By now, if you’ve stopped at each shop on my Osaka hobby shop guide, you have probably expended a lot of energy and possibly money. You might be thinking “let’s call it a day” and head back to wherever you are living/staying. Don’t! You have one last stop to make, and you should save some energy and funds for it.
If Osaka scale modeling were pirates of the Caribbean, Hobby Kansuke would be Tortuga. Only those who have been there know how to find it. I’ve been making trips to Hobby kansuke for years, and the streets around Daikokucho still all look exactly the same.
When you reach Daikokucho station M21, follow the signs to exit 5. Go out there.
Then go straight out the exit. You should see a Coca-Cola vending machine, and a building that says “GoodOne” in the direction you want to go. You’ll walk about 300 meters down that road until you see the building with “Hobby カンスケ (Kansuke)” as seen above.
The door takes goes directly up to the second floor.
Of all the places on this list, Hobby Kansuke is the option for those with a lot of luggage space. Since this shop specializes in secondhand (but to be clear, all un-started) kits, you can find really good deals on both vintage and newer kits. There is a good selection of kits for pretty much all genres.
Since these are secondhand kits, you can take the box to the front counter and they will let you have a look inside to inspect that everything is in order. This will be especially handy when you come across something new that looks promising but you want to know for sure. Occasionally, you will see two of the same boxing with different prices. Usually this is because the more expensive item has some aftermarket accessory purchased by the previous owner bundled inside.
I discovered Hobby Kansuke after a few years living in Kobe, just by searching for hobby shops and stumbling onto their site, which is all in Japanese. This shop is the best bang for your buck if you want to come away some kits for your stash. If that’s you, do not miss this place. It is an absolute treasure trove of second hand models all in complete form – that is to say the kits are all complete parts wise and not started – usually the parts trees are still all factory sealed; in other wards the contents are like new, even if the box is a bit aged at times. There is a really good selection of military subjects and cars. If you are into the classics, this place will keep you busy for a while, but there are also plenty of more recent kits.
Rather than listing what’s in stock on their website, they post pictures of what’s on the shelves. These are updated about every 6 months or so. Sometimes I take trip down hoping a kit from the picture is there. Often it’s not, but others have arrived. This alone makes every trip to Hobby Kansuke kind of new.