Anime districts in Tokyo: what each one lists, and the rules

Akihabara holds a gachapon hall, maid cafes and Mandarake Complex, and its published rules are about the street. 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. The ban applies to anyone on the street, so plan to browse, not to perform or sell. A secondary guide gives the closure as Sundays from 13:00 to 18:00, or to 17:00 from October to March. Check the association’s calendar for the date you want.

Two other local measures matter to visitors:

• The Akihabara Agreement of 2010. A voluntary local rule that includes a ban on illegal street selling, per Chiyoda Ward’s page.
• The anti-touting ordinance. Chiyoda Ward reports patrols from 2019. Its focus is adult-service touting, not maid or cosplay cafes, per the ward’s touting page.

Gachapon Kaikan, on Sotokanda, is a hall of capsule-toy machines. A secondary listing gives about 500 machines and about 50 new titles a month. The hall’s own page could not be reached on the latest check; its last known hours are in Arcades and gachapon.

Maidreamin’s English site lists seven locations in Akihabara and a branch in Ikebukuro, and the cafe rules are in Maid cafes. News reports (secondary) describe cafes that overcharged visitors who followed street invitations.

Mandarake’s own pages for its Akihabara store, Mandarake Complex, returned errors, so its hours and floors are not given here.

Ikebukuro is anchored by Animate’s main store and Sunshine City. Animate Ikebukuro Main Store lists 10:00 to 21:00 on its official page, which does not split weekdays from weekends. It is at 1-20-7 Higashi-Ikebukuro, five minutes from the east exit. The page links 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, and has a feature on character shops. Its home page gives no opening hours.

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 and warns that hours can change and temporary closures happen. The page states no entry method. The nearest stations are Higashi-Ikebukuro on the Yurakucho Line, about 3 minutes on foot, and Ikebukuro, about 8 minutes. Its details are in Anime venues in Tokyo.

Otome Road, the shop street near Animate, appears only in secondary listings and has no single operator, so no hours are given.

Nakano Broadway is one building, not a street, and its own site is the official source because no area association page was found. The site says it opened in 1966 as a commercial and residential complex and became a centre of subculture after 1991. It mixes old neighbourhood shops with niche hobby stores, and newer bitcoin and 3D-printing shops.

The site counts about 207 stores from the basement to the fourth floor, plus the Petit Paris section. It is at 5-52-15 Nakano, a 5 minute walk from the north exit of Nakano station on the JR and Tozai lines. There is no parking.

Mandarake opened in Nakano Broadway in 1980 as a manga bookstore, per the building’s site. Mandarake’s Nakano listing gives 12:00 to 20:00 daily all year, with buyback reception until 19:30. That listing was read in an excerpt of the official page, because the page itself returned an error. The building’s pages give no opening hours or closed day, so check the shop you want. Floor-by-floor detail is in Nakano Broadway and Mandarake.

From 1 November 2026, tax-free shopping is a refund. You pay the price with 10% tax, then show the goods to customs at the airport before security, within 90 days, according to the official leaflet from the Japan Tourism Agency, MLIT, the National Tax Agency and Customs. Figures and manga are ordinary goods under the same rules.

A minimum spend per shop appears in secondary guides but not in the leaflet. Ask at the counter before you buy. The rules for shopping are in Manga shopping.

Before you go On Akihabara’s closed-street days, browse; do not perform or sell. Decline invitations from the street and ask for a price list before you sit in any cafe.

To verify Secondary listings report that many Nakano Broadway shops close on Wednesdays. No official page confirms it, so check the shop you want.

Read Anime locations by city for pilgrimage spots and Anime venues in Tokyo for the brand stores and museums. The hub is the Anime and manga hub.