I just came back from a short holiday in Osaka, Japan and of course, it’s hobby shopping time for me when I can spare some time (and of course I did).
So in general terms, the shops are all smaller than in Tokyo and correspondingly they have a smaller selection. I did not manage to get to all of them but I did hit the bigger ones in the city.
Also, if you’re into gunpla and any sci-fi models, you’d be quite well served in any of the model shops as these totally dominate the aisles.
Yodobashi Camera Multimedia Umeda (map)
This was my first stop as I stayed in a hotel that’s 15 minutes walk away. It’s also conveniently located at Osaka Station, the main hub for my train rides. As expected, this is basically the one-stop shop if you don’t have much time. The aircraft selection is pretty good but I guess I was looking for some of the more popular offerings so I didn’t get them here. I did however score the VF-1 Valkyrie Armament Set, Procon airbrush, the vice and the Fine Molds 1/48 rear view mirror and formation lights set.
Nipponbashi Denden Town (map)
Nipponbashi Denden Town is the ‘Akihabara’ of Osaka. But like most things, it’s smaller in area than Akihabara. But this is where you would go for all your anime needs. The following three shops are listed according to their size:
Joshin Super Kids Land Main Store (map)
This one manages to give Akihabara a run for its money. Whereas Yodobashi Camera caters to everyone with its myriad of stuff that’s being sold, Joshin Super Kids Land is one building with multiple floors of anime goods, with each floor catering to one genre. They also have one floor dedicated to everything Tamiya (models, RC, mini 4WD, tools etc). If you’re into miniature cars like Tomica, this is the place to go. I believe it has a better selection than Yodobashi Camera. I only got Tomica for my kid here.
Jungle (map)
Jungle is a medium-sized shop with multiple floors and I managed to get the Fine Molds F-4N Phantom II kit here which to be honest, was surprising as the aircraft selection was limited to one small section of the shop.
Suguraya Nipponbashi Otaroad (map)
My last stop before leaving Denden Town got me the Tamiya F-14D Tomcat which was even more unexpected than the F-4 kit as the aircraft selection in this even smaller multi-floor shop was limited to just a few shelves. Can’t complain though! Half the fun is the hunting.
Model Art Shop (link)
The rest of the items in the haul were courtesy of a friend’s son who is studying in Osaka. He helped me get those from the Model Art online shop: two bottles each of HM01 Lightning Gray 1 and HM02 Lightning Gray 2, which is a collab between Model Art and Mr Hobby. These are the colors for the F-35’s ‘Have Glass V’ finish.
V1 Models (link)
He also helped me get these from another online shop: One is an F-4EJ Kai nosecone for the 1/72 Hasegawa kit and the LAU-131/A Rocket Infantry, Set of 2 (1/72 scale) for a future A-10 build.
Now of course I wanted to buy more, but as usual I prioritized getting stuff that would be harder to find back home. I did eye a few other kits that were tempting but since I already managed to get all the kits that I really wanted I considered it a win already.
