If anime and manga are what your trip is about, stay in Ikebukuro or Akihabara.
Stay in the town you came for, and from the moment the shops open in the morning until they close at night, the time you’d spend getting there and back becomes time to have fun. When your shopping bags get heavy, drop them off at your accommodation and head right back out.
Times, prices and opening hours can change, so before you go, check the official information listed at the end of this article (as of October 2026).
Ikebukuro or Akihabara — choose by what you love
- Goods for female fans, manga history, Pokémon → Ikebukuro: Otome Road, Animate’s main store, the Tokiwaso Manga Museum, the Pokémon Center
- Figures, cards, wandering the Electric Town → Akihabara: a different shop in every building, on every floor. On Sunday afternoons, a pedestrian zone
- An easy ride from the airport → Ikebukuro: there are airport buses to Ikebukuro from both Haneda and Narita. For Akihabara, the train is the usual way in
Both are Yamanote Line stations, about 20 minutes apart. If you can’t decide, stay in the town with the shop you most want to visit and save the other for a daytime outing — that way, you get to enjoy both.
Ikebukuro — the East Exit side is the anime town
Animate Ikebukuro Main Store is a 5-minute walk from the East Exit (東口 in Japanese) of Ikebukuro Station. It’s a big store with floor after floor of shelves packed with new releases and merch. You might look up and realize an hour has gone by. You can shop tax-free, and pay with a transit IC card or a credit card, too.
Near Sunshine 60 is a street called “Otome Road,” lined with shops selling manga and anime goods for female fans. Walk along it, and you’ll pass people who love the same things you do. Inside Sunshine City, you’ll also find Pokémon Center Mega Tokyo.
Shops are generally open from around 10:00 until around 20:00 or 21:00. End the day at the Sunshine 60 observation deck, open until 21:00 (last entry 20:00). You get to look down over the Ikebukuro streets you walked all day.
Go a little farther: the Tokiwaso Manga Museum
This Toshima City museum recreates the apartment building where famous manga artists once lived. From the East Exit of Ikebukuro Station, take the Ike 65 bus (池65 in Japanese), get off at “南長崎二丁目” (Minami-Nagasaki 2-chome), and walk about 5 minutes. From Ochiai-Minami-Nagasaki Station on the Toei Oedo Line, it’s a 5-minute walk.
Just like in an old apartment, you take off your shoes to go inside, so wear socks. Closed on Mondays (if Monday is a public holiday, it closes the next weekday instead). Reservations get priority, but if there’s room, you can go in without one. If you love manga, set aside half a day of your Ikebukuro stay for it.
Akihabara — step out of the Electric Town Exit, and you’re right there
Walk 5 minutes from the Electric Town Exit of Akihabara Station, and you’re in the middle of the Electric Town. The streets you walked by day take on a different look at night, lit up by shop signs. If a shop catches your eye, just come back for another look the next morning.
Akihabara Radio Kaikan is a building with card, hobby and figure shops on every floor. You gaze at the figures lined up in glass cases and work your way up, one floor at a time. That alone fills half a day. Step out of one building and into the next shop, and a different set of figures and cards catches your eye all over again. Animate Akihabara is in this town, too.
Kanda Myojin Shrine is a 7-minute walk from the Electric Town Exit. It makes an easy detour on your stroll around the Electric Town.
Sunday afternoons: the pedestrian zone
On Sundays, from 13:00 until evening, Chuo-dori, the main street through the Electric Town, becomes a pedestrian zone. You can walk right down the middle of a wide avenue where cars usually run, looking up at the shop signs on both sides.
It starts at 13:00. If you’re staying in town, you can sleep in, have lunch, and still get there in time.
Don’t get lost at the station
Ikebukuro: “Tobu at the West Exit, Seibu at the East Exit”
At Ikebukuro Station, Tobu Department Store (東武, with the character for “east”) is at the West Exit (西口 in Japanese), and Seibu Department Store (西武, “west”) is at the East Exit. The names point the wrong way. That’s your first “aha!” of Ikebukuro. When you pick an exit on a map, go by the characters 「東口」 (East Exit) and 「西口」 (West Exit), not by the department store names.
The anime shops are on the East Exit side. Near the East Exit (North), there’s an owl statue called “Ikefukuro.” It makes a handy meeting spot.
If you get stuck, head to the Ikebukuro East Exit Tourist Information Center, on the East Exit side. There are English-speaking staff there, so you can ask about directions and getting around.
Akihabara: start from the Electric Town Exit
At JR Akihabara Station, if you’re heading into the Electric Town, use the 電気街改札 (Electric Town Gate).
At the tourist information center “Akiba Info,” a 4-minute walk from the Electric Town Exit, you can pick up a map of Akihabara in multiple languages. With one in hand before you set off, the buildings you’re after are easier to find.
Getting to and from the airports
You can get to Ikebukuro by airport bus. From Haneda, buses run to Ikebukuro Station West Exit as late as the 22:00 hour. There are also buses from Narita to Ikebukuro, and on the way back, you can take a bus to the airport from the West Exit. If you land around midday, you can drop your bags at your accommodation and be out in town that same day.
To get from Narita to Akihabara or Ikebukuro, take the Keisei Skyliner to Nippori, then change to the JR Yamanote Line. Nippori is a station between Ikebukuro and Akihabara. The final Skyliner leaves Narita around 23:00. If you’re landing at Narita at night, check the final train from the airport and your connection at Nippori ahead of time.
By train from Haneda, it’s about 1 hour to Ikebukuro and about 45 minutes to Akihabara. For the route on the Narita Express (N’EX), see the quick comparison table in “Where to Stay in Tokyo on Your First Trip.”
Getting back at night, and heading to other areas
Even after a night out in Akihabara, on weekdays you can ride the Yamanote Line back to Ikebukuro, no transfer, until around 0:40. And on days with no anime plans, both towns get you to Shinjuku or Tokyo Station without changing trains.
| Route | Line | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Shinjuku → Ikebukuro | Yamanote Line | 8 min |
| Tokyo Station → Ikebukuro | Marunouchi Line | 17 min |
| Tokyo Station → Akihabara | Yamanote Line | 4 min |
| Shinjuku → Akihabara | Sobu Line | 18 min |
At night, lay out everything you bought on the bed in your room and admire it all, piece by piece. In the morning, take your time and head out from your accommodation just as the shops open. Not having to worry about the train home — that’s the joy of staying in the town you came for.
For now, just this
- Choose by what you love. Goods for female fans or manga: Ikebukuro. Figures, cards or the Electric Town: Akihabara
- Ikebukuro has Tobu at the West Exit, Seibu at the East Exit. The names point the wrong way
- From Akihabara to Ikebukuro on weekdays: the Yamanote Line, no transfer, until around 0:40
