10 Best Shopping in Akihabara, Tokyo

Located in a renovated area under the train tracks just north of Akihabara Station, this hip collection of 50 some artisanal shops is a great place to hunt for high-end gifts made by local artists and designers. Most shops have a single specialty: paper, ceramics, leather bags, even umbrellas combining traditional techniques with modern design. On weekends some of the shops offer workshops, demonstrations, and other events.

Serious cosplayers need serious costumes and this cosplay specialty store is where they shop for serious supplies. Anime, manga, video game characters? You'll find them all here, and more, especially as Cospatio shares the fourth floor of its building with a handful of other geeky stores, as well as a maid café.

Specializing in rare prints, academic texts, and literature, Kitazawa Shoten has been selling books since 1902. The floor-to-ceiling dark wood bookshelves stacked with hardcovers are overflowing—sometimes quite literally—with interesting finds.

In business for more than a century, Kyugetsu sells handcrafted Japanese dolls. Each piece is individually made by one of Kyugetsu's artisans making for a unique—albeit expensive—souvenir. Dolls run from a few hundred to thousands of dollars.

One of the big Akihabara department stores, LAOX has several locations and the largest and most comprehensive selection in the district, with four buildings. The seven-story main branch is duty-free, with three floors dedicated to electronic gadgets, such as lightweight vacuum cleaners and eco-friendly humidifiers, that come with English instruction booklets. LAOX has annexes—one exclusively for musical instruments, another for duty-free appliances—and outlets in Ginza, Odaiba, and Narita Airport. This is a good place to find the latest in digital cameras, watches, and games. English-speaking staff members are on call.

Eight floors featuring a variety of independent vendors selling mini–spy cameras, cell phones disguised as stun guns, manga, plastic models, gadgets, and oddball hobby supplies are sold here. Start browsing from the top floor and work your way down. There are two annexes across the street as well.

One Akihabara retailer that actually benefited from the bursting of Japan's economic bubble in the early 1990s is this electronics chain, once known as a used-PC and software chain with a heavy presence in Tokyo. Now its multiple branches also sell all sorts of new electronics, music, and mobile phones. Most are open daily until 8.

As the king of wacky electronics from Japan, Thanko sells everything from bamboo smartphone cases and smokeless ashtrays to summer neck coolers and wireless charging stations disguised as jewelry. This showroom and its other branches are a must-see for gadget geeks.

Most Sundays, from sunrise to sunset, antiques hunters can search and explore this flea market, which boasts 30–50 booths run by professional collectors. It's located within the controversial Yasukuni Jinja grounds, so when you're finished shopping, stroll through the shrine that pays respect to dead Japanese soldiers.