal since. But I got some good deals at TRU in the past.

Lastly, I've just ordered from the States off of Bricklink. Depending on the set, with the high yen and the dirt cheap dollar, you can get some solid deals. I only do that about once a year though, spending over ¥30,000, to save on shipping.

If you have any better ideas, be sure to share

[questforcastle]

Hey Guys,

I'm try to find out if there are any second hand lego stores in the Tokyo area? I imagine there has to be some, I'm just at lost as to where to find them. I'm not looking for brand new items but more along the longs of some kind of collectors shop like they have with everything anime related.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks :)

[i would'va posted this on the buy/trade/sell forum but I can't post there yet *( ]

I know this is probably not what you are looking for, but since LEGO Click Brick stores in Japan are quite unique, I want to mention them just in case you or some other reader has not heard of them. They sell new stuff, but because they sell such a wide variety of things related to LEGO they are quite different from what one has come to expect from a LEGO toy store... At least they were completely unlike anything I've seen outside of a LEGOLAND.

Some photos, links and more on the Click Brick stores: http://questforbrick...k-brick-stores/ & http://questforbricks.wordpress.com/2012/06/03/click-brick-mocs/

Edited March 17, 2013 by questforcastle

[def]

I just remembered, this is a good blog for Lego deals and events and so on in Japan (and the owner is an occasional member here)

http://legojapan.seesaa.net/

[aroprat]

Your my new favorite person.

How are the TRU deals? There is one a station away from me... (I live in Yokohama btw)

Will be checking that site habitually now... (I'm really having to stop myself from forking over way too much money for Jabba's palace...)

[def]

How are the TRU deals? There is one a station away from me... (I live in Yokohama btw)

Toys R Us are drastically overpriced, but when a set is a year old, it becomes half off, or so. I have picked up a number of large sets there at great prices.

Modular Green Grocer ¥10,000 (from ¥19,999)

50th Anniversary Town Plan ¥10,000 (¥19,999)

Republic Cruiser ¥2,500 (¥10,000)

Clone Wars Twilight ¥2,500 (¥14,999)

Indiana Jones Temple of Doom ¥7,000 (¥12,999)

But those were deep clearance prices, and lucky finds. I've waited for clearance prices on big sets before, and not been impressed by the discount they ended up giving. If you go, be sure to check the flaps above the aisle for old sets being hidden. Toys R Us tends to take single boxes and hide them so that the aisle only has flush product, pulling it down after new years when there is too much empty space.

I never buy sets there at the regular TRU price. They are almost the worst in Japan.

The order of price for me has been, from cheapest to most expensive:

1. Amazon

2. Bic Camera

3. Click Brick

4. Yamada Denki

5. TRU

6. Aeon/any department store

You're in Tokyo, so you might have more options though.

[hellopike]

I was just in Japan on Vacation about a month ago, with the intention of specifically hunting for toys in second hand shops, and other than Kiddyland in Harajuku and The Clickbrick store in Tokyo Station- I didn't see any LEGO. BUT the Click Brick store was really rather neat. It is like a LEGO retail store, but different. I picked up a LEGO Batman keychain and some catalogs. But they had t-shirts, engraving on brick keychains, sets, a build your own minifig (with dark green legs, which I don't see often). It was a fun little shop.

phil

[funkdis]

Ohh what, if only i came across this forum before I left Tokyo a few months ago.

I used to drive down to odaiba on weekends for the hell of it to get out of tokyo when there was little time, one place i always poped into or made the effort to pop into was the lego store.

I've always wanted to head into Machida store, but never got a chance, anyone got details on this store? I read it was different to other stores.

I remember reading that there was a lego exhibition west of Japan, above kyushuu/okayama area in 2010, and also a lego land/theme park in Nasu also, any details on these?

[Agent 86]

From the website (http://clickbrick.info/about/) it looks like some of the Click Brick stores in Japan now have "Pick a Brick".

But, I can't figure out which stores offer this. Does anyone know of any Click Brick store in or around Tokyo which have the "Pick a Brick" walls/buckets?

[peedeejay]

Hmm unfortunately the clickbrick site does not offer store details. Only links to the places where the stores are located (all of them being malls in Tokyo). When looking at the store pages of the mall sites it's all general description. Couldn't find any definate clue whether a PAB wall is available or not until now.

[Agent 86]

That's all I could find as well.

As best as I can tell, there are two stores labelled "Lego Stores" whereas all of the others are called "Click Brick", so I think it is the Lego stores which have the PAB selection. But, the Lego Stores are both about two hours from Tokyo and they're not directly near train stations, so I wouldn't be able to find the, easily.

[AmperZand]

When I was in Japan a year ago, I went to two Click Brick stores: the one in Inagi-shi and the one in Yokohama. Neither of them had PAB at the time, but Yokohama had a kind of BAM.

If you wanted to know whether a particular store near you had a PAB, you could call them and ask.

Inagi-shi:

Yokohama:

[peedeejay]

I read a few more japanese blogs and stuff and so far I couldn't find any information that clickbrick has a PAB wall. The two official LEGO stores have one however (seems to be quite small though). So your safest bet ist, that you will not find a PAB wall at clickbrick...