Neighbourhood in Chiyoda
Akihabara
秋葉原
Tokyo's Electric Town: the centre of anime, manga and game shopping, with electronics stores, arcades, maid cafes and the old Kanda Myojin shrine nearby.
- places to see
- 4
- walk past the highlights
- 0.6 km
- Tokyo
- Chiyoda
Photo: ElHeineken (opens in a new tab), CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab), from Wikimedia Commons
Akihabara made its name selling radios and electronics after the war, then switched to computers, and from there to anime, manga and video games. Today it is a major shopping district for all of them, with multi-storey stores, used and retro game shops, capsule toy halls and big arcades.
Maid cafes advertise on almost every corner. A few minutes' walk away, Kanda Myojin and the Yushima Seido give you a different, much older Tokyo. The area sits in Chiyoda ward; see our Chiyoda guide for the Imperial Palace and Tokyo Station side.
Don't miss in Akihabara
Start with these, then wander the side streets.
1. Kanda Myojin Shrine
神田明神A 1,300-year-old shrine with a modern fan base: anime-themed charms and votive plaques. Ten minutes' walk from the station.
2. Yushima Seido
湯島聖堂Calm Confucian temple with black wooden halls, just across the river from Akihabara's noise.
3. Holy Resurrection Cathedral (Nikolai-do)
ニコライ堂Green-domed Orthodox cathedral near Ochanomizu, open to visitors at set hours.
Walk Akihabara in order
The highlights as one easy walk, about 0.6 km in all.
Stop 1
Kanda Myojin Shrine
Start here
Stop 2
Yushima Seido
3 min walk
Stop 3
Holy Resurrection Cathedral (Nikolai-do)
6 min walk
More around Akihabara
Other places within walking distance. Each shows its Japanese name for maps and taxis.
Kobu Inari Shrine
講武稲荷神社A Shinto shrine in Tokyo, Japan.
Akihabara on the map
Every place on this page. Tap a pin for directions.
Questions
Is Akihabara still good for electronics?
Yes, the large stores still sell cameras, computers and parts, but most of the area now focuses on anime, manga, figures and games.
How do I get to Akihabara?
Akihabara Station is on the JR Yamanote, Keihin-Tohoku and Sobu lines and the Hibiya subway line, two stops from Tokyo Station.
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.
More areas in Tokyo
- MarunouchiThe business district between Tokyo Station and the Imperial Palace, with the red-brick station, palace gardens and a tree-lined street of shops.
- NihonbashiTokyo's old merchant quarter around the bridge where the Edo-period highways began, with Japan's first department store and long-running shops.
- UenoTokyo's museum quarter around Ueno Park, with national museums, the zoo, temples, a lotus pond and the Ameyoko market street by the station.
- RyogokuThe home of professional sumo, with the national sumo arena, training stables and chanko nabe restaurants on the east bank of the Sumida River.
- AsakusaOld Tokyo around Senso-ji temple, with the Kaminarimon gate, the Nakamise shopping street and the Sumida River on its east side.
- YanakaOne of the few corners of Tokyo where the old low-city atmosphere survives: temples, wooden houses, small shops and a large, leafy cemetery.
- KagurazakaA sloping street from Iidabashi with stone-paved back lanes from its geisha days, old shrines and Tokyo's biggest cluster of French bakeries and bistros.
- GinzaTokyo's classic upmarket shopping district, with department stores, flagship boutiques, the Kabuki-za theatre and a main street that closes to cars at weekends.
