Is AKIHABARA still worth going to? ✨✨✨ Tokyo, Japan 2025

Is AKIHABARA still worth going to? ✨✨✨ Tokyo, Japan 2025

Today we’re in Akihabara, the centre of anime, manga, games, electronics, and arcades in Tokyo. It’s been quite a while since I’ve been here. So today we’re going to come back and see what has changed and what’s new these days. Sometimes people say that Akihabara is now full of tourists and it’s too crowded and there’s nothing good in the shops anymore. So we’re going to see if it’s still worth coming here. If you like anime, Ikebukuro is now a really good place to go. There’s also Nakano Broadway and all the anime shops in other cities around Japan. So we’re going to see if Akihabara is still worth it. This Namco arcade on the corner. Last time I was here, it was like the day before it opened and it was all boarded up still, although that was a couple of years ago now, so it’s not really that new. The times I’ve stood here to make videos…! There’s a whole Akihabara playlist on my channel. Here’s a floor guide:, arcade video games, claw machines, claw machines, music video games, capsule toys and trading card games. I love these characters from Taiko no Tatsujin We’re going to try and win, but I don’t fancy our chances. I think in Akihabara they make the crane games extra hard. What colour do you want? The blue one. Blue I thought you wanted the yellow. Actually the other faces are nicer aren’t they? Which one do you want? We’rve got… counting down… Oh, yeah. Go yellow then. Yellow. Oh. Not a chance. No chance. It’s a very fast claw on this one. Super fast. Gets you through your Yen, doesn’t it?! Right. I’ve seen how this works. Now, what we want is to be a bit more like that… Maybe. Oh, yeah. I don’t think it’s going to pick it up. Oh. Oh, here we go. Oh, well done Phil! There you go. So cute. This is quite nicely decorated, isn’t it? Colourful. Yeah. Every single machine on this level is this Gundam game or another Gundam game. If you like Gundam games, this is the place to come. Let’s check out Radio. Kaikan. This shop’s got a lot of floors. It’s always worth going upstairs. People rent a cabinet to sell anything they like secondhand, but it’s in excellent condition. You can see a lot of items to have boxes, but otherwise they’re in good condition usually. Let’s have a look. Some Attack on Titan there. If you want to buy something, you make a note of the number on the cabinet and there’s slips you can fill in and you take them over to the counter and they’ll come and get them out for you. Here’s my favourite : K-On! I’ve got that windmill figure. I didn’t pay ¥19,800 for it at the time, though. I’ve got that Yui as well. ¥8,800. Lots of the shops in Akihabara are quite cramped. If you’re expecting fancy stores with flashy displays, you might be disappointed. But if you want a lot of anime figures to hunt through, you’ve come to the right place. There are more spacious, shinier anime merch shops in Ikebukuro, but Akihabara is the original. There used to be a lot more of those shops with the glass cabinets. Last time I came here, there weren’t as many in Akihabara. If you like that sort of thing, there are lots of them in Nakano Broadway, and there’s videos about that on my channel too. Right now it’s 2pm on a Monday and it is quite busy. I don’t know if it really feels any busier than it ever is in Akihabara, but we haven’t hit the main street yet, so I’ll report back. Here’s the main street. It’s always been very busy along here. There are a lot of people who look like foreign tourists going around, but I think that has always been the case, because if you’re if you’re going to travel to Japan, there’s a good chance you’d like anime and manga and games. And of course you’re going to come to Akihabara. If you buy too much stuff, and you need an extra suitcase, here are some – and they’re tax free. Akihabara is, of Maid Cafe. That’s a maid cafe I went to on my very first trip. That still looks pretty much the same to be honest. And there’s still several Maiddreamins in Akihabara. I saw a couple of maids on the street, but maybe not as many as they sometimes are. Maybe that’s because it’s quite early now. Let’s head into the side streets. There’s Super Potato, the retro game shop. There was another retro game shop that was really good called Friends, that’s sadly now shut down. Now that one was a lot less well known. Because Super Potato is so well known, and we’re in Akihabara, you always pay slightly more in this shop for things, then you could find them elsewhere. They’ve also got a branch in Ikebukuro It’s also always burning hot inside the shop so we’ll see how much we can take. They’ve got aircon! That’s something that’s changed! Feels so pleasant. Phil thinks the Dreamcasts seem quite expensive compared to what we remember. This is a reason to learn hiragana: so you can find the games you want. It seems a little bit more expensive than we remember in there. A lot of things that used to be under ¥1,000 are now over ¥1,000. Oh yeah. Can you see the maids in the corner with the microphone? Maid announcements! Here’s Kotobukiya. They always have pretty good quality figures. And this shop’s got multiple floors. If you want Kirby nail clippers, here’s where to get them. Ah they’ve got paints and art stuff for making models and painting figures up here. Got these guitar scissors for ¥3,850. Amazing! What’s the deal with these digital figures? It’s like a screen in a box. They have download codes. This is useful if you’ve got lots of figures. There’s boxes and stands to display them. If you have these peg