Created by a CEO who said of his company, "Our mission is to take over the world using manga and otaku things", Mandarake is Japan's number one chain of secondhand anime and manga superstores. Locations can be found throughout the country, but the 16 original stores, each specialising in a different otaku obsession, are inside the Nakano Broadway shopping mall and are still the best. Over a million items line the shelves, and some 45,000 manga titles, anime DVDs and toys are bought and sold each week. Be sure to check out the surreal spectacle of the buy/sell counter, where otaku line up to trade in treasures for cash, only to go right back into Mandarake's black-lined corridors to re-invest. • Nakano Broadway 3F, Nakano-ku, +81 3 3228 0007, mandarake.co.jp. Open daily noon-8pm
