Detective Conan's real-world town is Hokuei, Tottori, Gosho Aoyama's hometown: walk the 1.4 km Conan Street of statues from JR Yura (Conan Station) to the Gosho Aoyama Manga Factory, ¥700 for adults (¥100 off with a passport). Its current building closes on 11 January 2027 ahead of a new museum in spring 2027 — checked 2026-10-03.
Yuru Camp△ is set around Minobu in southern Yamanashi: visit Lake Motosu's Koan Campsite and the Nakanokura Pass banknote view from episode 1, the closed school behind Motosu High School and the Minobu Line towns. Koan and Fumotoppara (in Shizuoka) are booking-only campsites, and the school grounds open only on event days — checked 2026-10-03.
Sanrio Puroland needs both a date-priced passport (gate Day Passport ¥3,900–¥6,900 for adults, as of 2026-09-25) and a visit reservation. The official e-Passport covers both for ¥100 less, and the park is about 30 minutes from Shinjuku by Keio Line.
Tokyo has five official ONE PIECE Mugiwara Stores. The flagship is on MAGNET by SHIBUYA109 6F at Shibuya Crossing (10:00–21:00, tax-free counter in the building); the others are in Ikebukuro, Odaiba, Tokyo Station and Harajuku. No reservation needed.
Kirby Café Tokyo (Solamachi 4F, 10:00–22:00) is still open, but since August 2026 you need a phone-verified account on the official site to book. Walk-ins only if seats are free; the goods shop next door needs no booking.
The Fujiko·F·Fujio (Doraemon) Museum sells no tickets at the door: buy a date-and-time ticket (¥1,000 adults) on the official e-tix site, which has an English version, where sales open at 10:00 JST on the 5th and 20th of each month. It is closed on Tuesdays and is a 9-minute shuttle ride from Noborito Station.
Four Akihabara maid cafés compared on what you actually pay, how long you can stay, English support, photo rules and opening hours: @home cafe (¥850 admission + one drink), Maidreamin (¥880 per hour + order), Cure Maid Café and Cafe Mai:lish (no seat charge posted). All figures from each café's official site, checked 2026-09-23.
AGF 2026 runs November 7–8, 2026 at Sunshine City, Ikebukuro. Tickets are Fast ¥3,000, General ¥1,800, Afternoon ¥1,000 and Evening ¥800 (tax incl.); the General lottery closes September 24, 23:59 JST. What overseas visitors need for face-ID e-tickets, the passport rule, the no-account Evening ticket and the free stages — checked against official sources.
EVANGELION STORE TOKYO-01 is the official Evangelion flagship store on 6F of the Ikebukuro PARCO main building, a 1-minute walk from Ikebukuro Station's East Exit, open 11:00–21:00 and tax-free. It moved from P'PARCO 2F in March 2023.
New One Piece Card Game boosters at Tokyo's three official shops (Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, Shibuya) are lottery-only, with an ID check and one checkout per person per day. Addresses, hours, the 1-box limit, card shops for singles in Akihabara and Ikebukuro, and the Japanese-card region rule, checked 2026-09-23.
Pokémon Center TOKYO DX is on 5F of the Nihombashi Takashimaya S.C. East Building, open 10:30–21:00 daily, direct from Nihombashi Station exit B2, tax-free in-store, with the reservation-only Pokémon Cafe TOKYO on the same floor.
Grand Blue's everyday setting is Kawana in Ito, Shizuoka — an 88 Anime Spots 2026 pick. The five real places from the anime, the 370-yen Izukyu fare from Ito Station, Rakumiya Marugen's hours (no reservations, 32 seats) and where to try-dive, all from official sources with check dates.
Amanchu! is set in Ito City, Shizuoka. What is still officially verifiable is two Tokai Bus wrapping buses (no fixed timetable) and three named partner companies. The Ito / Izu-Kogen 2-Day pass is 1,800 yen and rises to 2,150 yen for passes sold from 1 October 2026. Station fares and Marine Town's real numbers, each with the date we checked.
Osaka's otaku district is a single walkable strip, so one day genuinely covers it. Open early at Joshin and Surugaya (10:00), hit Mandarake and Volks from 12:00, and finish on Otaroad — all between Ebisucho and Namba.
Start late. Otome Road's secondhand shops open at 12:00, so an 11:00 start at animate and a midday sweep of K-BOOKS, Mandarake LaLaLa and Lashinbang fits a full day into one walkable loop from Ikebukuro's East Exit.
You cannot travel to a Japanese event in costume. Change in the designated changing room (Comiket C108: ¥500 per day, last entry 15:30), never in a toilet, and get each cosplayer's permission before any photo. Checked on the official Comiket page, 2026-10-11.
There is no free walk-in entry any more — Comiket runs on paid wristband admission, and most types must be bought in advance. Queueing overnight is banned, changing in toilets is banned, and arriving in costume is banned.
Gachapon Kaikan in Akihabara is the highest-density stop with around 500 machines. Bring ¥100 coins — most machines take coins only, most don't give change, and you cannot choose which figure you get.
Super Potato, Surugaya, Trader and Mandarake cover the whole retro market between them. Before you spend anything, settle the compatibility question: a Japanese Famicom cartridge will not fit an American NES, and a Super Famicom cartridge will not fit a US SNES.
Outside Comiket, doujinshi is a year-round shop purchase: Melonbooks and Toranoana for new, Mandarake and Lashinbang for out-of-print. The two things that catch foreign buyers out are the R18 age check and the fact that most doujin shops won't ship abroad.
Decide new or secondhand first — it changes which street you walk down. New (AmiAmi, Kotobukiya, Tamashii Nations) clusters around Akihabara's Radio Kaikan; secondhand (Mandarake, Surugaya, Lashinbang) is where rare and out-of-print kits actually live.
2.5D musicals are live stage adaptations of anime, manga and games (Tenimyu, Sailor Moon, Haikyu!!, Touken Ranbu). Tokyo runs are almost always Japanese-only, sold through Japanese-only ticket sites, and strictly no-photo — here's an honest guide to what to expect and where to see one.
For BL specifically, everything worth checking sits on Ikebukuro's Otome Road: animate's 3rd floor for new manga, K-BOOKS Otome-kan for goods, and Lashinbang or Mandarake LaLaLa for secondhand doujinshi.
Toranoana's Ikebukuro Store B is one of the shops that defines Otome Road — a women-oriented 7th-floor doujinshi and BL/otome goods floor near Ikebukuro Station.
