4 Must-visit Places in Japan for K-pop fans

As a longtime K-pop fan, visiting South Korea is high on my bucket list. In fact, I am planning a trip there for early next year! However, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of K-pop culture and merchandise I came across while visiting Japan. While Japan tends to be known for their anime/video game/otaku culture, K-pop is very popular there as well. Between K-pop stores, Korean restaurants, secondhand shops featuring inexpensive used K-pop albums and more, Japan (and especially Tokyo) turned out to be a fantastic destination for K-pop fans! Here are some of my favorite places in Japan for K-pop lovers.

Shin-Okubo: Tokyo’s Koreatown

If you only have time for one K-pop related excursion in Tokyo, make it Shin-Okubo.

Idol Park in Shin-Okubo

Shin-Okubo felt like stepping into a little paradise for lovers of K-pop and Korean food and culture. As soon as I arrived, I could hear K-pop music playing loudly in the streets. I could smell Korean street food. Idols were plastered on billboards and on store fronts. Korean beauty and skincare shops were everywhere you look. I had a great time just wandering around and taking it all in. I got some spicy toppokki with cheese and my husband, Tim, had a savory pancake from a street food vendor.

Toppokki! While not directly K-pop related, the food in Shin-Okubo is a highlight of the experience. You could easily eat your way through the neighborhood between all of the Korean street foods and cafes.

In Shin-Okubo, there are several shops, such as Idol Park, selling both official and unofficial merchandise. If you are opposed to unofficial merchandise, do be wary as it is quite prevalent! There are shops selling unofficial DVDs, socks, posters, photobooks, and more. While in one of the shops, I picked up an unofficial Sana photobook.

Lots of K-Pop Demon Hunters merch when I visited!

For K-pop fans, Shin-Okubo is one of the most exciting places to visit in Tokyo. One of the things that makes it so appealing is how condensed everything is. You can hop from one K-pop shop to the next, grab a Korean corn dog, and be just a minute or two away from your next stop. The atmosphere is energetic and lively, and easily explored on foot.

2. Tower Records

K-pop fans (and honestly, music fans in general) visiting Japan should make time to check out Tower Records.

I visited multiple Tower Records locations during my trip and was very impressed by the amount of space dedicated to K-pop.

Even if you don’t purchase anything, Tower Records is worth visiting if only to see the scale of Japan’s retail music scene. Tower Records has a tremendous amount of music, both CDs and vinyl records, to look through. As a Swiftie, I was very tempted to get Japanese editions of a couple of her albums! And as far as K-pop goes, you will not be disappointed by their selection.

YMMV, but one of the Tower Records locations I visited even had Twice gachapon machines! I pulled Sana and Dahyun racecar toys ❤

One thing to keep in mind when visiting Tower Records, however, is the fact that new releases are not any cheaper than if you were purchasing them from online back home. Expect to pay roughly $30 USD for a new album. This is what I paid for a couple of albums, and I even went when the yen wasn’t doing fabulous (fall 2025).

Another thing that I would like to note about Tower Records is that it can be a great place to buy any Japanese music releases from your favorite idol groups. Twice, for example, has an extensive Japanese catalog, as well as their Japanese subunit MiSaMo. In my experience, it is more of a challenge, often requiring third party shipping services, to acquire these Japanese releases from back home in the States. For some reason, Japanese releases are not as easily accessible for international online purchasing as Korean music releases. So, while you’re in Japan, it could be wise to stock up on some Japanese music releases while you have the opportunity!

As a fun aside, while visiting a Tower Records in Shinjuku, my husband and I stumbled across a J-pop girl group concert inside the store! The group was called .BPM and they were fantastic! I think any K-pop fan would appreciate this group, even though they are J-pop instead of K-pop. It was a fun little surprise to get to see this show!

3. Mandarake and other secondhand hobby stores

There was no shortage of preowned Twice goods at many of these shops!

Many people associate Mandarake with anime goods and collectibles, but K-pop fans shouldn’t overlook these stores! While exploring Shibuya, I stopped into Mandarake and left with a huge K-pop haul. It was one of the most rewarding stops on my trip as far as K-pop collecting is concerned. And you truly cannot beat the prices at secondhand hobby stores. I was paying 300, 400 yen for some of these albums! The main drawback being, of course, the lack of photocards and other inclusions. Not to worry, though, because these stores often have photocard singles by the hundreds, if not thousands, to rifle through! I actually got a small binder to store the PCs and other K-pop paper goods I got in the hobby stores I visited.

Can you tell I’m a ONCE?

You cannot beat the prices at Mandarake and similar stores. As someone who lives in the United States, I am quite certain that there is nothing like it, price OR selection wise, anywhere at all in the US. Other than Mandarake, be sure to visit Book-Off stores, K-Books in Ikebukuro, and Surugaya in Akihabara.

4. Korean Restaurants

For many K-pop fans, our love of Korean music can easily lead to an appreciation of Korean food and culture in general.

Have you ever been curious to try the Korean foods that you often hear your favorite idols mention? Kimbap, ramyeon, Korean BBQ, Korean fried chicken and more are generally quite easy to find in Japan’s larger cities! I would suggest using Apple or Google maps and finding a sit-down Korean restaurant to eat at.

During one of our nights in Kyoto, my husband and I ate at a Korean restaurant and bar called Kokkio, located in the Porta dining hall. There, we ate house-made fresh kimchi, spicy fried chicken, shellfish, and cheese dakgalbi, which was the highlight of that dinner for me. Cheese dakgalbi is a dish featuring pieces of chicken marinated in a spicy and somewhat sweet gochujang-based sauce and topped with mozzarella cheese. This is one Korean dish that I had not yet been able to try until I got to Japan, as it has not been available at any of the Korean restaurants I’ve visited in the States. It’s very comforting and delicious, and I recommend it to anyone who loves cheese and a little spice!

My husband and I still talk about the kimchi we ate at Kokkio!

Final Thoughts

Before visiting Japan, I knew that there would be some K-pop and general Korean culture to immerse myself in, but I didn’t anticipate just how much K-pop I would casually encounter throughout the trip. In one train station, there was an enormous billboard of Sana from Twice promoting for one of her brand deals. It wasn’t uncommon to see pictures of famous idols modeling makeup products at department stores. While wandering around Tokyo, I saw many billboards showcasing Blackpink’s Asahi Super Dry promotion.

It is so cool to see K-pop’s influence on Japanese pop culture, even when you’re not actively seeking it out. Idols are frequently used in advertising campaigns across Japan, and it’s a fun surprise to randomly see an idol or a group that you’re a fan of while you’re out and about during your trip to Japan.

Between Shin-Okubo, Tower Records, Mandarake, Book-Off, and all of the wonderful Korean foods I got to indulge in, Japan turned out to be a great destination for a K-pop fan. Of course, K-pop was far from the main event in my trip, and if you are looking to take some kind of K-pop related pilgrimage, your best bet would be to visit South Korea. However, my little K-pop side quests in Japan were so much fun and so memorable. If you are a K-pop fan visiting Japan, you do not want to miss out on some of these shops and experiences.