Akihabara Shopping Guide
Store-by-store guides to Akihabara's figure shops, retro game stores, manga shops, card shops and electronics — written by a guide who is in these shops most weeks.
Akihabara Card Shops: Where to Buy Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Other Trading Cards, Floor by Floor
Most of Akihabara's trading card shops are stacked inside one building, Radio Kaikan, right by the station. Which floor sells what, how singles and packs work, and how to avoid the common mistakes.
Akihabara Electronics Today: What Is Still Worth Buying, Where the Parts Shops Are, and What to Check First
Akihabara's electronics today: Yodobashi Akiba for mainstream gear, Akizuki Denshi and Radio Kaikan's Wakamatsu for parts, retro hardware upstairs. What is worth buying as a tourist and what to check first.
Akihabara Gachapon: The Two Places Worth Your Coins, What They Cost, and How to Check Stock Before You Go
The two gachapon stops in Akihabara: Bandai's 500-machine GASHAPON Department Store by the station, and the old-school Gachapon Kaikan near Suehirocho. Prices, how to check stock before you go, and coins.
AKIHABARA Gamers Main Store: What Is on Each Floor, From Card Labo to the Love Live! Floor
AKIHABARA Gamers Main Store, at 1-14-7 Sotokanda, is eight levels: Card Labo in the basement, books, an Ensemble Stars!! store, Bushiroad and BanG Dream!, a Love Live! School Idol Space and daily pop-ups.
Akihabara Manga Stores: Where to Buy New Manga, English Translations, Doujinshi and Vintage Volumes
Where to buy manga in Akihabara: Shosen Book Tower (with an English-translated manga section), animate, Melonbooks for doujinshi, and Mandarake for vintage. Toranoana no longer has an Akihabara shop.
Akihabara Retro Game Stores: Super Potato, Surugaya, Retro Game Camp and BEEP, and What to Check Before You Buy
The four retro game shops worth your afternoon in Akihabara: Super Potato, Surugaya Game-kan (moved in September 2026), Retro Game Camp and BEEP. What each one sells, and what to check before buying for a console at home.
AmiAmi Akihabara: The Figure Tower, the Radio Kaikan Store, and Why They Are Not the Online Shop
AmiAmi has two shops in Akihabara: the eight-floor Figure Tower at 1-15-3 Sotokanda, two minutes from the Electric Town Exit, and a store on Radio Kaikan's 4th floor. Why their stock and prices differ from AmiAmi online.
animate Akihabara: Which Floor Your Series Is On, Across Three Buildings
animate Akihabara is three buildings: Building 1 for character goods by series (Jump on 2F, VTubers and Love Live! on 6F), Building 2 for manga and books, and the ANNEX for game goods, capsule toys and the café.
How Do You Use Book Off in Akihabara If You Can't Read Japanese? A Teacher's Shelf Guide
Yes — you can shop Book Off with zero Japanese, using three things: the twenty shelf labels below, the fact that books are filed by the sound of the…
Buying a Nintendo Switch 2 in Japan: Which Model to Get, and What Nintendo Says About Using It Abroad
Japan sells two Nintendo Switch 2 models: the Japanese-language, Japan-only version, which links only to Japan-region Nintendo Accounts, and the multilingual version, which works with any account in 16 languages. Nintendo also limits wireless use abroad to listed countries.
COSPA Akihabara: Gee!Store Akiba for Cosplay and Character Apparel, and the atre Shop by the Station
COSPA has two official shops in Akihabara: Gee!Store Akiba on the 4th floor of the Onoden Building, with character apparel and COSPATIO cosplay costumes, and a smaller store on atre Akihabara 1's 3rd floor by the station gate.
Don Quijote Akihabara: What Is on Each Floor, Tax-Free Shopping, and the Anime Goods You Will Not Find Elsewhere
Don Quijote Akihabara is the discount store on Chuo-dori with a maid café on 5F, an amusement arcade on 6F–7F and the AKB48 Theater on 8F. Tax-free, many payment apps, and anime collab goods.
Hard Off and Hobby Off Akihabara: Three Secondhand Floors for Games, Junk and Gunpla
Akihabara has two Hard Off stores and a Hobby Off behind Chuo-dori: Hard Off No. 1 next to Mandarake with games, audio, cameras and a basement junk corner; No. 2 with retro games; and Hobby Off upstairs for Gunpla, figures and model railways.
