NAKANO FREAKER

Nakano has flourished as a major station on the Chuo line for a long time. Marui was founded and opened up their flagship store here in 1931. With openings such as Nakano Broadway in 1966 and Nakano Sun Plaza in 1973, this area was a typical commercial district until the 1980s. However, shops started to close one after another and places such as Nakano Broadway became an empty castle-like ghost town after the economic bubble burst in 1990s. In 2007, the flagship Marui store which was the symbol of Nakano closed up shop. Nakano had lost all of its vitality. But Nakano had already started showing some signs of revival at this time. The secondhand manga-comic seller Mandarake which quietly opened in Nakano Broadway in 1980 became popular among foreigners for some reason making it a tourist spot for foreign visitors. The manga-comic otakus started going there after getting wind of this popularity. Going into the 2000s, the area started to upsurge like a small-scale Akihabara with places offering secondhand manga-comics and figures as well as shops such as maid cafes and rental showcases opening. The flagship store of Marui started operations again in 2011 and Nakano is currently gaining back its original prosperity. Concerning fashion, Nakano is the home to Marui and there have been a number of stylish people here for a long time. With the impact of the neighboring Koenji which has been designated as the secondhand clothing district and the impact of the Broadway otaku culture, Nakano fashion has been undergoing an even more sizeable transformation in the past few years. Nakano fashion features a distinctive strength. There are various styles but there is effort put into the details from each accessory or small article to cosmetics. A good example of Nakano fashion could be not cutting corners in your tastes even if the fashion is not visible to others.