Lantis Station… so is it a train station? No, is it a radio station? Nope; it’s the best kind of station, FREE WIFI STATION. Yeah, you read that right, the popular anisong publishers have done it again and this time they have created a masterpiece: Lantis Station AKIHABARA. This is a new otaku hangout spot with free WIFI for all who visit the world wide famous Akihabara. Now you might be wondering who is this Lantis and what’s it doing in our beloved Akiba? Well it's a famous Japanese music publisher which is a group company of Bandai Namco Holdings. They manage widely known anime song artists, some of them include Aki Hata known for lyrics songs for LoveLive! School Idol Project anime, the group JAM Project famous for the One Punch Man opening “The Hero!!” and even OLDCODEX the group known for the openings of the anime Free! Ahhh; see? You started to remember now didn't ya.
Lantis wants to thank you for your support throughout the years, and what better way to do this than with a place to chill for a while with free WIFI and anime music? Lantis Station is a quick stop for you and your friends, there you can sit down and relax, enjoy good music videos, learn more about anime songs through Lantis or maybe even make a couple of new friends! If you’re interested in knowing more about what this place has to offer and how to find this little piece of heaven, keep reading!
But before that! We want to let you in on a little secret: If you show the staff at Lantis Station AKIHABARA the following image:
From this Honey’s Anime article, you will receive a pin, FOR FREE! Piece of cake!
Venue information
| Location: | Sotokanda 3-1-16, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo |
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| Nearest train station: | 6mins walk from Akihabara station. Akihabara Station is served by the following lines.
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| Cost of Admission: |
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| Hours of Operation | 11:00AM – 11:00PM – Open daily |
Need some good music and free WIFI in Akiba? Come to Lantis Station!
How to get there
The easiest way to get to Lantis Station is from Akihabara Electric Town Exit in Akihabara Station.
From there you should see in front of you the entrance of the shopping mall atré 1, head outside through the right and as soon as you do, look left! You’ll notice a huge red Sega building, walk towards that direction and cross the street to reach the entrance of Sega’s arcade.
We’re just a few minutes away from Lantis Station! Now keep going straight to the right, past Club Sega, until you reach an intersection which has a huge building with a wide plaza in front (Sumitomo Fudosan Akihabara BLDG.) In fact if you have already walked around Akiba for a while, it’s easy to find this building as you wander around. When there, follow the path of trees down the sidewalk
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Until you see the entrance to AniON STATION AKIHABARA to your right! Even if you stumble upon this area from the other side of the street, you can’t miss their adorable AniON logo even if you can’t read japanese! To help, it should look like this:
You will easily spot Lantis Station AKIHABARA! from the outside. Go in! Don’t be shy! If you visit during the summer it’s a great place to cool down, no problem in bringing a drink with you! If you drop by in the winter, they will greet you with a warm welcome! 😉
In here, you can clearly see Lantis Station to your left, welcoming you inside with their big display of live concert music videos.
Once you're inside
The first thing you’ll probably notice after that is the amazing display of CD covers of various famous artist and high tech noise cancelling headphones. This is because their main focus is for Lantis Station to be an interactive entertainment space for foreigners to enjoy and learn about modern japanese pop music. If you ever wondered “what kind of music do Japanese people like?” then here’s your answer.
In Lantis Station you can feel free to try out the headphones to enjoy their music in high definition; being able to listen to the sharp sound of every detail is the next best thing since the invention of concerts.
Bonuses!
Did you find your favorite singer’s CD in Lantis Station? They have much more than that! They have free short magazines with Lantis Artist’s new album release dates, anisong information as well as a display of autographs from many of their famous singers. In our time there we could even snatch a picture of a signed electric guitar from one of their most famous artists! What kind of special item will they have on display next?
Free WIFI
So where’s this free WIFI we were talking about earlier? Let’s get to that! When you’re done looking around, sit down next to one of the three tables available and you will notice a small picture frame on the table. This frame contains the instructions on how to connect your device to the free WIFI, in here you will see the WIFI password! Whilst the text in the instructions is in Japanese, no need to worry, once you scan the area for WIFI with your phone, tablet or laptop just click on what reads “free_spot_WIFI” from the Wi-Fi networks menu, the frame should have the password in roman letters somewhere near the first top lines. After that you should be able to see the instructions in english to set your connection. Easy, right?
Other Findings
As a bonus, if you’re feeling a bit hungry you can eat from one of the cafes inside this same building, feel free to explore! There’s more than one to choose from! If you are using the facilities in Lantis Station AKIHABARA or any of the cafe in the building, there are also bathrooms available. Is this the best gathering spot in Akiba or what?
To make it even better, they provide videos of live concerts of their feature artists so you can get to know more of your next-favorite Japanese singer as well as a display of limited edition anime items related to music. Be sure to drop by every time you come visit the land of anime, Akihabara! Every day you’ll find different videos from different artists, meet different people and have a different experience every time you visit! How cool is that?
If you liked hanging out in Lantis Station AKIHABARA like we did, invite your friends next time! Lantis Station is open every day from 11am to 11 pm. Drop by, have fun and talk about your experience in the comments below!
Author: Yanayme Roman
