(Note: All photos were taken with permission of MANDARAKE INC. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.)
(Cute vintage dolls from the Kakano store.)
Presently, Mandarake is the HQ for anything still popular in Japan. Inside the vast Nakano Broadway shopping mall there are smaller stores each containing collectors' items from many popular series. Neon Genesis Evangelion, Dragonball, Sailor Moon, and Star Wars are some of the more popular series. Mandarake also features work by famous artists, these include: CLAMP, Range Murata, Masamune Shirow, Rumiko Takahashi, and many more.
In 1980, Masuzo Furukawa and a group of friends founded Mandarake. It first started inside a small storefront corner within the Nakano Broadway shopping mall. Of the original people who started with Mr. Furukawa only two people remained: One is Mr. Fukuda, head of publishing the store's catalogue, Mandarake Zembun. The other is Mr. Imairai, who is in charge of anime cels.
Mr. Kazuki Nabeshima of Mandarake's press office, recalls, "No one thought of the idea of selling used books would catch on." Nowadays, Mandarake is the ultimate store for buying new and used items from the past. For example, Blythe dolls are recently one of the most surprising items that are becoming popular.
The Hasbro Toy Company created the Blythe dolls during the early 1970's. The dolls are characterized by having a big head, big eyes, and a small body. Mr. Kouno Naotsugu of the international office reveals, "The dolls weren't popular at first, but one of the female employees was a fan of the dolls and wanted to sell them." Mr. Naotsugu also adds, "The dolls later became so popular that a Princess from Thailand (Her Royal Highness Princess Srirasmi) became a fan of the dolls. Now we get a lot of buyers from Thailand." In the Nakano store there is a whole shop just for the dolls. Within one section of the shop people can pose their dolls. Some of the prices of the dolls range from 20,000 to 40,000 Yen (US$ 200-400).
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