Nick’s Nippon Notebook: Shopping Spree in Osaka

Editor’s Notes: Here are some unedited notes from my friend Nicholas D. Kent from his recent trip to Japan:

I was at Yodobashi Camera again. Their Osaka store is 9 stories and fills the complete full size city block. They pipe different versions of the stores jingle non-stop on the store sound system in different arrangements with announcements in various languages, even German as to the great values and selections found at their store. Sometimes the song has Japanese lyrics sometimes it’s instrumental, but it’s the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” (this commercial dates back to 1984):

So I keep wondering if anyone from the ever South goes there then gets disgusted and storms out, because it is pretty non-stop.

I also saw a $300 Space Cruiser Yamato kit. I guess it’s large enough that they modeled the captain in his sick bed and the doctor. They still make Mircomen (Micronauts). I remember they all had clear bodies and silver heads but I saw some schoolgirl micromen which sort of surprised me, but then I realized they were an Evangelion tie in which are part of the Pinky Doll series:

At another shop I came across some American guy with a drawl who summed up his experience to a friend. “This has got to be the largest shop…entirely devoted to Gundam.” Yes it’s several floors of Gundam, more gundam and only gundam, merchandise:

Photo swiped from kotaku.com.