Monogatari Plushes in Tokyo!

Hello everyone and welcome to Monogatari Thursdays! For today's edition of this weekly series, I will be sharing various interesting Monogatari finds in Tokyo and giving you a few tips on how to find them. If you are patient and careful enough, there are a great deal of rare merchandise and little trinkets that can be found around the various hobby shops in and around Tokyo, especially Akihabara. But, knowing is just one part of the equation as it is often very difficult to share these finds on the world wide web.

Why? That is because many, if not most, stores in Japan have a strict no photography policy. As such, even if you do stumble upon something you would like to share with your friends or the rest of the community, know that it is not happening. 

Shinobu's plush hat? 1,200 Yen only.

That being said, allow me to offer you a few tips on hunting for these rare trinkets and merchandise. Hunting for figures are the easiest task as most shops would have them neatly stacked and organized in the shelves. It is usually the more malleable items such as plush, cushions and little trinkets which are significantly harder to find. 

Shinobu donut cushion? 1,000 Yen.

With all that introduction aside, here are my big 3 tips in looking for plush toys and trinkets while hunting in Japan:

1. Search hobby stores only - regardless of size, almost every hobby store in Japan has a section for plush toys and trinkets. Electronic stores tend to carry only the newest figure releases so, do not waste too much time on those.
2. Look for the junk pile - the "junk" pile in a hobby store are where most of the unsorted trinkets and plush toys go. There, they are usually steeped in a large pile where each individual article becomes almost unrecognizable. Do not hesitate to rummage through the pile although, do it in a civilized manner. You never know what you might miss from neglecting to search the pile.
3. Price hunt - for the more common plush toys such as Sega's Nesoberi, do not fall into the trap of purchasing the first one you see. Prices can vary significantly between shops and characters. Moreover, shops outside of central Tokyo tend to sell them at lower prices compared to Akihabara.

These character plush are significantly more expensive.

There we go, those are my three main tips for hunting plush toys and trinkets of all form, including those from the Monogatari Series, when in Tokyo. On a side note, you may also ask the shop attendant. I find this to be a hit and miss as some attendants know the shop very well while others, not so much. 

With that, I bid you happy hunting. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask them in the comments section below. Until then, thank you so much for reading and have a great day ahead!