TravelAug 28, 2026 JST

Nakano Broadway: The Secondhand Figure Route, Floor by Floor

How to work Mandarake's Nakano Broadway stores floor by floor for secondhand figures, Chogokin and Figuarts, with hours and access from Nakano Station.

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Akihabara is where you buy new figures. Nakano Broadway is where you find the ones that stopped being new years ago: the first-run S.H.Figuarts with the bonus part, the Chogokin from the 1990s reissue, the P.O.P One Piece that never got a rerun. Most of that stock sits in Mandarake’s Nakano store, which is not one shop but roughly thirty specialist stores spread across three floors of a shopping arcade five minutes from Nakano Station. This guide maps the floors that matter for figure buyers, with hours and access from each store’s own page as of August 28, 2026.

Pair it with our Akihabara route for a full day: Nakano opens at noon, so Akihabara in the morning and Nakano in the afternoon is the natural order.

Why Nakano

Three reasons overseas collectors make the trip:

1. Depth in one building. Mandarake’s Nakano branch splits its stock by store, each with its own category, so the Gundam store, the Sentai store and the Chogokin store are each deeper than a general secondhand shelf.
2. Vintage you want to see in person. Mandarake sells online too, but the vintage tin, sofubi and Henshin Cyborg stock on the fourth floor is the kind you want to inspect before paying.
3. Tagged condition. Prices and condition notes are on the tags, and the stores buy as well as sell, so the shelves reflect what collectors are actually trading.

The trade-off is that Nakano is secondhand and vintage first. If your list is this season’s pre-orders, Akihabara serves it better; if your list has anything with “first run” or “1998” in it, this is the place.

Getting there

Nakano Broadway is at 5-52-15 Nakano, Nakano-ku, and the official site gives the walk as five minutes from the north exit of Nakano Station, which is served by the JR Chuo Line and the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line. From the north exit, walk straight through the covered Sun Mall shopping street; Broadway is the building at the far end.

• From Shinjuku: JR Chuo Line rapid, one stop west to Nakano. About five minutes.
• From Tokyo Station: JR Chuo Line rapid direct to Nakano. About 20 minutes.
• From Akihabara: Sobu Line local westbound to Nakano; some Sobu locals run as Tozai Line through-trains, and any train bound for Nakano or Mitaka works. About 25 minutes.

No fares are quoted here because they change with the annual revisions; a Suica or Pasmo IC card works on every one of these lines, and a route app will give you the current price.

Mandarake Nakano: hours and the floor map

Mandarake’s Nakano store page gives the hours as 12:00 to 20:00, every day of the year, and the same five-minute walk from the north exit. The stores are on the second, third and fourth floors of Broadway, and the store page lists them by floor. This is the figure-relevant subset, using each store’s own “items handled” description:

2F

For a scale-figure or P.O.P buyer, Special 4 is the first stop on the floor. Special 1 and Special 7 are where the Bandai and vintage-kaiju sofubi live.

3F

Special 8 is the floor’s answer to the Figuarts reruns we cover in the news section: if you want a first-run Kakashi or Obito rather than waiting for the 2027 reissue, this is the shelf to check. Special 3 is the Figuarts destination for tokusatsu.

4F

The rest of the fourth floor is books, games and paper goods, per the store list.

Special 6 is the stop for the Macross and Saint Seiya generation: the original Saint Cloth Series and Chogokin that Bandai is now reissuing show up here as originals. Hen-ya is the museum-with-price-tags floor; go even if you are not buying.

A two-hour route

1. 12:00 — Arrive as Mandarake opens. Start on 2F at Special 4 (scale and prize figures), then Special 1 and 7 (sofubi).
2. 12:40 — 3F: Special 8 for Jump-series figures, Special 3 for Figuarts and Sentai, Special 2 if you collect Gundam.
3. 13:20 — 4F: Special 6 for Chogokin and non-Gundam robots, then Hen-ya for vintage.
4. 13:50 — Robot Robot, also inside Broadway at the same 5-52-15 address; the shop describes itself as a figure specialist, with reception hours of 12:00 to 20:00 on its site.
5. 14:00 — Coffee in the arcade or back on Sun Mall.

The other tenants in the building set their own hours and days off, so a noon arrival is right for Mandarake but may be early for the rest of the arcade; check the building’s official site if you are coming for a specific small shop.

Practical notes

Reading the tags. Mandarake tags are in Japanese. The words that matter: 未開封 (unopened), 開封品 (opened), 箱なし (no box), 欠品 (parts missing), 初回 (first run) and 再販 (rerun).

Shipping large items home. If you buy more than you can carry, ask the store about shipping options before you pay, or note the item and look for it on Mandarake’s online shop rather than carrying a Chogokin box through Shinjuku at rush hour. Our buying guide covers how shipping from Japan and import duty work.

Cash and cards. Check accepted payment methods at each register; assume the smaller Broadway shops may be cash only and carry some yen.

Photos. Assume no photography inside the Mandarake stores unless a sign allows it. The arcade’s corridors are fine.

Closures. Mandarake states its Nakano store is open every day of the year; individual Broadway tenants set their own days off, and the building’s official site posts news, so check it if you are coming for a specific small shop.

Luggage. The aisles in the Mandarake stores are narrow. Leave suitcases in a station locker before you walk over.

Checking a secondhand figure before you buy

Most of what makes Nakano worth the trip is that you can inspect the item. A short routine that works in the Mandarake stores:

• Match the tag to the box. The tag names the item, the edition (初回 first run or 再販 rerun) and the condition. Confirm the box art and the item code on the box match what the tag says, especially for Figuarts and Chogokin where a first run and a rerun can share a box design.
• Ask before touching. Unopened (未開封) stock is priced for being unopened, so do not expect a seal to be broken for you; for opened (開封品) stock, ask a staff member with the tag in hand whether you can check the contents. Policy varies by store.
• Look for the parts list. For an opened Figuarts or Chogokin, the value is in the accessories. Check the tag for 欠品 (missing parts) and compare the tray against the maker’s set contents, which is where our news posts come in handy: the Trunks (Z Warriors) post, for example, lists every hand and face plate Bandai ships with the first run.
• Decide on the spot. Secondhand stock is one of each; if you leave an item to think about it, do not expect it to still be there tomorrow.

Combining Nakano with Akihabara

The two districts sit on the same east–west axis: Akihabara on the Sobu Line, Nakano on the Chuo Line, with Shinjuku in between. The order that works is Akihabara first, because its shops open at 10:00, then a Sobu-Line ride west while Mandarake opens at noon. If you are pre-ordering new items, do that in Akihabara and keep Nakano for the hunt; if a figure you wanted has sold out at retail, Nakano is where the first check should be before you pay a marketplace premium. Anything you buy in Akihabara can go into a station locker at Akihabara or Shinjuku on the way, since you will pass back through the same lines at the end of the day.

Booking and extras

Nothing on this route needs a reservation. If you extend the day, Nakano sits one stop from Shinjuku, which puts the department-store figure floors and the west-side camera and hobby shops within 15 minutes.

📦Secondhand figures bought in Japan are still imports when you get home: keep the receipt, declare the value honestly, and expect that you may owe duty on arrival.

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