Akihabara

Akihabara isn’t called Electric Town for no reason. As soon as you step off the train, you’re bombarded with adverts for all the latest gaming technology, anime merchandise and themed cafes. The gigantic Yodabashi-camera, alongside Chuo Dori (or main street’s) equally large selection of shops, create a gaming mecca where the most up-to-date 3D gaming gear, robotics and vintage consoles are all found within walking distance of each other.

Akihabara’s Book Off is a great place to start if you want to track down some seriously cheap second-hand games that you might not be able to find anywhere else.

In fact, the gaming business is so important here that the Kanda Myojin Shrine, the nerdiest shrine in Tokyo, sells charms for success in the IT business in the shape of data chips.

SEGA and Taito gaming stations are also jam-packed with cool arcade games and UFO catchers full of geeky merchandise. Whereas the arcades of other countries are falling into disrepair, Japan’s are just as youthful and exciting as ever.

Of course, Akihabara is not only about gaming but is also the overflowing source of all things anime and manga. Big chains like Animate and Manadarake have multiple stores here, many specialising in certain genres such as idol anime or figures. Tokyo Anime Center, opposite the station’s Electric Town Exit, functions as an exhibition space for both new and old anime series which should keep fans of all ages entertained.

Akihabara is extremely built up so the best advice is to keep looking up. Sometimes the good stores are hidden away on the fifth or sixth floors of a building. Mitsubado, for second-hand cosplay, is an example as it also offers a 5% student discount. Cosplayers often flock to the area on Sundays, when the street is closed, and cosplay shops are rife here.

All that gaming and shopping is going to make you ravenous, so it’s a good thing that Akihabara is also a hub for wacky themed cafes. There are animal cafes, maid cafes (standard maid cafes can be found everywhere but Cure Maid Cafe, which is Victorian themed and Little TGV, which is railway station themed, offer even more of a novelty factor), butler cafes, Gundam cafes, AKB48 cafes and even Final Fantasy’s Eorzea cafe.

Akihabara also has a progressive non-themed food scene like Nadeshiko Sushi – a rare sushi restaurant with all-female sushi chefs.