Akihabara is the common name for the area around the Akihabara Station in the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo, Japan. It once served as a way between Edo and northwest Japan and was home to many craftsmen, tradesmen, and low class samurai. Nowadays, it is known as Tokyo’s famed electronics sector full of lovers of manga, anime, and gaming.
However, Japan’s consumer electronics dominance has been challenged by countries such as South Korea and China, but Akihabara has grown into the “spiritual home” of Japan’s otaku culture. You can also find retro-gaming areas and numerous maid cafés throughout the district.
The main strip is usually packed with people during the day with normal traffic, but as night falls, the lights come on and the people come out of their hiding places.
While visiting, you will come across Yodobashi Akihabara, an electronics superstore that is nine stories high and where you will find every gadget imaginable. Don’t pull out your wallets yet, it’s still just as expensive as any other electronics store.
Mainstream Japanese entertainment that has been westernized such as the Super Mario franchise or Voltron will be hard to come by in Akihabara. It is mostly aimed toward Japanese shoppers, offering modern Japanese otaku and gaming paraphernalia, including western material such as recent movies, popular TV shows, and their obsession with Disney.
If you are searching for a specific anime or manga, you may have a hard time locating merchandise for it. However, if you are just curious about the genre as a whole, then the world is your oyster. The amount of manga and anime shops in Akihabara just takes over the entire area when it comes to stores.
Even with the large amount of manga and anime strewn about the area, you can still find gaming stores if you look hard enough. Shops such as Super Potato and Retro Game Camp give you access to the original Playstation, but also consoles like Nintendo’s Gamecube or SNES systems. The GiGO SEGA building is a large arcade filled to the brim with old school arcade games and even virtual reality experiences.
People say that the real joy of Akihabara is wandering the streets and discovering amazing things for yourself. Plan ahead when visiting so you don’t miss out on anything, or maybe just wander and you might find something that will surprise you.
My Thoughts:
Ever since I heard about Akihabara a few years ago I have desperately wanted to go there. I’m a huge nerd and when it comes to video games and anime, I just want to see what is all out there. The concept of it being “nerd central” fascinates me and I want to see all it has to offer. I think I would most enjoy the GiGO SEGA arcade as it has retro games and even new things to discover, such as virtual reality which I have never experienced before. There are even all of those cafés that seem so fun and interesting that I want to try out! I want to visit Japan someday anyway, so this will definitely be on my To-Do list if I ever get to visit. The article was helpful in supplying directions to specific places that the author mentioned, especially in how not to just give a passing glance to some stores because you could be sorely missing out. He suggests to just let yourself wander and see where the magic of Akihabara leads you. The thought of there being so many possibilities about how your trip to Akihabara could go is mystifying in itself and excites me even more about possibly being able to visit there someday.
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