The area had lots of different shops, restaurants are awesome, food is affordable. Whole wide of…read moreselection, when choosing food Employees are top notch service is great.

Used to come here every now and then for anime figures, but haven't been back since I stopped…read morecollecting. I started coming again now that I got into model kit building and painting and I have a totally new appreciation for this place. Due to the small size of the store, the selection is not comprehensive, but I always find very cool things every time I come in. I usually shop for gunpla, military model kits, game miniatures, and hobby supplies like paints and glues. I'm fine with paying a bit more to support a local store, but I'm always pleasantly shocked that prices here are either roughly the same as online or cheaper! I don't keep up with anime figure prices anymore so I can't tell you if the prices on those are as competitive. I can only vouch for the model kits/miniatures/supplies. The biggest downside is the place is super cramped, but in a way it's also somewhat of a plus because I can look around at the various stacked boxes and find lots of treasures. Plus the person behind the counter (think he's the owner?) is very nice and patient.

This store is definitely a store for me and my son. Funko pops and lots of shirts. I love the…read morekatana selections that they have. That also have knives and daggers. You can get them sharpened before you leave the store. Service wasn't great. They don't welcome you in when you walk inside the store. I loved the ping pong that they have in the beginning of the store. The value is SF prices (highly not recommended) because you can get Funko pops way cheaper at stores in Concord.

Really cute store with all the classic anime represented! They had an entire wall of stickers and…read morepins to choose from. Saw some Pokemon pins and Naruto stickers that stood out to me. Most pins were $10 Other home decorations, trinkets, graphic tees, and knives also available here

San Francisco is a city full of character. I noticed there are lots of characters are all around…read moreSan Francisco all four seasons. Then there are characters on social media without any character being performative in SF at the restaurants and public spaces. It's interesting to see so many characters all over the city especially in the Summer time . There is one place which has lots of stuffed characters ( not from eating food) at a mall in SF. It's at the Japan Center Mall in Japantown of San Francisco and it's called Amiko. On a Japantown stroll I landed at Japan Center Mall West and entered Amiko. Inside you will see some interesting stuffed characters and other items usually from the land of the rising sun. You will also find different characters to fill a public trinket box. Inside you will find shirts and bags. You will also find hats and bracelets. This place has blind boxes and a Kawaii vibe. Amiko has a lots of character. Japantown has lots of good places to go and lots of places to eat and "shop" like getting some sushi with Tonkatsu the Japanese fried "pork chop" and then go to Amiko and see a stuffed bunnies that don't "hop" and grabbing an ice dessert treat with a cherry on "top" Go on a stroll in Japantown also known as a "crawl "you see lots of characters in SF during all four seasons Winter, Spring , Summer and "Fall" you will also see lots of stuffed characters and it's not from eating its seeing a stuffed character "doll"and it all takes place at the "Japan Center Mall"

I've been looking for Smiski and didn't want to risk buying a fake online, so I checked out…read moreJapantown. A few shops were sold out, but I eventually found some at this store. All Smiski items come in blind boxes. I chose the "Let's Exercise" series and ended up getting the Balance one. I also picked up a strap blind box and got a secret, which was a nice surprise. Customer service was great, and the prices were decent. This was my first time buying Smiski, glad I was able to find them here. :)

San Francisco is a fun place. Sometimes you see and hear the narrative of the negativity which…read morehappens in SF from people who don't even live in the city on social media. There are so many places you can visit in the city which have lots of activities especially during upcoming Summer months. Although there are few malls left in the city there is one place I like to go to for fun is the Japan Center Mall. There is one place for fun items and it's called iFun. On the last few days of Spring stroll in San Francisco I landed at the Japan Center Mall at iFun. Inside you will find blind toy boxes such as Lubu's and other animal creatures in SF. Inside you will see lots of people of all ages drawing and creating crafts. You will also find toys from Sanrio like Hello Kitty and Pikachu. This is a good place to find a gift. The iFun is a place where fine arts so creating art should be "fine" a place where you can "design"and draw outside or inside the "line"and also you can draw both the yellow cheese moon and an orange "sunshine" Go to iFun the place to get "artistic" and the draw the characters in SF and add color to their "characteristic" some are complex to draw and others are "simplistic "they say art is healing and can be "holistic"

