Мандараке: Японский магазин подержанных вещей и его деятельность

Japanese used goods store chain

As of September 2018, toy sales make up the majority of Mandarake's business, composing 48 percent of all non consolidated sales. Books compose 14 percent of all sales, doujinshi compose 13 percent, and other publications that are not books or doujinshi compose 1 percent; the remaining 24 percent of sales are composed of miscellaneous items. Exports compose 17 percent of Mandarake's non consolidated sales. Each shop is focused on a single category of item, such as cosplay costumes or doujinshi. Several Mandarake annexes in Nakano Broadway were once independent stores that were acquired by the company. and Mandarake Ikebukuro, a store located near Otome Road that specializes in boys' love and shōjo manga. Outside of Tokyo, Mandarake Utsunomiya is located in Mageshichō, Utsunomiya, while in rural Katori, Chiba, the company operates Mandarake Sahra, a storage and fulfillment center. Mandarake Sahra is open to the public for buyback only, and not sales. In Hokkaido, Mandarake Sapporo moved to its current location at ノルベサ from its former space at 札幌ナナイロ on March 17, 2012, tripling the size of the store. In Kansai, Mandarake operates two locations located in Osaka. Its second location in Osaka, Mandarake Grandchaos, is located in Amerikamura. Two shop locations operate in Kyushu: Mandarake Fukuoka is located in Tenjin, and Mandarake Kokura is located in Kokurakita ku, Kitakyūshū. Mandarake also operates an online storefront in both Japanese and English. The store ships items both domestically within Japan, and internationally to 83 countries. and a store in Beijing.

In 2003, Mandarake was accused of selling improperly acquired manuscripts by Kenshi Hirokane and Yayoi Watanabe. The items in question were sold to Mandarake by Hirokane and Watanabe's publisher Sakura Comics in an unsuccessful attempt by the publisher to stave off bankruptcy, rather than returned to the artists per their publishing agreements. Mandarake contended that it had no way of knowing that Sakura Publishing was not permitted to sell the manuscripts; the manuscripts were ultimately returned to the artists in a subsequent lawsuit. On November 16, 2012, a former Mandarake employee petitioned the Tokyo District Court for the payment of unpaid overtime from the company, claiming that he was not compensated for time spent at work before and after store opening hours. The plaintiff sought ¥2,292,246 in unpaid wages and additional damages of ¥2,194,046. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, and ordered Mandarake to pay ¥2,233,606 in unpaid wages and additional damages of ¥2,108,165. In 2016, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department cited Mandarake under the 古物営業法 for insufficiently verifying the identities of individuals who purchased items from Mandarake in online auctions. Under that law, individuals purchasing secondhand goods must identify themselves with photo identification, in order for police to track the movement of secondhand goods that may have been stolen. The Tokyo District Court consequently suspended Mandarake Complex's online sales license for one month, and fined the company ¥300,000. In 2018, an original illustration from Ai to Makoto, one of a series of fifteen believed lost in 1974, was listed for sale in an online auction by Mandarake. Ai to Makoto publisher Kodansha requested that the illustration be returned to the company, and issued a statement asking the public to not bid in the auction. The illustration ultimately sold at auction to a private buyer for ¥4 million.

On August 4, 2014, a vintage Tetsujin 28 go tin toy worth ¥250,000 was shoplifted from Mandarake Nakano. Mandarake posted an image of the shoplifter taken from security camera footage on their website with the subject's face obscured using mosaic censorship, alongside a statement that the image would be posted with the pixelation removed if the item was not returned within a week. though Mandarake initially stated that it would not comply with the request, the company ultimately elected not to publish the uncensored image. The incident prompted a public debate over the ethics of Mandarake's actions, and whether they constituted an illegal threat of intimidation. In an interview with Weekly Toyo Keizai, Mandarake president Masuzo Furukawa stated that decision to post the image was motivated by a desire to have the item returned, and to deter future shoplifters. Shoko Nakagawa was among the public figures who voiced support for Mandarake's actions. On August 19, 2014, the shoplifter was identified as Kazutoshi Iwama and arrested by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police after he attempted to sell the toy to another secondhand store. Iwama stated that he was unaware that Mandarake posted his image until after he was arrested. He was later sentenced in court to one year of imprisonment and three years of probation.