When E3 2023 was cancelled, my flights to Los Angeles were now pointless and I had a credit with my airline and no where to go. But then I thought it has been a bit since I went to Japan, almost 8 years in fact and I did want to go again. Once that little idea popped into my head it didn’t leave and once I committed to going, the question remained, what to do when I get there.
Once I realised I was going to be in three towns, Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, I knew I had to visit each of the Nintendo Stores located within. Now Nintendo Australia has been very wonderful to local gamers by offering up a range of items from the official store in Tokyo – the prices line up as well which is nice, but even that pales in comparison to what the store actually offers.
A few nice perks of the stores are that if you check in with your My Nintendo account, something PAX Australia attendees should be familiar with, you can get some nice stickers. The other nice touch is that if you scan that same QR code at the check out, you will earn some gold coins for your buys. Also, active Nintendo Switch Online members can also buy hardware over there, say things like the Famicom Controllers or the six-button Sega Mega Drive controller.
So here are a few shots from the stores, taken by yours truly.
The Tokyo Store was the first location opened up in Japan, and the second in the world after New York. The store has been open for a few years now and is still as popular as ever, requiring a ticket to get in. The tickets are free, you just collect one near the entry and then return when its your time to go in, thankfully surrounding the Nintendo Store are a Pokemon Center, Capcom Store, Jump Store and more.
My time in the store was mostly spent trying to dodge the number of people around and then spending just as much time checking out, but there was so much nice stuff to see, it was hard not to be overwhelmed with what was on offer.
The Osaka branch was the second location to open and for the most part looks a lot like the Tokyo location, it has the same giant pixelated Mario figure near a Question Block, along with giant statues of Link, Mario and more inside. The items for sale were almost identical to that of Tokyo, except for the few that were branded Nintendo Osaka, mostly shirts and Knick-knacks, but there were some items that were in stock here that Tokyo did not have.
It was slightly larger than the Tokyo location as well and also required a ticket to get in, thankfully it was also surrounded by a Pokemon Center, One Piece store and a smaller Capcom Store but it also had a Capcom Cafe, so there was a lot to see whilst waiting for the entry time to arrive.
The newest of the stores, Kyoto only opened a few months before my visit and it is vastly different to the other two. Yes the stock is mostly the same, except for a few items branded for Kyoto and they did have many more plushies than the others, but what was different is that there are no giant statues in the store. Kyoto does have a massive Mario on a flag pole on the roof, which you can get your photo taken by, but the characters in the store are displayed via screens.
Something that this store had that the others didn’t was basically a wall of merch, shown in the last photo below and that gives you an idea of what is on offer. The escalator you can see behind it takes you up to the roof.
Surprise! Whilst in Hong Kong, I was heading to a store to find something I wanted and randomly stumbled upon another Nintendo Store. This one is not a permanent location, only a pop-up, but it is an official store none the less. Given I bought everything I wanted at the other three stores, my suitcase was quite full by the time I left, I only bought a few small things, but still was impressed at the range on offer, even if the stock was branded for Tokyo or had things on tags stating only for sale in Japan.
So there we go, a few photos from the official Nintendo Stores in Japan and the surprise pop-up in Hong Kong. While I would love to see an official store make its way to Australia, for now the range offered by Nintendo Australia will just have to do.
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