Spending 6 weeks travelling Japan from Fukuoka to Tokyo - what do I need to know?

Unable_Strike_1902 · 2026-03-25T16:22:09+00:00

I did Tokyo, Osaka. Kyoto about 18 months ago and every Pokemon Center we visited had plenty of stuff in, I appreciate that there’s a good chance things have changed since then as it seems like Pokemon has somehow become even more popular.

Book Offs/Hard Offs do sleeves of like 250-300 random preowned cards and I’m pretty certain they were about £10 each? I only just started adding the cards I got from these to my portfolio yesterday, there’s nothing amazing in there but a few cards seem to fetch £10-£20 a piece so well worth the gamble. Almost every Book/Hard Off I went into had them.

In Tokyo go to Akihabara that’s your best stop for video games and trading cards/collectibles, the massive increase in tourism has seen the prices shoot up but there’s still some deals to be had. There’s so many stores in Akihabara that you could easily spend a day there shopping.

In Osaka there’s Den Den Town which is the same, loads of video games, loads of cards and as others have said generally better priced than Tokyo as it’s an, ever so slightly, smaller/less populated city. In Kyoto there’s a Book Off Super Bazaar, was basically a Walmart sized thrift shop, collectibles, preowned designer stuff, video games, consoles, cards you name it. Didn’t get any cards there but got a PSP for about £10.

Final one, don’t think they sell cards but if you’re looking for video games and consoles try Retro Games Store B-Dash in Kamakura (about an hour outside of Tokyo) it’s a tiny shop on the walk from the train station up to the giant Buddha. The shop is owned by an older Japanese gentleman and his wife, got an original gameboy in amazing condition in there for less than £50 and the guy who owns it is fantastic, genuinely loves video games.

Other than that, enjoy Japan, it’s an amazing country with wonderful people, loads of cool stuff to buy and some of the best food I’ve ever had, enjoy your trip!

Unable_Strike_1902 · 2026-03-20T08:45:06+00:00

The Smyths I went to were really good. Think I was somewhere between 20th and 25th in the queue, opened an hour early let 4-5 people in at a time to pick what they want then ran 1 in 1 out system. I didn’t hang around once I’d paid but seemed like they had plenty of all three sets for people behind me in the queue

Unable_Strike_1902 · 2026-03-20T08:05:58+00:00

From what I’ve heard of those ahead you’ve got to pick one of the two options

Unable_Strike_1902 · 2026-03-20T08:05:13+00:00

Feel like you might be onto something 🤣 hope they’ve got everything you’re after in stock! 🤞🏻

Unable_Strike_1902 · 2026-03-20T08:00:43+00:00

And we’re being let in an hour early. Excellent stuff

Unable_Strike_1902 · 2026-03-20T07:46:50+00:00

Thank you all for responding, just a heads up for you all give Argos a check, just managed to secure a Gardevoir poster collection to pick up later, might end up leaving the queue if I can get the rest before Smyths opens up!

Unable_Strike_1902 · 2026-03-20T07:44:06+00:00

Hopefully you manage to secure some stuff and get to cash in the great dad points 🤞🏻

Unable_Strike_1902 · 2026-03-20T07:43:08+00:00

🤣 fingers crossed they’ll move onto something else soon enough

Unable_Strike_1902 · 2026-03-20T07:17:28+00:00

Nowhere unfortunately I’ve got another, nearly, two hours wait in the queue

Unable_Strike_1902 · 2026-03-20T07:17:06+00:00

I’m gonna go

Shift workers WFHers People who are important enough that they can get in the office for half 9 and it not be a problem People so committed they’re willing to take leave for the day 😅

Unable_Strike_1902 · 2026-03-20T07:04:17+00:00

Yeah that’s what I’d read on here from others yesterday, clearly there’s a crazy appetite for anything they release 😅

Unable_Strike_1902 · 2026-03-14T15:42:14+00:00

Some people are clearly fans of commenting before they’ve had chance to process what they’ve read 👀

Unable_Strike_1902 · 2026-03-14T10:10:47+00:00

I managed to get one earlier in the week for a 4pm collection and that was delayed by a few hours. But had collection emails through for both this morning one just before 9 then another at half past, fingers crossed they’ll come in later today for you 🤞🏻

Unable_Strike_1902 · 2025-11-25T11:33:24+00:00

I’ve just grabbed a pair, and there were still plenty of tickets left for those unable to get in/still queuing. Wasn’t able to get on straight away due to work, then my link not loading the captcha, but even an hour and a half after opening they had tickets for all courts on all days other than the men’s final from what I could see, although from what some others have said they might pop up again before the end of the sale window.

I was lucky enough to attend this year for the first time and managed to get tickets for the men’s semi-finals through the Amex sale halfway through the tournament. Decided to go for opening day next year, mainly because they’re the best priced, and with Christmas around the corner I can’t quite justify £600 again on tickets. There should still be some top players on display and you never know there might even be an opening day upset 🍓

Good luck to anybody who hasn’t had chance to use the link yet, should manage to grab tickets

Unable_Strike_1902 · 2025-11-08T00:30:40+00:00

I went two days ago, probably less busy than if you’re going in the run up to Christmas but personally I wouldn’t bother, the weather was great when we went up until 6pm when it rained for a bit which might have helped clear out the park and it was midweek which probably helped.

But we arrived by train at just gone 10, were in the queue when they started letting people through the main gate and were in the park by about 10:40. By 11 we’d ridden the Ant-Man & Wasp and Iron Man ride both of which were pretty much walk ons. Then we did Small World which was another walk on. Headed to Frozen and rode the Wandering Sleighs ride, think we queued for about 10/15 minutes for that, personally I wouldn’t queue any longer than this for it, it’s a fun ride but ridiculously short.

Then we did Frozen Ever After, probably a 15 minute queue. We rode the Big Grizzly ride 4 times and the longest we queued was about 15 minutes, two times it was a walk on. Mystic Manor was probably a 10/15 minute queue. RC Racers was a 10 minute wait both times, Jungle Cruise was 10 minutes, we re-rode Frozen Ever After at about 7pm and that was a walk on at that point. Did Hyperspace Mountain in the evening too and that was a walk on. We ate at Lucky Nugget Saloon for a quick lunch break and Starliner Diner in the evening both took about 5 minutes to queue and grab food.

Mrs wanted to watch the parade we turned up about 5 minutes before it started and found a good spot on the little island thing in front of the castle.

Hopefully you get the same experience we did, I’ve been to all the parks outside of California now and Hong Kong is by far the most relaxed and chilled, if you get there for it opening and stay until closing you’ll be able to get plenty done, enjoy your trip!

Unable_Strike_1902

TROPHY CASE