>>23606942
>>23606945
>>23606958
It probably still is pretty empty, but social media influencers have kind of ruined everything that's close to the Shinkansen. Still, a lot of people might not remember/know about Hikawa Shrine. The new and old anime are extremely close to the actual layout of Azabu Juban to the degree that you can identify specific buildings/locations. Just go off the main streets and not to the huge touristy places now that Japan is the place to flex on social media that you went and you will have a great time.
Some lesser known interesting places I have discovered fairly recently:
1. The statue someone mentioned earlier of Tetsujin #28 in Kobe. Location is in a park near Shin-Nagata Station.
2. Statue in Tsuyama, Okayama of the Z Gundam which some guy built just because he wanted to. Which actually has a cockpit. Photo is that one.
3. The Nagoya SCMaglev and Railway Museum which has the the 922 and 923 Doctor Yellow inspection trains.
4. In northern Japan, Ishinomaki, the hometown of Shotaro Ishinomori, which has a small but very nice museum dedicated to his works. Lots of statues all around the town too.
5. Tsuruga is the hometown of Leiji Matsumoto and has statues/museums dedicated to his works.
6. Not /m/ but if you go to West Japan, be sure to go to Sakaiminato in Tottori Prefecture, which has an entire city street dedicated to the works of Shigeru Mizuki, creator of Gegege no Kitaro. At night the street is illuminated creepily and has ghostly displays.
7. If you're doing #6 might as well also go to Kokuei which is hometown of Detective Conan creator Gosho Aoyama and has a museum.
Go Nagai museum unfortunately got closed due to the earthquake last year but I heard they're going to renovate it.
Where to buy stuff:
Not Akihabara, Nakano, Ikebukuro, or Den Den Town anymore, collectors have picked those shops clean and prices have risen accordingly. My suggestion is to look for huge sized Book Offs/Hobby Offs in suburban/rural areas.
