Nakano Broadway in Tokyo: what is on each floor, Mandarake's shops, opening hours, prices, how it compares with Akihabara and Ikebukuro, and how to get there

Nakano Broadway at a glance

What Nakano Broadway is

Nakano Broadway opened in 1966, in Japan's years of fast economic growth, as a building that put shops and homes under one roof. The mall's own history says its name as a "holy land" of subculture came later, after Japan's bubble economy burst in 1991, and it credits one shop with starting that: Mandarake, a second-hand manga bookshop that opened here in 1980 in a space of just two tsubo (roughly 6.6 m²). Owners with deep interests of their own followed it in.

The same page is careful to say that the building has not turned into one big hobby shop. Shops for local people that date from the opening years sit side by side with shops for collectors, and the mall counts that mix as part of the appeal. You will see both on the same walk: a supermarket, a greengrocer and a quick-cut barber in the basement, and shops full of old robot toys a few floors up.

Of those 207 shops, the mall files 84 under subculture, 38 under hobbies (books, DVDs, computers, cameras and so on), 50 under fashion, 30 under food and drink, 29 under services for daily life and 12 under beauty and health.

Tokyo's official tourism guide, GO TOKYO, sells it to visitors as a quieter option than Akihabara. "The anime-themed stores of Nakano Broadway are a relaxing alternative to the bustling streets of Akihabara," it says, and it sets out the layout: "Most of the hobbyist shops are located on floors two through four, while general shopping on the first floor and a supermarket in the basement cater to everyday shoppers."

The guide's description of the mall's Nakano neighbourhood adds that in recent years shops selling luxury and vintage watches have opened in the building too. They are part of the mix today, and there is a short section on them further down.

What is on each floor

The mall's website sorts its 207 shops by floor. The table gives the number on each floor and some of the shops listed there, with a word on what they sell where the shop's name says it. Petit Paris is a separate section of 14 shops in the same listing.

Before you trust any floor plan, keep two points in mind. Many entries in the mall's directory were posted years ago, so a shop can have moved or closed since. And the mall's list and Mandarake's own floor guide do not always agree: Mandarake puts its railway shop, Ryusenkei Jiken, on 4F, where the mall's list has it on 2F. If a shop is not where you expect, ask at Mandarake's service counter on 4F, open 12:00 to 20:00.

Mandarake: the shops one by one

Mandarake's floor guide for Nakano lists more than 30 shops from 1F to 4F, and each one keeps to its own kind of goods, so the trick is to know which door to go through rather than to browse every one.

These are the shops in Mandarake's Nakano floor guide, with what each one's own page says it sells. The Japanese name is the one on the sign.

The floor guide lists a few more shops that we leave out here, some of them because they sell adult titles.

Lashinbang's three shops

Lashinbang, the chain GO TOKYO names alongside Mandarake, has three shops in the building, all on 2F, according to its own shop list.

All three list the same hours for every day of the week, 11:00 to 20:00: an hour after the mall opens and an hour before Mandarake does. Lashinbang asks you to pay in each shop separately, so you cannot carry goods from one to the till of another.

Prices on the shelves

Mandarake's Nakano pages post their new arrivals with a price, and every price is before consumption tax (税別), so you pay more than the listed figure at the till. These are examples from the lists we read on 18 October 2026. They show the range, not a fixed price list, because each piece is priced on its own.

The spread inside one list is wide: a 13-volume manga set was 1,500 yen, less than a 3-volume one at 2,500 yen. If you are after one thing in particular, check the price for it before you go rather than judging from these. Our anime figure buying guide explains how to spot a fake and why the box matters.

Where to start, by what you collect

The table above is long, so here it is the other way round: what you collect, and which shops to try first.

Pokémon card collectors have a page of their own: Pokémon cards in Tokyo: shops, vending machines and prices.

Opening hours: the mall opens before the shops

The building is open from 10:00 to 20:00, but that is the mall's time, not every shop's. GO TOKYO's listing adds that hours vary "by floor, store, and/or facility" and that closing days vary by store. The two big second-hand chains both open later than the mall.

Nakano Broadway vs Akihabara and Ikebukuro

GO TOKYO puts the difference in one sentence: "While Akihabara is renowned for catering to various fandoms, Nakano Broadway offers a similar range of products in a more laidback environment." The practical differences are size, opening times and the train.

The Akihabara and Ikebukuro columns come from our side-by-side look at Akihabara and Ikebukuro, which goes through the two districts shop by shop. In Nakano, everything in the first column sits in a single building near the station.

Is Nakano Broadway worth it?

It depends on what you collect. Here are the facts from above, sorted by the kind of visitor they suit.

How to get to Nakano Broadway

Nakano Broadway is at 5-52-15 Nakano, Nakano-ku. Three lines stop at Nakano Station: the JR Chuo Line, the JR Sobu Line and the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line. Leave by the north exit: the mall's access page puts it five minutes on foot from there, and GO TOKYO says to walk north. Nakano Sun Mall, a 224-metre covered shopping street, also runs north from the north exit.

These are GO TOKYO's times to Nakano Station.

The mall has no parking, and both its own access page and GO TOKYO ask you to use public transport instead. For paying the fare, see our Suica guide on choosing and using the card.

Tax-free shopping

None of the pages we used for this guide says which shops in Nakano Broadway offer tax-free shopping, so check with the staff in each shop before paying. How the national scheme works is set out in our tax-free guide.

The watch shops on 3F

The watch shops are the newer part of the building's mix. GO TOKYO says, "Vintage watch shops abound in Nakano Broadway, with famous names such as JACKROAD, Fire Kids, Universal Value, and Watchnian jostling for position. If you're into old watches and watchmaking, this place is a must-see." The mall's own list puts two Watchnian shops, Universal Value and Time Zone on 3F, the same floor as Mandarake's Honten. This guide does not go further into watches.

The basement and Daily Chico's giant soft-serve

The basement (B1) is where local people shop: a Seiyu supermarket, a greengrocer, a fishmonger, and counters for udon, tempura and dim sum. It is also where to find the mall's best-known snack. The mall's page for Daily Chico calls it "the giant soft-serve ice cream Broadway is famous for" (ブロードウェイ名物の巨大ソフトクリーム). Next to the standard vanilla and chocolate, it brings out flavours for the season or for a limited time; the examples the page gives are purple sweet potato and cider. The same page names sanuki udon as the shop's other popular item. It lists Daily Chico as open from 10:00 to 20:30 with no closing day, but the page was posted in January 2020, so the flavours, prices and hours may have changed.

For everyday things, The Daiso is in Petit Paris, the mall's separate section of 14 shops.

Around Nakano Broadway

GO TOKYO describes the streets around the mall as home to "smaller stores specializing in vintage clothing and music" as well as big chains such as Don Quijote. For a break from shopping, it suggests three places.

GO TOKYO places Nakano northwest of Shinjuku, around 10 minutes away by train. For the rest of the trip, our itinerary ideas set out 7, 10 and 14-day routes for a first visit to Japan.

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To cite or link to this page: Nakano Broadway in Tokyo: what is on each floor, Mandarake's shops, opening hours, prices, how it compares with Akihabara and Ikebukuro, and how to get there — Japan Pocket Guide, https://japanpocketguide.com/things-to-do/nakano-broadway/ Copy