Things to do in Akihabara, Tokyo

Akihabara or Akiba is area you can only find from Japan. The whole area is filled with all kind of pop culture and electronic stuff; games, anime, music, electronics, manga, movies, series and of course any and all kind of merchandise having to do anything with things mentioned before. There are also a lot of different restaurants, some with themes and some without and you can’t forget the arcades, filled with all kinds of games from crane games to fighting games. And of course, once you are visiting Akiba you need to go to maid café after all it is something very different.

Akihabara Parts market

Akiba is the place where electronic parts were sold first in Tokyo after WWII. Radio Center is the most recommendable to experience the origin of this town. This area is especially good for those who enjoy tinkering with electronics, though if you need to find a part that you need for something, this is the place to look for it. There are a lot of small shops bursting with different kinds of electrical parts. You would most likely be able to find from here a part for anything you can think of.

Main street (Chuo Dori)

The main street, this is where you get the “what is this place” feeling. Looking around you will see huge posters and video displays advertising games and anime. While people walk around to the different kind of shops, trying to get the limited edition of a game, or wanting to buy a figurine of their favorite anime character. While walking forward you will see many girls in cute costumes giving out pamphlets about different kind of maid/ cosplay cafes and bars. Walking a bit more you can hear loud noises from the arcades with claw games promising you all kinds of geeky stuff as price. But even though the main street is filled with stuff to see, be sure to also take a walk on the wild side and check out the many smaller back streets.

Maid-café and other Cosplay- cafés and bars (costume-themed café、メイドカフェ)

In all around akiba you can see girls wearing french maid outfits, advertising their brand of maid café. The most common sight is the girls in the French maid uniforms, but after walking a while you will see a lot of different themes on the costumes, from nurses, demons, police, secret agents to flight stuerts, pirates, ninjas and even more. Maid dreaming is the biggest maid café chain and there are a lot of them, but if you are looking to go in to maid café, walk around take the pamflets and see what seems most fun to you. In the café, just be sure to follow the rules, be polite, most places do not allow you to take pictures of the waitresses unless you pay and of course no touching.

Taito arcade

Taito arcade is just one of the many arcade shops in akiba, but it is also one of the biggest with multiple floors full of different games. The first couple of floors having crane games full of all kind of prices, but buyer beware, these games are devious, and you most likely won’t be getting the price on your first tries because how they are designed, you need to move the price a bit by bit closer to victory. The next couple of floor are basic arcade games like fighting games, shooting games, mecha games, flying games and driving games. But many of them are unique and worth few hundred yen to try. After the arcade games, you will find Dancing games and rhythm games, there are lot of different once and many of them really addictive and again really worth to try. And no arcade would be complete without different kind of photobooths to take a picture in alone or with a friend. Arcades are ton of fun, but they can also very easily drain your wallet with all of the different interesting games.

Address: 4-2-2 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo

Open hours: 10:00 – 24:00

Phone number: 03-5289-8445

Anime, Manga, Game and toy/figurine shops

Akihabara is full of shops selling anime, manga, games and merchandise about all of them as well as movies. This merchandise can be like figurines, toys, t shirts, plushies or posters, but you will find almost whatever with a game, anime or manga character in it. These shops are everywhere and they differ from small to huge, some of them just one or two floors and some of them with 10 floors and all different kind of stuff. It is almost like an adventure in itself when you go through these jobs, some of them located in the back allies and then you find something awesome there.

Yodobashi-Akiba（ヨドバシカメラ）

One of the biggest electrical appliances shops in Japan. You can find not only any electrical goods but also clothing, books, CD/DVD shop. Surprisingly they have a training space for golf and baseball on the top floor. So better have time when you go to the store, there are 9 floors with all of them having at least something interesting, but to help you a bit here is in English what the different floors offer you, so you can check out what you want straight away.

Address: 1-1 Kanda Hanaoka Town, Chiyoda-ku , Tokyo 101-0028

Open hours: 09:30 – 22:00

phone number: 03-5209-1010

Don Quijote（ドンキホーテ）

It’s a Japanese style entertainment store, selling everything from designer items, such as Gucci and LV, to everyday groceries as well as toys, souvenirs, electronics. You will really almost anything there and most things are very cheap so if you do not want to use lot of money to souvenirs but want to get something special still, Don Quijote is a good place for that. And it is open for 20 hours every day so you can go there almost anytime.

Address: 4-3-3 Sotokanda Chiyoda-ku Tokyo,JAPAN, 101-0021

TEL/FAX: 03-5298-5411 / 03-5298-5422

Open hours: 09:00 – 05:00

AKB48 theater and café

They are the most popular idol group in Japan now. AKB stands for Akihabara which is their hometown and the 48 comes from the number of members they had when they first started, but many girls have joined them now and there are more than few different teams. AKB48 Theater is located on 8F of Don Quijote, and AKB shop & café is located just in front of the Akihabara station. At the theater, you can see them perform at times, on the link below, will have the schedule of the performances. At the AKB48 café you can eat the favorite dishes of the akb48 girls and watch their music videos, and at the shop buy akb48 memorial.

Address: 1-1 Kanda Hanaokacho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

Phone: 03-5297-4848

Open hours:                                                                                                                                                                           

Monday – Thursday: 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.
               Friday & days before public holidays: 11 a.m. - 11 p.m.
               Saturday: 10 a.m. - 11 p.m.
               Sunday and public holidays: 10 a.m. - 10 p.m.
               Public holidays 10 a.m. - 10 p.m.

http://www.akb48.co.jp/theater/

http://akb48cafeshops.com/akihabara/english

Gundam café

If you like anime, specially mecha (large robot) anime you should know of Gundam, it is one of the longest running animes ever, with a lot of series, movies, games, manga, books and ofcourse miniatures made out of it. Right near Akihabara station there is the Gundam café, where you can order food and drinks from the shows, while the café itself is made to look futuristic, on top of that even the toilets have very mecha feeling in them, especially if you press a button which starts to light show there. For any friend of mechas and anime this is a cool little experience.

Address: 1-1 Kandahanaokacho, Chiyoda 101-0028, Tokyo

Openhours: 10:00 – 22:30 (LO food 21:30 drink22:00)

Phone number: 03-3251-0078

http://g-cafe.jp/en/