Eastbound FindsShort answer: Akihabara for the widest mix of figures, games and maid cafes, Ikebukuro’s Otome Road for character goods, Nakano Broadway for collectors. If you can, go to Akihabara on a Sunday afternoon, when its main street, Chuo-dori, is closed to cars. Below: what each district sells, what a maid cafe really costs, and two Chiyoda City rules that can cost you a ¥2,000 fine. Checked against official sites on 20 October 2026.
Key points
- Akihabara is the all-round anime district (figures, games, retro consoles, manga), Ikebukuro's Otome Road is lined with anime shops popular with women, and Nakano Broadway packs collector shops into one building.
- Akihabara's main street, Chuo-dori, is closed to cars every Sunday afternoon: 1–5 pm from October to March and 1–6 pm from April to September, cancelled in bad weather.
- At @home cafe, one of Akihabara's best-known maid cafes, adults aged 23–59 pay an ¥850 entry fee plus at least one drink, about ¥1,600 in total, for a basic one-hour stay (official site, 20 October 2026).
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- Maid cafes do not allow photos or video inside without permission; a photo with a maid is a paid extra.
- Smoking on the street is banned everywhere in Chiyoda City, which includes Akihabara, with an on-the-spot fine of ¥2,000.
From radio parts to “Akiba”: why these districts exist
Akihabara grew up after the war as an electronics market. According to GO TOKYO, the city’s official tourism site, about 1,000 electrical shops once stood within roughly one square kilometre around the station. As computers, games and then anime arrived, the same streets filled with PC, manga, game and figure shops, and the back streets still hide retro-game and PC-parts stores. Gamers who know Tokyo from the Yakuza (Like a Dragon) series can find the real Kamurocho a short train ride away in Shinjuku: here is where the Yakuza games are set in real life.
AdvertisingQuick pick: Akihabara tours and anime experiences – GetYourGuide
Mikan's note: Before you sit down in a maid cafe, look at the price list on the café's official site: there is an entry fee per person on top of a required drink. And don't follow someone who invites you in on the street; pick the café yourself.
Ikebukuro went another way. Toshima City describes the street opposite Sunshine City, nicknamed Otome Road (“maidens’ road”), as lined with anime shops and busy every day with young women, and the city even publishes an “Ikebukuro Otome Map” of manga and anime spots for women fans. Nakano Broadway is something else again: a single shopping building where the official directory lists 207 shops, and the largest category, 84 of them, is “subculture”.
Which anime district is right for you?
| Akihabara | Ikebukuro (Otome Road) | Nakano Broadway | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you’ll find | Figures, games, retro consoles, manga, PC parts, maid cafes | Character goods, manga and anime shops popular with women; big Animate store; Pokémon Center Mega Tokyo | Collector shops for manga, figures and vintage toys, all under one roof |
| Best for | First visit, gamers, figure hunters | Fans of character goods and otome / BL titles, Pokémon fans | Collectors hunting older or second-hand items |
| Getting there | JR Akihabara Station, Electric Town exit, about 5 min (JR Yamanote and Keihin-Tohoku lines, Hibiya line, Tsukuba Express) | About 5 min from JR Ikebukuro or Higashi-Ikebukuro (Yurakucho line) | Nakano Station north exit (JR, Tozai line), about 5 min |
| Opening hours | Varies by shop | Varies by shop; Pokémon Center Mega Tokyo 10 am–8 pm | Varies by shop |
If you only have half a day, Akihabara gives you the most variety. Go on a Sunday afternoon if you can: Chuo-dori, the main street, becomes car-free every Sunday, from 1 pm to 5 pm between October and March and 1 pm to 6 pm between April and September. It is cancelled when rain or strong wind is forecast. Shopping for VTuber goods? If you know hololive from the Bibbidiba cover on TV Asahi’s anime-song show, here is who Airi Suzuki, the J-pop singer in that video, is.
Related guidesPokémon Center Japan: Stores, Japanese Cards and the Pokémon CafeMaid cafes: what to know before you go in
A maid cafe is a café where staff dressed as maids welcome you like the master of the house, serve drinks and food with little songs and games, and sell photos and souvenirs. It is a performance with set prices, and the rules are written on each café’s official site. Here is how it works at @home cafe, one of the best-known chains in Akihabara (official site, 20 October 2026):
| Item | @home cafe |
|---|---|
| Entry fee | Adults 23–59: ¥850 · ages 19–22 and 60+: ¥600 · ages 13–18: ¥400 · 12 and under: free |
| Minimum order | One drink per person; adults “from ¥1,600” in total |
| How long | Basic one hour; no extra charge if you stay longer because it is busy |
| Photos | No photos, video or recording inside without permission; a photo with a maid is a paid menu item |
| Not allowed | Touching the maids, asking for personal details, waiting for them outside |
| Payment | Cash, cards (contactless/IC), PayPay, WeChat Pay, Alipay and other Japanese QR apps |
The site does not say whether these prices include tax, so check the menu when you sit down. Children are welcome there: under-7s even get a kids’ card and a kids’ drink.
Local rules most guides miss
Akihabara is in Chiyoda City, which has two rules that affect visitors directly:
- Street touting is banned. A city ordinance in force since April 2014 bans touting (calling in customers) in public places, and the area around Akihabara Station is a designated priority district. The safest habit: choose a café from its official site and walk in yourself, instead of following someone from the street.
- No smoking on the street, anywhere in the ward. Since April 2010 the whole of Chiyoda City, except the Imperial Palace grounds, has been a no-street-smoking area, with an on-the-spot fine of ¥2,000 (up to ¥20,000 under the ordinance). Heated tobacco has been included since November 2024. Use the designated smoking areas.
Tours, hotels and shopping from home
A guided Akihabara tour helps if you want someone to take you to the retro-game and figure shops you would not find alone; GetYourGuide lists many Akihabara activities, from walking tours to hands-on workshops. To save travel time, stay near the JR Yamanote line, which runs through both Akihabara and Ikebukuro.
Into model kits? Our Gunpla guide explains the grades and THE GUNDAM BASE in Odaiba. For an evening after the shops, see which Tokyo food tour suits you, or browse more hands-on cultural experiences in Japan. Pokémon fans: our guide to Pokémon Center Japan covers the stores, card lotteries and Pokémon Cafe booking.
Many figures sold in Akihabara can also be ordered from home. When you buy online, check that the listing is an official licensed product : look for the maker’s name, a seller with good ratings and a price that is not suspiciously low.
Heading to Ikebukuro next? One question many visitors only ask in the queue: why are some Pokémon card packs in Japan sold only by lottery, and how do you enter? Our Pokémon Center Japan guide has the answer.
