Nakano Broadway is Tokyo’s battered, oddball department store. A subcultural haven, the complex is an institution for the underrated area of Nakano, reachable from one side by strolling up the rather grandly named Sun Mall. It can be quite daunting if you don’t know where to start.
Nakano Broadway is known for its collection of anime and manga stores, but it is made up of a hotchpotch of everything else: antiques, bookshops, bric-a-brac, record shops, kimono, famous ice cream and even a key cutter. This guide will give you a brief rundown of the past and present. Namely, what Nakano Broadway was and now is, plus what you can find there.
History of Nakano Broadway Founded in 1966, Nakano Broadway was designed to be a fancy department store with luxury fashion pieces for social climbers. A 10-story complex, its lower five levels were open to the public, and its upper floors were costly apartments overlooking the grand Nakano development. Indeed, even today, the upper echelons are residential only , and the secret garden on the roof remains exclusive.
It has a pool, delicately manicured walkways and pristine flowerbeds. By 1980, in addition to the luxury and high-end fashion stores, the second-hand manga shop Mandarake opened on the third floor. The brand flourished.
In the 1990s, as the Japanese economic bubble burst and surrounding luxury shops fell like flies, Mandarake expanded. Soon, many of the luxury brands had disappeared from Nakano Broadway. In their place were sho.