The One Piece anime is currently in the Wano arc and it’s still going strong. Can you believe that the previous arc was the Big Mom arc, which was in its early stages back in mid-2017, and that was about four years ago. One Piece arcs can take a while and can span many years. But thing I can definitively say is that both the One Piece manga and anime is incredible and it’s worth reading and watching. It’s intriguing and exciting. There is simply no other anime like it. If you haven’t started, you can start watching it on Netflix, even if you are based in Australia. Like many people, I think you will get addicted from the first couple of episodes.
In the land that is home to anime (including One Piece), there are dedicated stores for One Piece called the Mugiwara Stores (or Straw Hat stores). The Straw Hat Pirates are the main pirates in One Piece and are lead by Monkey D. Luffy. There are stores located in all major Japanese capital cities and they are based mainly in the popular locations, e.g. Shibuya in Tokyo. These stores are full of One Piece merchandise, food and clothes.
When you visit a Mugiwara Store, you can listen to the various One Piece opening songs as you shop around for pencils, jigsaws, plush dolls, figurines, t-shirts, cosplay accessories, books, games, soundtracks, etc. There is so much One Piece stuff here. It brings back memories when songs like We Are and Fight Together are playing. You can even find a mousepad with your favorite female One Piece character. (Don’t think too hard about this, because it is exactly what you are thinking.)
When I visited back in 2017, the Mugiwara store in Nagoya was located close to Sakae, but since I visited it has moved to the Nagoya Station shopping complex. Back then, I managed to purchase a Marine coat (not cheap by the way), Zoro’s ear rings (which are just clip on ear pieces) and One Piece magnets for friends and family. At the counter, I was also given some free collector gift cards, which were wanted posters of each of the Straw Hat pirates. The goal is to spend more money and get each of the crew and you get a card that keeps track of your progress.
The other cool thing about the Mugiwara stores are the displays. Depending on the store, you can find Luffy standing out front, a young Luffy and Shanks in that iconic moment where the torch is passed, Laboon, and some other characters.
If you are interested, you can catch a glimpse of the stores below from my visits in Tokyo (2019) and Nagoya (2017):
The Nagoya Mugiwara Store is now located 1 Chome-2-2 Meieki, Nakamura Ward, Nagoya, Aichi 450-0002, Japan, which is pretty much at Nagoya Station if you are arriving by the Shinkansen:
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