Akihabara Guide 2026: Things to Do, Shops by Floor, Hours & Tax-Free

To do Akihabara well, take a JR Yamanote, Keihin-Tohoku or Sobu Line train to Akihabara Station and leave by the Electric Town exit: Akihabara Radio Kaikan's figure and card floors are right outside, and the landmark shops for retro games, secondhand anime goods, capsule toys and arcades are 2–7 minutes' walk away, according to their own access pages.

Two facts decide your timing. Leaving aside 24-hour Don Quijote, the earliest opener on this page is Yodobashi Akiba (9:30) and the latest is Mandarake Complex (12:00); most shops close at 20:00 or 21:00, while the arcades run until 23:30. And on Sundays, Chuo-dori becomes a car-free pedestrian zone: 13:00–17:00 from October to March, 13:00–18:00 from April to September (as of 2026-10-03).

This guide is built for decisions: which shop, which floor, what time. Every hour, floor and price below comes from the shop's or operator's own website and was checked on 2026-10-03 (sources at the end). For a ready-made route, use our one-day Akihabara itinerary; for every venue we cover, browse the Akihabara directory.

Akihabara in one table (as of 2026-10-03)

Getting there: lines, exits and walking times

Akihabara Station is served by five lines: the JR Yamanote, Keihin-Tohoku and Sobu lines, the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line and the Tsukuba Express (Yodobashi Akiba, which is directly connected to the station, lists all five). From Tokyo Station the ride is 3–4 minutes (3 on Radio Kaikan's access map; 4 on the JR Yamanote Line according to GO TOKYO, the city's official travel guide). From Shinjuku it is 18–20 minutes on the JR Sobu Line (GO TOKYO says 18, Radio Kaikan 20).

Leave by the Electric Town exit (電気街口, Denkigai-guchi). GiGO Building 2 and Hareruya2 both give directions from its south side. If your day is about the north end — Gachapon Kaikan or TRADER — Suehirocho Station on the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line works just as well: Gachapon Kaikan is 2 minutes from it, TRADER 3.

Walking times, as each venue states them

The map in words

Think of Akihabara as three bands. At the exit (0–3 minutes): Radio Kaikan, the Hey and GiGO arcades, Sofmap and Kotobukiya; Super Potato (1-11-2) and @home cafe's main building (1-11-4) are in the same Sotokanda 1-chome blocks. Chuo-dori: the main avenue, closed to cars on Sunday afternoons for about 570 m between the Mansei-bashi and Sotokanda 5-chome intersections; Volks Hobby Tengoku 2 stands on it. Sotokanda 3-chome, where the stated walks run 4–7 minutes: Mandarake Complex and Complex 2, Surugaya and Gachapon Kaikan (which is nearer to Suehirocho than to JR); Maidreamin's Head Store (3-16-17) is in the same 3-chome. Yodobashi Akiba is the exception: it is attached to the station itself, so it works as a first or last stop.

The landmark buildings, floor by floor

Akihabara Radio Kaikan: the one-stop tower

The building's floor guide lists 32 shops from B1F to 9F, plus an event space on 10F. Building hours are 10:00–20:00, but each shop keeps its own (AmiAmi opens at 11:00; the Ginza Lion beer hall on B1F runs until 22:30 on weekdays), and the building posts tenant closures and hour changes on its notices page — in the week we checked, a 5F shop and BIG MAGIC on 9F both had notices up.

• 1F–2F: card shops (Mach, Fukufuku Toreca, Hobby Station and others) and a gift shop
• 3F: K-BOOKS
• 4F: AmiAmi — figures, character goods, plastic models and trading cards; 11:00–20:00, no closing days
• 5F: hobby and figure shops including Kaiyodo Hobby Lobby Tokyo, Lashinbang and Uchusen
• 6F: Yellow Submarine
• 7F: dolls (Azone Label Shop, DOLK), Jungle and Toreca Park
• 8F: Volks Doll Point and Hobby Square
• 9F: card shops Card Labo, BIG MAGIC and Full Comp
• 10F: event space

Mandarake Complex (and the new Complex 2)

Mandarake is where Akihabara's secondhand hunting gets serious: vintage manga and magazines, doujinshi, toys, figures and dolls. Its own floor blogs show books on 3F (including vintage), doujinshi for male readers and CDs on 4F, BL, shōjo manga, women's doujinshi, dolls and male-idol goods on 5F, toys on 6F, tokusatsu and vintage Chōgōkin on 7F, and bishōjo and robot figures on 8F. Hours are 12:00–20:00 every day; the buyback desk accepts items until 19:30.

Mandarake also runs Complex 2 at 3-12-2 Sotokanda, with the same hours; it held first-anniversary sales events in late August and early September 2026. Buybacks for both buildings are handled at Complex. The store page has an English version, with an English-language email address for orders.

