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| @wonder: Jimbocho | |||
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Want a garish yakuza poster? Or a picture book on samurai films? Searching for items from an obscure 50s Japanese horror movie? Looking for original still photos from an old Toho monster movie? Or maybe you're searching for the Japanese version of a Steve McQueen film, or an old 007 movie? Perhaps you'd like a nice "speed" poster (a special half-size one-sheet that was popular in the 60s) of a Toei "pinky violence" flick? Or the German poster for Akira Kurosawa's "Yojimbo"? @Wonder will probably have it, or if they don't, then you're sure to find something even cooler.
Located in the old-book store district of Kanda Jimbocho, @Wonder keeps a general stock of between 3,000 and 4,000 movie posters ranging in price from just 500 yen to about 150,000 yen. The most expensive currently is an American poster for Kurosawa's "Rashomon" from its original release in the US. Apart from posters, the store carries about 30,000 items of movie memorabilia, including pamphlets, flyers, stills, lobby cards, books, magazines and cards. You can also order online, but most people come in to browse. Since it opened two years ago, it has become one of the most accessible Japanese poster stores anywhere - and not a week goes by without someone arriving from the US or Europe on a pilgrimage for Kurosawa, Zatoichi or Lone Wolf and Cub rarities. @Wonder also functions as a gallery. All the posters displayed on the walls change every month. Here's a very rare one from cult director Teruo Ishii's classic "Kyoufu Kikei Ningen," a tale of human freaks that is currently banned in Japan. There's the creepy guy in shades menacing a startled beauty in Yasuzo Masumura's erotic horror film "Blind Beast." And there's Ken Takakura and Junko Fuji drawing swords and showing their tattoos in the classic Yakuza series "Red Peony." And even if they don't have what you think you want, they are sure to have what you need. I went in looking for a Japanese version of "The Sound of Music," and came out with a poster for some long-forgotten Japanese B-movie, a wacky 60s bike-gang musical by the look of it, that's more shagadelic than Austin Powers himself. by Richard Jeffery |
@wonder
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