There are many popular animations and manga in Japan. If you are interested in animation and manga, why do not you go to related facilities and shops when traveling in Japan? I think that it is also interesting to visit the place where the big hit anime is located. On this page, I will introduce the related facilities, shops and locations of animation and manga in Japan.
Best Anime Attractions and Shops
Pretty cosplay girl showing angry face = AdobeStock
J-WORLD Tokyo
Shonen Jump Magazine in J-World, Ikebukuro, Tokyo = shutterstock
J-World Tokyo is an indoor theme park where visitors can enjoy the world of boys’ comic magazine “Jump” such as One Piece, Dragon Ball, Naruto.
This theme park is located on the 3rd floor of Sunshine City · World Import Mart Building in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. When entering, a lot of characters appearing in cartoons of “jump” are displayed around. Beyond that there are various attractions that embody the world of One Piece, Dragon Ball, Naruto. You can also eat the original foods with various characters motif.
At J – World Tokyo, of course, children are playing, but the adults may be playing the most happily.
>> For details of J-World Tokyo, please refer to the official website
animate Ikebukuro, animate Akihabara
Animate storefront covered with anime advertising posters, Akihabara, Tokyo = shutterstock
animate is a specialty store chain that sells related goods of animation, manga, game. Although animate stores are located all around Japan, there are huge stores in Akihabara and Ikebukuro in Tokyo. A lot of tourists from abroad come to these two stores.
animate is a specialty store chain that sells related goods of animation, manga, game. Although animate stores are located all around Japan, there are huge stores in Akihabara and Ikebukuro in Tokyo. A lot of tourists from abroad come to these two stores.
At animate’s huge shops, products such as animation and manga-related books and figures (there are so many!), costumes for cosplay and so on are very fulfilling. If you like animation, manga, games, you surely can take a walk around the store and enjoy it for a long time.
If you want to explore Akihabara, please find a huge store of animate Akihabara. Even if you are not very interested in animation or manga, you will be able to enjoy the atmosphere of Japanese pop culture at this store.
For more information on animate, please see the official website
Nakano Broadway
NAKANO BROADWAY: NAKANO BROADWAY is a shopping mall in Nakano ward, Tokyo. The shopping mall is one of the centers of Japanese subcultures = shutterstock
Visitors look at toys on display at Nakano Broadway, Tokyo, Japan = shutterstock
Nakano Broadway is a sightseeing spot called the sacred place of Japan’s subculture. It is an old complex building located 5 minutes on foot from the North Exit of JR Nakano Station in the western part of Tokyo. There are many shops from the first floor to the fourth floor of this building. There used to be many ordinary shops such as fresh food stores before, but since the 1990’s the quirky shops related to animation and manga have increased a lot. Today, small shops for people who like animation, manga and games gather together, making a suspicious and fun atmosphere (of course the security is extremely good!).
Nakano Broadway is similar to Akihabara in that many stores sell related goods such as animation and manga. You can say Nakano Broadway as “small Akihabara”. However, at Nakano Broadway stores, many old goodies are sold more than Akihabara. At Nakano Broadway there is a retro atmosphere. This point is a big feature of Nakano Broadway. Men and women of various generations are gathering, wanting to enjoy this strange atmosphere.
For details of Nakano Broadway, please see the official website
devil girl cosplay Halloween woman sexy glamour = shutterstock
Jump Shop
Jump Shop is a specialty store that sells original goods and related goods of “Jump” cartoon magazine which produced masterpieces such as One Piece, Dragon Ball, Naruto. Jump Shop is located in major cities nationwide including Sendai, Tokyo Dome, Tokyo Sky Tree, Tokyo Station, Osaka Umeda, Hiroshima and Fukuoka.
For details about Jump Shop’s store information, please refer to the following official website. Unfortunately there is no page written in English on the official website. However, clicking a small square mark in each store information will display Google Maps on a separate page. With Google Maps you can convert it to your favorite language.
>> The official website of the jump shop is here
Pokémon Center
The Pokemon Center is a Specialty Store for Pokemon related products. You can buy stuffed animals, figures, towels, handkerchiefs, shirts, etc. of Pokemon’s characters at this store.
The Pokemon centers are located in major cities nationwide including Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, SKYTREE TOWN (Oshiage), Tokyo-Bay (Chiba), Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka. Shops in Tokyo Sky Tree are very crowded.
>> For details, please see the official site of Pokemon Center
Ghibli Museum Mitaka
Ghibli museum is a place that shows the work of Japanese animation Studio Ghibli, features of children, technology and finearts dedicated to art and animation technique = shutterstock
The Robot statue on an open garden space at Ghibli museum Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan= shutterstock
Have you ever seen animated movies such as “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Howl’s Moving Castle” produced by Studio Ghibli?
If you are a fan of studio ghibli movies, I recommend you go to Ghibli Museum Mitaka in Mitaka, western Tokyo. In this museum, you can see how an animated movie is made, the actual process is introduced in an easy-to-understand manner. There are also many characters in this museum, which appear in the movies of Studio Ghibli.
I introduced Ghibli Museum Mitaka in the following article. If you are interested, please see the article below. As I mentioned in the article, please note that this museum has to be booked in advance.
