Otaku Spots: Best Anime Attractions in Osaka, Nipponbashi [Easy Guide]

Are you in Osaka right now? Or Looking for some nice otaku spots to finish your day? Then you came to the right place. This is an easy guide for you to easily detect some best otaku spots in Osaka. So follow up attentively in order not to miss any part.

Nipponbashi What is it?

Nipponbashi is a great shopping district where you can find all kinds of furniture, tools or otaku objects such as anime, manga, electronics and many others. People sometimes refer to it as the DEN-DEN TOWN.

In general, Nipponbashi is to Osaka what Akihabara is to Tokyo. However, Nipponbashi is smaller than Akihabara so there is no chance you can get lost there.

You will find many real life locations of animes such as Steins;Gate series, Weathering with you, and Your name the movie in Akihabara.

Some of you are wondering where you can:

• Find Anime in DEN-DEN TOWN
• Buy manga
• Buy games, figurines, t-shirts, collectibles or even buy other anime products that are not Japanese.
• Find cosplay costumes
• Cafes and many other things.

Don’t worry we will cover all this and more by showing you some great otaku spots in Nipponbashi. First of all, let me tell you how you can get to Nipponbashi. So keep up with the reading.

How can I get to Nipponbashi?

Nipponbashi is just two minutes away from Namba on the Sennichimae line of the Osaka subway. If you are in Umeda, you can take the Midosuji Line south and change at Namba Station.

Equally, Nipponbashi Station is also on the Sakaisuji Line of the Osaka subway and the Kintetsu Line to Nara.

But if you are in Dotonbori, you don’t need any means of transport because it just takes you 14 minutes to DEN-DEN TOWN. Let’s walk to these otaku spots together!

What can you do in Den Den Town?

1. Watch Cosplay Parade
2. Snag swag from the Gachapon machines
3. Play card Games
4. Visit Themed cafe
5. Sing at Karaoke
6. Visit the Dragon Quest-themed Lawson
7. Look for the retro games
8. Shop some electronics
9. Buy Kimono
10. Eat delicious curry
11. Sip some sake

This is just of a few things you can do in these otaku spots

Briefly, there are many stores and cafes you absolutely need to visit.

Want to visit Naoshima? These are some best things to do there

How much money can I spend on otaku spots there?

It depends on what you want to do in those otaku spots. You may go there just to look around or to visit a friend. But I recommend you move along with some money because you may discover many otaku spots there or precious objects. And my father always told me to never go out without a kobo. Many things can happen!

In any case, this what you can expect to spend in general in these otaku spots is:

• Transport(Train ticket to Namba station if you are taking one) = 210 yen
• Arcade Games = 2000 yen or more
• A second-hand large Figure = 4000 yen or more
• Anime T-shirts = 2500-3000 yen
• Anime poster = 1500- 2000 yen
• Gachapon = 500 yen
• A small anime figure of 1000- 2000 yen
• Food and drinks = 3000 yen

So if you are going there for a full adventure, you should have at least approximately 40000(An object can cost 40000 yen too).

However, you don’t need to buy everything you see in every otaku spot. Don’t be greedy. In my opinion, 20000 yen is sufficient if you ask.

Don’t forget to take a look at some anime embroidery design artwork here. You may come across something you like

Where can you find anime Figurines?

You can find anime figurines in many stores, but the prices vary depending on the figurine’s quality.

One of the stores, where they sell anime figurines like Bleach and Death note or Saint Seiya, is the Torejara store.

But general figures and other anime products prices range from 1000- 40000 yen. So a little tip for you, while you are there, is to take your time, visit many otaku spots, and compare otaku objects’ prices and quality before buying anything. It is more important to go slow and gain the lessons you need along the journey than to rush the process and arrive at your destination empty(Germany Kent).

Don’t also forget to visit the animation’s building in DEN-DEN TOWN. You can find amazing anime and otaku products there.

Where are the best otaku spots to find T-shirts?

One of the best otaku spots to find T-shirts in Osaka is the GEE! Store. There are T-shirts of:

1. Naruto
2. Re:ZERO
3. Dragon Ball
4. One Piece
5. Sword art online and many others.

So don’t forget to stop at this otaku spot and shop for many anime merchandises.

