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A trip to Mandai in Takasaki, August 2025

So a couple of weekends ago, I had the opportunity to visit the Mandai in Takasaki and look at the neat stuff there. I first checked out the plastic model section. Here’s an Imai kit of the Big Mighty from Mighty Jack. Mystery Science Theater 3000 fans will know about Mighty Jack. I believe I saw the toolings for these models when I worked at Aoshima 9 years ago in one of the company’s storage warehouses.

Imai made a classic Batmobile in 1:42 scale. Weird scale. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this kit before.

There were many vintage Arii and Imai Macross kits too. I was tempted to get this one, but decided not to.

Here are vintage kits of Macross, Ideon, Harlock, and Yamato.

Vintage Mospeada, Ideon, Dunbine, and L-Gaim kits.

They have new kits too, of course. Evangelion, Xabungle, Layzner, Dunbine, Sakura Taisen, and Super Robot Taisen. I’ve watched YT videos of that Asuka kit and she looks great, even unpainted.

Plenty of scale aviation kits too! I don’t see those 1:100 scale Platz jet fighter kits very often.

I saw this Street Fighter II bath towel and Chun-Li doll. I was tempted to get the towel, but I couldn’t resist the doll. “Ha ha ha ha! Yatta!”

Lots of Famicom and Super Famicom games, of course.

All the expensive games are kept in the display cases, of course. I didn’t know that Clock Tower was ported to the Wonderswan.

I played a few rounds of Shanghai on a Blast city cabinet in the Gunma Leisure Land game center downstairs.

King of Fighters was playing on a Nesica cabinet.

There was this nice sculpture of Rei on an Evangelion pachinko machine. I don’t ever remember seeing Rei with long hair. Maybe it’s from one of the new movies I never bothered watching.

Here are the signs for the restrooms: Jojo for male and Hatsune Miku for female.

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Book Off in Phoenix, AZ brings a Japanese shopping experience to Arizonans

On my trip to my hometown of Phoenix, AZ during my summer vacation, I was able to visit a Book Off on Bell Road! It opened within recent years. There have been Book Off stores all along in California. When Mayu and I used to live in America, we would visit the Book Off locations in Torrance, Garden Grove, Los Angeles and other areas. But now both Book Off and Daiso stores have opened in the Phoenix area.

Here are the signs outside.

Look at all the books! The books are in English, of course. Otherwise, the experience is just like a Book Off in Japan. This makes Book Off a direct competitor with the long-standing Bookmans store locations in Arizona.

The store clerk says that so much of this stuff is imported from the Book Off locations in Japan. I guess they buy so much stuff that they just export it to the USA for sale there.

So many anime figures for sale in the display case.

So many pin buttons, keychains, and small figures. Just like a Book Off in Japan.

They have import Famicom games from Japan! Star Wars, Red Arima, Parodius, Galaga… neat stuff!

Import Famicom and Super Famicom games too.

Domestically-released modern games are sold used there as well, of course.

This is the Grave of the Fireflies movie soundtrack on vinyl record. I was surprised to find this.

Huge selection of used, English-language manga. I bought several used volumes of Spy Family.

Gunpla! There were also other model kits there too. I even saw an Eggplane Girl resin figure by Hasegawa there, and for a good price. This is so cool.

Dollar books. Very neat. I didn’t have time to look at the SF book selection there. It would’ve been nice if I had more time to spend, but I had quite a busy itinerary with my friends Kevin and Brian. (Our next destination was Andy’s Hobby HQ which I featured in my previous blog post.)

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Andy’s Hobby Headquarters in Glendale, AZ

Many years ago, I wrote an essay on my history of the plastic model hobby. I mentioned how it was my wife Mayu who got me back into the hobby. Although I had bought a couple of models here and there, she is the one who came home one day in 2005 with an AT-AT from Empire Strikes Back by AMT and asked me to build her a “doggy horse” as she called them. That’s what got me back into the hobby.

