Anime and manga in Japan: where to go, what to book, what it costs

Akihabara packs gachapon halls, arcades, maid cafes, electronics stores and second-hand shops into one district. This section uses what the venues and local bodies say about themselves, with no ranking.

• Gachapon Kaikan is Akihabara’s capsule-toy hall, with about 500 machines according to a secondary listing. Its official page was unreachable on the latest check, so confirm the hours before you go.
• Mandarake Complex sells second-hand anime and manga goods. Its official pages returned errors, so its hours are unconfirmed.

Two local rules affect visitors. On pedestrian-paradise days, when the main street is closed to cars, the Akihabara Electric Town Promotion Association bans selling goods, performing, street live shows and cycling. Visitors are bound by the same ban, so plan to browse, not to perform or sell. A secondary guide puts the closure on Sundays from 13:00 to 18:00, or to 17:00 from October to March, so check the association’s calendar.

The other is the Akihabara Agreement of 2010, a local voluntary rule that includes a ban on illegal street selling, per Chiyoda Ward’s page. The ward also has an anti-touting ordinance, with patrols reported from 2019. The ward’s touting page focuses on adult-service touting, not maid or cosplay cafes. News reports (secondary) describe cafes that overcharged visitors who followed street invitations. Ask for the price list before you sit, and decline invitations from the street.

For a timed route and a skip list, read Akihabara for first-timers. For the three districts side by side, see Anime districts in Tokyo.

Ikebukuro is built around Animate’s main store and Sunshine City, a mall complex with several character stores. The facts below come from the operators’ own pages unless marked secondary.

Animate Ikebukuro Main Store lists 10:00 to 21:00 on its official page, which does not split weekdays from weekends. It stands at 1-20-7 Higashi-Ikebukuro, five minutes from the east exit. The page points to Animate’s tax-free guidance, mentions Alipay and WeChat Pay, and asks visitors to use public transport, citing pedestrian priority in Toshima.

Sunshine City’s English site lists an aquarium, an observatory, a planetarium, NAMJATOWN, the Bandai Namco Cross Store Tokyo, a Crayon Shinchan official store and Sanrio Cafe. Its home page gives no opening hours or tax-free handling.

Pokemon Center Mega Tokyo is on the second floor of Sunshine City’s Alpa building. Its official store page lists 10:00 to 20:00 daily, warns that hours can change and that temporary closures happen, and states no entry method. The nearest stations are Higashi-Ikebukuro on the Yurakucho Line (about 3 minutes on foot) and Ikebukuro (about 8 minutes).

Otome Road, the street of shops between Animate and K-Books Cosplay Store, has no single operator, so hours vary by shop, according to secondary listings. See Anime venues in Tokyo for the brand stores and museums.

Nakano Broadway is a building, not a street, with about 207 stores from the basement to the fourth floor plus the Petit Paris section. It opened in 1966 as a commercial and residential complex, and its own site says it became a “subculture sacred ground” after 1991.

Mandarake opened in Nakano Broadway in 1980 as a manga bookstore, per the building’s site. Its Nakano listing gives 12:00 to 20:00 daily all year, with buyback reception until 19:30. The building’s official pages give no opening hours or closed day. Secondary listings put shop hours at about 11:00 to 20:00, varying by shop, and say many shops close on Wednesdays. Check the shop you want.

The building is a 5 minute walk from the north exit of Nakano station, on the JR and Tozai lines, and has no parking. Floor-by-floor details are in Nakano Broadway and Mandarake.

Six places in the table cost nothing to enter.

Suginami Animation Museum is on the third floor of Suginami Kaikan. It is open 10:00 to 18:00, with last entry at 17:30. It closes on Mondays (the next day if Monday is a holiday), over year-end and New Year, and occasionally for temporary reasons. GO TOKYO lists it among five English-friendly anime and manga museums.

Toei Animation Museum in Oizumi closes every Wednesday plus irregular days, so use its opening calendar. A 2019 Toei release says admission is free, and the guide page states no fee. Current hours are unclear right now; the last known hours (2019 release) were 10:00 to 17:00 with last entry at 16:30. Photos and video are allowed only in designated areas, with no tripod, monopod or selfie stick and no live streaming.

The Gundam Base Tokyo is on the seventh floor of DiverCity Tokyo Plaza in Odaiba, with an Annex on the second floor. It lists 10:00 to 21:00 following the plaza, and entry limits or numbered tickets may apply when it is busy. The site mentions a changed advance lottery without giving details. The Gundam Factory Yokohama closed on 31 March 2024, per news reports (secondary), so the Tokyo base is the one to plan around.

