Azabusabo Hokkaido Ice Cream at Akihabara, Tokyo

Hokkaido milk gelato counter in JR East Hotel Mets Akihabara, from the long-running Azabu Sabou wagashi and sweets chain.

Azabusabo Hokkaido Ice Cream is a gelato counter on the first floor of the JR East Hotel Mets Akihabara, sitting directly on the station East-West free passage - effectively zero minutes from the JR Electric Town Exit. The shop is part of Azabu Sabou, a Japanese sweets and dining brand founded in 1979 in Minami-Azabu, Tokyo, which now operates branches across the capital region and overseas in Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The Akihabara counter specialises in small-batch homemade gelato built around Hokkaido milk. The flavour lineup mixes classics with rare finds: Hokkaido milk, super matcha, genmaicha (roasted rice green tea), cassis, and rotating seasonal specials such as pistachio. Reviews highlight the creamy, almost vanilla-like Hokkaido milk base and the precise, tea-forward genmaicha, which tastes of properly roasted rice with a green-tea finish - flavours that are difficult to find at the average ice cream shop, even in Tokyo. The counter is small, takeaway-focused and a natural stop for travellers passing through the station. For a quick, quality gelato on the way in or out of Akihabara, the Azabusabo counter is hard to beat for convenience and flavour range. Grab a double cup, pick the genmaicha, and walk on.