Japanese restaurants/markets and Anime stores!

[SirChico]

Hey all,

I just got back from Boston, where I was with my anime club going to restaurants, markets and anime stores.. I had lots of fun, and I finally got the chance to use some Japanese. I got some Hai-Chuu and Pocky at the market.

The anime store (Tokyo Kid) was awesome.. So much anime merchandise altogether in one place. Including some anime soundtracks at a very resonable price. I got Trigun "The First Donuts" (anyone want MP3's ).

I plan to back with my friends this summer... Which stores have you go to (often or not)?

Until next time .

[tsunami]

Heck if you wanna hit the japanese restaurant/market and anime store route your better off going to San Fran or LA. Never been to Boston but there is a lot of japanese language courses available in the Boston/NY area so there must be a good sized japanese population available.

Being as I am not on the east or west coast I have to make due with the little japanese food store and itty bitty pure japanese restuarant in-town. I have come to rely on the food store for my manga/manga mag and japanese food ingredient needs.

Thats great though you could actually use your japanese lingual skill. I never really get to use mine although I can pronounce and talk like a natural.

[marka]

Hi SirChico. Did your club go to Kotobukiya at Porter Square? It's a market in the Porter Exchange Building, near the T stop. There's a small Japanese food court there too, and a couple of small shops with Japanese goods. (No anime, though.) It's something to keep in mind if you didn't go there and want to try out someplace new the next time you're in Boston.

Where else did you go besides Tokyo Kid?

[SirChico]

Actually, you nailed it right on the head! It was Porter Square. Do you live near Boston? We went to the Japanese food court there. I want to go back there... and I will too.

We went to Tokyo Kid... and some other non-related (based on whim) stores. We did go to Newbury Comics, which has an amazing R1 collection. We were going to go to Sasuga Bookstore http://www.sasugabooks.com/ . That's the online shop. It's only open on Saturday's to the public... unfortunately we didn't have enough time.

[matthewmalay]

I just got back from Toronto, went to Pacific mall, a chinese mall, saw alot of Pocky and there was some anime stores (all bootleg DVDs and merchandise of course), prices were pretty good, I saw some 3 DVD sets going for 25$CDN but I didnt get any cause I wasnt sure who made them and I dont want to risk getting garbage.

There are a couple of anime stores here in Montreal, 2 stores that mostly specialize in rentals and one in merchandise in Chinatown.

[Robojack]

Yeah, be careful, matthew. Most of the HK anime you'll find in Chinese dvd shops are far from being perfect subs. Do your research before making a decision. But in terms of snacks, go right ahead, I buy from time to time at Chinese supermarkets, they're a lot cheaper than buying from a Japanese supermarket, which the ones I know of charge a much inflated price.

[matthewmalay]

I wasn't really looking to get any anime DVDs anyways.

I bought some live action asian movies but 2 of the Korean and one of the Japanese movies didn't have any english subs at all and one HK movie didnt work at all. Luckily I bought them the day before I was going to leave back so I had a chance to go back and exchange them for something else. My sister-in-law told me afterwards alot of the Japanese and Korean movies don't have english subs at all so that was a shame but at 5$CDN a DVD I shouldn't expect much.

I don't care much for Japanese snacks. Got some Durian, haha, first time my little niece smelled it in her life and she ran out of the room crying.

[rabidsg]

I figure I'd toss this in here, since people were talking about boston. I was down at the Liberty Tree Mall in danvers and came across some good deals at a store called Harrisons. 5 dvd for $60, or 50% off (including box sets). They have a better selection at their salem store, which I visited as well. Applies to all anime dvds including new titles. The only exception are titles released that week, but for instance the latest comic party released today, falls under that sale next wednesday. Ended up walking out with quite a bit, including el-hazard: the alternative world box set for $40. They also have a bunch of other stuff, comics, manga, wall scrolls etc... We wandered around salem for a bit and there are also a good amount of chinese/japanese stores as well.

Just thought I'd let you guys know who are in the area/coming to the area.

[israfel]

when i went to new york city, i went to china town. i found all sorts of stuff and for a good price to. i found some sound tracks for cowboy bebop, nge, and trigun. i also bought some wall scrolls of vampire hunter d, the artwork done by Yoshitaka Amano. what scared me was the two story tall building devoted to pokemon only, i can't believe i went in there. i go to sushi bars around where i live, but there aren't any stores near me.

[marka]

Hi again, SirChico. I'm situated outside Providence. Around here, there are no anime stores I know about, although there's a place that rents some anime (mostly on VHS) near Brown, and we have a lot of Newbury Comics stores. The one in Warwick (RI) has a fairly decent selection of anime, but it costs.

If you're ever around New London, CT, check out Sarge's Comics, right downtown (it's a tiny downtown, and Sarge's is right on the main street). Sarge's is a lot of fun. They have anime-related items, DVDs, some manga, tons of comic books. The people are incredibly nice there, and they have a big TV setup, so if you find a used DVD you're curious about (or anything open), they'll pop it in for you to take a look at. Very cool. Across the street is a Japanese restaurant. I can't vouch for how good it is, as I haven't eaten there yet. But it does a good business. Something to consider if you're ever passing through on 95 and want a fun pitstop.

Also, you might want to check out the following, which lists some anime/manga stores in the Boston area. Maybe there's something on it you don't know about. See ...

http://www.mit.edu/people/rei/Shops.html

[Thinders]

Originally posted by matthewmalay
I just got back from Toronto, went to Pacific mall, a chinese mall, saw alot of Pocky and there was some anime stores (all bootleg DVDs and merchandise of course), prices were pretty good, I saw some 3 DVD sets going for 25$CDN but I didnt get any cause I wasnt sure who made them and I dont want to risk getting garbage.

There are a couple of anime stores here in Montreal, 2 stores that mostly specialize in rentals and one in merchandise in Chinatown.

hahaha yeah, i walked in their twice, looking for games, and for the same game, i got 2 different prices. If you dont understand mandarin they try to rip you off so much.

[tsunami]

Personally I don't mind wheeling and dealing in mandarin. The name of the game is haggle. If you think those places in Canada are horrible well where I live has got to be hilarious. The one anime store I know of has all bootleg anime but they resell it for the same price as legit discs.

I will say one thing don't go to japanese restaurants incase you know how much a certain dish should cost. If anything japanese restaurants like to over-charge for basic cheap food. *pitiful*

[Robojack]

If you are going to eat at a Japanese restaurant in Toronto, you need to know that most of them are NOT run by Japanese people. Rather, they are Chinese and Korean run. However, I find the Chinese-run ones more plentiful, and better in quality and price. I'm also seeing more and more of those all-you-can-eat Japanese buffets (which are Chinese-run), many of which are actually high-quality, and actually serveyou very nice quality sashimi and meats (for all those non-sushi dishes, such as teriyaki and soba). For some reason, cheaper prices don't always mean cheaper quality, probably since larger volume means cheaper prices for restaurants.

As a Mandarin-speaker, I don't always find it as beneficial as using Cantonese. However, most Cantonese native speakers are able to understand a decent amount of Mandarin, which is a plus. It's probably also my Taiwanese accent that makes it easier for them to understand.