Once again I had trouble falling asleep. So I left home at 8:30, took the Keisei Line to Asakusabashi, where I transferred to the Chuo local JR train to Akihabara. Most of the shops in Electric City open at ten, eleven, or noon, but I figured it would be better to wander around and look at the scenery than to look at the walls of the rental houses. As it approached ten o’clock, many stores had small queues of customers waiting to open. The pachinko hall, however, had lines lining both sides of the building.
Considering my personal situation, where my collection is, and the space left in my house to accommodate it, I came to Tokyo specifically with the intention of purchasing only those items that felt like a must-buy.
The first place I visited was the Lammtarra store in Chouo Dori because it was earlier than the surrounding stores.
I also visited other stores, including Animate, several Suruga-ya stores, and Comic Zin. Animate has expanded, occupying the A floor of the former Toranoden store.
I was a little surprised to see one of the freelance stores selling bulk anime figs for the same price as other stores for the same boxed or even brand new unopened versions. Another Liberty store seems to be offering particularly low prices on its anime figures.
I often see critics and YouTubers complaining that Tokyo no longer offers any good price deals on anime collections. I understand where this sentiment comes from, but I don’t entirely agree. In fact, in early autumn 2025, anime merchandise prices in Akihabara were higher than they had been five or more years ago. But over the past five years, the cost of just about everything has increased. Also, from what I’ve seen, bargains are still out there. They just take more hunting to find.
Now that White Canvas is gone, AkibaHobby feels like it’s trying to carry on that store’s legacy. It feels like 90% of AkibaHobby’s inventory is oriental goods.
At the end of the day, I was surprised to see that live-action porn seemed to be gaining traction in Akihabara stores.
I thought I knew a good deal about the current Japanese doujinshi scene, but I was surprised to find that Melon Books’ selection of the latest doujinshi titles is largely from creators I’d never heard of before.
I’m looking for art in 2019 The Blackness of the Wood Shengsheng Book. I asked two different stores if they carried it, and there were a ton of new anime illustrated books to choose from. Neither store carries the book.
I spent a few hours browsing the aisles of used adult doujinshi at the Mandarake Complex store. I thought I would dedicate the day to Akihabara, so I had no reason to arbitrarily end my hunt just because I thought I should. I’m so glad I found the Nishikado doujinshi section on my own. To my surprise, I found three of artist Ishoku Dougen’s earliest releases, Pink Macadamia Volumes 2-4, priced at 3,000 yen each. But I couldn’t find the 6 products recently released by the Saigado circle that I haven’t purchased yet. I myself also found the circle of psychologists dirty pair Doujinshi. I found that section is empty. I spent a few hours flipping through half a dozen shelves of uncategorized new fanzines. When I found one with dirty pair Cover 1,500 yen. The manga is titled “Revival” and is created by the creator “Bishoujo Production Ltd.” I didn’t even know this comic existed until I found it. In the end, I bought 18 doujinshis on the fifth floor of the Mandarake store in Akihabara.
The Mandarake Complex store has a copy of Katsuhiro Otomo’s first appearance in excellent condition Akira Comics sell for about $3,200.
Phil left home at noon to attend the Grand Sumo Championship in September 2025 at Ryogoku Kokugikan. How he purchased and ultimately obtained the tickets is a story in itself. Even redeeming venue tickets brought some suspense to Phil. The venue ushers did not question the authenticity of Phil’s ticket. However, they did question how he obtained the ticket. Finally, Phil sat on the court and played the last game of the day.
I was surprised to find that the Rashenbang store in the AkibaZone building not only stocks H-doujinshi, but also adult comics, adult character models, and adult-oriented doujinshi merchandise. I spent more than an hour browsing Lashinbang’s selection of works, although it seems that Huike wouldn’t trade many old fics for Lashinbang. I ended up buying three doujinshis from the store.
I stopped for lunch at a curry shop near Central Avenue. I was surprised and impressed that the old lady running the restaurant didn’t leave my plate of fried pork cutlet curry (no potatoes or carrots though) on the counter for me to reach for. Instead, she walked around the counter herself so she could place it in front of me.
4:30 PM Phil informed me via text message that he would end the day watching sumo live at 6 PM. So I told him I would meet him in front of Zangmae. I decided to save my visit to the old Broadcasting Hall building for another day, and left Akihabara, taking the Sobu local line one stop to Kuramae, where Phil eventually found me. On Phil’s suggestion, we returned to Aoto Station. I first took us to the Daiso store, where I purchased an A4-sized hinged file box for 200 yen. We’ll use it to keep our anime-making cells safe on the way home. Then we got home and I dropped the purchased fan art there. After a short break, Phil and I walked back to the station where we chose to have dinner at Yoshinoya. Phil chose a large beef donburi. I chose the beef curry bowl, which came with Japanese potato salad and a fried chicken nugget. We all agreed that Yoshinoya’s beef rice bowl was better than Matsuya’s, but Matsuya’s curry was better than Yoshinoya’s.
On the way home, we stopped at Rosen’s and picked up some pre-packaged pastries, including a small chocolate cake, a buttery waffle tortilla, and a cannoli roll. All the pastries were decadent, surprisingly moist and rich.
