Akihabara

In short

Akihabara is Japan's representative electronics district, spreading out right beside JR Akihabara Station. Beginning with postwar stalls selling vacuum tubes and radios, its main products have shifted over time to home appliances and personal computers. Today, it is also known as a mecca for pop culture, including anime, manga, and idols.

• ​Electronic Parts Shops Under the Tracks​​: Inside the Radio Center under the JR Sobu Line elevated tracks, small shops dealing in electronic parts gather together.
• ​Akihabara Radio Kaikan​​: Over 30 specialty shops for hobbies, anime, figures, and more are located in this building in front of the station.
• ​Chuo-dori Street on Sundays​​: On Sunday afternoons, an approximately 570-meter stretch of Chuo-dori Street turns into a pedestrian zone.

History and Highlights

The name ​Akihabara​ originated from fires. Following a great fire in 1869, a firebreak ground (hiyokechi) was established in this area, and the following year, Chinka Shrine was established here as a shrine to protect against fire. When the shrine was renamed Akiba Shrine, people came to call the area "Akibahara." In 1890, when the station was decided to be built, its name was designated as "Akihabara," and this reading took root.

The electronics quarter traces its beginnings to postwar street stalls. Vacuum tubes sold well at stalls around Kanda-Ogawamachi and Kanda-Sudacho, and radios assembled by students of the nearby Denki Kogyo Specialty School (present-day Tokyo Denki University) also sold explosively. When the GHQ enforced the street stall removal order in 1949, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government partnered with the Japanese National Railways to offer substitute space under the elevated tracks of Akihabara Station, giving rise to Radio Store and Radio Center.

The decade from 1955 to 1964 was the era of "home appliances," during which the "Three Sacred Treasures"—black-and-white televisions, electric washing machines, and electric refrigerators—rapidly spread into households. In 1976, Nippon Electric Company opened Bit-INN Tokyo inside Radio Kaikan, sparking the microcomputer boom. Starting from the late 1990s, stores handling anime and video game software increased, and numerous maid cafes also appeared.

Highlights & Things to Do

• ​Electronic Parts Shops Under the Tracks​​: Radio Center, located under the elevated tracks of the JR Sobu Line, is packed with small shops selling electronic components, especially parts related to wireless radios. The neighboring white building is the Akihabara Dempa Kaikan.
• ​Akihabara Radio Kaikan​​: Opened in front of the station in 1950, its current building opened in 2014. It houses more than 30 specialty stores dedicated to hobbies, anime, figures, and more. The opening of stores by K-BOOKS, Kaiyodo, and Volks in 1998 sparked the transformation of Akihabara into a hub for figures.
• ​Large Stores and Specialty Shops​​: Many home appliance stores operate in Akihabara. There are also shops focusing on secondhand goods and specialty stores for gaming PCs, alongside numerous maid cafes.

Travel Tips

On Sunday afternoons, an approximately 570-meter stretch of Chuo-dori Street, between the Soto-Kanda 5-chome intersection and the Manseibashi intersection, becomes a pedestrian-only zone. It may be canceled in the event of rain or inclement weather. On the site where Akihabara UDX currently stands, there was once the Kanda Vegetable and Fruit Market, one of the largest of its kind in Japan. If you wish to stroll a bit further, Kanda Myojin Shrine is about 630 meters to the northwest, and Nikolai-do Cathedral is about 680 meters to the west.