I heard through a friend that there's this magical place where there are second hand books, manga, magazines and toys from Japan being sold on the cheap, in fact, he got his picture books of some idols for a measy price of Php100 each. My friend said this place is called Japanimation, a second hand goods store in Quezon City.
I searched the web and found the one and only viable link through a blog. The place is beside the Sto.Kristo Chapel at Road 20, past Congressional road, in Quezon City. It was described as a warehouse with the goods bundled together in boxes or shelves according to their type. Like in other warehouse outlets, its up to you to look for the goods you need. They are not arranged in any order except for their type. So you have to spend some time shifting through the boxes and shelves while looking for that special item that strikes your fancy. And thanks to that post, we were able to prepare the things we need after looking through dusty containers.
The place is reminiscent of various recycle shops that sprouted around Tokyo during the slow decline in the economy. As various electronics are discarded for the new ones, the old ones are collected, or sold, to these recycle shops, a bit reconditioned, and sold at a lower price...much lower. Let's put it this way, I was able to purchase a portable CD player for Php200, MD player for Php100 and Japan release CDs of various Japanese and US artists for Php50.
(racks of J-pop CD's...one day is not enough to sift through all of them)
There are a lot of shoes and clothes on the store front. Just behind them are shelves of second hand audio and video electronics as well as those LD's from the early 90's ( so all you equipment freaks out there who still have their LD players, this is one of the few places where you can get good titles). There are also game console controllers and some old hand held games. The inner warehouse contains the old and recent vinyl records (a nice collection at that), along with music instruments (I saw a Japanese koto there too) and some of the more larger electrical equipment. most of the toys you see sold at conventions are located on the store front connected to the inner warehouse. It has shelves and shelves of figurines, toys, costumes and more.
My son was excited about the boxes of up-to-scale replicas of automatic firearms and hand guns. These air-soft pellet guns are so realistic, up to the magazine release, the cocking mechanisms, and you can put the small plastic bullet replicas on the revolvers. Those were soooo neat. The AR-15 and M4 Carbine replicas goes for Php1800 and Php1300 respectively. Don't think about using them on playing in air-soft courses since they are single pump action type...not those automatic types.
I, on the other hand, was excited with shelves upon shelves of J-pop cds and magazines. I think one day is not enough to look though all the stuff they have in there. Remember that all of these are not arranged in any particular order, so its hard to find what you want specifically. You have to dig though bins and bins of CDs and books.
(volumes of "EVA Slot" are available...)
Looking though their printed material, they have a large collection of Japanese style and culture publications, notably the 'kogaryu' and 'sentaa guy' magazines...along with a few music and car magazines, concert picture books, movie production notes and manuals. For the fans of the Evangelion series, I saw a lot of EVA SLOT mags. Sorry for the legion of Gundam followers, but I got all the GUNDAM DATA FILE mags I could find. If you're looking for some R18 or hentai comics, there are a few. I myself got a fan comic for Gunslinger Girl...featuring Claes.
(just a few of the items I was able to get)
But amidst all the excitement, there is one thing that I was disappointed in. I was told that the items sold here are sold at really low prices, specially the toys and the figurines. But it seems that the owners have wised up and raised the prices...a lot...that they are now at par with shops in malls. I even got to talk with some of the patrons who frequented this place for a long time. Even they noticed the sudden rise in the prices of the figurines. From Php15, it was raised to Php50 each. And the polaroid camera the blogger was talking about which was bought for Php150 is not at least Php250. The main selling point lEft, for me, is that you get Japan quality goods, rather than the 'Divisoria' items sold at a much higher price. And it holds a lot of unique Japan items.
I'm not as excited as before but I still plan to return next month in anticipation for their next batch of goods.