I grew up with a local hobby retail chain called Hobby Bench. In fact, this is where Mayu bought the AT-AT, as she went inside while waiting for the next bus to take her home. While they had a decent supply of model kits, supplies and tools, the guys working the counter only seemed to care about radio control stuff. They’d always be talking with other RC hobby enthusiasts, to the point where I felt hesitant to even ask a question. I once asked if it’s possible to mix Testors acrylic paints with Tamiya acrylic paints and the clerk said, “Yeah, they’re both acrylics. Why not?” Well, that turned out to not be a good idea and it just shows their lack of expertise.

Then I discovered Andy’s Hobby Headquarters. I was impressed with both Andy’s knowledge and enthusiasm for the model hobby, and there was no RC stuff in his store at all! His store was focused solely on plastic modeling. His advice was always great and I always enjoyed talking with him.

Before I moved back to Japan, I gave him a huge stack of Hobby Japan ad Dengeki Hobby magazines to share with his modeling club. The last time I saw him was in March 2012, when I bought my 1:537 USS Reliant from Star Trek and the corresponding decals. Then eventually Andy became well-known among the YouTube modeling community.

In my recent trip to Arizona, I stopped by. He wasn’t there, and the man working there seemed used to disappointing people for not being Andy. Andy now spends most of his time at the new Hobby HQ store in Tolleson. The guy working at the original location may as well have a nametag that says, “Hi, I’m NOT Andy. Deal with it.” It was still cool to see how the store has changed, though. Here are some pictures I took.

I was surprised to see a Perfect Grade Millennium Falcon there!

There was this awesome Cylon Raider by Moebius Models hanging from the ceiling. I reached up high to take this photo. There was also an old Kenner X-Wing toy behind it. Notice all the Gunpla on the shelves in the background below.

Lots of Perfect Grade Gundam models.

So many Fujimi car model kits! Years ago when I worked at Aoshima, I had tried to build a relationship with Andy and tried to get him to purchase Aoshima kits directly from me. It didn’t really work out though. I don’t know why. Still, it was great to see all of the Fujimi car kits there.

I was surprised to see so many Hasegawa kits with their old box designs.

Here you can see the new Hasegawa boxes (top) and the old ones (bottom).

I wished I had taken more photos, but I actually ended up talking quite a lot with the store clerk. I know people would’ve liked me to take a video tour of the store, but I was with two friends and we had other places to go. I wasn’t alone. Maybe next time!

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The old, legacy Glaug model kit from Macross by Imai

I took this old Imai/Bandai Macross Glaug kit to work on while staying at the in-laws’ place for a 4-day summer holiday weekend. I figured that I’d get familiar with these older kits before building the new Hasegawa ones. But, I am a bit surprised. There are no bottom parts for the feet of this old Glaug kit! I can’t believe they made the kit like this. Seems a bit half-assed. Now I feel compelled to cut some Tamiya Pla-Plate to make my own feet bottoms. I’m also going to modify this with proper clear lens pieces as well as ball joints where I can.

This old Imai Glaug kit is from the ’80s. Bandai bought the Macross molds from Imai long ago and re-issued them under their name. Not all of them though apparently, since Bandai never once repopped the Armored Valkyrie kit I completed this year, or the Zentraedi recon ship. They repop the Zentraedi battle pod and Destroid kits every once in a while, and this one I have was released for the 25th anniversary of Macross. I paid only 1,020 yen for it about 12 years ago.

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Decals are complete for my AMT 1:2500 Enterprise-E

These decals are crap. They slide off the paper very easily, even in cold water, but once they go down, they do NOT want to slide around on the model. Mr. Mark Setter seems to have no effect on their ability to be repositioned once on the model’s surface. I had to get them exactly right the first time, otherwise they’d be a PITA to move around. Not only that, but they broke easily and I’d have lots of air bubbles under them. I’m using Tamiya Mark Fit Super Strong and these decals do NOT want to conform. I’m having to make cuts with my hobby knife and even then they still do not want to cooperate. Driving me nuts.

The paint job is Testors Model Master Acryl Camouflage Gray, and the reflector dish, impulse engines, nacelle Bussards, and flux chillers were done with Gaia Notes’ Arpeggio line of glow-in-the-dark fluorescent lacquer paints. This should look pretty cool once I find my blacklights in my hobby closet of doom.

