"Kamiesai" Illustration Festival Marks 15 Years With a Free Akihabara Exhibition

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15 years of Kamiesai

"Kamiesai -15th Anniversary-," a long-running exhibition and sale event for illustration prints and merchandise from popular Japanese illustrators ("kamie-shi"), runs September 18-22, 2026 at Akihabara UDX's AKIBA_SQUARE on the 2nd floor. Admission is free.

The event mixes newly commissioned artwork with prints from past editions, giving visitors a chance to browse and purchase original illustration work directly rather than only licensed merchandise.

A talk event and the same week as TGS

On September 20, participating illustrators hold a talk event and lottery drawing at Akihabara UDX Gallery, 4F NEXT-2, starting at 17:00.

The exhibition's dates overlap with Tokyo Game Show 2026's public days at Makuhari Messe in Chiba — two separate events in two different parts of the Tokyo area, but both drawing anime- and game-art fans the same week.

Worth knowing about Akihabara

Akihabara UDX sits near, but apart from, the district's main anime-and-electronics shopping streets — see TBM's Akihabara guides for what else the neighborhood has to offer beyond this specific venue.

What To Know

A free, walk-in illustration exhibition running the same week as Tokyo Game Show gives anime- and game-art fans a genuine reason to build a Tokyo trip around both events, even though they're in different parts of the city.

Akihabara UDX is a well-known event and exhibition venue distinct from the district's more famous electronics and anime-merchandise retail streets — worth knowing if you're navigating Akihabara for the first time, since it's a short walk from Akihabara Station rather than inside the main shopping strip.

What Fans Are Saying

Original Japanese

Easy Japanese

イラストレーターの作品を見たり買ったりできるイベント「神絵祭」が15周年をむかえ、9月18日から22日まで秋葉原UDXで開催されます。入場は無料です。