Outside of Japan, Hong Kong is probably the other best place on Earth to satiate your Otaku addictions. You can find almost any other Japanese-related animation, comics and games merchandise here. Other than Taiwan, Hong Kong is the only other territory that has a longest tradition of importing anime for TV broadcast. That explains why otaku culture is more developed in these places.

Motteke! Sailor Fuku Dance!!! at Rainbow Gala 1

There’s lots of otaku-themed conventions happening throughout the year. In November, there was a Kamen Rider exhibition that saw Rina Akiyama and Yuria Haga gracing the event. In December alone, there was Gundam Expo, the Asia Games Show and the doujinshi/cosplay convention Rainbow Gala. Maid cafes have also started appearing in Hong Kong.

These events are possible because of the otaku dollar. The increased purchasing power of Hong Kong’s otaku community propelled the flourishing trade in hobby merchandise and services. There is a growing cluster of shops that stock everything from vintage materiel to the latest release goods. The attractiveness of Hong Kong is not just in the variety of goods, the price is another plus point. I got the newly released Revoltech Rei Ayanami figure for HKD105, which works out to be around S$21 – and that’s the price before discount.

Hong Kong hobby mags

There existence of excellent hobby magazines reflects the strength of the Hong Kong otaku scene. If you want to feel the pulse of the Hong Kong scene, just grab a copy of the following: Giga Hobby, Ani-Wave, EX-am, Toyz & Getter 玩具通訊 [note: the magazine "Toy Garage" is a Taiwanese publication]. There’s information on events and shop listings. Also do check out this toy collectors’ portal TOYSDAILY 玩具日報 for the latest happenings. I noted that Hong Kong’s otaku scene is more Tokusatsu (特撮)/Robo-kei (ロボ系) than Moé-kei (萌系). It’s easier to spot the SFX, mecha toys more than figurines of bishojyo, though it doesn’t mean there’s less of the latter. That’s my kinda place :-)

Here’s a quick guide for those seeking out the Otaku spots in laissez-faire Hong Kong:

KOWLOON (九龍篇)

There’s only one place you need to go, the focal point of Otaku activities – Mong Kok (旺角). If there’s an Akiba outside of Tokyo, you can find it at the roads connecting Nathan Road, Dundas Street and Sai Yeung Choi Street South. There is an electrical goods and PC-related shops located along Sai Yeung Choi Street South although not at a scale like Akihabara’s Electrical Town.

Mong Kok – Hong Kong’s Akihabara

There’s three places to check out in the Mong Kok district. Two of the major sites are Sino Centre and CTMA Centre. Further north to the map along Argyle Street, there’s the Richmond Shopping Centre that’s near the Mong Kok East station. Within these buildings, you can find the same kind of shops like those in Akihabara, selling similar variety of goods – including Eroge and AV stuff. These buildings are scruffy low-rent commercial buildings, and has a rather underground flavour. Because all these places are congested with people and wares clogging up the corridors, it’s difficult to take photos. Not to mention, some of the shop staff looked like they’re members of the Triads.

To get there, take the MTR to Yau Ma Tei (油麻地) station and use Exit A that leads to Dundas Street. Once above ground, head north along Nathan Road (following the direction of the traffic).

You’ll first encounter UML Megastore. At the corner of Dundas Street and Nathan Road, is Universal Hobby’s flagship store.

UML Mega Store, view from Nathan Road

UML Mega Store, Dundas Street Entrance

The entrance of UML Mega Store is on the side facing Dundas Street. UML is probably Hong Kong’s answer to Kotobukiya or Kaiyodo. Other than the standard hobby goods from Japan, you can also find their in-house designed figurine series MIMO.

UML’s store is only a prelude. The constellation of otaku haunts is on the opposite side of Nathan Road. Most of the shops here only accepts cash, so learn to conserve your paper currency when shopping elsewhere.

First, there’s Sino Centre (信和中心, 592-582 Nathan Road, location).

Sino Centre

You can find all forms of otaku merchandise here – music, video, software, games console, figurines, manga etc. This place is also known as a focal point for J-pop fans, given the number of retailers bringing in Japanese CD and J-pop stars memorabilia.