Super Potato: retro games on three floors

Super Potato occupies 3F–5F of the Kitabayashi Building (1-11-2 Sotokanda) and is open 11:00–20:00 every day. The shop bills its retro-game stock as Japan's No. 1; its own list runs from Famicom, Super Famicom and Mega Drive to PC Engine, Neo Geo, 3DO and MSX, plus strategy guides, game soundtracks, dagashi (old-school Japanese candy) and character goods. On 5F there is a retro game centre of old cabinets and a rest area.

For a wider hunt, TRADER's main store (4-2-1 Sotokanda, 11:00–20:00 daily) sorts used games by platform on 1F–2F, with retro games on 2F, and figures by genre on 3F–5F. More shops: where to buy retro games in Tokyo.

animate Akihabara: renewed in August 2026

animate finished a renovation and reopened "in its complete form" on 8 August 2026, across three buildings at 4-3-1 Sotokanda:

• Building 1: audio-visual and games on B1F; T-shirts, new releases and a Good Smile Company corner on 1F; character goods on 2F (Jump titles such as My Hero Academia, Haikyu!!, Jujutsu Kaisen, Demon Slayer and One Piece), 3F (Gintama, Spy×Family, Chiikawa, Sanrio), 4F (Blue Lock, Detective Conan, Bungo Stray Dogs), 5F (Attack on Titan, The Apothecary Diaries and more) and 6F (Nijisanji and hololive VTubers, Love Live!, BanG Dream!); event space on 7F
• Building 2: manga, novels, art books and magazines on 1F–5F, with a Square Enix corner on 2F
• ANNEX: the POP @P CAPSULE capsule-toy floor on B1F–1F; game-character goods on 2F–3F (Ensemble Stars!!, Genshin Impact, Project Sekai, Nintendo, THE IDOLM@STER, Persona and more); official shops and events on 4F–7F; and Animate Cafe Gratte on the UDX side of 1F

Buildings 1 and 2 open 10:00–21:00 every day; the ANNEX opens 10:00–21:00 on weekdays and 10:00–20:00 on weekends and holidays. animate's store page lists major credit cards (including UnionPay and Discover), QR payments such as PayPay, Alipay and WeChat Pay, transit IC cards, and tax-free service.

Kotobukiya Akihabara: kits, official shops and VTubers

Kotobukiya's own Akihabara store (1-8-8 Sotokanda, 3 minutes from JR Akihabara) is open 11:00–20:00 every day:

• 1F: official shops for Monster Hunter (Hunter's Shop) and Kyoto Animation (KyoAni Shop), plus goods from THE IDOLM@STER, Atlus, Ghibli, Genshin Impact, Square Enix, Nintendo, Blue Archive, FromSoftware, Wuthering Waves and more
• 2F: Kotobukiya's own kits and figures — Frame Arms Girl, Megami Device, HMM Zoids, M.S.G parts — plus tools and materials
• 3F–4F (VstoreAKIBA): official VTuber shops for Nijisanji, REJECT, VSPO!, Aogiri High School and Suou Patra, plus Kotobukiya's hololive shop and other VTuber goods
• 5F: Kotobukiya Base Akiba, an event space you can enter only during events

The store page lists major credit cards, QR payments (PayPay, Alipay, WeChat Pay and others) and Suica/PASMO. For more VTuber shopping, see VTuber merch in Tokyo.

Yodobashi Akiba and Sofmap AKIBA Amusement-kan

Yodobashi Akiba (1-1 Kanda-Hanaokacho) is directly connected to Akihabara Station. Yodobashi Camera fills 1F–6F and is open 9:30–22:00; the 8F restaurant floor runs 11:00–23:00, which is useful once everything else has closed.

Sofmap AKIBA Amusement-kan (1-10-8 Sotokanda, 11:00–20:00) is a game and hobby store stacked by floor: new hobby goods and figures with a Tamashii Nations/Bandai corner on 1F, plastic models, tools and paints on 2F, new and used video games with a buyback counter on 3F, anime video and music on 5F, Animega × Sofmap anime goods and comics on 6F, the STELLAMAP Cafe on 7F and an event floor on 8F. 4F and part of 5F are adult PC games.

Trading cards: where to buy and where to play

• Pokémon: Hareruya2 Akihabara Tower (1-2-13 Sotokanda) is Pokémon TCG on every floor from B1F to 6F, with a 152-seat play space, events every day and beginner sessions where staff teach you — ask at the counter. It is open 10:00–22:00 daily, and its website has an English version. For this weekend's tournaments, see Pokémon TCG in Tokyo.
• Multi-game card shops: Radio Kaikan's 9F (Card Labo, BIG MAGIC, Full Comp), 7F (Toreca Park) and 1F–2F, plus Card Rush.
• Magic: The Gathering: Hareruya.
• Secondhand cards next to everything else: Surugaya's main store (3-11-3 Sotokanda; weekdays 11:00–21:00, weekends and holidays 10:00–21:00) sells Pokémon cards old and new, One Piece and Aikatsu cards alongside figures and anime goods.

