Tokyo Stroll: A Guide to City Sidetracks and Easy Exploration by Gilles Poitras is the ultimate guidebook to walking the streets of Tokyo that Japan lovers and the curious have been waiting for.
Tokyo Stroll is for travelers who want to walk and wander the streets and discover the city as it unfolds before their eyes. Select neighborhoods are profiled with detailed maps identifying locations and landmarks of interest.
If you're planning a trip to Tokyo soon you'll not want to miss the neighborhood dubbed Japan's pop culture paradise. Akihabara, situated just north of the heart of Tokyo, is full of stores catering to anime, manga, and video game fans alike.
Below is a small collection of locales in Akihabara you definitely don't want to miss including Akihabara Station, Kotobukiya Akihabara, Kaiyōdō Hobby Lobby Tokyo, and more!
Tokyo Stroll: A Guide to City Sidetracks and Easy Exploration by Gilles Poitras is available in both print and digital everywhere. Order your copy here.
秋葉原 · 神田
Akihabara and Kanda
Akihabara
This area gets its name from Akibagahar “Akiba Field.” Once the location of Akiba Jinja “autumn leaf shrine,” it later became the site of a rail yard. Today Akihabara is famous for two things: electronics, and merchandise for fans of anime, manga, and video games. After World War II the area near the Yamanote line train tracks was a thriving black market, stretching from what is now Ameya Yokochō, next to Ueno Station, in the north to the JR Akihabara Station in the south. The illicit goods found there included food, which was heavily rationed at the time, alongside a legal market for electronic components. As rationing ended and the remaining illegal operations were shut down, the market started to specialize. Akihabara became a center for electronics, everything from complete appliances to small parts, and later came to include personal computers and video games, which in turn drew a clientele interested in anime and manga. Today the area contains a diverse mix of shops: Stores may occupy several floors of a tall building or be tucked away on side streets, or even in basements accessible only by walking through another store. The main street is Chūō Dōri, which can be so crowded, noisy, and bustling that you may want to escape due to sensory overload. Head to a side street or enter a shop and you will likely find a quieter environment. At night a profusion of commercial signs light up, making this area truly electric. Chūō Dōri is also closed to vehicles on Sundays to become a broad pedestrian promenade.
Kanda
This is an area spanning both sides of the Kandagawa, including much of Akihabara, and is a mix of the modern and the old. The old includes shrines, temples, and even an Eastern Orthodox cathedral, as well as buildings, scattered here and there, that survived both World War II and the predation of developers. While Akihabara has plenty of inexpensive eateries, this area has restaurants you may want to save your appetite for.
note: Shops open, relocate, and go out of business at a faster pace in Akihabara than in many other parts of Tokyo, so do not be surprised if there are changes. In fact as I was writing this chapter, two shops moved to another building. I will attempt to track these changes in the online supplement to this book.
tip: Akihabara is often the location of theme cafes focusing on a particular TV show or game. These are often temporary, so keep your eye out for what is open when you go.
Akihabara Detail 1
1 Akihabara Station 秋葉原駅
There are actually three stations with this name in close proximity. For rail traffic there is the larger JR station for the Chūō Sōbu, Yamanote, and Tōhoku Main lines. For the subway there is the Tsukuba Express station just to the east of the JR station, and a Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line subway station two blocks to the east of that (and not shown on the map). Which one you exit will affect your initial navigation of the area.
2 Akihabara Radio Kaikan 秋葉原ラジオ会館
This collection of shops is housed in twelve stories if you count the two basements. The original Radio Kaikan was two stories and opened in 1950. An additional eight-story building was constructed in 1962 on an adjacent lot. In 1972 the original was demolished and another eight-story building was linked with the 1962 building to form a new complex. In 1976 NEC opened a shop here, igniting the microcomputer boom in Japan. Originally the shops mainly sold electronics, but with the growth of otaku culture the building tenants shifted to goods for fans of anime, manga, and PC games. After the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, Radio Kaikan was closed for safety reasons and it was decided to demolish the building. The current building was built in 2014 and houses over thirty shops.
2 ASTOP アストップ
There are two locations for this store established in 2003, one on the second floor of the Akihabara Radio Kaikan building 2 and the other on the fourth floor of the AKIBA Cultures ZONE building 5. Both locations of this shop sell second-hand models, figurines, stuffed toys, and retro games, as well as goods related to anime, manga, and idol singers on consignment. A seller rents a numbered clear display case, and each item in the case is numbered and priced. Buyers find what they want, pick up a purchase card (available near the register), fill out the case and item numbers, then give it to staff who retrieve the desired items. The store then handles the transaction and pays the seller. One major advantage of this kind of shop is that you get to appraise the item in person rather than order online and be disappointed. The Japanese take very good care of their property and I’ve very rarely seen anything that looks worn in these cases. Often you can find hard-to-obtain items for very reasonable prices. Credit cards accepted for purchases over 3,000 yen.
note: Purchases are not refundable.
