Ikea Japan
Soon after relocating to Japan, you'll want to get some essentials like figures and Gundams. After that you'll probably want some furniture.
For most of the years spent in Japan, I got a lot of my furniture from Tokyu Hands - the department store that sells just about everything under the (rising) sun. Tokyu Hands have many stores in Tokyo so its convenient to buy stuff. I think could be because they have a hefty rent bills to pay that they sell everything at retail price.
Muji and FrancFranc are other places that I get stuff from and the online store Rakuten is another good place to look.
It wasn't until recently however that Ikea decided to give Japan a try and enter the market. I didnt understand what all the fuss was about and heard many including Roy complaining about the service. Wifey had driven down to Ikea in Yokohama many times and convinced me to make the trip.
Despite getting there early there were a ton of people lining up to get in!
If you are used to Ikea stuff then the new stores around Tokyo will come as a welcome relief. It was only when I made the trip when I realized why Ikea is so popular - the stuff is cheap and quality is quite good - some of it is crap though.
This wall mountable shelf was 9,900 yen. Great for HG or GFF figures. I suppose you can adjust the shelves and put in bigger figures though.
Did I mention that people in Japan love to form queues? Take something to fidget around with (NDS, PSP, Figure, Pantsu etc) when you are in Japan as queuing is a way of life.
Got fed up of the small tables on the third floor and decided to get new shiny ones. Throwing together a leg - each leg cost about 3,000 yen.
Room with the previous tables removed. Dont you just love wires?
This is what the room currently looks like.
We got two sheets of glass - each costing 8,000 yen - total of 28,000 yen for the lot. Each measured about 150cm X 80cm. Kept one old table and decided to chuck the other.
In Japan, you cant just throw big stuff away and need to first contact your local ward office and let them know what you want to get rid of. They will tell you how much it costs and arrange for a time to come and pick up your unwanted stuff. You then get your booty along to your nearest convenient store, buy a Sodai Gomi(粗大ゴミ(そだいごみ)) (Bulky garbage) sticker to stick on the side of your trash and chuck it out on the day and time arranged between you and the ward office.
If you want, you can be a good citizen and stick out your unwanted table/TV etc nearby your house and leave a note saying "please take." If nobody takes it because your table has brown smelly skid marks on it, you should continue to be a good citizen, bring it back to your house and deal with it as described above.
This is the reason why some of your friends may tell you that they find free electronic goods and furniture lying around the streets.
Just thought I would show you what that shelf of figures currently looks like.
If you are interested in reading about life in Japan, seeing photos taken daily around Tokyo, like Japanese subculture (anime, manga, figures, Dollfies) then you may want to start delving into the Japan or Figure categories for a start or have a gander at all photo articles.
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Sysadmin
http://blogger.xs4all.nl/kajcom
The majority of my house is furnished through IKEA; I love the concept, and they are indeed very cheap.
The display case you show in the article is even cheaper there compared to here, thanks to the cheap yen; €60 in Japan, while €79 over here.
Perhaps I'll go and have a look for myself when I'm in Japan in December.
Music Tech Student
http://www.myspace.com/thesearethecloudsband
I work for 'em, hopefully in my year out I can head over and work in the store there, maybe get some insight whilst contributing to the country and not coming over just for the sake of "IT'S JAPAN, 'MAZING!"
Admittedly a lot of it can be crap, but if your a student, nothing says "buy me" like a sofa at £140 that already feels worn in, so you get swallowed up when you sit down.
It's well Jackson.
Nekophilia
Wow. And all I have is an Ikea table lamp. Hahaha. Guess I should check it out sometime.
And is that a Gundam floating in the air!?
Otaku-in-training
http://www.flickr.com/people/terrorhunt/
Ikea has the best product ever. There's a lot of Ikea stuff at my home like lamp, sofa, TV cabinet, bed, table, you name it. The Ikea stuff that I have in my room (currently) are floor/reading lamp, wardrobe, table with mirror and bed.
NEET
I have quite a lot of Ikea furniture in my room.
A Tv table, a armchair a shelf etc.
Marketer
i'm already pissed when i wait more than 15 minutes at cash registers
the Ikea next to my house has plenty of registers but only half of them open all the time... how stupid
moreover, some of them are for cash only and others for credit cards only :(
former Emperor of Britannia
http://reflectiarx.wordpress.com/
So Ikea stuff really does the thing if you plan to save space and other stuff while keeping it stylish and savvy.
I got an idea from this idea hope i could do it ^^
http://www.almost-otaku.blogspot.com
ooh thanks for the photos. we have in Ikea around here somewhere but have never been.
Graphic Designer
Has no body notice that this is a very old post?
I mean look at the replied, it's from 1999's to early 2000's.
Look at Danny's icon, it's not even the lovely Mirai chan~
Anyway, Ikea has great storage solution.
When I have time, I tend to walk though the shop.
I get a lot of design or application concepts from it.
I have prepare for a exhibition completely with Ikea items~
it's great cause it's repackable! (not all item of course)
browsing the nets
http://otakuposts.blogspot.com/
seems like the comments on top are duplicated. and danny's avatar is different. seems like all of the old posts have the comments duplicated.
Ikea not available here. even if they come here there's a lot of competition so they would have to keep the costs down a lot. but they do have some really good cabinet designs. i was thinking of importing some ikea stuff but the cost turned out to triple including shipping and duties. so had to drop the idea.
