Lego Shopping in Japan

Lego Shopping in Japan Part II

In my recent trip to Japan, I had the opportunity to experience shopping for Lego in these stores:

1. Amazon Japan
2. Click Brick (Rinku Premium Outlet)
3. Bic’s Camera (Kyoto Station and Osaka Shinsaibashi stores) and Yodobashi (Osaka Umeda)
4. Muji
5. Various department stores (Kyoto Isetan, Kyoto Takashimaya)

So here goes my experiences and some tips to share in case you are interested to shop for Legos in Japan…

By the way, the non-Lego related tips/experiences are applicable to Nanoblock shopping in Japan as well (except for Muji). You didn’t think I only bought Legos did you? Haha, yes I did buy loads of Nanoblock sets in Japan, including the Himeji Castle set I so admired in my earlier post… I got the set at JPY5,800 (vs retail price of JPY8,400) from Bic’s Kyoto.

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1. Amazon Japan

I made the order online just before I flew to Japan, and received the parcels 2 days later. Without doubt, this is the easiest and most hassle-free of the lot. So the pros and cons are:

Pros

* Able to purchase Japanese Lego books, which are great by the way, even if you do not understand Japanese like me. I bought 2 this time and will do a simple book review when I’ve some time.
* Able to purchase English Lego books, that may not be available in your home country. This is more for Asian AFOLs I guess, since Amazon is widely available elsewhere.
* Not having to carry heavy and bulky parcels back to the hotel/the rest of the day.
* Free cardboard box to check-in new toys back home (just have to buy some scotch tape to tape up the boxes).
* Cheaper prices (for offer/discounted items) than most retail stores.
* Some selection of discontinued items from Amazon’s 3rd party retailers.
* As a first-time buyer from Amazon Japan, you probably qualify for the trial to have express delivery.

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