I’ll need to give this a Mr. Hobby semi-gloss, then paint the nav lights and such. I’ll use a black alcohol pen to color in all the windows to add that detail.

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Rei and Asuka sofubi figure set complete

Here they are. I had to buy more 2mm brass rod because the length I had in Asuka’s leg wasn’t long enough and she began leaning forward. I removed it and put in a longer segment and now there’s no more problem. I’m still thinking that I might paint the base and print out a custom decal for it.

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A look at modeling magazines and books at Bookman’s Academy in Maebashi

On the last Friday of June, after dinner in Maebashi we went to Bookman’s Academy, a nice two-story bookstore on the road straight south from the sushi restaurant we ate at. This bookstore not only has a great selection of modeling magazines, but upstairs in the “subculture” category, there are many books about modeling. First I’ll show you the magazine section.

Here you’ll see Armour Modelling with Umi Shinonome gracing the cover with her own color of paint (as shown above), Artpla, a Model Art mook on painting, Model Cars, a mook on modeling tools (I believe by Model Art), Figure King (covering pre-painted figures as well as kits), Macross Mechanics (a mook devoted to Macross modeling), a mook on painting techniques for WWII camouflage patterns from various countries, and something about the Yamato. To the far right you’ll see a couple of magazines about firearm replicas, which I am really not into. Looking down, you’ll see this:

Here are issues of Hobby Japan, Model Graphix, Scale Aviation, and Model Art. Oh, but that’s not all. I actually didn’t show you the row of modeling mooks on the shelf between these two pictures.

Here is a look at the Macross Mechanics modeling mook. This is the summer issue. Alright, now let’s head upstairs to the subculture section. This should blow you away.

Here are the magazines along the top. Gundam Archives is put out by Model Graphix magazine. These are mooks that are collections of Gunpla builds featured in the magazine. They also have Macross Archives and Votoms Archives that I’ve seen. In the middle is the SD Gundam Perfect Modeling Manual, and to the right is one on Ultraman models.

Look at all of these Gunpla modeling books! Here they have the Gundam Sentinel book, a compilation of the Sentinel articles once featured in Model Graphix magazine. Lots of other stuff too, like Hobby Japan Vintage, Hobby Japan Extra (these are mooks focusing on different subjects), more Gundam Archives issues, a book on Gundam MSV, and I spot a Scope Dog Votoms book. Looks like it might come with a model, the way it’s in a box like that.

Lots of other stuff, too! Model lighting, AFV, a book on building an F-14 Tomcat which actually covers the work of an American modeler building Tamiya’s Tomcat, various 72nd scale plane modeling books, and so on. This is the store where I bought the book showcasing modeling workbenches of several famous modelers, as well as the model lighting book by Dorobou Hige.

Here’s the Votoms Archives mook I mentioned, with a look inside. I love the paint scraping detail on the legs, from the armored skirt. Fantastic detail.

Here’s a book called “Soul of the 1/72 Scale” (ナナニイの魂) which covers multiple plane subjects in that scale.

Bookman’s Academy has such a fantastic selection of modeling books. I always enjoy going to this store with my family.

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Kuroda Toy Store in Maebashi

Mayu discovered a store called Kuroda Toy Doll （黒田人形店）in Maebashi’s Central Shopping Arcade on the internet and on Saturday we went there to check it out. Shoutengai （商店街）are covered shopping arcades and a tradition of Japan. Unfortunately, sometimes these shopping arcades have grown unsuccessful over the years with empty real estate. In English they call this one Maebashi Rose Avenue and this is where Kuroda is located. We’ve only ever been to this shopping arcade once before, when we happened to be in the area during the Tanabata Festival in July several years ago.

Kuroda specializes in traditional toys, so basically nothing which involves video screens. The first thing I noticed upon entering was their selection of Tomica cars.

Misato’s car from Evangelion.

Macross and Gundam Tomica!

Back to the Future Part III and Castle of Cagliostro cars. I bought the BttF III Delorean with the ’50s tires at Village Vanguard earlier this year. I hadn’t seen the one with train wheels until now.