They have a fun activity for kids where you buy an item (mirror between $20-30, jewelry box between…read more$33-40, photo frame between $30-40, as a few examples on pricing), and they can glue on fun beads (mini food items, cartoon characters, flowers, letters, etc). The glue is the texture of frosting and in fact you squeeze it out from a tube like frosting so it's part of the decoration. Every kid gets to choose 2 colors, and they can also share between them. There are some limits like you can only glue on one side of the mirror, because they will tape it down to a paper plate and you can't glue to the other side. There was no one doing the activity on a Sunday around 2pm, except they told us we had to come back in 30 minutes because they needed to clean. We came back in 30 minutes and there had be absolutely no cleaning done (it was the same disposable tablecloths that had glue stains, the same excess pieces on the table). It wasn't overly messy, but clearly they just wanted to go on break, why didn't they just say that? You take your finished craft with you, and it takes 3 days to fully drive, but within a few hours it was hard enough that no beads could be accidentally pushed off of the craft.

This place is next to the matcha store…read more I could spend hours here! Their shelves are stocked with stationary from local small businesses like @palett.es , atelier by Jo, @faithcaoculator. I don't have to wait for SJ made to come around any more! I picked up some cute cards, stickers, and the viral build a room using stickers sticker sheet. I barely made it past the cards and stickers after 30 minutes. The items are a bit pricy but that's the general trend of stickers and cards from smaller creators. I'll check out the other half of the store next time.

I think I was probably much more enamored by Mai Do here before they started proliferating in SoCal…read moreand then SoCal started having giga huge Kinokuniya that already incorporate Mai Do into their stock, but it's nice to have a standalone stationary shop as well, especially if it means more varied and unique stock. I like that this location has items from local small businesses and artists too. I know SJ Made gets fisted in Bay Area and there's not as much space and many recurring events, so having physical spots to purchase and support these creatives is great. There's stickers, special paper, journals and journaling tools, writing and drawing utensils, sticky notes, ink and fancy ink pens, planners, and much, much more, including little trinkets, gifts, blind boxes, keychains, etc. So you can get something for yourself or you can get something as a gift for someone else. It can get a bit pricey though. With some small notebooks being $10 and a fancier keychain being around $20. Really depends on what you're looking at, how high quality it is, if it's imported in, etc. Staff can get swamped helping customers check out, but they'll do their best to answer your questions!

I'm not a parent (being my own only child, not withstanding), but I am an uncle. You know what the…read morebest family roll is? Being an uncle. All of the fun, very little of the responsibility. Want to make it really fun? Be an uncle who lives in far-off San Francisco. By this I mean, the time you actually get to spend together is very special, because it is a rare treat. I have two nieces, currently both a little younger than 4 and 2, respectively. I wanted to get them something special and San Francisco-related for my last visit. Here's the rub: I know very little about children. I'm not sure what age kids start doing things, but I do know that things change quick in terms of development. What to do? I recommend Fiddlesticks to the clueless uncles of the world. My primary feedback about this store is about its service. The gentleman who helped me on my two visits could not have been nicer or more helpful. He has a background in education, and walked me through how toys and games relate to development. Left to my own devices, I would have missed the mark on a few items - so the help was very valuable. Instead, he walked around giving me a bunch of good options. And, the girls loved their gifts. They have a great selection of toys and games, definitely for the younger crowd. I would think that 7 or 8 would be about the high end for age - I may be wrong about that. They also have a lot of cute and high-quality clothes and shoes. (Although I'm a rube, so if it's clothes, the girls are getting Vikings, Twins and, to the chagrin of their U of M parents, definitely some Wisconsin Badgers gear from Uncle Adam... I might sneak some Giants stuff in when the Twins are better, I don't want them to jump ship on their hometown team. Although I almost pulled the trigger on a stuffed Lou Seal)

This was my first time at Fiddlesticks and I was quite impressed! Great selection of children's…read moreclothing, toys, and other items (stickers, temporary tattoos, hair clips, and lots more!); friendly, helpful service; reasonable prices; and complimentary gift wrapping! I will be back.

Late review, but this truly was a staple of SF's Japantown. Although I'm a SoCal native, it was…read morealways comforting seeing an old mom & pop shop every time that I was there. Probably have been visiting for over 10 years at this point. With rent hyper increasing in areas like this, sadly, we're probably going to see less of these unique shops and a gross amount of chains and generic copy paste shops, unfortunately. I'm going to miss seeing that little Totoro plushie and they did have a big sale and large outpouring of support in the final days. Let's see what the future brings for J-town.

