Akihabara Electric Town? I call it Crazy Town!

October 6, 2008 by Jeff · 2 Comments

The day before we left Tsukuba, I headed to Akihabara in Tokyo also named Electric Town. Let me tell you that I'd rather rename it Crazy Town.... Or even possibly China Town (of Japan).

Lindsay didn't come with me so the best way I could describe Akihabara to her was this. Picture something electronic, anything electronic (Ipods, TV's, Air Conditioners, cables, video games). Now picture something anime and/or manga (Manga being the comic book rather then the action film). Now picture Chinatown. Now remove all the trinkets and crap from Chinatown and put in electronics, anime and manga in it's place. That's Akihabara or Electric Town!

It's seriously a crazy neat place. You can walk down one street and see a Comodore 64 and the next shop over can have Manga Porn. Seriously. Check out the pictures below they were right beside each other...

Anyway, I spent the day wandering around in amazement at the sights and sounds. Not only should you visit Electric Town (or street) which is on the Eastern Side of the JR Train Station. Here you'll see all kinds of arcades, manga shops, electronic stores, more arcades and more manga.

The other side of the tracks you should definitely visit the YodoBashi Akiba buildling. It's basically a gigantic Best Buy (for us North American folk). This accounts to seven, yes 7, floors of electronics. Instead of having a TV area it's a whole floor, another one for cameras, phones, computer parts, mp3 players, video games and toys.