Otaku shopping districts
Four neighbourhoods, each with its own character. Choose by what you collect.
Tokyo · JR Akihabara, Electric Town exit
Akihabara
Electric Town is the heart of otaku Tokyo. The best shops hide on upper floors of narrow buildings, so use the floor guides below to go straight to what you collect.
8 places mapped
Tokyo · JR Nakano, north exit
Nakano Broadway
A 1960s shopping arcade turned collector's labyrinth. Floors 2 to 4 hold dozens of tiny specialist shops, many of them Mandarake branches with a single focus each.
2 places mapped
Tokyo · JR Ikebukuro, east exit
Ikebukuro
Ikebukuro mixes the giant Sunshine City complex with Otome Road, the centre of fan culture for female-focused anime, character goods and doujinshi.
4 places mapped
Osaka · Nipponbashi or Ebisucho station
Den Den Town
Osaka's answer to Akihabara stretches along Sakaisuji street. Prices are often a little lower than Tokyo and the shops are less crowded.
4 places mapped
Related travel tools
Coin lockers
Where to stash your shopping bags at Akihabara, Nakano and Ikebukuro stations so you can keep hunting.
IC cards
Suica, PASMO and ICOCA work on trains, in lockers and even at many gachapon and arcade machines.
Roadto151
Track your Pokémon card collection and plan which originals to hunt for in Japan.