Now in full swing, and operating out of the Akihabara UDX building near JR Akihabara Station (access JR and subway lines), the Tokyo Anime Centre should feature prominently on any visiting anime fan’s schedule of things to do – places to go.

The centre itself occupies a relatively small shop like area on the ‘second’ floor of the UDX building if accessed from the escalators almost all visitors use, is user friendly, has loads of handouts in English, Korean and Chinese and loads more in Nihongo – the local tongue.

Having your pic taken with the colourful, ‘well proportioned’ characters lining the walls (pictured herein), watching one of the films on the large screen or just bimbling about the shop to the rear of the centre are all easy ways to lose track of time – and there is never a shortage of folk willing to do so.

For the older folks out there – or the kids unaware of how their cartoon heroes were brought into this world - give the games by the door a crack and understand just how the anime industry works from the grass roots up.

Anime geeks too need not feel left out as there are more than enough oddities – the 1970s style Yakult Atoms baseball shirts included – in the shop to keep the most ‘demanding’ of bedroom dwellers making a rare tip outside more than happy; mini-figurines of reclining girls in bikinis, cuddly multi-function toys and a whole range of other things you will never use again!