Hobby Shops in Nagoya IV

It’s been a while since I’ve done a hobby shop profile, so here is the first one of the new year. After this  I believe there is one more left. If anybody comes across any other stores in the Nagoya area, please contact me and I would love to get more information about it, as well as your opinion about it. Today’s featured store is Hobby Station, located on Akamon street in Osu. There is actually another branch of this shop located near Nagoya station, but because it has the same prices, cards, and information, I will only be taking pictures of it in the future and giving directions to it instead of doing a full profile. By far the best store is the one located in Osu.

Hobby Station is on the 4th floor of this Anime store.

DIRECTIONS:

As always, I’ll start with directions on how to get to Hobby Station (Osu). The store isn’t clearly marked from the outside since it’s part of a bigger store called Wonder Goo. There might be a shorter route, but the most direct route would be to come the same way as you would to get to Amenity Dream which is also located in Osu Kannon. Take the Meijo subway line to Kamimaezu station (if coming from Nagoya station, hop in the Higashiyama subway to Sakae station, transfer to the Meijo line going towards Kanayama). I believe if you take exit 9, you will be directly on Otsu dori street on the left side of the road. Walk up the street past Starbucks and the Osu 301 on building until you see a 7/11 convenience store. At that next intersection you should see a tall arch with the words AKAMON DORI to your left. Take a left and walk down the street looking for the WonderGoo store on your right side. Walk inside and go to the 4th floor where Hobby Station is located. From the station, this is probably a good 15 minute walk so bundle up if it’s the winter time.

A quick note about the store for those wondering. WonderGoo is largely an anime store. The first floor is Manga as well as the 2nd floor (though with more goods mixed in), the 3rd floor is full of anime goods such as cosplay material and costumes, pins, stickers, shirts, etc., and the 4th floor is Hobby Station. For the nerd in Nagoya, this is going to be your Walmart. You can get all your shopping done in one place, though it’s not cheap. There is also another place called Mandrake located not too far away in Osu, but I’ll let you explore and find that on your own since I won’t be covering that place any time soon. If you have any further questions about the shop, let me know and I’ll do my best to answer.

Single Card selection at Hobby Station Osu

Hobby Station Osu has some great things going for it. One example is the amount of floor space. While they don’t have as many cards as Amenity Dream does, they almost have the same amount of playing space. There are quite a few tables to the left of single cards, and customers are encouraged to use this as free space. If you are out and about and just need a place to play some cards, stop on in with your friend and bust out your decks. Of course most of the other shops are the same way, allowing anybody to come in and use their tables to play games as long as your aren’t impeding a tournament at that time. What makes Hobby Station a little different is that they also encourage you to bring your DS and PSP systems and let you use this space as a gathering place to play wireless games. I guess the thinking is that the longer you stay here, the more likely you are to buy something, be it cards, soda, or goods. With that being said, let me now focus on Magic, the Gathering.

Just like any other card shop in Japan, Hobby Station offers Friday Night Magic. Most likely it starts at 6pm or around that time, and probably costs about 500 yen. If you are a first time Magic player in Japan, I recommend trying out all of these places and see what atmosphere fits you the best. I tend to stay close to where I live (Card Brunch Kanayama) just out of convenience, as well as the perks I get there. Their single cards are really hit or miss. You can find some deals here, but not a lot. As I stated before, the BEST place for single cards in Nagoya is Mishimaya Toy and Hobby Shop in Ozone. Selling cards is also hit or miss. You might get good prices for some cards, but be totally ripped off other times. Their staff also doesn’t talk much English, so it might be difficult to communicate with them. I will be covering communicating with Magic in a future post after all of the other stores have been profiled.

UPDATE: Selling Cards at Hobby Station Osu

If you want to sell cards at Hobby Station Osu, here’s some information. They buy both current standard play cards as well as older cards. Their “buy” list is located above their Magic card cases, as well as on the side of the card case in front of the registers. Most of the cards they are buying are rares or mythic rares, but occasionally they will buy commons and uncommons depending on their popularity at the time. If you don’t see something on the list but think you can get money for it, bring it in and ask. As with any store you sell to, be sure to bring an ID. This can be a foreigner card, a Driver’s License, and even your passport. Even if you’re just visiting the area on vacation from overseas, it wouldn’t hurt to see if you can make some extra cash. You might make a nice profit with the Japanese yen being so strong right now!

Don’t know Japanese? Say this “Card oh ooritai (I want to sell cards). “Card oh Miite kudasai!” (please look at my cards). Good luck selling!

One of the favorite things about Hobby Station Osu is the size of their regional qualifiers and other special Magic events (that usually happen on a Sunday). These events are pretty big, going 5-6 rounds sometimes with average player turn out at 30+ people. The only place that gets numbers near that much for Magic tournaments is Big Magic, located a few minutes away. The quality of players is also really good at these tournaments, so make sure you are prepared before heading in to the match. Their prices for packs are pretty standard as well and nothing special. I don’t believe they carry as many packs of older out of print cards as Big Magic does (they have the most), but I could be wrong. Aside from the regional matches they hold at Hobby Station, this store doesn’t have as many special days for Magic and FNM is their main offering.

Since the next store profile I do will probably be my last for a long time, let me end this article today by recapping what stores I’ve covered so far, as well as talking about their MTG tournaments.

• Card Brunch: Small, limited selection, great promo cards and prizes for the top 3 people usually. Has Magic tournaments on Mondays @6:30, Fridays at 6:00, and also Magic Game Days (MGDs). No Legacy or Modern.
• Phase: Smaller than Card Brunch, more limited selection, FNM around 6pm, sometimes has weekend matches. No Legacy of Modern.
• Amenity Dream: Huge place, lots of cards, selection, decent prices, big playing space, turnout is hit or miss for MTG events sometimes, FNM, Thursday Night Magic (6pm), at least one weekend Standard tournament a month. Modern and Legacy events every month.
• Mishimaya (near Ozone station): BEST prices for singles by far, interesting consignment sales system, FNM around 6pm, holds Legacy and Modern events every month.
• Hobby Station (Osu): Large playing space, big turnouts for regional qualifiers, can get packed and cramped at times, FNM every week around 6pm. Holds STANDARD MTG weekend events at least once a month.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Otherwise thanks for reading and I can’t wait to finish my hobby store profiles next time with Big Magic!