Melonbooks Akihabara 1st Store

What it is

Melonbooks Akihabara 1st Store is the flagship Akihabara branch of Melonbooks, one of Japan's major doujinshi (self-published manga, novels and games) retail chains, tucked in the basement of the Hirose Building about two minutes from Akihabara Station's Electric Town Exit (north side). Alongside doujin work it stocks character goods, art books and some indie/commercial titles, with new releases from convention-popular circles restocked frequently. Credit cards are accepted in-store.

Good to know

As at other Melonbooks stores, general-audience and adult (R18) doujinshi are shelved in physically separate sections, with age-verification signage around the R18 area — worth knowing if you're browsing with minors. Melonbooks does not ship internationally from its own online store; overseas buyers typically go through a Japan-based forwarding/proxy service (e.g. Tenso, Buyee, ZenMarket) to receive orders. Note there's also a separate, nearby "store pickup" counter (秋葉原店舗受取館) for reserved online orders, and Melonbooks occasionally opens a temporary "2nd store" in the same area during major conventions like Comiket — neither is a walk-in browsing shop in the way the 1st Store is, so don't count on them for casual shopping.