At the end of December, my family and I made a short trip to one of our favorite vacation spots, Japan! Scale modeling shopping is always on the to-do list when in Japan. As we decided to take it easy and not hit every tourist spot in Tokyo, this trip afforded me a chance to visit multiple shops across many days.
By the end of the trip, my haul was quite decent. As always there are a lot of stuff that are not available in our neck of the woods but I think I did well enough in the self control department.
Yodobashi Camera Akihabara (map)
Yodobashi Akiba is still the first stop but I only snagged a Mr Hobby Procon Boy 0.3mm airbrush, a set of HiQ Parts Circle Masks and a pair of Fine Molds 1/72 F-14 nose probes. They had some interesting locally made 3D printed aftermarket stuff but they were behind a locked glass cabinet and weren’t displayed clearly to be seen.
Yellow Submarine Akihabara (map)
My two biggest purchases of the trip were from here, the Wave 1/72 VF-171 Nightmare Plus for JPY8,800 and the Transformers Masterpiece MPG-05 Trainbot Seizan toy for JPY14,800 discounted from JPY22,000. Seizan is a nostalgic kick for me as it is part of the Transformers Trainbots team for which the original Diaclone Trainbot is one of my all-time favorite toys. It’s also one of the most complete toys that I still have from my childhood. Seizan will join the other four Trainbots that I already own and wait for their last member, Kaen.
BIC Camera Yurakucho (map)
This one was near my hotel so I managed to visit it multiple times in the evening. Selection wasn’t all that great but they did offer tax refund. I only got the Kotobukiya MSG parts, a Shokunin Katagi Rubber Base and two types of Mr Hobby Mr Tweezer parts holders.
HANDS Ginza (map)
HANDS (formerly Tokyu HANDS) is a chain that sells DIY products and more importantly for me, art and craft material. I bought three square and one rectangular transparent acrylic cubes here. These will be used to prop up my finished kits in photos and are particularly useful for subjects that are built wheels up (example).
Luxury Flight x HighRate Haneda Airport Terminal 3 (map)
This is a small shop that sells Japan Air Self Defence Force souvenirs. I bought a keychain of the patch from the Tactical Fighter Training Group (hikoukyoudougun), the aggressor unit.
So all in all, quite an interesting haul although I notably didn’t buy a single aircraft kit ( (that new Fine Molds F-15C was very tempting though). I set out to get another airbrush, the VF-171 kit and one of the Trainbots toys and I managed to get all three. I’d say it was a successful trip just for those.
