Tokyo, me and Cez spent the entire morning exploring Akihabara, also known as Akiba, one of the most famous districts here. It is the World of Manga filled with many electronic shops featuring anime and manga.
This area has undergone a lot of changes over the past few years and one of the most significant one was renovating and expanding Akihabara station.
For many travelers and visitors Akihabara is a center for global electronics technology and trade, thus it is often on people’s bucket list when traveling to Tokyo.
First Impression
This area was a big cultural shock for us to begin with. After leaving the station and walking towards the heart of this district, all of the sudden we saw hundreds of electronic shops.
Yes, HUNDREDS OF ELECTRONIC STANDS, STALLS and VENDING MACHINES. They offered everything you could imagine – from new cameras, smartphones, smart toys and home appliances to laptops, watches and a lot of electronic junk.
Nothing really mind-blowing or high tech surprising, but still it was nice to get familiar with different chain stores selling stuff to locals and tourists.
Akihabara really amazed us by its lively atmosphere and the fact it was extremely busy all the time. People were passing by quickly and there were many cars and different vehicles around. Thus, there is no chance you could get bored there.
The World of Manga
Akihabara is above all a center of Japanese otaku and anime culture. The longer we walked, the more stores featuring different Japanese anime, manga, card games and retro video games we saw. Moreover, there were plenty of different animation related establishments such as maid cafes and manga cafes.
We actually never experienced it. Maid cafes are places where waitresses dress up and act like maids or anime characters, whereas manga cafes are typical internet cafe where customers can read comics and watch DVDs in addition to having access to the internet.
Food Experience
Well, we didn’t actually eat much in there, so it’s hard to say what you should expect. However, we have tried fish-shaped chocolate waffles. Sweet and mouth-wateringly good, that’s all I can say :D
How to Get There
Akihabara Station is one of the busiest stations in Tokyo and it is free of charge when you use your JR pass. Getting there from Tokyo central takes approximately 20 minutes.
Would you visit Akihabara district when in Tokyo?
22 thoughts on “The World Of Akihabara – The Manga District in Tokyo”
Akihabara sounds pretty crazy. I’m not sure about my thoughts on Maid cafes, but I find the cultural obsession with Manga pretty interesting. It’s amazing how a form of art has become so popular in modern life. Thanks for the photos- they’re a great insight!
It does, indeed! :)
I love those waffles(or pancakes?), esp. the one with red bean filling. Maid cafes sounds really interesting. Thanks for sharing, Agness.
Happy Sunday!
Angie
My pleasure :).
Wow. I had no idea there was a manga district in the middle of Tokyo. No one ever talks about it! Sure, I’m not the biggest anime/mange fan but I know of a few of them. Thanks for sharing! It makes me want to go there.
There is and it’s a place to be!
Nigdy nie byłam entuzjastką mangi i tak jak wiele innych elementów japońskiej kultury, tak i ona trochę mnie zadziwia.
Z drugiej strony mam przekazane przez bywających w świecie biznesmenów, jak wspaniale jest poukładany japoński biznes, firmy i sposób zarządzania. Może więc muszą w jakiś dziwny sposób odreagowywać taki mocno uporządkowany świat.
Ta ryba z czekoladą też mnie nieco zadziwiła… no ale w końcu to Japonia, trzeba chłonąć z szeroko otwartymi oczami :)
Ryba z czekoladką to ulubiony przysmak Czarka :).
Akihabara is quite the place! I actually regret not going into a Maid Cafe – it would have been an interesting experience. But, I suspect, rather expensive!
It’s amazing!! :)
Can I please pretty please have one of those pancake, biscuit things? They look amazing! Agness, you do alllllllllllll the fun things! :) Hope you are having a wonderful weekend.
Those were amazing!! :)x
Wow. This was one part of Tokyo that really blew my mind. Wonderfully weird!
Totally, Tim! :-)
Happy New Year Agness & Cez!
Yep! I can absolutely imagine myself visiting Akihabara when in Tokyo. In fact, we would have no choice as our son is a Japanese-culture-Manga-freak!
We have two new kittens and one of them is called “Yukiko” after a Japanese anime character. The other kitten is called Lily after an English flower!
Oh Victoria. It’s a fun place!
We stayed at Akihabara just recently, unfortunately we never got a chance to visit a Maid Cafe. We did get to visit an owl and cat cafe, Japan is a truly unique experience and we look forward to visit Japan again.
Maybe you can do it next time :).
AMAZING! What a fun and off the wall place to see. I would love to see all those random vending machines filled with crap… I love it!
It was fun, indeed.
One of the “must do”when one is at Tokyo!
Definitely, agreed, Paulo!