Akihabara - Toyko

Posted on June 9, 2007 by Adam R.

We are staying in Asakusa-bashi for a few days and are only a few stations away from Akihabara, aka Electric Town. This was one of the few times I didn’t do my homework, so we arrive in Akihabara about 9:20am to find literally everything closed. That added to the drizzling rain made it look like a big mistake. In a small side alley we found a vendor setting up what was more like a stall than a shop, and he informed us that everything opens after 10:00am. Lucky for us, we found a 24-hour steak shop and passed the time eating a giant steak until the Electronic stores opened.

Back out on the main street of Akihabara, the place came to life, and the difficult decision was what to do first. There are tones of multi level stores with everything electronic you can think of. Then I saw a huge video game arcade across the road. Upon walking onto the footpath of the place, I was amazement to find it was a video game store that lets you demo the latest games on arcade style machines FREE for as long as you like. I spent a good hour and a half there, to my wife’s displeasure, but it was an amazing place with both secondhand and the latest games for all major consoles. There were also manga, video game character models, and a huge array of remote controls toys in specialty stores.

Next we got an umbrella each from a 100 yen store to try to stay dry. As I went to walk into the next store, a staff member pulled me up and pointed to this sign. I had to put my umbrella through an automatic umbrella wrapping machine. I can appreciate that they don’t want water on the floor and with the visitor numbers swelling in Akihabara as midday approaches. That could add up to a lot of water.

Akihabara has everything in electronics and a lot of new products in both Japanese and English versions. It is the place to go for repairs and spare parts as well. You could blow a lot of money in a few second. Most stores do not allow you to take photos in store.

I explained that I wanted to send some pictures back to my friends outside of Japan, but the answer was still no, and I had to settle for catalogues in Japanese. I found a lot of stores in Akihabara will haggle and do a discount so learn to ask “ Any discount?” or “Waribiki wa arimasu ka” in Japanese.

Official Akihabara Website (English)