Akihabara is not the only place for finding character goods. The "Character Street", located at the basement of the Tokyo Station Building, houses many character shops with goods from NHK, Studio Ghibli, and more!
The photos in the article cropped in such a strange way that it makes them look almost creepy. At first glance I thought they were taken with a hidden camera and the article talks about some undeground (in the sense "illegal") shops that sell toys. I was puzzled for a second, but then I realized what was going on. I would very much like to visit this area. I love pikachu and I like tomagochis!