©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd 136 Kōrakuen & Akihabara KŌRAKUEN & KUDANSHITA | KANDA & AKIHABARA | KAGURAZAKA Neighbourhood Top Five 1 Koishikawa Kōrakuen kart for a spin dressed in a selection of Japanese crafts (p138) Slipping into the Super Mario cosplay outfit. at this beneath-the-train- beautiful verdant world 3 3331 Arts Chiyoda tracks mall between Aki- of this classic traditional (p139) Encountering dino- habara and Ueno. garden with its central saurs made from old plastic 5 Akagi-jinja (p143) pond, charming bridges and toys amid the contemporary Threading your way seasonal flowerings. art galleries in this former through the stone-flagged 2 Akiba Kart (p146) Ex- school turned arts-and- streets of Kagurazaka, with periencing the blazing neon culture centre. its atmospheric shops and and wacky otaku (geek) vibe 4 2k540 Aki-Oka Artisan bars, to find this thoroughly of ‘Akiba’ while taking a go- (p144) Browsing a choice modern shrine. IKE-NO- Ueno- HATA kōen KOISHIKAWA ¦# HONGŌ Keisei £# Ueno Ueno # 0 1 km e0 0.5 miles Ueno- ¦#Kasuga Hongō- Yushima hirokōji Kōrakuen ¦# ¦# ¦# sanchōme ¦# £# Okachimachi BUNKYŌ-KU KAGURAZAKA 1##æ 5#æ YUSHIMA ¦# KŌRAKU Suehirochō Ōku 3#â# ¦# Kagurazaka bo-d HONGŌ 4##þ ōri ¦# Iidabashi Kuramaebashi-dōri ¦# Suidōbashi H Ushigome- £# on Iidabashi £# g ¦#Suehirochō ¦# kagurazaka Suidōbashi ō- dō M Ochanomizu ¦# i ri AKIHABARA r e ō ji WAKAMIYA- d r £# i- o Ochanomizu 2#Ø# r -dō MISAKI- Akihabara CHŌ o FUJIMI b r CHŌ KANDA- £# o i Shin- t o Ochanomizu ¦# AWAJICHŌ ICHIGAYA- S Jimbōchō TAMACHI ¦# Y Iwamotochō ¦# as Awajichō ¦# Kudanshita uk un ¦# Kanda KUDANKITA i- dōri ¦# KANDA- KANDA- IWAMOTO- Ichigaya ri JIMBŌCHŌ TACHŌ ni-dō CHŌ ¦# uku £# Yas Kitanomaru- £# Kanda i r i kōen r ō ¦#Takebashi CHIYODA-KU ō d - d i - r a o Shin- m b ICHIBAN- i ¦# u nihombashi h CHŪŌ- s CHŌ t c U Ō Ōtemachi ¦# KU ¦#Ōtemachi Kōjimachi Mitsukoshimae ¦# ¦# ¦#Hanzōmon Mitsukoshimae ¦# For more detail of this area see Map p282 A 137 Lonely Planet’s Explore Kōrakuen & Akihabara Top Tip Kōrakuen has two big hitter sights: the traditional gar- Check electronics prices in den Koishikawa Kōrakuen (p138) and the entertainment your home country online complex Tokyo Dome City (p146). South of Kōrakuen, in before buying big-ticket Kudanshita, are two controversial attractions: the shrine items in Akihabara; they Yasukuni-jinja (p138) and its adjacent museum Yūshū- may or may not be a good kan (p138), which covers Japan’s warring past. Anyone deal. If you do buy, have your with an interest in Japanese history (or Asian geopoli- passport handy since travel- tics) should make a stop here. On a lighter note, there lers spending more than are also some pleasant strolls nearby, along the Imperial ¥10,000 in a single day at Palace moats, Hanzo-bōri and Soto-bōri. Also worth a selected shops can get a re- detour: the neighbourhood of Kagurazaka (p142), with fund of the consumption tax its narrow cobblestone lanes, presents a charming alter- (8%). For a list of duty-free native picture of Tokyo. shops offering this service, Heading east, the neighbourhood of Kanda, has an see www.akiba.or.jp. interesting trio of religious buildings: the Shintō shrine Kanda Myōjin (p138), the Confucian shrine Yushima Seidō (p139) and the Russian Orthodox Nikolai Cathe- 5 Best Places dral (p139). Then throw yourself headfirst into 21st-cen- to Eat tury Tokyo in Akihabara, the electronics district that has ¨ Kanda Yabu Soba (p143) become synonymous with otaku (geeks) and their love of ¨ Botan (p143) Kōra anime (Japanese animation), manga (Japanese comics) ¨ Ethiopia (p139) and J-pop culture. Akiba, as it’s popularly known, also ¨ Kado (p139) K has artisan-goods shopping malls and the contemporary & uen arts centre 3331 Arts Chiyoda (p139). For reviews, see p139.A aK Local Life 6 Best Places ihabara ¨Cosplay Catch anime fans dressed as their favourite to Drink characters along Akihabara’s Chūō-dōri on Sundays ¨ Imasa (p143) ¨ N3331 (p144) (1pm to 6pm April to September, to 5pm October to March), when it becomes a pedestrian zone. ¨ Craft Beer Server Land ¨Festivals The area bursts with extra creativity (p144) during Trans Arts Tokyo (www.kanda-tat.com), a ¨ Mugimaru 2 (p142) contemporary arts fest held in autumn. For reviews, see p143.A ¨Video Games Go old-school and join enthusiasts playing Pac-Man and Street Fighter at Super Potato Retro-kan (p146). 7 Best Places to Shop ¨ 2k540 Aki-Oka Artisan Getting There & Away (p144) ¨Train The JR Sōbu line runs east–west, stopping at ¨ mAAch ecute (p145) Iidabashi (for Kagurazaka), Suidōbashi (for Kōrakuen), ¨ Mandarake Complex Ochanomizu and Akihabara. Rapid-service JR Chūō (p145) line trains stop at Ochanomizu and Kanda. Kanda and ¨ Kukuli (p142) Akihabara are stops on the JR Yamanote line. For reviews, see p144. ¨Subway Many lines converge in Iidabashi (Nanboku, A Yūrakuchō, Tōzai and Ōedo lines). The Hibiya line stops in Akihabara, while the Ginza line stops at Suehirochō and Kanda..