In Japan, one may come across book stores known as Village Vanguard.
It’s hard to describe because all Village Vanguard’s throughout Japan are different.
While books are of course prominent, so is a lot of hobbyist merchandise that are sold. And a Village Vanguard store features basically based on what the manager wants. So, one store may have a cafe and restaurant, another may be anime or video game inspired. If anything, one can find a little of everything (new and old) at these specialty stores.
In fact, the stores have become a bit of a fun thing to see after the New Year for Fukubukuro (Lucky Bags) as Village Vanguard Fukubukuro have received a reputation of becoming “Unlucky Bags” which one can watch videos on YouTube.
But as mentioned, each store offers something different and in Kobe, the Village Vanguard Sannomiya store is rather interesting because it has a lot of huge plush of dogs. From Shiba Inu or pugs, it’s rather interesting to see these in hopes that dog lovers will buy them.
