Akihabara

What to see

Start at Akihabara Radio Kaikan, opposite the Electric Town exit. The building has anchored the district since 1962 and was rebuilt in 2014 as ten floors of hobby shops selling new and used figures, model kits, trading cards and dolls. Work down from the top and compare prices between floors as you go. Cross Chuo-dori and head into the back streets for Mandarake Complex, eight floors of second-hand manga, anime goods, retro games and collectibles, each floor with its own theme, open from noon to 8pm every day. If you're hunting retro games, Super Potato is nearby too, three floors of classic consoles and cartridges with a small arcade of old machines on the top floor.

The quieter Akihabara is along the railway. Five minutes south, mAAch ecute Kanda Manseibashi fills the red-brick arches of the old Manseibashi Station, a 1912 terminus designed by Tatsuno Kingo and closed in 1943. Climb the original staircase to the former platform. It's now a free glass-walled deck with Chuo Line trains passing close on both sides. To the north, 2k540 Aki-Oka Artisan has turned the whitewashed arches under the Yamanote tracks toward Okachimachi into studios for leatherworkers, woodturners and hat makers, and most of them are closed on Wednesdays. Kanda Myojin, the shrine that sells charms to protect computers and phones, is a ten-minute walk north-west.

Where to eat and drink

Akihabara eats fast. The restaurant floor at the top of Yodobashi Camera covers most cravings under one roof, and the streets around Chuo-dori are full of ramen, curry and beef-bowl counters built for a quick meal between shops. Themed cafes, including the maid cafes on the side streets, are an Akihabara institution. They're an experience rather than a meal, so expect a cover charge and rules about what you can photograph.

Want a proper sit-down? Walk south to mAAch ecute, where the cafes in the station arches have terraces over the Kanda River, and a drink on the old platform comes with trains passing within a few metres of you. The Kanda side beyond it holds some of Tokyo's oldest restaurants, including Kanda Yabu Soba, and the red-hot miso ramen at Kikanbo is a short walk further. For a longer evening, Ueno's izakaya streets are a fifteen-minute walk north past 2k540.

Where to stay

Akihabara is a well-connected base. Hotels are mostly business hotels and mid-range chains within a few minutes of the station, and the Yamanote, Chuo-Sobu, Hibiya and Tsukuba Express lines put Tokyo Station, Shinjuku, Ginza, Asakusa and Ueno within a short ride. Serviced apartments and rentals are common here too, which suits longer stays and families who want a kitchen. It's a natural choice if you're here for anime and games, or if you want central Tokyo on several lines at once. Just know that the streets outside Chuo-dori empty out once the shops close at around 8pm.

How to do it in a day

Start at mAAch ecute Kanda Manseibashi mid-morning, with coffee on the river terrace and a look from the old platform deck, then walk north into Electric Town. Go through Akihabara Radio Kaikan from the top floor down, and cross to Yodobashi Camera for anything electronic, with lunch on its restaurant floor. Mandarake Complex doesn't open until noon, so give it the early afternoon, then track down Super Potato for retro games. On a Sunday, walk Chuo-dori while it's closed to traffic. In the late afternoon, head north along the tracks to 2k540 Aki-Oka Artisan for gifts that don't look like souvenirs, or north-west to Kanda Myojin, and finish with dinner in Kanda or Ueno.