Long time Singaporean collector of World War One and Two militaria from both Axis and Allied nations.

Living historian with 'Syonan Reflections'.

Husband, educator, friend and ex-soldier too.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Shopping at Nakata Shoten (Ueno, Japan, 2006)


Nakata Shoten is a military clothing and equipment shop located in Tokyo, Japan. It is this shop that supplies WW2 Japanese army militaria for the filming of many big WW2 movie names, including one that starred Ken Watanabe.

I had the rare chance of physically entering the shop during a trip in 2006. Trust me, for WW2 collectors like myself, this shopping equates to one shopping in a Louis Vuitton boutique.

Read on below to see how to get there (The info is from a forum posting by myself).
Mina-San,

Some of you may recall that I seeked advice on thewhereabouts of militaria shops for my recent trip toJapan.

Well, I managed to find the all famous and always spoken about Nakata Shoten militaria shops...Yes, Ifound and "invaded" them both.

Directions on how to go there:

Firstly, I had a splendid seven day stay in Hokkaido. Ate a lot of seafood and played a lot of snow. Then Iwent to Tokyo...

Ok, get on the Japan Rail (JR) system on the YAMANOTE line. You can't get lost as this line igoes in a circular fashion around Tokyo itself. Both Nakata shops are closely located near to UENO station. Alight there and exit by the "CENTRAL EXIT". Once out on the main road, cross the main street into the UENO FLEAMARKET area. If you walk straight for about 3-5 mins,you can find the Tactical Nakata shop directly under the railway line.

Hard to miss. Tactical shop pic with me proudly posing there:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c193/Sturmannlee/DSC02601.jpg

For the WW2 Nakata outlet, it's located on theleft-hand side and adjacent of the Tactical shop. Thisrequires about 3 more of walking time.

The WW2 shop is situated along an alley but the storefront is rather messy...

WW2 shop pic:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c193/Sturmannlee/DSC02605.jpg

I then spent 45 mins rummaging through their stuff. The staff is quite friendly there, but they were mostly occupied with paperwork, so be patient. They have free hardcopies of their latest 2007 catalogs too.

A word of advice: They do not have all their stock on hand...so be prepared to take an alternative item, or simply be disappointed.

Some pics of my purchases...

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c193/Sturmannlee/DSC02629.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c193/Sturmannlee/DSC02633.jpg

In all, I spent like 105,000 YEN at Nakata's alone...Luckly I still had enough money for food and a trip to Tokyo Disneyland.

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