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Subject: Photos of Akihabara
Akihabara has really changed. When I first came to Japan in 1995, it was tiny, dirty, smelly, and the best place in the universe. It was full of game stores, electronic parts stores, computer resellers, and component dealers. It was a maze of alleys and tiny stairwells and hidden shops with amazing inventories of rarities and... Well, it was basically a game geek's heaven.
When I moved here in 2000, it was like that still, but the prices had gone up. By 2005, when I left, it wasn't really a lot of fun anymore. Now it's all sanitized, the dirty old buildings torn down and replaced with concrete and steel skyscrapers, the narrow sidewalks widened and paved with white tiles. It's the location for flagship stores - Yodobashi Camera's shop is a massive home to every electronic device you would ever want to buy.
There are still arcades, and a few game stores. Mostly though it's recent releases, the number of places selling retro stuff is about a fifth of what it used to be, and they've raised the prices quite a lot. In 1995 Japan was dumping old stock, stuff was dirt cheap. In 2000 they started to discover retro gaming, and the prices started rising. Now there's not really any bargains to be found.
It's not as fun anymore. Mostly. There are still interesting things to see, and some of the back alleys are still home to dodgy looking shops stuffed with surplus gear. It's still the place to go when you want to find PC parts, or an old laptop. There are specialists for everything. Tsukumo, part of the rather large Yamada denki chain, has a half dozen tiny shops scattered around Akihabara. One specializes in monitors, another in music production, etc etc. Two Top (no relation to my favourite but long gone Over Top) has more kinds of PC power supplies in their small store than every computer store in Australia combined.
The rest of Akihabara is maid cafes. I'm not fully aware of what goes on in a maid cafe, but it seems to involve average-looking girls in french-maid outfits pretending to be interested in overweight, bespectacled sweaty nerds. There's two dozen 'maids' on the street handing out flyers. It's bizarre and more or less completely uninteresting.
So, yeah. Akihabara: no longer a place for gamers, but still interesting.
![[Image: http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba1.jpg]](http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba1.jpg "http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba1.jpg")
Yodobashi Camera
![[Image: http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba2.jpg]](http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba2.jpg "http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba2.jpg")
The main Electric Town station exit
![[Image: http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba3.jpg]](http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba3.jpg "http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba3.jpg")
The main street (on Sunday it's closed to traffic, and is wall-to-wall people)
![[Image: http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba4.jpg]](http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba4.jpg "http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba4.jpg")
Club Sega's second tower
![[Image: http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba5.jpg]](http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba5.jpg "http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba5.jpg")
Taito's arcade
![[Image: http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba6.jpg]](http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba6.jpg "http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba6.jpg")
A new, sterile building entrance. This used to be a several narrow, vertical shops.
![[Image: http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba7.jpg]](http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba7.jpg "http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba7.jpg")
MegaDrive Ghouls n Ghosts - still drawing a crowd
![[Image: http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba8.jpg]](http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba8.jpg "http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba8.jpg")
One of a half dozen Sofmap shops, this one sells used computers
![[Image: http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba9.jpg]](http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba9.jpg "http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba9.jpg")
Miscellaneous gadgets for sale
![[Image: http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba10.jpg]](http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba10.jpg "http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba10.jpg")
One of the few small roads, but cleaner and less interesting than before
![[Image: http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba11.jpg]](http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba11.jpg "http://nfgworld.com/grafx/photos/Japan2010/Akiba11.jpg")
When I moved here in 2000, it was like that still, but the prices had gone up. By 2005, when I left, it wasn't really a lot of fun anymore. Now it's all sanitized, the dirty old buildings torn down and replaced with concrete and steel skyscrapers, the narrow sidewalks widened and paved with white tiles. It's the location for flagship stores - Yodobashi Camera's shop is a massive home to every electronic device you would ever want to buy.
There are still arcades, and a few game stores. Mostly though it's recent releases, the number of places selling retro stuff is about a fifth of what it used to be, and they've raised the prices quite a lot. In 1995 Japan was dumping old stock, stuff was dirt cheap. In 2000 they started to discover retro gaming, and the prices started rising. Now there's not really any bargains to be found.
It's not as fun anymore. Mostly. There are still interesting things to see, and some of the back alleys are still home to dodgy looking shops stuffed with surplus gear. It's still the place to go when you want to find PC parts, or an old laptop. There are specialists for everything. Tsukumo, part of the rather large Yamada denki chain, has a half dozen tiny shops scattered around Akihabara. One specializes in monitors, another in music production, etc etc. Two Top (no relation to my favourite but long gone Over Top) has more kinds of PC power supplies in their small store than every computer store in Australia combined.
The rest of Akihabara is maid cafes. I'm not fully aware of what goes on in a maid cafe, but it seems to involve average-looking girls in french-maid outfits pretending to be interested in overweight, bespectacled sweaty nerds. There's two dozen 'maids' on the street handing out flyers. It's bizarre and more or less completely uninteresting.
So, yeah. Akihabara: no longer a place for gamers, but still interesting.
Yodobashi Camera
The main Electric Town station exit
The main street (on Sunday it's closed to traffic, and is wall-to-wall people)
Club Sega's second tower
Taito's arcade
A new, sterile building entrance. This used to be a several narrow, vertical shops.
MegaDrive Ghouls n Ghosts - still drawing a crowd
One of a half dozen Sofmap shops, this one sells used computers
Miscellaneous gadgets for sale
One of the few small roads, but cleaner and less interesting than before
BLEARGH