stands, you know they can get loose or break. Oh yeah. So yeah: replacements. Yeah. We’ve had a few where the lugs have snapped off. One of the things about Akihabara, which has always been the case, is there’s basically nowhere to sit down if you just want to take a rest. It can get a bit much when you’re looking around the shops and you just want to chill for a minute, there isn’t really a park around here and there aren’t any benches, unfortunately. I really wish there were. So if you want to sit down, you have to go into a cafe or a restaurant, really. That’s nice.: You’ve got Lego sets, Animal Crossing and then guns. All hobbies are catered for. Look: Pikachu on the vending machine. So cute! These side streets are a lot quieter. This one runs parallel to the main street, but there aren’t so many shops on them either. We’re headed into Hard Off, which sells second hand hardware. This one’s got some musical instruments and some junk. Yeah, our favourite part: junk corner. There’s another one. Oh, we’ll hit that next! It says “Junk Corner”. This is classic junk corner. Just boxes of bits! This ramen shop’s called Kyushu Jangara. I’ve been to their branch in Ginza before. They have a vegetarian option and it’s really good actually. I like their nice, colourful graphics. Should we go there or the snowy fairyland? If you want to find this street, there’s Don Quihote up there. Here’s another Hard Off and Hobby Off. It’s just down the street from the other one. They’ve got trading cards, figures, toys, model railroad trains, plastic models and model cars. Oh, wow. If you need any extra bits of track, they’re out here. Some of these are really cheap. ¥550. 880 yen… Oh, she’s got a lemon as a stand. That’s cool. They’ve got trombones. That’s my trombone. ¥55,000. Part of Doctor Yellow. Aww Sumikko!! That’s my mind. Thinking about stationery. Fluffy Puffy. This is like the one that Phil won for me from a UFO catcher before. They’ve got flock plush finish. Just here in the side streets, There’s this little shop with vending machines where you can get Pokemon cards one play ¥500, ¥2000 or ¥1000. There’s these ones as well. Is this just the more modern version? Ah, One Piece card game. It says vending machine shop., But what’s in the vending machines? Oh. Trading cards. Okayy. This shop really stands out in yellow. How many will you buy? Press the red button. Do you think it always lands on six?! Five. And you can change your money here if you spend all your money on trading cards. This shop looks too shiny for Akihabara. It doesn’t seem to fit in. It looks very new and kind of cleaner. More stylish than most of the shops here. I wonder if you’ll see more shops like that as time goes on. Here’s a gachapon store. This was open long before all the newer gachaapon stores opened, which are much bigger. So this one seems kind of small and old now, but it is one of the originals. These are cool: Sumikko Gurashi lanterns. I bet they light up too, And there’s Sumikko Gurashi clocks. Sanrio butt rings! These are like, plastic models, arranged with Sanrio characters. Little Pompom Purin pouches! Pom pom pouches. There’s series two of Phil’s Pioneer DJ set. Are you going to collect them all? I was tempted, but not this time. Too many of the old ones and my desk is way too cluttered, but I do like that: Tokyo Metro light up mascots. They are cool. Switches for no reason. And UFO catcher rings. They’d look good if they’re hung up A little Mount Fuji pouch. You could keep your ¥100 coins in that. I still really like the Delivery Zoo. Phil got one of these the other day. He got the elephant one. The shark is the best one. Do I get another one…? I’m going to get another one. Oh – well – I’ll see if there’s a change machine. This one, you get a whole little game. That’s pretty good. And this one’s not bad for ¥300. Oh it’s melted ice cream. That’s a bit like that t shirt I designed when I first started Cakes with Faces. Going for the Delivery Zoo. Which one do we get this time? We want the shark or the other one. Orange. I don’t I really don’t think they’re colour coded. Some are. Some definitely are. Definitely with the pioneer ones I had that were. Oh, the rabbit. Oh I didn’t see that one. Yeah. The rabbit present box. Oh I forgot that they were, yeah, stickers you put on yourself. Self-assembly. Yes. It’s quite cute. The first time I came to Japan. And in fact, the first couple of times, going to Akihabara was such an exciting thing. And it was one of my most wanted places to go. In fact, on our first trip, we spent a whole day looking round and we couldn’t believe how much there is here. And then I think we came back on another day as well to clean up all the things you wanted to buy. Now, I don’t always come to Akihabara when we come to Japan, and we spent a few hours looking round today, I think it’s because I’m not so much into buying anime figures anymore. We’ve got quite a lot of them at home, so I got a bit pickier over time, but it is still a good place to come and these days I think it’s still worth visiting. It’s still the original centre of anime in Japan, although I think the balance has changed slightly now. Ikebukuro is a very up and coming place. It’s got the world’s largest anime store and lots of other places to go, which have quite a different vibe from Akihabara. So now you’ve got two destinations and you might find that you prefer one or the other. Ikebukuro is sort of a bit cleaner, and Akihabara is, the shops are kind of older. They don’t feel as shiny as Ikebukuro but it’s kind of hectic. You’ve got anime music blaring