Japan Anime Tour: 7 Days of Akihabara, Ghibli and Super Nintendo World

Your driver meets you at the airport. In the evening, stand in the middle of the Shibuya scramble with its wall of screens — the establishing shot of half the anime you grew up with.

A full day in the holy land: multi-floor figure and manga stores, retro game floors stacked with cartridges from every console era, gachapon halls, and arcades where the locals play. Your guide knows which buildings hide the best floors — that is the whole game in Akihabara.

Morning at the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka — tickets are a monthly lottery and we arrange them with your booking (subject to availability). Afternoon at Nakano Broadway, the collector's labyrinth where vintage cels, soft vinyl and out-of-print manga change hands.

Ikebukuro is the other capital: the Animate flagship's nine floors, the Pokémon Center in Sunshine City, and Otome Road for the shojo side of the shelf. After dark, wade through the digital worlds of teamLab.

Ride the bullet train — itself a set piece — to Kyoto. The International Manga Museum keeps 50,000 volumes on open shelves inside an old schoolhouse; read on the lawn like everyone else. Evening under Gion's lanterns.

Osaka's answer to Akihabara: Nipponbashi Den Den Town, with figure shops and retro arcades at friendlier prices, plus the city's famous street food between stops. End the night under the Glico runner in Dotonbori.

The finale: Universal Studios Japan with an Express Pass, headlined by Super Nintendo World — power-up bands, Koopa's challenge, and the Mario Kart ride. A private transfer delivers you to Kansai International Airport after the park.