Senshutei is a vintage toy store all the way out in a city called Omiya. It's about 25km outside of Tokyo center, and you can get there by taking the Keihin-Tohoku Line put of Tokyo station. It's a long trip, so make the most of it and visit Omiya Koen while you are there.
When you exit the Omiya Station, take the East exit, and then basically look right across the busy intersection and under the scaffolding, there's Senshutei.
Senshutei (洗愁亭) literally means "pavilion for washing away sorrows" and named after first coffee shop in Nihonbashi in 1886.
This store is amazing. Outside is a grand picture window crammed full of vintage toys, most of them pretty worn. Outside the shop is a display case, full of all sorts of toys. Mostly cheap kids toys, but some chogokin.
Inside the shop is sensory overload. Toys are everywhere, and the shop is musty and dusty. Toys are piled high on the floor. Toys are hung from the ceiling. Move a pile of toys aside and guess what? More toys.
The floor is ancient wood paneling, dark and dirty with age. The proprietor sits halfway into the left on a rickety chair. He smiles. You smile too.
You move one thing and toys come crashing down around you. You peek through the clutter and realize there is another room that you (or anyone) cannot get into. There just seems to be no physical way, as toys and boxes are piled waist high. A significant portion of those boxes are Popy chogokin.
Towards the back of the store are display cases, but they are buried in toys. I asked to get something out of one and it was a 30-minute procedure to pull it out.
The man here today is not actually the owner, but his brother. Each time I inquire about a piece, he has to make a call and find out how much it costs. I buy a ton of stuff and he gives a generous discount. I'm sure he was taken back at first by this gaijin, but now that I'm droppin' benjamins he's more than happy to show me around and let me take pictures. He even offers to take one of me.
Words cannot express how much of a treasure this place is. You may not find your holy grail here, as a lot of the choice items seem to be picked clean long ago. But you will find a connection to a long-gone era. This shop is Nostalgia at its best. Dirty, dusty, moldy, disorganized - glorious.
洗愁亭
address:
埼玉県さいたま市大門町1-21
Phone: 048-641-0151
Open: 12-8, closed Mondays
Senshutei (洗愁亭) literally means "pavilion for washing away sorrows" and named after first coffee shop in Nihonbashi in 1886.
This store is amazing. Outside is a grand picture window crammed full of vintage toys, most of them pretty worn. Outside the shop is a display case, full of all sorts of toys. Mostly cheap kids toys, but some chogokin.
Inside the shop is sensory overload. Toys are everywhere, and the shop is musty and dusty. Toys are piled high on the floor. Toys are hung from the ceiling. Move a pile of toys aside and guess what? More toys.
The floor is ancient wood paneling, dark and dirty with age. The proprietor sits halfway into the left on a rickety chair. He smiles. You smile too.
You move one thing and toys come crashing down around you. You peek through the clutter and realize there is another room that you (or anyone) cannot get into. There just seems to be no physical way, as toys and boxes are piled waist high. A significant portion of those boxes are Popy chogokin.
Towards the back of the store are display cases, but they are buried in toys. I asked to get something out of one and it was a 30-minute procedure to pull it out.
The man here today is not actually the owner, but his brother. Each time I inquire about a piece, he has to make a call and find out how much it costs. I buy a ton of stuff and he gives a generous discount. I'm sure he was taken back at first by this gaijin, but now that I'm droppin' benjamins he's more than happy to show me around and let me take pictures. He even offers to take one of me.
Words cannot express how much of a treasure this place is. You may not find your holy grail here, as a lot of the choice items seem to be picked clean long ago. But you will find a connection to a long-gone era. This shop is Nostalgia at its best. Dirty, dusty, moldy, disorganized - glorious.
洗愁亭
address:
埼玉県さいたま市大門町1-21
Phone: 048-641-0151
Open: 12-8, closed Mondays