I was googling for Japanese underground toy makers the other today. On one site, it said "I bet the Urahara kids loved it." And then on eBay today, a seller posted an auction with the title Urahara Toy (SECRET BASE / GARGAMEL). What's an Urahara kid?
The only Urahara I'm familiar with is from the Bleach manga/anima. He's got 2 kids that help him at the store.....and there are toys of him. Hard to know for sure without a link posted. Edit: Here we go Urahara means "back of Harajuku", we call small inside area of Omotesando urahara. However in a sense the most powerful area in Harajuku, and some trends come from this area too. A bathing ape is very popular brand which is designed by Nigo, their shop in this area. There are some unique street type brand like Revolver, Shuip, montage, you can sense their mood.
when I went to japan I hung out in that area alot. it is so neat with all these little alley ways and a million stores. at night it was cool to just kick back and watch the people. It was alot mellower than shibuya.
Ura=backstreet and hara is short for Harajuku. Basically it is the underground Harajuku. It used to be a secret cool place for shops but its not a secret anymore. Bounty Hunter and bunch of other shops are all there. Its pretty insane on Sundays and worth walking around if you are in Tokyo.
when i went to bounty hunter there was this guy down the street that had a bunch of bounty hunter toys on a blanket for alot cheaper than the store, not to mention bxh had nothing for sell. i figured they were all bootlegs, but thought it was weird that he posted up on the same block.
yea, a friend of mine, Takao Yamashita of beatuty:beast, opened his shop on Urahara in ‘94 - it really was quiet at that time. It's gentrification like what is happening everywhere in nyc although calling it gentrification in Toykyo maybe using the wrong term.