Tokyo Anime Center is in DNP Plaza Shibuya, inside Shibuya MODI, not at its old Akihabara UDX site. Its About page gives 11:00 to 19:00 and says hours vary by project, while Tokyo’s tourism page gives 11:00 to 20:00. Tickets are timed per exhibit.

The Kyoto International Manga Museum charges admission: an adult ticket costs $8 (¥1,200). It is open 10:00 to 17:00, with last entry at 16:30, and closes every Wednesday. It holds about 50,000 books on its Manga Wall. The other museums are compared in Manga museums in Japan.

Arcade rules come down to manners, tokens and age limits, and Taito Station publishes them. Its English site lists these:

• Do not block walkways or disturb other players. Playing several machines at once is considered impolite. Keep your belongings with you.
• Alcohol is not allowed.
• Photos to share are welcome, but photos that include other people are not allowed.
• Pay with coins from a change machine, with e-money (some stores excluded), or by exchanging a card for tokens at the counter (some stores excluded).
• Tokens stay in the store where you bought them. They cannot be transferred, traded, redeemed or refunded.
• Entry for under-age players is restricted during set hours under Japanese rules, staff may ask for ID or a passport, and guardians must stay with children. Details vary by prefecture.

Taito’s page gives no cost per play, and the Sega GiGO home page states no price, photo or age rules. Visitor guides (secondary) add three claw machine habits: do not shake the machine, expect some venues to rotate players, and ask staff for help with placement. The full set is in Arcades and gachapon.

Nipponbashi, known as Den Den Town, is Osaka’s electronics district turned anime, manga and game area, per secondary listings. OSAKA-INFO publishes a guide to Nipponbashi Otaro Road, described in its Japanese pages as West Japan’s largest anime and pop-culture hub.

Secondary listings place the district between Ebisucho and Nipponbashi stations, name Mandarake, Super Potato and Tora no Ana among its shops, and say hours vary by shop. The district association’s site and OSAKA-INFO’s English Den Den Town pages did not load, so no shop hours or tax-free rules are given.

Venues and events set cosplay rules in Japan. No street rule naming cosplay was found from Chiyoda Ward or the Akihabara association: the ward’s living environment ordinance targets litter, smoking and touting, and the pedestrian-paradise ban on performing applies on closed-road days.

Events publish clear rules. The Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay Festival’s 2026 rules say to change only in the venue’s rooms, not to enter or leave in costume, to ask consent before photos, and to bring no alcohol and no live streaming. Face-covering masks are allowed only in photo areas, and some stores refuse cosplayers.

Comiket’s cosplay page for Comiket 107 asks you to change in the cosplay changing rooms, never in a toilet, and not to arrive or leave in costume. The first changing-room entry each day costs $3 (¥500). Real or replica weapons are banned. See Comiket for tourists for the details.

Three events have confirmed dates between December 2026 and March 2027.

• Jump Festa 2027 runs on 19 and 20 December 2026 at Makuhari Messe, 9:00 to 17:00. Entry is free but by application or invitation, and everyone of elementary school age or older needs an e-ticket in the Jump NAVI app, which is in Japanese. The official page has no overseas visitor guidance.
• Comiket 109 runs on 29 to 31 December 2026 at Tokyo Big Sight. Its ticket system is not announced yet. Comiket 110 follows on 14 and 15 August 2027.
• AnimeJapan 2027 runs on 27 and 28 March 2027 at INTEX Osaka, its first time outside Tokyo. Some secondary sources give 26 to 28 March. Ticket details are not confirmed.

Tax-free shopping becomes pay-then-refund on 1 November 2026. Until 31 October the tax comes off at the till. From 1 November you pay the price with 10% tax and claim the tax back at the airport. This summary rests on the official tax-free leaflet and on secondary guides that agree with it, so confirm the details at the shop and at the airport.

• Figures, manga and other goods are general goods under the same rules.
• Show the goods to customs at the airport before check-in and security, or use Visit Japan Web at the seven airports that support it.
• Leave within 90 days of the purchase date, and carry all the items out.
• Customs checks per receipt, and anything consumed in Japan gets no refund.
• Secondary guides put the minimum at $32 (¥5,000) before tax per shop per day. The official leaflet gives no figure.
• Used goods are generally eligible under national rules, but each shop needs a tax-free licence. Ask at the counter before you pay.

Pick the guide for the part of your trip you are planning:

• Ghibli Museum and Park tickets for sale dates and prices.
• Akihabara for first-timers and Nakano Broadway and Mandarake for shopping routes.
• Anime districts in Tokyo and Anime venues in Tokyo for districts and brand stores.
• Arcades and gachapon, Maid cafe guide and Manga shopping for the rules and prices.
• Comiket for tourists and Manga museums in Japan for events and museums.
• Anime locations by city and Anime pilgrimage etiquette for the real locations.

The full list of guides is on the Anime and manga hub.