9.21.14
I have been blessed to travel to Japan since 1994. I’ve lost count on how many trips I’ve made. But every trip is memorable and each trip has left me with unique emotions. As I plan my next trip in a little over a week from today, I stumbled across images from my 2003 trip. And there it was, ゴジラや! Yes, Godzilla-ya! A one of a kind Japanese toy shop branded with the name Godzilla. I learned of it in a Japanese guide to toy and manga shops across Japan. It was on my list of places to go. It was about a 45 minute train ride outside of Tokyo. It was not far from the train station. But at night it took me a few extra minutes to find it.
ゴジラや (住所: 〒166-0003 東京都 杉並区 高円寺南 3-67-1 2F)
I was looking for an original Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla (1974) movie poster. Although they didn’t have one, they had the next best thing, the Mechagodzilla Returns (1975) movie poster. It’s been hanging on my wall ever since.
The shop host was pleasant, helpful, and gracious with my broken Japanese. She searched for the poster until she found it and walked me over to the shop next door. Godzilla fans, when you are in Tokyo take the train to ゴジラや (ゴジラや 住所 〒166-0003 東京都 杉並区 高円寺南 3-67-1 2F, アクセス: JR高円寺駅南口より徒歩約4分。営業時間: 14：00～19：00 定休日, 火・水休, 子どものころあなたが持っていたソフトビニールの怪獣人形や、なくしてしまったはずのプラモデルにまた出会うことができるかも….。文字通りおもちゃ箱をひっくり返したような『懐かし空間』ゴジラやへぜひ一度遊びに来てください。). You’ll find vintage Godzilla vinyls, Japanese toys, and tokusatsu scripts and more. I’m looking forward to Godzilla-ya once again on my next trip.