A nice, modest selection of plastic models was there. Here’s the Gunpla selection. I bought the F91 Gundam kit at this store.

Here are car, ship, castle, and other plastic models.

An RC Delorean from Back to the Future! I’ve never seen this before.

There were many older anime and game figures. Here’s Kasumi from Dead or Alive and Mai from King of Fighters.

Plenty of traditional, wooden toys too. A meow-meow tower and… a toy for Klingons? Oh never mind… that would be “Qapla,” not “Kapla.”

There were so many different toys there, such as kendama, plush dolls, and so on. My daughter Ulan wanted the bullet plushy from Super Mario Bros and I got the F91 Gundam model. It’s a neat store.

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I’ve finished the Asuka and Rei sofubi heads

Here they are after painting their eyes and eyebrows. The main paints were airbrushed with V-Color paints and the eyes were done with acrylic paints. I’m particularly happy with how Asuka’s eyes turned out.

Here they are after I shaded their hair.  I used dark blue pastel chalk to do the recessed areas of Rei’s hair and an acrylic goache mix of burnt umber and red to do Asuka’s hair. For some reason, pastel chalks were not sticking to Asuka’s hair. Probably too glossy. Then I did a flat clear coat of V-Color to seal them in and stop the shine. I think I’m ready for assembly now.

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Enjoying the modeling hobby in Japan despite cramped living spaces

Living in smaller living conditions in Japan, there is an art to maximizing the space you have. I found these pictures on Pinterest and found them interesting. One thing to note is the absence of the “carpet monster” that Western modelers often complain about. Homes in Japan may have area rugs, but do not have permanently-carpeted rooms. You’ll see tatami rooms, but not carpet. I don’t like carpet, nor tatami for that matter. Anyhow, check out these pictures.

This fellow has a bunk bed and uses the bed on top as a place to stash his models. The model workbench fits underneath that nicely. The extractor booth’s air hose seems permanently attached to the window. Very clean and orderly, with a convenient L-shaped desk.

This is pretty incredible. This person turned a closet into a workbench! Very adequate lighting, and the tiny video screen for entertainment or whatever is a nice touch. No idea what it’s hooked up to, but that would be perfect for a Raspberry Pi computer, I think.

Holy cow! This is a chaotic mess, yet I admire how much stuff he’s managed to cramp into this small space. I’m about halfway to this guy’s level. Unlike the pictures above with the clean floors, if this guy loses a small piece on the floor, he’ll have quite a task on hand to find it. I like his poster of a Mitsubishi F-2 on the wall.

I also came across these photos on Pinterest and realized that they belong together. Here are four tall shelf racks. I love his tastes in models! It’s all character modeling. Can you spot what you like? I see Knight Rider, Mad Max, Gachaman, Star Wars, plenty of Gundam, Yamato, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, plenty of Gerry Anderson stuff, Votoms, and of course Macross. He even has that big Mega Force kit! Bonus points for keeping model categories together like that. (Click the images to expand, then open them in a new tab in your browser to see even closer detail to see the boxes.)

Again we see air hoses permanently attached outside. This is a nice idea. I have to crack my window and hang the air hoses out, but that means that mosquitos can come in unless I spray mosquito repellant onto the curtain. Speaking of which, I should buy some now that the weather has warmed up.

This is a bit too claustrophobic for my tastes. This guy is working on a Ma.K kit. He’s got paint bottles to the right. What’s in those boxes? It looks like the room is larger beyond those boxes.

This is pretty cool. A nice modeling workbench in the corner of the room. With that plastic drawer there though, where does his legs go? It’s packed solid underneath. Nice extractor though. It’s illuminated within. Nice.

Incredible. This guy obviously likes a lot of Gunpla.

Good golly, that’s a lot of resin garage kits! Super cramped work area too. At least there’s anime to watch.

Alright, this is not cramped at all. Just lots of neat stuff going on all at once. Nice window to let in plenty of light, too. Looks cozy.

Nothing says “modeling in Japan” more than sitting on a small table on a tatami mat floor. Oh yes, and with a blanket for your lap.

I’ll take pictures of my own workbench. Currently it’s just a big mess at the moment. I’ll put that in another post later.