Create meetup in Tokyochevron_right
Select a place on the map to change the location.
I want to meet
Verified required?
want to meet at fmd_good Wildlife Reserve
want to meet at fmd_good Market Deli
explore Tokyo Guides
bar_chart Trends in Tokyo
Please forgive me (message, at least) if I'm crossing a boundary, but collectibles?
r/japanlife mods are pretty strict about anything that smells like selling, so dont take it personally. For cards and sealed figures, Mandarake and Surugaya are teh usual spots, they buy outright not just consignment. Book Off is hit or miss but easier if you just want stuff gone. What area are you in?
Nakano Broadway gets mentioned a lot but the real move for sealed stuff is the smaller shops in Akihabara's Radio Kaikan back floors, places like Kanda Matsuya's neighbors that specialize in single series. They'll often trade rather than buy outright, so if you're after other collectibles you can swap instead of taking the cash hit. Also worth checking the monthly collector meets at Tokyo Big Sight, there's usually a swap table and you don't need a booth to join. What series are you mostly sitting on?
The buyer side matters as much as the shop side. For sealed figures, Yahoo Auctions Japan still moves serious money if you list with good photos and a proper title in Japanese, and Mercari has gotten much better for cards since they relaxed the seller verification. The catch is you need a Japanese address and phone number to sell on either, so if you're not resident you'll need a friend or a proxy service to handle it.
One thing people overlook: the tax angle. If you sell through a shop like Mandarake they handle the paperwork, but private sales above a certain yearly total can count as miscellaneous income and you'd file a kakutei shinkoku. Depends on how much you're offloading and whether you're a resident, but worth knowing before you dump a whole collection in one go.
load 2 more replies
Where can I find crispy, pan-fried bacon similar to a certain international style?
if u have a costco membership the kirkland thick cut is the move, 4 packs of 500g for around 2500 yen and it crisps up proper in a cold pan. for smaller runs, precce in azabudai hills & the basement at isetan shinjuku both carry imported US & danish brands in the chilled case, just read the label for "thick cut" or "smoked" and not "loin". also worth knowing japanese bacon is often wet-cured so pat it dry before frying or it steams instead of crisping
kaldi coffee farm is hit or miss but their smoked bacon from denmark shows up pretty regular, the 200g pack runs about 600 yen. what actually works better for me is asking the butcher counter at peacock or life to slice the block bacon thick, like 5mm, they do it for free and it crisps way better than the pre-packed stuff. also fwiw cheap bacon crisps faster, the fatty supermarket kind at 300 yen a pack works fine if u cook it from cold in a dry pan and pour off the fat as it renders.
tbh the gyomu super store brand bacon is surprisingly decent for crisping up, its not thick cut but if you cook it low and slow it gets pretty crunchy. the key is the dry cure vs wet cure thing, wet cure steams. also check hanamasa if you have one nearby, they sell big packs of american style bacon thats actually smoked and firm.