Tokyo Comic Book Report: Blister Harajuku Is No More!

Don't look for your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man in Harajuku, True Believers!

I was afraid of this. With Harajuku's scene changing from funky homegrown style into international name brand consumerism, little comic nerd oasis Blister has been squeezed out. Last Sunday night, I came around the corner of the gray canvas-wrapped former GAP store-- now moved directly across the street from the station where its bland khaki and navy blue fashions can bore tourists looking for the nearly extinct "Harajuku Girl" with yawn-inducing one world corporate homogeneity-- and the tiny Blister store was dark. A surprised voice behind me whispered something in Japanese about a missing Spider-Man.

Fortunately, not all is lost for the few American comic book fans living here in Japan, where the comic is king and One Piece outsells Justice League by a margin too massive even to contemplate (actually I'm just too lazy to look up the sales figures, but believe me it's on the order of millions). Blister has merely moved. The new location is in Nihonbashi, Chuo ward. It seems to be easy walking distance from Hamacho Station, Hamacho Park and the Sumida River. Right in the center of Tokyo. It opens for business March 3rd!