Frilly outfits and assisted teeth-brushing practice are part of the otaku-oriented dental clinic.
Akihabara is Tokyo’s most otaku-oriented district, filled with electronics stores, video game retailers, and anime specialty shops. Otaku themselves, though, usually don’t call the place “Akihabara,” opting instead for the abbreviated “Akiba.”
That’s something that a new dental clinic opening up in the neighborhood seems well aware of. It’s officially named Akiba Dental Clinic, and that’s not the only way in which it’s appealing to otaku tastes.
In listing what sets them apart from other dentists, Akiba Dental Clinic (or Akiba Shika, to use their full-Japanese name) mentions things like their convenient location and hours. They’re just a two-minute walk from the station, and they’re open until 11 p.m., even on weekends. But the list also includes:
● Greeting patients in Akiba-style cute uniforms
● You can practice brushing your teeth with your favorite staff member!
Akiba Dental Clinic does also make a point to assure prospective patients that it is, indeed, a genuine dentist’s office, not some sort of dental-themed cafe or cosplay club. Joji Yukawa, owner of Akiba Dental Clinic, is a graduate of Nagano Prefecture’s Matsumoto Dental University, and the clinic offers treatment for cavities and periodontal disease, as well as dental implant, cleaning, and whitening services.
▼ Akiba Dental Clinic exterior
The clinic begins operations in earnest at the start of July, but they’re currently holding an open house, with a limited number of polaroid photo opportunities with the staff through Sunday.
While one could cynically call the frilly outfits and fashionable make-up marketing ploys, they also seem to be part of the clinic’s efforts towards making the place somewhere patients will look forward to visiting, no mean feat for a dentist’s office. Akiba Dental Clinic also mentions several times on its website and Twitter account that it understands that some people are afraid of going to the dentist, and may have been avoiding checkups or treatments for a long time, but that anyone is welcome to come in for a free consultation.
Location information
Akiba Dental Clinic / アキバ歯科
Address: Tokyo-to, Chiyoda-ku, Soto Kanda 4-4-3, 2nd floor
東京都千代田区外神田4-4-3 2F
Open 2 p.m.-11 p.m.
Closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays
Website
Source: Akiba Dental Clinic via Kinisoku, Twitter/@akiba_shika
Top image: Akiba Dental Clinic
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