How shop tournaments work, and how to sign up without speaking Japanese: where to play card games in Tokyo.

Gachapon, claw machines and arcades

Akihabara Gachapon Kaikan (MN Building 1F, 3-15-5 Sotokanda) is a dedicated capsule-toy shop: weekdays 11:00–20:00, Sundays and holidays 11:00–19:00, 2 minutes from Suehirocho or 7 from the Electric Town exit. It posts its latest hours on X, so check there before a late visit. New since August 2026 is animate's POP @P CAPSULE floor on B1F–1F of its ANNEX. Bring ¥100 coins for capsule machines. More spots: where to find gachapon in Tokyo.

For claw machines and arcade games, three arcades near the station all open 10:00–23:30 every day:

• GiGO Akihabara Building 2 (1-15-1 Sotokanda): crane games, with a collaboration-café stand on 2F; the store lists transit IC cards, PayPay and other e-payments
• TAITO STATION Akihabara (4-2-2 Sotokanda): under the big Space Invaders sign, 3 minutes from the station
• Hey (1F–4F of the Hirose Building, 1-10-5 Sotokanda): a TAITO arcade behind a huge orange sign, 2 minutes from the Electric Town exit

For old cabinets, head up to Super Potato's 5F.

Maid cafés: cost, etiquette and street touts

Maidreamin posts its whole price system: adults pay ¥880 (tax included) per hour plus food and drink, with lower rates for over-60s, students and children, and the café puts a typical visit at about ¥1,500–¥3,500 per person (as of 2026-10-03). Payment can be cash, major credit cards or QR apps such as PayPay, WeChat Pay and Alipay. Its Head Store is on 6F of the Sumiyoshi Building (3-16-17 Sotokanda), open Monday–Friday 11:30–23:00 and Saturday, Sunday and holidays 10:30–23:00; Maidreamin lists seven Akihabara branches in all. @home cafe's main location is the Mitsuwa Building (3F–7F, 1-11-4 Sotokanda), open weekdays 11:00–22:00 and weekends and holidays 10:00–22:00.

Charges, English support and photo rules differ from café to café — compare four of them in best maid cafés in Akihabara, and read the etiquette guide and maid café photo rules before you go.

About street touts. On Akihabara's sidewalks you may be handed flyers or invited into cafés and bars. In December 2019 Chiyoda City announced trial anti-touting patrols by the local liaison council Akiba 21, Manseibashi Police Station and the city — aimed at touts for adult-type services such as girls' bars and "date clubs" rather than maid-style touts. The council's Akihabara Agreement also pledges no unauthorized flyer distribution. The simple rule: pick your café from its official website and walk in yourself; don't follow anyone to a venue you did not choose.

Idols: AKB48 Theater and live stages

The AKB48 Theater is on 8F of Don Quijote Akihabara (4-3-3 Sotokanda). How a visitor actually gets a ticket, and where else to see idols — idol bars like Dear Stage and live houses like Twin Box — is in our Akihabara idol guide. Sofmap AKIBA Amusement-kan's 8F is an event floor too; Sofmap describes it as hosting idol and gravure events.

The Sunday pedestrian zone (hokoten)

Every Sunday, Chuo-dori closes to cars between the Sotokanda 5-chome and Mansei-bashi intersections, about 570 m through the middle of the district. The Akihabara Electric Town Organization and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police give the same hours:

It can be called off for rain, storms, strong wind or a bad forecast; the police also suspended it on 28 December 2025 and 4 January 2026 over New Year. Unlike Ginza's, which also runs on Saturdays and holidays, Akihabara's is Sundays only. Inside the zone you may not sell goods, perform, play street concerts or ride a bicycle (the police ask cyclists to get off and push). Smoking on the street is banned under Chiyoda City's ordinance, so use designated smoking areas.

Money and tax-free

Cards and cash. The big shops on this page list wide payment options: animate takes major credit cards (including UnionPay and Discover), QR payments and transit IC cards; Kotobukiya and TRADER list cards, QR payments and Suica/PASMO; Maidreamin takes cash, cards and QR apps. Smaller places are less clear — Gachapon Kaikan's website lists no payment methods — so carry some yen, and ¥100 coins for capsule machines.

Tax-free shopping. Stores that offer it say so: animate's store page lists tax-free service, Don Quijote shows a TAX FREE service mark, and Volks posts a notice about tax-free service at some of its stores. Bring your actual passport.