everywhere, so many little shops. The shops are quite cramped. It can be quite overwhelming as well. But it’s also exciting, especially to start with. But it can be kind of overwhelming and tiring as the day goes on, especially as there’s nowhere to sit down. I don’t want to sound down about it! What I mean is you need to be ready for it. It’s an exciting place to go, but it is full on and quite overwhelming. You can tell there’s nowhere to sit down because there’s so many people crouched along the side of the road here, sitting on the little barriers. Here’s Animate. But the world’s largest one is over in Ikebukuro, it’s not this one. But that doesn’t mean this one isn’t worth looking at. We have noticed prices have gone up slightly, which you do expect over the years. Everything’s got more expensive, but it’s still not too bad. Probably less than you’d pay overseas with import charges and everything. Although if you’re someone who knows where to go to get your figures and knows where to shop around, maybe you won’t be so excited by the bargains here. But the fact that you can see everything and shop around does make it an exciting shopping experience. There’s something about being able to see things in a shop rather than shopping on the screen. That is kind of exciting. You want the fake food? It’s fake Coco, Ames. Oh, it is Coco Curry! Oh wow! Now the problem is… Ah no, I might be able to get it. Which one you aiming for? The katsu with the yasai (vegetables). My order!
It is! No point getting an omurice or anything, is there?! I think this is going to be tricky because it is quite far back, isn’t it? It was a good aim Oh, it’s so close. But now. …actually it might be difficult.. Is it harder or easier to grab now? I think it’s going to be harder. You might be able to. That’s not good. I think I screwed it now. Oh well, I tried. This machine is for if you win a big plushie and you need to fit it in your suitcase, you can close it in here and it sucks all the air out so it takes up less space in your bag. It feels like there are more UFO capture prize games in the arcades now. And fewer actual game-y games. There still are some but I think there’s more UFO catches, which makes sense as tourists are more likely to play them than games. Look, it’s the onigiri rings! The capsules look really cool. These Gigo arcades where the Sega arcades used to be, they are pretty similar. Well, to me, I can’t really tell the difference. They’ve got the same colour scheme as well. Look at this vending machine. Would you eat a crepe from a vending machine?! Can that be very good? I can’t imagine it would be. They do have very cute macarons though. ¥500. Oh, it comes frozen!
There’s one… Someone changed their mind! Someone bought one and then didn’t even take it. I’m not trying that! Street crepe! It’s not a good idea. Walking round Akiba now, in 2025, it’s kind of hard to spot people who don’t look like they’re foreign tourists. I don’t know if it’s more crowded than it ever has been, but an important point is that I don’t think it’s been affected by that as much as somewhere like Harajuku has, because in Harajuku now it’s full of novelty snacks, and there is quite a lot of tourist tat like shops selling cheap things like Tokyo t shirts and things, and that hasn’t really happened here. Akiba still has everything that it was originally known for: all the anime stuff, the electronics, the games, the arcades. Maybe prices have got a bit higher than other places, but I think it’s still got the essence of what it originally was. Over there, across from Akihabara Station is Tamashi Nations, which is a big and very shiny shop where the Gundam store and cafe used to be, and the AKB48 cafe back in the day. And here we are back at the station. I haven’t noticed this giant animated sign inside the station before. It wraps all the way around. We’ve found the stamp at Akihabara Station. This doesn’t look very inky. This is a heavily used stamp. Oh, no, it came out well. It’s the electronics for Electric Town and then the arches where the railway goes over. I’m doing well on this Conan stamp rally. I’m just collecting them in my book. Oh, it came out well! That’s of this guy. I don’t know anything about Conan, so I don’t know who he is! Look how cute this Suica vending machine is. It’s outside the restaurant. I’m not sure why the Suica penguin’s there. I think. It’s just the menu It’s a screensaver. Yodobashi’s restaurant floor is called chomp chomp.

Akihabara’s always been the centre of anime, manga, games, arcades and electronics in Tokyo, Japan. We take a walk around to see if it’s still worth going to in 2025.

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I’ve been visiting Japan (including Akihabara!) since 2010. Like anywhere, it’s changed over the years. It’s become noticeably more popular with tourists, especially people who like anime, manga, gaming and arcades/game centres. It’s a fun place to visit, and very full-on. In the video I point out some of my favourite shops, what’s new and what’s changed, both on the main street and the backstreets, so you can decide whether it’s worth visiting. There are still lots of anime figure shops, and, while prices may be a little higher than some other areas, in my opinion it’s not a tourist trap and still a fun place to visit if you like anime and otaku goods. We also try out the UFO catchers / claw machines in the arcades – always a must-do in Japan! And there are tips and lots of interesting things we come across on our walk around Akiba!

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