Where can I find Costumes for Cosplaying?

Still at GEE! Store you will find many cosplay costumes. For example, these are Rem and Ram costumes from the anime Re:Zero.

Where can you buy Manga?

You can buy manga in otaku spots like:

• Comic Toranoana
• Melonbooks store
• Comics store

Where is the anime-themed Café?

You will find an anime café called Good Smile × Animate Café Osaka Nipponbashi. It’s a multi-themed anime café. I called it so because each month the café is decorated with a different anime. So if you came there once and then came back after a month, don’t get confused since it’s the same café that has just changed the design.

You can equally visit Captain Tsubasa theme restaurant in Tokyo

Buy Collectible Card games in some Osaka otaku spots in DEN-DEN TOWN

There are many, really many collectible card spots in DEN-DEN TOWN. But don’t forget what I mentioned above. First, visit many stores before buying any cards because you may find the same stuff at cheaper prices. So don’t be impatient.

Some popular cards you will see are:

1. Pokemon
2. YU-GI-OH
3. Dragon Ball Heroes
4. Fate/Apocrypha
5. Attack on Titan(Shingeki no Kyojin)
6. Code Geass
7. Duel Masters and many others.

There are also deck protectors from Goblin Slayer, Magi Madoka…

Which one of the Otaku spots can You Buy Board Games from?

Yellow Submarine stores generally sell many board games. Unfortunately, most of them are in Japanese :(.

This is the location of one of the Yellow Submarines stores.

Otaku spots in Osaka: Video game-themed store

There is a Dragon-Themed convenience store. It’s a Lawson convenience store. The walls and floor of the store are decorated with Dragon Quest covers. There is also one in Akihabara.

Anime Events in DEN-DEN TOWN

An event named Nipponbashi Street Festa is held once each year in Osaka. It’s the largest cosplay Event in Osaka and the Largest-scale Grand Ceremony of COSPLAY in Japan. So if you have a chance, don’t miss it.

These are some great festivals in Japan you shouldn’t miss

What is the best retro video game store?

The best one is definitely Super Potato. Here is their address and their website.

Besides Nipponbashi, they also have stores in Akihabara, Higashi Ikebukuro…

Gachapon

You will come across these Gachapon(Toy Capsule) machines near most of the stores in DEN-DEN TOWN. You may find capsules of Detective Conan, Dragon Ball and many others.

Are there otaku spots like maid cafes in Nipponbashi?

Other types of Otaku spots you should visit are maid cafes in Nipponbashi. Some of them are:

• Cocha
• Milk Cafe
• Cafe Andante
• Cafe Doll
• Sweet Tease
• Maidreamin
• Parlante

Well, I have told you all that you can expect as well as how much you can spend in some of these Otaku spots in Osaka. But I think I forgot something! What will you eat and where? I will answer in the next section.

What can you eat in DEN-DEN TOWN?

There are many spots where you can find some things to fill up all your energy. Common ones are:

• Hamburgers
• Ebiyaki.
• Takoyaki
• Okonomiyaki
• Negiyaki…

There is also a Family Mart where you can eat Onigiri (rice ball) and fruits.

This is the address Naniwa Ebimaru Honpo where you will find some good stuff. But it’s permanently closed now(when I wrote this post)

Which other non-otaku spots can you Visit Near Nipponbashi?

Other spots which are non-otaku that you can visit are the Dotonbori. This is a good guide to places in Osaka too

Where Can You Buy Non-Japanese Anime Merchandise?

Aside from these otaku spots in Osaka, if you like other stuff like Marvel, or Disney, you can get them in Astro Zombies. Here is Astro address in Nipponbashi

You can also visit the Tokyo Disneyland resort

You can equally go to Umeda where you can find Pokémon stores.

Enjoy your stay in these otaku spots in Osaka and don’t forget our famous pictures.

These are additional otaku spots in Japan.

• Anime attractions in Odaiba
• Themed parks in Japan
• Pixiv anime exhibitions

Which other attractive spots can you visit in Japan?

There are so many of them but if you are not staying too long in Japan, I recommend you visit some places in Tokyo, attractive spots in Hokkaido and others in Kyoto. But if you have enough time you can visit as many spots as possible. You will really get a great experience.