For details of Ghibli Museum Mitaka, please see the official website
Kyoto International Manga Museum
“Phoenix” in Kyoto, Japan on October 23, 2014. Created in 2009 by the city of Kyoto with Tetzuka Productions as a symbol of Kyoto International Manga Museum = shutterstock
Kyoto International Manga Museum is the largest cartoon museum in Japan. This museum was founded in 2006 by Kyoto Seika University and Kyoto City by renovating schools in Kyoto city. Kyoto Seika University is a unique university with “Faculty of Manga”.
Kyoto International Manga Museum is a 2-minute walk from Karasuma Oike Subway Station in the center of Kyoto city. This museum has collections of Japanese old manga magazines, contemporary popular manga books, world comic books, and so on. Total of them will reach about 300,000.
On the wall of this museum there is a bookcase with a total extension of 200 meters, about 50,000 books are lined up there. You can retrieve and read your favorite manga from this bookshelf. There are many Japanese comic books translated into English, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, etc, so you should be able to enjoy it considerably.
The above picture is a huge object (length 4.5 m × width 11 m) in this museum. This bird is a main character appearing in the famous manga artist Osamu TEDUKA’s masterpiece “Phoenix (Hi no Tori = bird of fire)”. There are a lot of tourists photographing in front of this object.
Kyoto International Manga Museum also has a cafe and a museum shop selling original goods.
>> For details of Kyoto International Manga Museum, please see the official website
Tezuka Osamu Manga Museum
Tezuka Osamu manga museum in takarazuka, japan = shutterstock
Do you know Tezuka Osamu’s masterpieces such as “ASTRO BOY (Mighty Atom)” “Princess Knight (Ribon no Kishi)” “Kimba, the White Lion” “Black Jack” “Phoenix (Hi no Tori)”?
Tezuka Osamu is a manga artist who is also called “God” among Japanese comic lovers. Tezuka Osamu died after leaving a huge number of masterpieces in 1989. After that, Tezuka Osamu Manga Museum was founded in Takarazuka City, Hyogo Prefecture, where he lived long.
Tezuka Osamu Manga Museum is not such a big museum. However, many comic lovers come to this museum, not only from Japan but also from overseas.
In this museum, you can read about 2000 Tezuka Osamu related books. Furthermore, you can search Tezuka Osamu’s animation and watch them.
Goods related to Tezuka Osamu are also exhibited. In addition, there is a museum shop and a cafe.
>> Tezuka Osamu ‘s general official website is here
>> For details of Tezuka Osamu Manga Museum please visit this site
When you go to this museum, you should check on this site whether this museum is open.
Anime Japan
There are various animation related events in Japan. Among them, the biggest one is “Anime Japan” held at Tokyo Big Sight, located in Ariake, Tokyo, for 2 days each year in late March.
Anime Japan is held annually since 2014. It started by combining two anime related events. In the venue of Anime Japan, presentations of various business related to animation are done. On the other hand, for animation fans, a lot of animation shows and talk events are held. Many cosplayers come to this venue. I think that it is very interesting just to see their performance.
>> For details of Anime Japan, please see the official website
Best Locations Scenes
When producing animated works, the producers often decide stories and pictures with reference to beautiful places that actually exist. So, among the animation fans, there are more people going to the location that became the model of their favorite animation. Here, I will introduce the locations of representative Japanese animation works.
Your Name (Kimi no na wa) = Tokyo, Hida, etc.
Let’s go to Suga Shrine in Tokyo! Map
Suga Jinja Shrine in Yotsuya, Tokyo, Japan
Have you seen Makoto SHINKAI’s “Your Name.” (2016)? This animated movie is a love story of a boy Taki living in Tokyo and a girl Mitsuha living in Hida in the mountains. This movie hit globally. If you ever saw “Your Name.”, Why do not you go to the location locations of this movie in Japan?
Regarding the location of “Your Name.” I wrote a detailed article. If you are interested, please refer to the following article.
SLAM DUNK = Kamakura
Maybe you will meet Hruko! Map
Kamakura koko station of Enoshima Dentetsu Line is a famous spot used for film and drama location
“SLAM DUNK” is a masterpiece of cartoonist Takehiko INOUE. It was serialized in the comic magazine “Jump” in the 1990’s, animation and games were also produced. SLAM DUNK is one of the most hit manga.
The story of SLAM DUNK is set in the high school in Shonan district of Kanagawa prefecture. The main character Hanamichi SAKURAGI is invited by a beautiful girl Haruko and starts basketball in this high school.
If you’ve seen SLAM DUNK, you will probably remember the scenery of the photo above. This is a railroad crossing next to the Kanakura-kokomae station of Enoshima Electric Railway in Kanagawa Prefecture. This scenery became a model of the scene which comes out repeatedly to SLAM DUNK.
If you stand before this railroad crossing, you surely will enter the world of SLAM DUNK. Beautiful sea spreads in front of you. If it is sunny, you can see the wonderful setting sun in the evening. This area is famous as a tourist destination. Why do not you go on Enoshima Electric Railway and go to Kamakura or Enoshima nearby?
Thank you for reading to the end.
