Taiwan's otaku spots are hot! Taipei Station's underground space is a unique and unique place that is like a condensed version of Akiba! Shun Gori's Akiba Exploration: Overseas Edition

Recently, "OTAKU" has been gaining recognition and attention around the world, and "Akiba-like spots" are popping up in various countries.

Shun Gori's Akiba Exploration," in which he introduces various spots in Akiba, has a habit of wandering abroad, and his hobby is to find "Akiba-like spots" in the countries where he wanders. I will introduce some of the "Akiba spots" that I have found during my wanderings as "Shun Gori's Akiba Exploration Abroad," although it will be irregular.

The first destination of the extra edition is Taiwan, which always ranks high on the list of "destinations I would like to visit abroad.

I lived in Taiwan for three years until March 2022, so I am proud to say that I am quite familiar with otaku spots. Among the many geek spots in Taiwan, I would like to introduce the "Taipei Underground Shopping Center".

As the name suggests, the Taipei Underground Mall is a vast underground mall that extends beneath Taipei Station, divided into Y, Z, K, and M districts, with the otaku spots occupying about half of the area of Y, the largest of the three.

Although it rains most of the year in Taiwan, this underground shopping mall is popular among local otaku because it can be enjoyed regardless of the weather.

A word of warning: most stores in Taiwan open at 11:00 a.m. Due to the somewhat loose sense of time that is common in tropical countries, few stores are open even if you visit early in the morning. If you visit after 1:00 p.m., most stores will be open.

Otaku information in Taiwan is synchronized with that of Japan with almost no time difference, and what is popular in Japan becomes popular in Taiwan within a week.

Therefore, in the Taipei underground shopping malls, you can buy the same kind of products that are sold in Akihabara with almost no time lag. (Of course, the price is a little higher than in Japan, due to transportation costs and other factors.)

Trading card games are traded at the same high prices in Taiwan as in Japan, and the show windows of card stores display cards in Japanese and traditional Chinese, with the Japanese version apparently being traded at a higher price.

The "Ichiban Kuji Lottery," a lottery with no losers sold by BANDAI SPIRITS, is also popular, and is called the "Ichiban Prize" in Taiwan.

Posters of various "Ichiban Kuji Lottery" lottery games and the number of remaining lottery grades are displayed in stores that specialize in this type of lottery.

There are also numerous game stores, including official Nintendo and PlayStation stores, which sell mostly traditional Chinese-language software, but the games are released at about the same time as in Japan.

Some stores specialize in retro games, and software that has a premium in Japan is sold at a reasonable price.

There are also stores that sell retro games such as "Game & Watch" and "PC Engine GT," which are popular with the connoisseurs, and visitors can enjoy searching for "treasures" that are already hard to find in Japan.

There is also a game center in the Taipei Underground Mall.

In Taiwan, Japanese arcade games are also popular, and most game arcades are like stores specializing in arcade games and UFO Catcher.

If you are thinking, "Akihabara is all about maids," don't worry. Of course, the maid café culture has taken root in Taiwan as well, and there are stores in the Taipei underground shopping mall.

Even if you do not speak Chinese, you will be greeted kindly, so if you have money and time to spare, it might be a good idea to make friends with a Taiwanese maid. By the way, many Taiwanese maids are really cute, so you should have high expectations.

Finally, let me introduce Soft Drink Bar TTI, a juice stand that Shun Gori highly recommends.

I recommend the watermelon juice, "Watermelon Juice," and the Yakult green tea, "Yorakuta Green Tea" (Yakult = Yakult).

The watermelon juice is made from fresh watermelon, and there is nothing mixed in but watermelon!
It is watermelon juice in the true sense of the word, so you can feel the natural sweetness.

The "Yorakuta Green Tea" is a perfect balance of Yakult and green tea, with just the right amount of sweetness from the Yakult and bitterness from the green tea. It has just the right amount of sweetness from Yakult and bitterness from green tea.

In addition to the Taipei Underground, there are many other deep spots in Taiwan that I would like to introduce to you.

Taipei Underground Mall Y Part 1

Taipei Underground Mall Y Part 2

If you are interested in more otaku spots in Taiwan, please check out our YouTube channel.

Spot Information

Spot name: Taipei Underground Mall Y

Opening hours: 11:00 - 21:30 (Sat. and Sun. - 22:00) *depends on the store

Address：Underground of Taipei Main Station

Spot Map