L. M. Lloyd

All of my rambling up to this point has been about how to find out where you are in Japan, and how to find out where you are going in Japan, but the real question is where do you want to go in Japan? For me that question is easy. Sure, it would be nice to see some shrines, or maybe the Tokyo Tower, or experience the nightlife, but the real attractions to a geek like me are the anime shops! Sorry, I know it is a beautiful country with wonderful people and an amazing culture, but if there is one thing I can't miss, it is all those amazing shops with all their cool models, and toys, and books, and games, and videos. Of course, any anime fan worth the title knows that Akihabara is the anime capital of Tokyo, but aside from going down to Akihabara and just wandering around, how do you find the anime shops?

Interestingly enough, I have always heard from people that there really aren't many anime shops in Japan, outside of a couple districts like Akihabara. I have even known fans who went to Japan, and never went looking for any shops, because they had been told that if you couldn't get to Tokyo, you wouldn't find any. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Of course there are more shops in Tokyo than anywhere else, but there are anime shops all over Japan. The trick is finding them. This is where the real fruits of my labor come in. I have been working on a KMZ with the addresses and phone numbers of every anime shop I can find in Japan. It is by no means a complete list, but it does have a fair number of shops, and it is growing by the day. Hopefully anywhere you find yourself in Japan, it should have a shop near you.

The file can be downloaded here or better yet, in Google Maps just type:

http://lmlloyd.com/animeshops.kmz

into the search field, and it will bring it up. It will even work with Google Maps Mobile. Once I get to Japan, I am going to verify the location of as many as I can. If any of you have any addresses, or even websites, of a shop you would like to see in the list, just let me know. Hopefully this way no geek with ever find themselves in Japan and not able to find an anime shop.