Guide · Akihabara

Part of: Akihabara Figures: Where to Buy New vs Used

Browse more: Akihabara Shopping Guide

Akihabara Card Shops: Where to Buy Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Other Trading Cards, Floor by Floor

Start at Radio Kaikan, the tall building right outside the Electric Town Exit. Its own shop directory lists eleven trading card shops inside it, from Card Labo and BIG MAGIC on the 9th floor to Yellow Submarine on the 6th and Hobby Station on the 1st and 2nd. Singles sit in glass cases priced one by one; sealed packs and boxes are at the counter. I run private anime tours here most weeks, and card hunters usually lose an hour in that one building before they ever reach the street.

More and more guests put trading cards on their Akihabara list. The good news is that the district makes it easy: you do not need a map of thirty shops, you need one building and the patience to go floor by floor.

Where are the card shops in Akihabara?

Mostly in a few multi-tenant buildings around the station, and the densest one is Radio Kaikan at 1-15-16 Sotokanda, a short walk from the Electric Town Exit. Its card shops fill several floors. Further shops sit along Chuo-dori and in the side streets, but Radio Kaikan alone is a full afternoon.

This is the floor guide I walk guests through on my Akihabara anime tour when cards are on their list, taken from the building's own directory:

The directory also lists Card Labo's buying centre, Mach, Fukufuku Treca and Kaizoku-ō among the building's card shops. Shops in Radio Kaikan close for the day now and then; the building posts those notices on its own homepage, so check it on the morning you go.

Where should you buy Pokémon cards in Akihabara?

At the Radio Kaikan shops that list Pokémon: Card Labo, Fullcomp and the Hobby Station on the 1st floor. Not at the Hobby Station on the 2nd floor, which says on its listing, in English, that it does not sell Pokémon cards. For sealed product, The Pokémon Company runs an official store finder, though it warns that some stores are hidden because of shortages.

That warning is worth reading twice. New Pokémon sets in Japan can sell out on release, and the official site says plainly that stores may be left off the map because stock is short, and that a store on the map may still be sold out. The official Pokémon Centers have the same problem: recent launches there were sold by advance lottery through the LINE app, not over the counter. So treat sealed boxes as a lucky find, and singles as the reliable purchase. A single card in a glass case has a price on it, and that price is the same whether a set came out last week or last year.

Cases and price tags

Photos: Yuuki (Anime Sensei)

How do singles, packs and boxes work in a Japanese card shop?

Singles are individual cards displayed in glass cases or binders, each with its own price tag; you point, staff take it out, you pay at the counter. Sealed packs, boxes and decks are behind the counter. Buying cards from customers is a separate counter or even a separate shop, like Card Labo's buying centre.

A few things that confuse first-timers:

• The cards are Japanese-language editions. For most players and collectors that is the point, but check before you buy if you play in a tournament format that needs English cards.
• Condition is written on the tag when a single is not in top condition. Read it the same way you would read a secondhand figure tag; where to buy anime figures in Akihabara explains the system.
• The play spaces are for playing, not browsing. Card Labo, BIG MAGIC and Treca Park all list duel spaces. They are where regulars play matches, so do not lean over a game in progress to look at a deck.

Is it cheaper to buy cards in Japan?

For Japanese-language cards, usually, because you are buying them in their home market with no import shipping. For the most famous chase cards, not necessarily: shops know exactly what is rare and price it at what collectors pay. Fair, not always cheap.

This is the honest section. The bargains in Akihabara are in the binders of mid-rarity singles and older sets that the overseas market has not noticed, not in the glass case by the till holding the card everyone on social media wants. If you have a specific expensive card in mind, check its price in two or three shops in the same building before buying. In Radio Kaikan that means taking the lift two floors, which is the easiest price comparison in Tokyo.

Can tourists buy cards tax-free?

Only at shops registered for tax-free sales, and only when you spend ¥5,000 or more before tax in one shop on one day. Ask at the counter before you pay, and bring your passport. From 1 November 2026 you pay the tax at the till and get it back after a customs check at the airport.

Not every card shop is in the tax-free program, and the sticker at the entrance or the counter tells you. How the new airport refund works, step by step, is in tax-free shopping in Japan after November 2026.

Do Akihabara card shops take credit cards?

Many do, but not all, and the smaller ones are the likeliest to want cash. Carry enough yen for a few singles, and keep a card for the bigger purchases. If you are buying from more than one shop in the same building, cash also makes the small purchases quicker.

Cash or card in Japan covers how much to carry, and ATMs that take foreign cards covers where to withdraw it near the station.

What mistakes do people make when card shopping in Akihabara?

Buying the first copy they see, assuming every shop sells every game, and photographing the glass cases. Most card shops do not want their cases photographed, so ask first. And the best-stocked shop for one game can carry nothing for another, as the Hobby Station sign about Pokémon shows.

• Compare before a big purchase. Two or three shops, same building, ten minutes.
• Check which games the shop carries before climbing to its floor. The directory listings in the table above are the quickest way.
• Do not buy sealed product from a flea-market app or a stranger. Buy sealed boxes from an established shop.
• Ask before photographing anything inside. The rules for shops in the district are in Akihabara etiquette.

Frequently asked questions

One building for cards, the rest of the district for everything else

If cards are one item on a longer list, Adventure in Akihabara with Anime is my private half-day walk, three to four hours, built around the series and games you name when you book and never shared with other guests. The price is on the tour page.

About the author. I am Yuuki, a Japanese teacher and Akihabara anime tour guide based in Tokyo. I run private anime tours here most weeks, rated 4.96★ on Airbnb across 171 reviews. I have watched over 1,500 anime series, and I can confirm that the card floors are where guests most often forget what time it is.

See the Akihabara anime tour →

Sources · checked 4 October 2026

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