The new Mandarake location in Osaka's Amerika-mura.

The Mainichi Shimbun reports that the Namba Mandarake, in Osaka's otaku district of Denden Town, closed March 3. The new location in Amerika-mura, dubbed Grand Chaos, is an incongruous nerd expedition into what has been the heart of Osaka's hip youth culture for decades.

The chain says the new location has more than three times the floor space of the old Namba location, and they plan to use the extra space to hold more special events.

Though otaku are on record as reluctant to venture into the area packed with clothing boutiques and nightclubs, the Mainichi quotes an adviser to the Amerika-Mura retailers association as saying, "I'm looking forward to seeing how the otaku will change the flavor of the district... I'd be quite happy to see our district become something like Akihabara."