Trip to a gaming store

I dropped by one of the only 2 game stores in Fukuoka over the weekend
to
see what they have on the shelves. Thought you might be interested in a
slightly different world.

Over 90% of the floor space and shelf space is occupied by plastic
models,
ranging from cars and other RW stuff to WW2 military and SF - including
about 10 meters of running shelving for Gundam models alone! Plus the
usual
paints, painting guides, etc, etc, etc.

In the back corner of the store was the RPG/gaming section, occupying
about
2 running meters of shelving, maybe 2.5 meters high. On the very top
were
about 2 dozen Avalon-Hill boxed games, in shrink wrap.

Then shelves and shelves of paperback books - about 2/3 is in Japanese,
mostly magazines, Japanese-developed RPG (a lot of Gundam stuff,
again...)
and a bunch of Japanese-developed GURPS books based on best-selling
manga,
books or anime.

They had maybe a dozen TW2k titles, 3 or 4 of each, mint condition. A
bunch
of TNE stuff, likewise. One copy of EC/S and 2 2300AD boxed sets, also
mint.
Several Chaosium items, including maybe half a dozen Elric books and a
few
CoC books (Terror Australis, I was surprised to see).

No miniatures at all (the firm selling localized version of 40k went
bankrupt earlier this year), although a bunch of small-scale plastic
models
from Yamato and a few other shows could conceivably be used instead.

Prices: not at all good.
The guy at the store said most of the stuff had been bought back when
the
exchange rate was higher, and before Magic and Pokemon and PlayStation
had
eaten the heart out of the gaming hobby. One of the AH boxes goes for
maybe
JY6000-JY8000, and the TW2k books are JY2500 or so apiece. You can buy
most
of the stuff on eBay for under those prices.

Anyway, FWIW. 

-- 
Books admitted me to their world open-handedly, as people for the most
part,
did not. The life I lived in books was one of ease and freedom, wordly
wisdom, glitter, dash and style.
- Jonathan Raban, "For Love and Money"
-- 
Edward Lipsett
Intercom, Ltd.
Fukuoka, Japan
Tel: 092-712-9120
Fax: 092-712-9220
translation@intercomltd.com
http://www.intercomltd.com