Idolmaster Official Shop Akihabara: Where It Is, the Prize Lotteries, and the Producer Time Clock
The Idolmaster Official Shop in Akihabara is on the 2nd floor of atre Akihabara 1, right outside JR Akihabara's Electric Town gate: original goods, prize lotteries for five brands, and a time clock for producers. SideM fans have 315!!!SHOP in Ikebukuro.
Kotobukiya Akihabara: The Figure Maker's Own Shop, Its Pop-Ups, and When to Choose It Over Secondhand
Kotobukiya Akihabara-kan is the figure and model-kit maker's own shop at 1-8-8 Sotokanda, three minutes from JR Akihabara. Shop-exclusive items, rotating pop-ups, and how it differs from secondhand shops.
Lashinbang Akihabara: AKIBA Flags, Radio Kaikan and DEEP BASE, and Which One You Want
Lashinbang, the secondhand anime-goods chain, has three Akihabara stores: AKIBA Flags (the flagship, formerly the New Store), Radio Kaikan 5F, and AKIBA DEEP BASE, which is cash only. What each sells.
Mandarake Akihabara: A Floor-by-Floor Guide to Complex and Complex 2
Mandarake has two buildings in Akihabara: Complex (8 floors of manga, doujinshi, dolls and toys) and Complex 2 (cards, games, discs, small toys, trains). A floor-by-floor guide and how to shop there.
ONE PIECE Card Game Official Shops in Tokyo: Where They Are, and the Lottery and ID Rules
Tokyo has three ONE PIECE Card Game official shops, in Ikebukuro, Shinjuku and Shibuya, plus Bandai's DECKS STADIUM card shop in Akihabara. Booster packs are lottery-only, one purchase a day with face recognition, and from 21 November 2026 ID must be a passport or My Number card.
Radio Kaikan, Akihabara: A Floor-by-Floor Guide, Its History, and the Steins;Gate Satellite
Radio Kaikan is the ten-floor building right by Akihabara Station: card shops, figure shops, dolls, Kaiyodo and Volks. A floor-by-floor guide, its history, and the Steins;Gate satellite.
Surugaya Akihabara: What Each of the Six Stores Sells, and Which One You Want
Surugaya has six stores in Akihabara: the Main Store (figures, goods, cards), Station Front, Game-kan (moved Sept 2026), Anime & Hobby-kan, Plamodel-kan and a buying centre. What each sells and where it is.
TAMASHII NATIONS STORE TOKYO: Bandai's Figure Flagship in Akihabara, and the Rules Before You Buy
TAMASHII NATIONS STORE TOKYO, Bandai Spirits' only flagship in Japan, is one minute from JR Akihabara's Electric Town exit: S.H.Figuarts, Chogokin, store-limited figures and exhibitions. Buyers must be 15 or over.
Trader Akihabara: What Is on Each Floor of the Main Store and No. 2, and What to Know Before You Buy
Trader is an Akihabara game and hobby shop with two stores: the main store on Chuo-dori, B1 to 7F, with retro and import games, figures, plastic models and character goods, and a smaller No. 2 store under the JR tracks. Not tax-free.
Volks Akihabara: Hobby Tengoku 2, the Radio Kaikan Doll Floor, and This Month's Pop-Ups
Volks has two Akihabara shops: Hobby Tengoku 2, seven floors of model kits, figures and pop-up events at 4-2-10 Sotokanda, and Doll Point / Hobby Square on Radio Kaikan's 8th floor. Both tax-free.
What to Buy in Akihabara: Ten Things Worth Bringing Home, What They Cost, and Where to Find Them
What to buy in Akihabara: secondhand figures, ¥300 gachapon, Japanese trading cards, retro games, manga, shop-bonus goods, an IT charm from Kanda Myojin, and electronic parts. What each costs and where to get it.
Where Should You Buy Anime Figures in Akihabara? New vs. Secondhand, Compared by a Local Tour Guide
New figures: Kotobukiya or animate. Used, usually cheaper and in great shape: Mandarake, Surugaya, Hobby Off. How to check used boxes and spot bootlegs.
Yodobashi Akiba Floor Guide: Where the Figures, Gunpla, Games and Cards Are
Yodobashi Camera Multimedia Akiba, one minute from Akihabara Station, has games, toys, plastic models, figures, trading cards, gachapon and concert lights on 6F, cameras on 3F, PC accessories and stationery on 2F, and restaurants on 8F.