I blogged about Yamashiroya years ago, but I never managed to visit it until this trip. One night, we were nearby at Asakusa and decided to drop in as we had a mission. We were actually looking for the Cardcaptor Sakura Wand (looks like it has a beak) that she uses in the first half of the anime to capture the Clow Cards, and now I've heard that they are releasing the Sakura Star Wand (with the star in a circle at the tip) in the spring of 2017. These are big, life-size wands and while we saw a display model earlier in the trip at Kiddyland in Harajuku, they were sold out like most of the places we checked.
Yamashiroya has 5 floors of toys, not counting the basement, but it is a cramped and narrow building that isn't very deep. I really liked it as it reminded me a bit of the old Radio Kaikan building in Akihabara with its cramped little hallways and shops. It is not as decorated or spacious as Kiddyland, but it has a gritty old school toy store charm that I really liked and they have an amazing number of toys packed in there. It was quite warm inside despite it being quite cool outside too, just like the Radio Kaikan building.
To get to the store, go straight out the south exit at Ueno Station, and cross the street. It is on the east side of the rail tracks and pretty much right in front of you.
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| The big Yamashiroya Sign out front. | |
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| Looking across the street from Ueno Station. Yamashiroya is on the right. |
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| This cool musical dance cat toys. |
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| And yes, we found the Cardcaptor Wand!!! |
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| Some Cardcaptor Figmas. |
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| Batman and predator masks display. |
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| Hogwarts model. |
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| Monster Hunter |
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| Dragon Quest slimes |
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| Pretty Cure wands |
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| Yes. It is staircase. A panda's worst enemy. |
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| Robot cat and dog toys. |
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| Around the corner was this cool looking vending machine with a Marvel Wrap. |
If I'm in the area again to visit the Ameyoko Market or going to Ueno Park or the museums, I'll make some time to swing by the shop for sure.
