Kinokuniya-Seattle
A lot of you are going to read this and tell me to go learn how to use a camera.
Kinokuniya, some of you may know, is a Japanese book store chain located throughout Japan and the US. In Seattle, it is located inside of Uwajimaya Village which is a large asian goods grocery store that's been around for over 100 years.
Kinokuniya has tons of manga, and surprisingly a lot of the more recent items too i guess. They come in both Japanese and English.
Nasukashi deska, Danny-san?
There's also a lot of anime artbooks.
In the past, Kinokuniya used to be quite a few months behind the current anime season of the time. There would usually be about a half year delay between what aired on TV in Japan and what fanbooks started showing up on the shelves here. Nowadays, its a bit more current.
They carry other anime merchandise such as keychains, wall scrolls, mouse pads, etc. No Opai pads tho, this is a family store.
A wall of figures, current figures and old. They have an old toheart2 Lisa Maria Misora figure i've been eyeing for a while.
Upstairs they have some more manga and CDs, including anime soundtracks. I've actually seen volumes of Infinite Stratos and Gosick up here, so I guess they sometimes tend to stock manga of ongoing anime.
I heard Vocaloid is pretty popular in Japan (more than i earlier believed), so that kinda explains why they stock vocaloid songs.
I guess 10ish CDs is a lot for me.
Two fantastic anime soundtracks. I think I love almost every other Ito Kanako song.
For all you K-on fans.
New and old soundtracks.
I can't recall Hyakko having that great of a soundtrack, but here it is.
Ok, now i'm gonna need some help here. I believe that middle CD says Jishikousei Bando, or something band. Anyone know where's its from?
And anyone know where this one's from?
And this one
Some of the loot i got from Kinokuniya. Old issues Dengeki Diaoh for under 5 bucks total.
Wow, that looks awesome! I go to the San Francisco, San Jose, and Los Angeles Kinokuniyas, but the selection and stock at the Seattle one looks amazing. I guess they all have their strengths, the SF one has full-size separate stores for stationary and character stuff (San-X, Hello Kitty, etc) and a whole floor of anime books and magazines, and the LA one has a decent number of figures, but this one has them all beat.
I would have to agree... Like San Jose one is really small, and the SF one doesn't have what you want for the size. Just another one of those "ugh" moments of not being able to go to japan
Yeah, I know what you mean. I've been a couple times and it's really spoiled me, as did living in LA most of my life. Still, it's better than being where I am currently, a 2hr drive from SF.
I get the same feeling coming here sometimes. I've still gotta visit Mecca one of these days
They've also have a location north of Seattle in Bellevue (Microsoft HQ). Haven't been to that one but will take photos when i'm there. I've seen the one in Vancouver Canada from the outside which looked really small, but these stores are everywhere. I've gotta check out the LA one next time i'm down.
I love this shot. It's hard to really capture how large the Japanese manga section really is on this upper tier but this really gives you a great sample.
Also, I'm guessing you weren't there today :P They had Kino closed most of the day for inventory while they remodel the place. The rest of the store was still open though.
Kinokuniya is the awesome. I make a stop there once or twice a month money permitting. When I'm not buying I'm window-shopping. Always glad to see a "neighbor" here on Fig.fm
I was there around 6:30 today waiting for traffic to die down so I could drive south. Yeap good to know there's some folks in WA that use figure.fm
ahhhh i am here in Vancouver, i should definitely come down one weekend to check this store out, it looks amazing thx for the pics <3
K-on!Oh this is so GREAT XD
This is really a HUGE store I can say :)
May I translate your post to use for my forum ^^
Hai. Onegaishimasu
Dozo*
arigatou ^^
Woah, I should go and check if my Kinokuniya in San francico, CA has more figures. I bought the Figma Mari Makinami from them!
They even sell soundtracks from eroge?
that would explain why i couldn't tell what anime it was from
Well uh....I d-don't know what e-eroge it c-comes from....I mean, I'm I'm still in s-school!...it's not like I know any eroge or anything...hehe......
I'm an avid visitor of Kinokuniya Seattle and I felt guilty because they used to sell Megami magazines but now they don't.
de geso!
Eh your Kinokuniya sells figurines and CDs >A< /jealous
I'm from Singapore and the kinokuniya here doesn't sell that stuff X(
Although it does have quite a lot of japanese books and manga...which is the only reason I ever go there XD
the kinokuniya in my area doesnt even sell figurines D:
Awesome store!!! Maybe next time i get a trip out to Seattle ill get a cab and go there and look around.
Are the prices for Japanese things reasonable over there?
I find the Japanese books/magazines really expensive in Australia's Kinokuniya =\. Eg. A Megami magazine costs around $20-30, Degenki G around $60-80.
Id say manga and bookd tned to be priced higher than online, but yhe figures are about par with online prices. Stuff like cell straps are definately overpriced, and same goes for the CDs.. Or maybe im just kinda cheap! 36 bucks for a soundtrack CD? You gotta really devoted to that anime!
You can get a Kinokuniya membership for 10% off though.
I went there and scoped out all the Suzumiya Haruhi light novels when I was there for Sakura-con last year~
It's humongous! I really wished I could have gone back there again after the convention but did not have the time. Amazing collection of books in both English, Chinese and Japanese ^_^
I saw this and all the other CDs from K-On at Yodobashi
This is a lot bigger than the store in Akiba I frequent when in Tokyo.
Hooray for True Tears! This is a nice image song album :)
Would so love to pick up a few artbooks if I have the chance to visit a Kinokuniya this summer, as it would save MAJORLY on shipping costs~!
Did you happen to see the prices of the artbooks? Are they overpriced or around the same retail prices available online? I may have the chance to visit two Kinokuniya's this summer (SF and Costa Mesa), so I'm definitely trying to stop by and pick a few ones up.
Oh btw, are you still looking for the song from the video posted in your profile? It's Yui Makino with 'Undine'.
It's one of the theme songs from the ARIA series. A franchise I highly suggest, so whenever you have the time, do please check it out.
I can't say the fanbooks are cheap. The cheapest one i've bought was a Noizi Ito Shana book that was about $26. The others tend to run from $35-60. They also have some really old fanbooks like one for Bamboo Blade, Hayate Combat butler, so on. I doubt they post their prices, but you can check their website and facebook page. Lastly, I dunno what youre chances are of finding certain books in SF and other locations because from what it sounds like, the Seattle location is one of the better stocked in the nation. Hope that helps!
Artbooks are expensive, but damn, when you looked at the content...
If there were a Kinokuniya where I live, I would probably spend a ridiculous amount of money there on a regular bassis.
I assure you, it takes a very large amount of self control to not spend a lot there.
Wow Kinokuniya in Seattle is way better than ours in San Francisco.
the Diva ^^ do want do want~!!!
want all want ^^ this is bad for my heart ==
Way better than the one we have in Malaysia too == ... M'sian not much in too Otaku culture T^T
Hey, at least Malaysia has Kinokuniya. I'm in Melbourne and the closest and only store is in Sydney.
EXIT TRANCE~! XD
this store is awsome.