Round the corner, on Sai Yeung Choi Street South is CTMA Centre (兆萬中心, location). Follow your nose, the whiff from the smelly tofu will be your guide.

CTMA Centre, Dundas Street entrance

CTMA Centre Sai Yeung Choi Street South main entrance

I didn’t have time to explore the insides of CTMA Centre, but from what I’ve gathered this is another significant hub of otaku activities. Right across CTMA Centre are more hobby shops – Animate (宇宙船), not related to the Japanese retail chain)

Animate (宇宙船)

There’s another hobby store next to Animate on the left. Like CTMA Centre, I didn’t have time to explore these places too. You’ll probably need half a day to go through this side of Mong Kok. There might be other small shops scattered around the area, given the market-forces driven morphology of retail mix.

Head further north along this street, till you hit Argyle Street. Make a left turn and heads toward the junction with Sai Yee Street. You’ll find Richmond Shopping Centre (皆旺商場, 111 Argyle Street)

Richmond Shopping Centre

I was glad that I checked out this place while making my way to Sai Yeung Choi Street from the Mong Kok East station (I took the train from Hung Hom Station along the East Rail line, after visiting the Gundam Expo 2007). That’s where I found a doujinshi shop that sold the Hatsune Miku doujins.

HONG KONG (香港篇)

Besides Kowloon, there’s also otaku haunts on Hong Kong island.

In the up market Causeway Bay (銅羅湾) area, use Exit E from the train station and head for Sugar Street. Look for Causeway Bay Centre (銅鑼灣中心商場, location) in ‘Little Indonesia’. There’s several shops in this building that serves the expatriate Indonesian community, so you can find several signs in Bahasa Indonesia.

Causeway Bay Centre

As I was early, many of the shops were not yet opened. Most of them open around 11am or later. The number of shops here are not as numerous as that in the Mong Kok area, but I think it’s still better than any of those places in your home country (unless you are living in Japan).

Shops in Causeway Bay Centre

Here’s a quick peek at the yet-to-open shops in Causeway Bay Centre. There’s two shops that carry English comics. The shops here is but a preview of what you’ll find in Mong Kok and at the busier otaku haunts. I came across a poster advertising the inaugural doujin/cosplay event, poised to be the second largest in Hong Kong (The largest event is Comic World Hong Kong, and it appears there’s some rivalry between the two events):

Rainbow Gala 1

The Rainbow Gala 1 took place just yesterday. And check out what other things happened at RG1:

AKB 48 Cosplay!!!スカートひらり

And that’s an example of the vibrancy of the Hong Kong otaku scene. There’s a reason why Hong Kong is able to attract road shows from Japan. The Japanese companies are willing to promote their stuff in Hong Kong by flying in artists and materials for exhibitions, because of the size of the market there.

Maid Date

Since you’re already in Causeway Bay, you can also make a trip to Maid Date right across Times Square. This is Hong Kong’s first maid cafe.

Another place that is worth your time is Oriental 188 Shopping centre in Wan Chai (湾仔). Walk east after leaving Exit A3 from Wan Chai station, use Johnston Road to get to Wan Chai Road. This building is located on the junction of Heard Street and Wan Chai Road.

Oriental 188 Shopping Centre

This place reminded somewhat of Nakano Broadway. By the first impression, there’s quite a number of shops here selling games and game consoles. I think I also came across a shop here that sells Eroge.

Wall-sized online game advertisement

Like Sino Centre, there are a number of manga shops here. However, some of the manga that I found at Oriental 188 I couldn’t find them at Sino Centre. So if you don’t have the luxury of time revisit the places you’ve been, just grab it first if you think you want it.

In the past (before 1997), you’ll need some Cantonese to get around Hong Kong. But over the past decade, things have changed. The Hong Kongers are more confident about their future, and they’ve learnt to adapt to the new geopolitical and socio-economic reality. Most of them now understand Mandarin (Putonghua), not least due to the huge inflow of Mainland Chinese tourists money.

For further information on the otaku scene in Hong Kong, check out the following links:

Hong Kong Toyland

Hong Kong & Tokyo & Taipei Toy Store Hunt

This entry was posted on Monday, December 31st, 2007 at 2:22 am and is filed under Adventure Logs, Otaku Diary, The World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.