The rules change for purchases made on or after 1 November 2026, when Japan moves to a refund method (per JNTO and the leaflet issued by the Japan Tourism Agency, METI, the National Tax Agency and Japan Customs):

1. In the shop you pay the full, tax-inclusive price, show your passport and set up how you want the refund paid (for example, to a credit card).
2. You must leave Japan with the goods within 90 days of the purchase.
3. At the airport or seaport, do the customs check at the tax-free terminal before you check in your luggage.
4. Once customs confirms the goods are leaving Japan, the consumption tax is refunded through the store.

Customs checks each receipt as a whole: if one item from a receipt is missing, nothing on that receipt is refunded. Food, drinks and cosmetics you use up in Japan don't qualify. And since 1 April 2025, goods you mail overseas yourself are not tax-free (shipping arranged directly by the store may still be). Minimum spend and the full rules are in our Japan tax-free shopping guide.

When to go

• Mornings: by 11:00 every shop in our table is open except Mandarake (12:00) and Maidreamin on weekdays (11:30). Yodobashi Akiba opens at 9:30, and Don Quijote is open 24 hours.
• Sundays: come in the afternoon for the pedestrian zone — 13:00–17:00 from October to March.
• Evenings: most shops close at 20:00 or 21:00; Hareruya2 Tower stays open until 22:00, Maidreamin and Yodobashi's 8F restaurants until 23:00, the arcades until 23:30, and Don Quijote all night.
• Before a special trip: check notices. Radio Kaikan posts tenant closures and hour changes, and Kotobukiya's stores close on announced days for stocktaking.

Half-day and full-day plans

Half day (about four hours, start at 11:00):

1. 11:00 Radio Kaikan: start with the 9F card shops and work down past Volks (8F) to the figure floors on 5F and 4F.
2. 12:00 Super Potato (3F–5F), then Kotobukiya.
3. 13:00 Mandarake Complex, open from noon: start on 8F and work down.
4. 14:30 Gachapon Kaikan, then a claw machine or two on the way back to the station.

Full day: add animate's three buildings, Hareruya2 Tower or a card-shop event, TRADER and Surugaya for used games and cards, a maid café, Kanda Myojin (7 minutes from the Electric Town exit; it is a working shrine, so keep your voice down at the main hall and follow the posted rules) and dinner on Yodobashi's 8F. On a Sunday, put Chuo-dori between 13:00 and 17:00 (October–March). The hour-by-hour version is our one-day itinerary; to combine Akihabara with Nakano Broadway or Ikebukuro, see Akihabara vs Nakano vs Ikebukuro, and for a longer trip, the 3-day Tokyo otaku itinerary.

Know before you go

• Some buildings include adult floors. Sofmap AKIBA Amusement-kan's 4F (and part of 5F) and TRADER's 6F–7F sell adult (R18) titles. Check floor guides if you are with children.
• Building hours are not shop hours. Radio Kaikan opens at 10:00, but AmiAmi inside opens at 11:00.
• Buyback counters close early: Mandarake takes items until 19:30, and Lashinbang in Akiba Cultures Zone (open 11:00–21:00) stops buying at 18:00.
• The pedestrian zone depends on the weather and runs on Sundays only; no cycling, no performing.
• Ask before taking photos inside shops and cafés; a 撮影禁止 (no photography) sign covers phones too.
• Tax-free works differently from 1 November 2026: keep every item from each receipt with you until you leave Japan, and don't use up food, drinks or cosmetics bought tax-free.
• Ignore street touts and choose venues yourself.
• Not sure what "doujinshi" or "cheki" means? See our otaku glossary.

Sources

• Akihabara Radio Kaikan — hours and access and floor guide
• Mandarake Complex (English), its floor blogs (3F books, 4F, 5F, 6F–8F toys) and Mandarake Complex 2
• Super Potato Akihabara
• animate Akihabara and floor guide
• Kotobukiya Akihabara
• Yodobashi Akiba — facility information and access
• Sofmap AKIBA Amusement-kan
• TRADER main store, Surugaya Akihabara Main Store, Volks Akihabara Hobby Tengoku 2, AmiAmi Akihabara Radio Kaikan, Lashinbang in Akiba Cultures Zone
• Hareruya2 Akihabara Tower
• GiGO Akihabara Building 2, TAITO STATION Akihabara, Hey
• Akihabara Gachapon Kaikan
• Maidreamin — price system and locations; @home cafe — locations
• AKB48 Theater; Don Quijote Akihabara
• Kanda Myojin — access
• Akihabara Electric Town Organization — pedestrian zone and Akihabara Agreement; Tokyo Metropolitan Police — pedestrian roads
• Chiyoda City — Akihabara anti-touting patrol (press release, 6 December 2019)
• JNTO — Japan's tax exemption; Japan Tourism Agency, METI, National Tax Agency and Japan Customs — refund method leaflet (PDF)
• GO TOKYO — Akihabara

Checked on 2026-10-03 against each operator's official website listed above. Hours and floor layouts change; the shops' own pages are the final word.