Student & Game Designer
http://www.artificialzeromedia.com/
I want a glass table like yours! =D
Artist
I've never been to an Ikea store, neither has my mum. Our closest store is about 40 minutes drive away in one of the bigger cities.
Civil Servant
http://kyokohunter.net/
The majority of the furniture in my room is made by Ikea - bed, wardrobe and bookshelves (lots of bookshelves!). I like the simple but effective design and good quality for the price. Need a new desk, but Ikea don't do a matching replacement for my furniture and there's too much stuff on it >.>
What I really admire is how well lit Danny's room always is - what lights does he have, because I wouldn't mind them too! ^^
High School Student
http://theotakushelf.com/
My desk is from Ikea. <3
Also my entertainment center and one of my nightstands. :3
I really need a new bookshelf besides the really tiny one I have due to too much manga but there's no room for it. > . <
Otaku / Student in Networking
http://hayasaki-kun.blogspot.com/
Talking about Ikea, I need to get a new computer desk there XD
Student
http://blackcomet.pcriot.com/
haha yea a lot of stuff i have is from ikea. it's pretty cheap and although the quality isn't amazing it'll last several years. hmmm, is that the same room you usually post from?
Full-time student へへ
http://www.kenleewrites.com
did you try the swedish meatballs while you were there?^^
CEO MIrai Inc
http://www.dannychoo.com/profile/eng/
I did ^^;
I recall the food tasting like poo though.
houkouonchi
http://www.flickr.com/photos/red_mango/
I'm experiencing a déjà vu here. Wasn't there a similar posting on this topic before?
NEET part-time - Technical Support Officer - Network security engineer
http://burugureibi.blogspot.com/
this IS that article
Danny is just recycling old articles since they're such a good read anyway - It's just like that 'This time last year' thing that he had going on a while back
Did Danny ever post something Ikea related...something to do with a underdesk cable tidy?
Professional Panhandler
http://theinfernoproject.com
And I thought the line-ups were long at my closest Ikea...I got lots of Ikea furniture because it's the only place here that sells decent furniture without breaking your bank and turning your room into a 1960s style American home *shrugs at wood coloured furnitures*
Apprentice Baking & Pastry Chef
http://Ima-Monogatari.com/
ikea kicks ass!, got 2 here in the GVRD.
their quality is pretty good, and the price is reasonable.
if your household contains more than 50% ikea products....you should think of acquiring a Swedish citizenship...haha
Dropping computers, starting all over again at Journalism
http://xspblog.com
Don't have, won't have, simply because there's no Ikea around here.
But I'd probably have some stuff if there was one around... specially those book stands and a table.
Surprizingly, here in Brazil where you can find Ikea, it's considered a luxury store... because you can find cheaper furniture elsewhere, though they are mostly far uglier than what you can get on Ikea.
The table I currently have my keyboard for instance, is actually a wooden beach/barbecue table...
I ended up buying it after getting exausted of looking for something more adequate, which would be a smaller table I could put a keyboard and mouse on.
And since I had to buy this table, I had to realocate my sofa. Results are not very nice, but will sufice for now.
Anyways, I love how you set your furniture Danny... when I have my own place (the current is provisory rental), I might use your stuff as inspiration... XD
I also want to set at least one room full traditional japanese style, with tatamis and all.
I mean, if I can afford that someday. Currently, odds are that I'm living under a bridge somewhere in the future... :P
Bassist / Madman
http://www.myspace.com/thatbandyouhate
I have things from Ikea, and I am a professional woodworker, but I have no time to build my own stuff so despite the oxymoronishness of it all....................................................................
Creative Director
I like some Ikea stuff and can except the fact that it's all cheap sh*tly made bad for the environment wafer board furniture (as much as they would like you to think they are helping the environment by making you pay for plastic bags now), but what's with the return policy attitude.... it's like dealing with Nazis.
Hikikomori in the making
http://supermariabros.deviantart.com/
When I was a kid, I remembered that we went down too IKEA alot... Now, not so...
But I remember that I used to like taking the free pencils and papers they gave out for free^^;...
Mine Layer
Lots of it in my home..
BioResearch Assistant
I go to Ikea for their Swedish Meatballs and cranberry sauce....and some furniture. It's all amazing.
A friend of mine had never gone to Ikea for their meatballs before so I took her there and she loved it. Then we went "window" shopping (for the lack of a better term). Girls can act so silly in a furniture shop.
Very cute.
College Freshmen
There's an ikea not too far from where I live. It's a pretty convenient place to buy furniture and whatnot. But I rarely go there because I rarely need new furniture (and I'm not the one buying it anyway).
Student
Don't have Ikea near here, so don't know anything to say about it's quality or prices. But in the future if I happen to be near a Ikea store, then I'll definitely check it out.
College Student/Web Designer
I <3 Ikea. Majority of my bookshelfs and displays for my Gunpla is from there. Only problem is that the closest Ikea takes 2 hours to get there. Its pretty much like a trip to go down to Ikea for the day ^^I
IT Professional
I have that wall mountable shelf, already full of figures - http://www.urbanslayer.com/images/Room/img_0563.jpg
Need another one though, but no room..doh.
anime + games collector
ikea is good for all the little things but the bigger more expensive stuff breaks to easily.
Paintball Technician
http://www.myspace.com/sarsinajar
anyone here know the model number for the shelf Danny is showing? the wall mountable one.