Akihabara has been well-known as Electric Town for a long time. Now, it is not only a marketplace for electronic equipment, but also home to various attractions related to anime, manga comics, games, and idols, such as: Sofmap, Melonbooks, animate, GAMERS, AKB48 Theatre, and more; it has become a symbol of “Cool Japan”. If you are planning to visit Japan, you can shop in Akihabara and rest your legs at various maid cafes, or the eateries at Akihabara UDX.
This is a facility which, from April 16, 2021, has been jointly operated by the Association of Japanese Animation and Dai Nippon Printing Co.,Ltd. (DNP) at Shibuya MODI in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, for the purpose of further developing Japanese anime.
In the “Special Exhibition Area”, popular anime, manga, games and culturally valuable works are exhibited with digital expressions unique to DNP, and a combination of real and virtual (VR/AR) to create new content experience value.
The “Store Area” sells goods linked to the exhibition and DNP original goods such as high-definition reproduction. In the “pop-up store area”, the characters on sale are replaced about every 3 weeks. Goods sold over-the-counter can also be purchased on the EC site “FUN’S PROJECT MALL” operated by DNP (*some goods may be limited to over-the-counter sales).
Many anime fans visit and love it as a base that widely disseminates Japanese anime culture.