Guide · Akihabara

Part of: Akihabara vs Nakano vs Ikebukuro for Anime

Nakano Broadway Guide: What Is on Each Floor, How Mandarake Is Laid Out, and a Route for a First Visit

Nakano Broadway is a single 1966 shopping-and-apartment building five minutes from Nakano Station's north exit, with shops on five floors, B1 to 4F. Its own directory lists over 200 shops, and Mandarake alone runs more than thirty small specialist shops across 1F to 4F. Go up to 2F, 3F and 4F for the collector shops; B1 and 1F are mostly ordinary local shops and food. I run private anime tours in Akihabara most weeks and do my own hunting here.

Whether Nakano is worth your day compared with Akihabara is covered in Akihabara vs Nakano vs Ikebukuro. This page is for after you have decided to go: how to find your way around a building that confuses almost everyone the first time.

What is Nakano Broadway?

According to its own site, Nakano Broadway opened in 1966 as one of Japan's early combined shopping and residential buildings, and became known as a subculture landmark after the early 1990s. The shop that started it was Mandarake, which opened in 1980 in a space of just two tsubo, about seven square metres.

The building's own description is honest about the mix: local shops that have been there since it opened sit next to collectors' shops, and that contrast is part of the appeal. On the way to a shop selling vintage robot toys you will pass ordinary neighbourhood shops and services. For Akihabara's equivalent, a district rather than a building, my Akihabara anime tour is where I take guests.

What is on each floor of Nakano Broadway?

B1 and 1F are for daily life and food, 2F, 3F and 4F are where the collectors' shops are. The official directory lists 59 shops on 2F, the busiest floor, and classes 84 of its 206 shops as subculture. Mandarake's own floor guide puts its main shop on 3F and its anime and toy specialists on 4F.

These counts are from the building's directory on 4 October 2026. Shops open and close, so use them as a sense of scale, not a fixed list.

How is Mandarake laid out in Nakano Broadway?

Not as one store but as more than thirty small shops, each with its own speciality and its own name, spread over four floors. Mandarake's floor guide lists one on 1F, about fifteen on 2F, the main shop and others on 3F, and nine on 4F including its anime shop and its "mania" shop. There is a service counter on 4F.

That is the thing that confuses first-time visitors: you think you have "done Mandarake" after one shop, and there are thirty more. The names do not always tell you what is inside, so treat every Mandarake sign as a new shop and look through the window. Some sell anime goods, some vintage toys, some cosplay, some dolls and wigs, some books.

The practical rule I use: walk each floor's corridors once before going into anything. You will spot Mandarake shops you would otherwise have missed.

What is a good route for a first visit?

Go straight up to 4F, walk the whole floor, then work down through 3F and 2F. Leave B1 for food at the end. Give it two to three hours if you are browsing, longer if you are hunting for something specific.

The reason to start at the top is the same as in Akihabara: the ground floor is the least interesting floor. In Nakano it is literally a different world, with everyday shops on the lower floors and the collectors' shops above. If you are carrying a suitcase, leave it somewhere else first; the corridors are narrow and the shops are small. Luggage forwarding in Japan can take it on to your next hotel.

What can you not do at Nakano Broadway?

Photograph inside the shops, haggle, or come by car. The building's access page says there is no parking and asks visitors to use public transport. Prices are fixed, and like Akihabara's shops, most do not want their interiors photographed.

This is the honest section. Nakano Broadway is wonderful for collectors and confusing for everyone else, and it does not explain itself. The Mandarake shop names are cryptic even in Japanese, and rare items are priced at what collectors will pay. Go with a want-list, or go with curiosity and no budget for regret. The shop rules in Akihabara apply here too; see Akihabara etiquette.

How do you get to Nakano Broadway?

Walk five minutes from the north exit of Nakano Station, on the JR lines and the Tokyo Metro Tōzai line. The address is 5-52-15 Nakano, Nakano City.

From Akihabara, the JR Chūō-Sōbu local line runs to Nakano without changing trains, which is why the two pair so well; the comparison page has the timing.

Frequently asked questions

How many floors does Nakano Broadway have? Five: B1 to 4F. The collectors' shops are mostly on 2F, 3F and 4F.

How many Mandarake shops are in Nakano Broadway? More than thirty, according to Mandarake's own floor guide for its Nakano store, spread across 1F to 4F.

Is Nakano Broadway good for anime figures? For vintage and secondhand figures and toys, yes. For current releases, Akihabara is better.

Is there parking at Nakano Broadway? No. The building's site asks visitors to use public transport.

What is Nakano Broadway famous for? Mandarake and the collectors' shops that gathered around it after the early 1990s, in a 1960s building that still has its original everyday shops.

One building in Nakano, one district in Akihabara

If you are pairing Nakano with a day in Akihabara, Adventure in Akihabara with Anime is my private half-day walk there, three to four hours, built around the anime you name and never shared with other guests. The price is on the tour page.

About the author. I am Yuuki, a Japanese teacher and Akihabara anime tour guide based in Tokyo. I run private anime tours here most weeks, rated 4.96★ on Airbnb across 171 reviews. I have watched over 1,500 anime series, which is either a qualification or a warning depending on your point of view.

See the Akihabara anime tour →

Sources: Nakano Broadway, About Nakano Broadway (opened 1966; subculture landmark after 1991; Mandarake opened 1980 in two tsubo; mix of local and collectors' shops), Floor map (five floors, B1–4F), Access (5-52-15 Nakano; Nakano Station north exit 5 minutes; no parking) and the shop directory (206 shops: 84 subculture, 30 food; B1 27, 1F 40, 2F 59, 3F 38, 4F 28); Mandarake, Nakano store floor guide (shops by floor, 3F main shop, 4F service counter). All checked 4 October 2026. The two-tsubo-to-square-metre conversion is the author's. Opening hours are deliberately not given.