Akihabara

The tour begins at Akihabara Station, meeting in front of the well-known Yostar Official Shop Akihabara Station. Note: This tour involves about 1.5 miles (2.5 km) of walking, plus train travel and occasional stairs. Please wear comfortable walking shoes. Transportation costs for train travel are included in the tour fee.

Yodobashi Akiba

Globally recognized as a center of otaku culture, Akihabara has been culturally diminished for the past decade. Once, it was an important subject actively reimagined as a derivative work (fan-made reinterpretation) within anime, manga, and games. Today, it is instead a derivative work of the fictional Akihabara portrayed in media. That does not mean Akihabara is no longer worth visiting. Derivative works are a central theme not only in Japanese otaku culture but also in the very concept of ANIMESCAPE. Moreover, the visual landscape of mass consumption shaped during otaku culture’s golden age remains strikingly vivid. Yodobashi Akiba—a massive electronics store and consumer hub—is a prime example. Here, you can gain fundamental insights into the core components of Animescape. It is one of the most stimulating starting points for understanding how real spaces can feel drawn, and how drawn spaces can feel real.