IKEA Shinmisato: Otaku and Gothic-Lolita showrooms

For reasons not interesting enough to go into here, I was bamboozled into a trip to IKEA in darkest suburban Saitama. Aside from minor cosmetic differences, the parade of zombified shoppers punctuated by screaming children initially made the experience about the same (i.e. miserable) as the one you're likely to get anywhere else in the world. That was until I came across the otaku model room, which I'm going to wager a guess is a Japan-only exclusive: 

Behold stylish manga 'n Godzilla design motifs and bookshelves filled with over-sized copies of GANTZ. Not pictured: magazine rack crowed with issues of Hobby Japan and display case stuffed with Bandai soft-vinyl kaiju. Unseen: a lifetime supply of Cup Nude.

Another highlight: inexplicable framed Boy's Love manga panels next to a headshot of a neo zeta-male deviant, possibly involved in an IT scheme of some sort...more acceptable than Tomohito Kato, yet no less dangerous...

 Compare and contrast with the secret garden-like Bohemia of the nearby showroom intended to win over picky Gothic Lolita and their long-suffering parents. Again, fake pictures are worth a thousand words, especially when they include framed portraits of yourself in the finest duds that Closet Child has to offer...

Here's looking forward to more IKEA versions of marginal Japanese consumer lifestyles. Are host showrooms, gal mama showrooms, and chronic pachinko addict showrooms far behind? For the sake of the Euro-Yen exchange rate, LET'S HOPE NOT.

Comments

[JJ]

Dude, they were designed by a Swedish mangaka:
www.asaekstrom.com/Webbplats_3/Asa_Ekstrom.html

Wish I saw them at the Yokohama Ikea, but they didn't have em.

[Scott]

I can't speak for any of the other stuff, but I have seen those Godzilla fabric art squares in one of the showcases in the Tampa store. Not for sale, they only seem to be decoration. And they weren't part of a larger piece as it appears in your photo. The four cityscape portions were framed individually and on a wall.

[STELLALUNA]

I saw bolts of that manga fabric for sale at the Funabashi branch. I'm guessing it wasn't selling, so they built a whole display around it?