Visiting the Square Enix Character Goods Store

20th October 2007, Tokyo - Square Enix are the producers of one of the all time greatest games: the Final Fantasy series. When I was in Japan recently, I took advantage of my weekend in Tokyo and dragged my husband down to the Square Enix Character Goods store to pick up a few goodies. The store is relatively easy to find. Their website has a map (http://www.square-enix.co.jp/showcase/access_en.html) which is pretty straight forward. The difficulty is finding the Hatsudai station which is a 5 minute walk. You need to first locate the New Keoi line which is now easy to find on the standard tourist metro map that you can get. Look for "other lines" and you will likely find it. We had to change trains twice but we eventually got there. It's located on the ground floor of an office block.

When you enter the ground floor, you will find more generic Square toy. The 2nd floor which is really a mezzanine is where you will find all the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts goods. It was a little smaller than I expected but it had the figurines, jewellery, posters, models etc...

The first thing you see when you head up the 2nd floor is the costume for Genesis. I think this is the one that he was wearing in Dirge of Cerberus. Very imressive. If I am not mistaken the muse for Tesuya Nomura was the Japanese rock singer Gackt who actually wore this in one of his videos - Redemption (see below).



Gackt - Redemption Vid (Click here)

The most impressive feature of the store is the model of Sephiroth on the floor. It is built into the floor with a glass casing so you can peer down into the the 'chamber'. He is in stasis... in a similar position to when Cloud went to give him the Black Materia at the Northern Crater in the game Final Fantasy Vll. This version of Sephiroth is also known as Bizarro Sephiroth (If I am not mistaken) where his body from below the torso is covered by his Single Black Wing. Hence he is also known as the One Winged Angel. The detail is amazing. He is so lifelike that you can imagine him opening his eyes at any moment and giving you his evil grin.





The figurines were a little limited. The pictures below show what they had. For Final Fantasy Advent Children, they carried Yufie, Vincent, Reno, Sephiroth and Kadaj. There were also Final Fantasy X figurines, of note Judge Magister Gabranth was available. There were 6 posters for sale, a little limited in choice IMHO. I was a bit disappointd that the Play Arts, Cloud Strife figure not available. In fact I couldn't find Cloud anywhere. The stores in Akihabara stocked the same figurines. I saw a Tifa there but it was a display model only.

Yamashiroya (huge toy store)in Ueno had a big display of Final Fantasy Crisis Core (they just launched in September) with posters at the front of the store. One of their front windows were dedicated to FFVll stuff. However, they had the 1/4 scale Masterpiece Arts Cloud Strife in the window. It was very well done, the detailing was amazing, if you want it you have to order it. Retainling for 47,000 yen.













In the end, I bought the Sephiroth and Kadaj figurines. Very happy with them. The pricing was pretty much the same in Akihabara, although I did find 1 store that had it a litle bit cheaper. But if you've gone all the way there, might as well buy something from the Square Enix store.

World's Most Expensive Apple Juice

Aha! Found another one: Apple Juice. Located at: Bondi Junction Food Hall. Cost AUD$3! This one was an even smaller bottle than the Sunkist orange juice. Maybe it cost the same because the bottle was made of glass instead of plastic. Needless to say that both bottles were drained.

The Most Expensive Orange Juice in the World

Behold! This 'thirst quencher' is perhaps the Most Expensive Orange Juice in the World! Ok, so maybe I'm exaggerating a bit. On my recent visit to Sydney, I purchased this Sunkist orange juice from a street vendor at the steps of the Sydney Opera House for AUD$3! If you're visiting Opera House and are feeling thirsty but unwilling to pay ridiculous tourist prices, then I strongly suggest you bring your own water.