makuhari dokidoki flea market

This Sunday, a few friends and I went to the Makuhari Doki-Doki Flea Market, one of the biggest flea markets in Japan! I'm a big fan of recycle shops and flea markets and anything that involves reusing things instead of throwing them away, so I was excited for this. :D

Sunday was the last day of the market and it opened at 10, so I definitely did not expect to see the giant lines of people waiting to get it when I got there around 9:30. I wonder if there are people who look forward to this every year and get up extra early to get a head start on shopping - actually, I'm sure there are. Evidently, 'one of Japan's biggest flea markets' was no joke - it took up Makuhari Messe's exhibition halls 1-8, which is a looottt of space (to give an idea, I'm pretty sure the time I went to go see a Noh performance there, it only took up one exhibition hall).

I think this is roughly 1.5 exhibition halls' worth of space?

That said, there was plenty of stuff to fill up the space with! There were all sorts of booths selling all manner of things (clothes, household goods, typical flea market stuff), but also a handmade art section (ceramics, artwork, arts & crafts - somebody was selling little shoes made out of peanuts!), cars, a stage sponsored by bayfm78 (a radio station in Chiba) with performances, and lots of food stalls all around! I had some Thai chicken and also gelato from 'Samurai Gelato' (where all the staff had cowboy hats), which was all very tasty.

We were at the flea market for probably about three hours or so, and it took us almost all that time just to walk around through everything! I thought about buying a gigantic Pikachu pillow but decided I'd go back for it later, which (as I suppose any seasoned flea market shopper knows), this was not a good choice because when I went back it was gone (and actually I saw the people who bought it walking around with it later, haha). Ah well. I did end up with a Pooh-bear suit though (don't ask).

It was so crowded when we left we all had to stop and take pictures.

All in all, it was really cool and I'm glad I went! I'll probably go back next year, too - well worth the 600-yen admission fee, I think. :D