Dear Japan Video/じゃぱんビデオへ (I know this is my 2nd letter to someone/a business on Yelp because I did…read morethis for Uncle Clay's), Thank you for being a pillar for what was it? 40 years? That sounds about right. You and stores of the past made me who I am today. (I remember a neighboring store having merchandise of a game series that never appeared here in "Sentimental Graffiti"/"センチメンタルグラフティ".) I don't remember when I started visiting, but I would always come by with my city friends or at least just 1 of them. Since Yelp wants me to type up the "service" part of these reviews, the place always thrived there. Oh, and I always thought that even though I did spend more than what I want, it's more of me wanting to avoid spending, but I end up buying an item that has a cute girl anyway. Ha ha ha! Well, enjoy the earlier than expected retirement. (Dog gone rent hikes.) Someone should make a display or whatever to protect the legacy. I better get going. ありがとうございました! ^^ - Don, San Jose/Milpitas +/The jiving and vivid memories, with the selection and interactions, have me remember the place. -/No flaws.

Super cute interesting finds, pretty pricey. Such as $25 for a small cloth tote or $35 for a normal…read moresize shopping tote Calendars, toys, plushes, and oh books of course. A lot of people go for the items more so than books

This is a long-established Japanese bookstore that has been around since I first came to the United…read moreStates over 20 years ago. My grandmother and my aunt both loved this place. They spoke Japanese and received a Japanese education, so this bookstore always held a special meaning for them. The store carries a wide selection of Japanese books, magazines, Reader's Digest (Japanese edition), and manga. It also offers many adorable Japanese-style plush toys, collectibles, and accessories. You'll often see American teenagers who are passionate about Japanese anime and manga browsing here, which gives the bookstore a lively and welcoming atmosphere. I highly recommend this bookstore to anyone who loves Japanese culture, anime, manga, or simply wants to experience a little piece of Japan. 一家很老的日式書店，我20年前來美國就有的書店了，我奶奶和我大姑姑生前就很喜歡這家書店，尤其她們都會講日文也接受日本教育。這家書店也很多日本的雜誌、包括讀者文摘和日本的漫畫，這家還有很多很可愛亞洲風格的玩偶和飾品。平常有很多愛好日式動漫的美國青少年會光顧這家書店，我強力推薦給喜歡日本文化的各位。

Had a fun time exploring here with a friend while walking around in SF japantown! It's such a…read morewhimsical and small shop filled with gacha machines from popular fandoms like Hello Kitty, Tamagotchi, and anime! They have niche machines like rings, foods, and so much more. Everything is self service with a credit card/money slot machine that only accepts $12 at a time. NO change is given if you pay cash, so please use the exact amount. Each token is $3 so a $12 purchase gives you 4 tokens. Each slot machine has an indicator of where it needs 2 or 3 tokens. They also have a great photobooth for your pulls! Definitely go to this place if you love gacha machines!

It's similar to the other Bandai Gachapon locations that I've seen all over, but it does have an…read moreadded feature of the photobooths. There's a Bleach one outside and a Fruits Basket one inside, as well as another fancier one inside, though I didn't get to see what it exactly was. Like the other Gacha set ups, there is also a photo area for you to take pictures of your new little figures in, so that's neat as well. I'm going to say that what I've seen here is mostly what I have seen all over SoCal at the Bandai locations, at Shibuyala, Mitsuwa, etc. so it's not THAT unique, but there are a few machines that I have not seen such as a bottle clip that was a pair of glasses among some other things. I believe you can use these tokens at other Gachapon locations, so keep 'em if you don't want to use them all here. Also know that on busier days this place gets super packed! Also see if you can trade with others if you have a specific one you'd like too!

I loved my past SF Daiso experiences so much that last fall we had to hit up multiple Daiso…read morelocations while cruising in Japan. Today, we got to come back and visit while our ship was docked in SF. There must have been some renovation because they were hosting a grand reopening event. The base price for items is now $2.25 but still a fun place to shop and I found many items that are carry on suitcase friendly to bring home. I even had my trusty reusable shopping bag from my very first visit ever that was mentioned in my last review. There were a few fun events like a capsule machine prize and spin to win along with the Daiso mascot, stickers and free bag with minimum purchase. It was so much fun. So sad there aren't locations closer to home.

Grand re-opening was 10/2-10/4/26…read more I came 10/5/26 around 11am. What I noticed now, the aisles are horizontal to the front entrance whereas previously the aisles were mostly vertical. Further down the store there are a few shorter vertical aisles. The merchandise has moved around from before as the retailer wants you to discover and explore. I can't say there's more store inventory than before as the space is the same. Being the month of October there was Halloween theme merchandise near the front entrance. I ended up buying Japanese crackers, and a couple of short beer glasses. Located at Peace Plaza East Mall in Japan Town. I was lucky and found metered parking across the street.