Akihabara

As you walk through the station exit, your eyes are met with an array of themed shops that immediately set the tone. The largest stores can be found around the station as well as those offering tax free shopping for foreign tourists (who merely need to produce their passport) staffed with polyglot salespersons. When you look at the rows of shops selling miscellaneous articles, you may even mistake your surroundings for a Hong-Kong market.

On Akihabara’s main street you will also find the Sega Club, a major four-story arcade venue. Fight games are just as popular as ever and it is even possible to challenge a player in the middle of a game by taking the cabinet opposite him/her. It is to be noted that, as often in Japan, smoking is allowed in game arcades.

The number of arcades games peaked to 26,000 venues in 1986, to decrease to about 4,000 in 2018, due to the democratization of video game at home and the widespread use of smartphone 📱.

Take a plunge beneath the surface

In Akihabara’s side streets, there are a lot of lower-profile stores where you can often get better deals. However, in many Akihabara stores (like, for example, Super Potato, a retro video game retailer highly popular with tourists), prices have been allowed to soar since the change of millennium and the drastic rise in the number of visitors. When we first went in 2003, you could actually find good bargains, but this is hardly true today…

Some people are of the opinion that Akihabara does not hit the mark anymore, especially due to the flow of foreign tourists which partly accounts for rising prices, but also because several iconic stores have closed down. The upper floors of buildings are often worth a visit as verticality reigns supreme in the district.

It is probably after nightfall that Akihabara is the most appealing. The atmosphere is suffused with the brightness of artificial lighting and pervaded with the sounds of thousands of noises rising from game consoles such as the endlessly repeated “irasshaimase!” (Welcome!), creating a unique environment. Be warned however: despite the district’s myriad dazzling lights and its crowd-drawing clamor, most stores close for the night on the stroke of seven when neon lights go off and megaphones go quiet until the next morning and the beginning of new hard day’s work.

The items sold in Akihabara traditionally cover a large quality range. Akiba, which is short for Akihabara, remains nonetheless a must-see place for the world’s otaku in love with popular Japanese culture.

Nakano Broadway, in Western Tokyo, is also a good alternative to Akihabara.