Guide · Akihabara

Part of: Akihabara Anime Tour

Is Akihabara Worth Visiting? An Honest Answer from a Tour Guide Who Works There Every Week

Yes, if you like anime, manga, video games or retro electronics: plan half a day, and it will be one of the days you remember. If none of those are yours, still yes, for one or two hours, as a piece of Tokyo you cannot see anywhere else, and then leave. I guide private anime tours in Akihabara most weeks, so I have watched both kinds of visitor arrive.

The question usually comes from one of two people: someone who loves anime and is worried it will be a tourist trap, and someone travelling with that person who is worried they will be bored. Both get a straight answer below.

What is Akihabara famous for?

Anime, manga, video games, figures and idol culture, sold in multi-floor shops stacked along one main street, Chuo-dori, plus arcades on most corners. It was Japan's electronics district first, and a few big electronics stores are still here, but the district people travel for today is the anime one.

The thing that does not come across in photos is that the interesting part is vertical. Each building is five to eight floors of one hobby, sorted by series. The street itself is just the corridor between them. The full version of this answer — the three layers the district has been through, and the four things visitors most often get wrong about it — is in what Akihabara is famous for.

Who will love Akihabara, and who will not?

You will love it if you have a series you care about, a game you grew up on, or a collector's habit of any kind. You will not love it if you came for "Japanese culture" in the temple-and-garden sense, or if crowds and fluorescent light wear you out quickly. It is loud, indoor, and commercial, on purpose.

Is Akihabara worth it if you are not into anime?

For an hour or two, yes. The retro game floors, the crane-game arcades and the street after dark land with almost everyone, including people who could not name a single anime. Past two hours it turns into a shopping district for a hobby you do not have, and you will feel it.

The good pairing for a mixed group is to split for the middle of the afternoon: the fan goes up the floors, the non-fan does an arcade and a coffee, and you meet for a real lunch. Three places I send guests are in things to do in Akihabara.

Is Akihabara worth seeing if you only have one free afternoon in Tokyo?

Yes, if anime, games or electronics mean something to you, and probably not otherwise. On a single free afternoon, Akihabara competes against Asakusa, Shibuya and Shinjuku, and it is the most specialist of the four. It rewards a specific interest more than any other district in Tokyo, and it rewards general curiosity less.

The honest framing for one afternoon:

• You watch anime or play games. Go. Two hours here will mean more to you than two hours anywhere else in the city.
• You are interested in how a hobby city works. Go, for about two hours, and go up at least one building. It is genuinely unlike anywhere else.
• You want temples, views, or a famous crossing. Do not spend your one afternoon here. Akihabara is a shopping district for hobbies, and it does not pretend otherwise.

If it is your only afternoon and you decide to come, the compressed version is the first two rows of the time table on how long to spend in Akihabara: the street, one multi-floor shop from the top down, and one arcade. That is a real visit, not a rushed one.

Is Akihabara a tourist trap?

Parts of the street are; the shops are not. The people handing out flyers for cafés, the "duty-free" electronics aimed at tourists, and anything that needs a person to persuade you in the street are the trap. The anime and game shops above them are priced for locals, because locals are most of their customers.

Three things that make first-timers leave disappointed, in the order I hear them:

1. The wrong exit. Leave JR Akihabara by the Central Exit and you walk away from the district. Use the Electric Town Exit (電気街口). Getting to Akihabara covers the lines and exits.
2. Street level only. The ground floors are the least interesting floor of every building. If you never went above the second floor, you have not seen Akihabara.
3. Arriving at 9:00. In my experience most anime shops open at 10:00 or 11:00. Come for a late morning start, and stay into the evening if you want the lights.

How long is enough for Akihabara?

Half a day. Three to four hours covers the main street, two or three multi-floor shops, a figure floor, an arcade and a meal. A full day only pays off if you are shopping from a list. Pair the other half of the day with Ueno or Asakusa, which are a few minutes away by train and, unlike Akihabara, are best in the morning.

The full breakdown by two, four and eight hours is in how long to spend in Akihabara, and a timed plan with the Ueno and Asakusa combinations is in the Akihabara one-day itinerary. If Akihabara is not the right district for your particular fandom, Akihabara vs Nakano vs Ikebukuro says which one is.

Is it worth going with a guide?

It is worth it if you want the floors matched to your series and would rather not lose the first two hours learning which building is which. It is not worth it if you have a shopping list and can read the floor guides. A guide does not find rare items for you; a guide stops you spending the afternoon on the wrong floors.

Mine is Adventure in Akihabara with Anime: a private walking tour, three to four hours, fully in English, planned around the anime you name when you book, never shared with other guests. ¥18,000 per person direct for one or two guests, ¥16,000 for three or four and ¥15,000 for five or six. It is rated 4.96 on Airbnb across 171 reviews. How it compares with the other Akihabara tours is in the best Akihabara anime tours compared.

Is Akihabara expensive?

The district is not; what you buy in it might be. Walking Akihabara costs nothing, the arcades take coins, and lunch is ordinary Tokyo restaurant prices rather than tourist prices. The expensive part is entirely under your control, because it is the shelf you decide to buy from.

Three things worth knowing before you worry about the budget:

1. Secondhand is the whole point, and it is cheap. The used floors are where most of the interesting stock is, and they are priced well below new. Where to buy anime figures covers new versus secondhand, and Book Off is the shop to learn first.
2. Food is normal Tokyo pricing, not tourist pricing. The restaurants locals eat in are on the same streets as the shops — see Go!Go!Curry and Shōwa Shokudō for what a real lunch there looks like and what it costs.
3. The trap is the street, not the shops. Anything aimed at you specifically — a "duty-free" electronics floor with a person outside, a café someone is handing out flyers for — is where the money goes badly. The shops with no one persuading you outside are priced for the locals who are most of their customers.

The honest summary: you can spend a full day in Akihabara on transport and lunch alone, and you can also spend a month's budget in one afternoon on the third floor of a single building. Both are normal. Neither is the district being expensive.

Frequently asked questions

Is Akihabara safe at night? Yes. It is a busy shopping district with people on the street until the arcades close. The only thing to decline is anyone who approaches you with a flyer.

Is Akihabara expensive? The shops are not; they are priced for Japanese customers. Figures and secondhand games are often cheaper than at home. What is expensive is themed cafés and anything with a cover charge. A real lunch near the station is ¥1,000–¥2,000.

Is Akihabara good for kids? Yes, if you stay on the all-ages floors, which are clearly marked. Arcades, capsule toys and retro games work for any age. Details are in the family section of things to do in Akihabara.

Should I go to Akihabara or Nakano Broadway? Akihabara for figures, games and the spectacle; Nakano for deep secondhand collecting in one building. First-timers should do Akihabara. The comparison is in Akihabara vs Nakano vs Ikebukuro.

Go for half a day, and go up

If you would rather have the floors chosen for you, Adventure in Akihabara with Anime is my private half-day walk, three to four hours, planned around the anime you name when you book. ¥18,000 per person direct for one or two guests, ¥16,000 for three or four and ¥15,000 for five or six. Bigger groups, email [email protected].

About the author. I am Yuuki, a Japanese teacher and Akihabara anime tour guide based in Tokyo. I run private tours here most weeks, rated 4.96★ on Airbnb across 171 reviews. I have watched over 1,500 anime series, which is why I usually know which floor a guest is going to disappear on.

See the Akihabara anime tour →

Sources: Japan National Tourism Organization, Akihabara; Akihabara Electrical Town Organization (秋葉原電気街振興会), akiba.or.jp. Shop opening times and time budgets are the author's own working figures from guiding, not measured statistics.