I was supposed to write about my #SummerInJapan series but somehow I can't get my brain to write the post for it.
And so, here I am sharing a post about one of my favorite anime shows.
One Piece is one of the longest running anime TV shows in Japan and is very famous worldwide. The anime first aired in October 1999 so it has really been that long already. Currently it has 1,028 episodes and it's not yet finished. The manga is still ongoing and there's even a movie that's currently showing. Actually I wanted to share this before and just remembered it today because I was browsing the cinema schedules for One Piece RED, the latest OP movie.
The story follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a boy whose body gained the properties of rubber after unintentionally eating a Devil Fruit. With his crew of pirates, named the Straw Hat Pirates, Luffy explores the Grand Line in search of the world's ultimate treasure known as "One Piece" in order to become the next Pirate King.
Source: Wikipedia
One of the famous merchandise shops people especially tourist visit is the One Piece shop in the first floor of the Tokyo Tower. I mean, after you enjoy the views from the Tokyo Tower, you can buy stuff in the Mugiwara Shop before heading home. It's really convenient.
Mugiwara means “Wheat straw” or “Barley straw” in English. “Mugi” of the first character means “wheat” or “barley”, and “Wara” of the second character means “straw”. In the manga/anime series One Piece, the main character Monkey D. Luffy is called Mugiwara and they translate it to english as "Straw Hat" but that's just simple abbreviation of Mugiwara Boushi, where "Boushi" means "Hat".
Source: Urban Dictionary
But because of COVID's impact, the famous Mugiwara Shop in Tokyo Tower is now out of business. It permanently closed July 2020 but wait, I've been there last October 3, 2020! Okay, I'm confused and I don't wanna dig deeper anymore so let's just say it opened for me a last hurrah.
This was the Mugiwara Store entrance. Of course, the girls are here to welcome - Nami on the right and Robin on the left.
There weren't a lot of people when I went there, possibly because it's COVID time. There were a lot of good stuff there! I didn't have money when I came fortunately or else I would be spending a lot because I wanted to buy almost everything I found cute and beautiful.
If mugs are your thing, they have nice designs. They also have the luggage cover. I wanted to buy it for my luggage but then they would know I'm an otaku. 😅
If you love puzzles, here it is! I was looking for another design though.
The popular B-Side Label stickers have a lot of cute characters I couldn't choose one. It would have been a good sticker for my luggage.
Now let's visit the figures. I'm sure most OP fans have waited for this.
My favorite girl character - Boa Hancock looks so cool in this figure but it was really expensive.
If I'm a collector, I would probably choose to collect the ships first - Going Merry and Thousand Sunny. Good thing I'm not or else bye moniesss. 😂
This was one last look at the whole store. There's still more to the other side though which I hadn't caught with my camera.
Outside the Mugiwara Store, there were games and gachapon. There was even a medallion with a One Piece print on it. The next shop was also closed and it was Sanji's Restaurant. 😢
Sanji is the cook in Straw Hats Pirate crew.
Almost everything in the store were for sale because it was their last. To be honest, I didn't understand they would be shutting down the Tokyo One Piece Tower shop when I went there. I only realized this was their closing sale when I saw the poster at the back of this Chopper statue - and I just read this now, when I'm writing this.
Thank you for the 5 years of service to us fans, Tokyo Tower's Mugiwara Shore. Hopefully when Japan is back to opening its borders fully to tourists, maybe you can open again..? Let's see.
Don't worry guys, you can still visit Mugiwara stores in other branches. In Tokyo, you can find the stores in Shibuya and Ikebukuro. In Osaka, there are 2 - the Umeda and Abeno branches. There's also one in Nagoya, one in Kumamoto and one in Fukuoka.
Thanks for reading!
See you around! じゃあ、またね！
All photos are taken using my phone unless stated otherwise.