bricology

Tokyu Hands is like a giant department store for the younger, hipper crowd than the more traditional Isetan, Takashimaya and other chains. They stock everything from gardening supplies to complete cosplay costumes to hardware to electronics. They also happen to be one of the few places where I could find a cell phone jammer. That’s right: for about $80, you can buy a pocket device that, when the button is pushed, will knock out the signal of that idiot jabbering away in the seat behind you on the bus. Great fun!

Anyway, Tokyu Hands is well worth a visit—especially the one in Shinjuku, right next to Takashimaya, and kitty-corner from the giant (and wonderful) Kinokuniya Books—the best big bookstore in Tokyo. And if you get hungry, don’t miss the food court in the basement of Takashimaya next door; it will blow your mind.

The huge Decks Tokyo Beach complex is a mixed bag of generic mall shops, restaurants and some rather good—well, decks—with seating and views of the Rainbow Bridge and Tokyo Harbor (not to mention the rest of Odaiba, such as the futuristic FujiTV building and the giant ferris wheel).

But if you visit Decks and you have any interest in vintage stuff, you have to set aside at least an hour to go through the fantastic Nostalgia Mall. It’s an entire floor (I think it’s the third level) of Japanese collectibles from the ’30s through ’80s, but it heavily leans towards the ’50s.

I guarantee you’ll find all manner of things to interest you. Not only are there thousands of different toys (mostly exact reproductions, but some vintage ones as well), there’s “reproduction” old Japanese sodas, candy and snacks, and a few different vintage-style diners and restaurants, a vintage game arcade, and even an old-fashioned haunted house!

The decor is very artfully done, to give the impression of being in a Japanese town center of the mid-century, even down to having an old Fuji Rabbit scooter and Subaru 360 minicar from the early 1960s parked between the shops. Bring a pocketful of 100-yen coins and prepare to feel like a goofy 12 year-old for a couple of hours. I never miss going whenever I visit Tokyo.

I lived in Rotterdam for a year, and have visited the Netherlands two other times.