2 K-Books
A small chain specializing in new and second-hand goods with a focus on anime, manga, video games, popular music, and related items. Many of their shops specialize in goods for women and girls, especially their stores in the Ikebukuro area. For this reason it is not surprising that the company has a majority of women on the staff and a large percentage of women managers. The first Akihabara store opened in 1996; it is presently located on the third floor of the Akihabara Radio Kaikan building, with several departments including a men’s store for ages eighteen and over only. The main store and over fifteen branches are located in Ikebukuro, all east of Ikebukuro Station, with most in the vicinity of the Sunshine 60 building.
Akihabara Shopping Many location numbers for the Akihabara maps refer to the building a shop is in. For this reason a few shops have the same number. Shops with more than one location and number are cross referenced to the first entry for that shop. When in a shop, check for stairs and elevators—some shops are larger than they look and spread over several stories, or each floor could be a separate shop. If you plan to hunt for products related to anime, manga, and games, be aware that the focus in Akihabara is the latest and most popular shows. For older materials check second-hand shops like Mandarake and ASTOP or head to the Nakano Broadway Mall in Nakano. If there are specific items you want, bring a printout or screen capture on your smartphone to show staff. When asking about specific titles know the Japanese name and don’t assume your pronunciation will be understandable.
2 Kaiyōdō Hobby Lobby Tokyo 海洋堂Hobby Lobby Tokyo
Located in the Akihabara Radio Kaikan building, this is the Akihabara shop for the internationally famous figure manufacturer. Their figures range from hyper-realistic animals to fictional characters. The company’s products also include poseable replicas of Buddhist statues, military vehicles, buildings, historical personages, artworks, and pretty much anything else they think would have a market. They even partner with major museums and other institutions, such as the nearby Kanda Myōjin, to do small replicas of related objects.
3 Kōbu Inari Jinja 講武稲荷神社
An attractive Inari shrine dating from
1858 in the middle of a modern neighborhood of small shops and residences. The red fencing and torii stand out framing a corner plot filled with plants and a shrine. The building is elevated; a short flight of stairs leads to the front of the shrine. This is an excellent example of the little surprises one can find walking down an ordinary street in Tokyo.
4 Kotobukiya Akihabara コトブキヤ 秋葉原館
The Akihabara store for the famous toy, model, and figurine maker. The store is quite large: five stories including an event space. Products are grouped together by show or theme, and some items are unique to this one store. Among other highly popular series, they sell figures for Star Wars, DC Comic characters, Sailor Moon, Studio Gainax shows, and Studio Ghibli movies. They also have display cases, model making supplies, stationery, accessories, plushies, character themed snacks, pillow cases, and—oh, the heck with it—just lots of stuff.
5 AKIBA CULTURES ZONE
See 2 ASTOP アストップ
6 Akiba-i / Akihabara Tourist Information Center 秋葉原観光情報センター
I recommend going here early on your visit to Akihabara to obtain information. Located on the second floor of the Akihabara UDX building since 2010, this is a good place to pick up a very detailed map of the area in any of several languages, as well as have questions answered and get directions to specific shops. They have some English-speaking staff.
7 Animate
Since the first store in Ikebukuro opened in 1983, Animate has been a major retailer of anime and manga related goods. Today there are something like 120 stores in Asia, although they do have a mail order business in the US. This particular store is one of the largest shops in the neighborhood. At the Akihabara branch there are seven floors plus a basement level with one of the floors reserved for special events. Find the floor you want on the directory or just take the elevator to the top floor and work your way down as you explore. Animate stocks anime, manga, dōjinshi, light novels, photo books, magazines, cards, games, CDs, art supplies, and especially character figures.In fact there are two floors devoted to character goods of all kinds, they even have unique items which are sold only at Animate stores.
Animate is more than retail, subsidiaries of the company include Animate Film and Libre Publishing.
note: A little of the stock is adult oriented as this shop caters to all ages.
8 Mandarake まんだらけ
This is the eight-story flagship store of the famous chain of second-hand shops for fans of anime, manga, and video games. This particular building was built to house the Akihabara branch and opened in 2008. As you approach the store you will see an entrance on the corner; while you can enter that way, it will put you right into the area where people bring items to sell to the store. It may be better to enter through the entrance on the side that places you at both the stairs and elevators. Unlike most shops in Akihabara, this one has many items from older anime and manga.
Shop carefully as there are no refunds or exchanges.
9 Hanabusa Inari Jinja 花房稲荷神社
A small Inari shrine completely surrounded by buildings and accessible only by going down a narrow alley and then another, narrower alley. Depending on which route is taken, larger folks may find themselves brushing the walls on both sides. The alley is dark and there are lights with sensors that will turn on as you walk toward the shrine, so don’t be startled. The shrine is on a very small but well-maintained plot of land, an example of what can be hidden away out of sight in Tokyo. Around 2014 a building next to this location was torn down, making the shrine visible from the street for a short time, pictured on various websites.
The alley leading directly to the shrine may be private property so be respectful and quiet.
note: I was told of this shrine by popular culture scholar Patrick Galbraith many years ago. I could not find it on that trip but did find it a couple of years later.
Tokyo Stroll: A Guide to City Sidetracks and Easy Exploration by Gilles Poitras is available in both print and digital everywhere. Order your copy here.