I so want to go there ^_^ but I would need to go with someone that already had experience there and take me to the best shops of both Gundams and Figures.
I love it when you do photo reports like this, still holding onto that shred of hope that'll be able to go japan and visit akihabara. My life getting in the way unfortunately, anyways is there more gundam shops or figures or both? ^^;
Seeing pictures of Akihabara is bittersweet since I've never been there. Maybe if I save some money instead of wasting it all on anime, figures, and games I'll take that trip to Japan.. ..and spend it on anime, figures, and games in Akihabara! haha!
I just love Akihabara :) I've been twice in Tokyo and been in Akiba several times during those 2 visits. Akihabara station is also the only (?) station that has anime/eroge advertising on the train platforms. It's lovely to walk out of the station seeing all the maids and you feel right at home ;p But it can be very crowded during the day. Last time I went in the evening around 20h when all the (important) shops are still open and it's much less crowded. It's unfortunate that when you are on vacation in Japan, it's not easy to buy figures as the boxes can be pretty big and don't fit in your luggage... So I'm limited to manga, music & merchandise. (I still don't understand Japanese enough to buy the dvds) Anyway, I love Akihabara ;) (and my fav shops are Gamers & Animate ;p)
Subaruhess, Its a fair share of both.
I so want to go to otaku heaven. Hopefully this summer before I start school again....o boy I am going to spend hundreds while I'm there lol. Probably on figures and magazines, maybe some ero on the side lol.
So how are the kebabs? And that teaser is almost cruel and unusual punishment (;_;) People will buy anything. DVDs of accident victims!? Too much for me
I was planning on going to Akihabara next summer for a few days...but there's just so much to see, do, and yes...buy!! I don't think I need to be with my parents for both Thanksgiving and Christmas...must save more vacation days.
I was in Akihabara last March shopping for a new DSLR Camera. I wanted to totally Geek out and check all of the shops that would satisfy my inner otaku but my wife was with me and she just isn't into anime or anything else like that. Since she was basically my Japanese guide, I was at the mercy of her whims. Anyways. Why the heck is everything so overpriced over there? I was specifically shopping for an Olympus E500 DSLR with the kit lenses and the places I checked in Akihabara had the camera selling for about retail price. When I checked an electronics store in Hadano, I found the camera and kit lenses for the equivalent of $530. So my question is this. Is Akihabara really the place to get a good deal on electronics or is that a myth. I know you can get ANYTHING that has electrons flowing through it but can you get a good deal on it? Are there any websites that will point me to shops with good values (as well as other otaku favorites) I'll be back in Japan next spring and I WILL spend a lot more time in Akihabara.
It was easier to find good electronic deals in Akihabara some years ago when there was less emphasis on anime/manga/figures and more on radio/camera/PCs. Now you typically have to hunt around the side streets to find the electronic bargains.
I do have to visit that holy place when I make a trip down. Never been to Akiba so I have no idea how much cash to bring ^^; Only know that alot of money is needed
@windbell I recommend plastic money. About $2000 worth should do you for a day of shopping. Trust me, if my wife hadn't been there, I would have burned through that much in a few hours.
Trusty bell!!! (prays hard to convince bandai for ps3 release) yea, it is certainly a otaku haven. I would most definitely want to go. However once I done with all of my examination which also includes the professional ones (つω；) It sure is hard to determine the expenditure there for now. Need to start saving to head there ^^;
bring cash. lots of cold hard cash if you are planning to buy things since the smaller shops that offer the good deals on goods dont take plastic...
and if you're going to do that make sure to watch out for Otaku hunters :|
Yup bring cold hard cash and work out before you go ^^. I would love to go there possiblly in the summer. I can waste my money i earn !
sunday is the day i miss akihabara the most...is it 293 days left till i go? i lose count...
;_; I miss Akihabara... I spent over $2000USD when I was last there >.< Had to send stuff back via surface mail >.> Hopefully I got more money when I go back :3 Lovely photos Danny~
I see boobies on the ero haruhi picture =X
If I ever get to Akihabara, I'd definitely must go to one of those idol events *drool* =P~~
Ah, Akihabara. Saving enough money so i can spend like a true otaku there :D
I buy all my electronic needs online from ebay, amazon, etc. I'll probably just empty out my wallet on eroge when I go there. WOW...cute girl in pink bikini...something to look forward to on Monday. WHEEE How's figure.fm 2.0 coming along?
need to make a pilgramage to Akihabara once before i die in this life!
I never knew Ishimaru had Idoru gravure albums and mooks. Always walked over to Shosen Book Tower to get my stuff...
ahh i remember all those store when i was there!!! damn Gamerz forgot to put my cd i brought into the bag. didnt figure it out until i got back to the hotel and by tht time it was closed. (past 10pm or was it 11pm, one of those). in the end they replace the missing cd but it took some time to explain things to them -.- other from tht akiba was a pretty kool place. you can find boxed maid outfits for about only $50 USD. i think i have a picture too of Sofmap wall full of posters. huge wall and loads of posters.
This post has made me anticipate my trip to Japan 100 times more. The illegal immigrant thing, this was also shown in Akihabara@Deep hehe.I can't believe they would sell such profanities in our sacred land!
Why would someone want a whole DVD of images of dead people??? There must be some seriously disturbed otaku out there! :o
The whole dead people thing is scary and it reminds me of an episode of Ghost in the Shell where this ex-army fellow was horribly mutilating people and recording it, the videos where being sold in Akiba but luckily it helped Section 9 catch the bad guy and arrest his ass.
I need to go there ;_;
I cant believe you missed out the 7 floor wonder-shop that is Lammtarra! Nice to see good ol' Akiba again. Wish i were there :-( DVDS of dead people? Eeeek! Cant wait for tomorrow's oppai-fest!
"Akihabara. The place that all otaku need to visit at least once in their life time." Yap. It's the holy land of otakuism, anime,manga, eroges, idols bla bla bla!!! MUST VISIT THERE!! and good luck in bringing the internet down. I will surely visit it during 9.30 JST, which is around 10.30 in singapore...*plans to log on around 10 and keep f5-ing till the post appears!! loll,,,but might lag the server.. T.T
Danny, i was just wondering - when you go to Akiba, does everyone recognise you? Do people in the shops give you freebies because you are the great otaking Danny Choo? I wouldve thought you were a familiar face round those parts now... @Perplexus - are you sure it was Akiba? Wasnt all of Tokyo destroyed and flooded in the GITS universe?
Oooh the holy land O_O I can't wait to go to Akiba when i go to Japan. However i am going to be going on the last day, because i know that if i go any sooner i will have no money left, and seeing as my brother and i have to survive on our money supplies, spending it all before the end of the holiday probably isnt wise. As for money, i don't work in USD, but im taking about £500-£600 to last me 5 days ^_^ (cos ill spend 2 of my 7 days flying) Oh i have a question, i hope you don't mind ^_^ I heard that Akiba is best on Sundays because they close the roads so there is alot more activity, however, the days that im going to Japan means i will be going on a week day (wednesday to be precise); so i was wondering, will there still be plenty of cosplayers handing out flyers etc? Because it would be really great to see them ^_^
Now that's the place that I want to go to if I ever get to go to Japan
Hehe, and it's easy to get there when you arrive in Tokyo (since you're most likely gonna arrive at Narita and then to Tokyo, then you might arrive at Ueno station) And if you arrived in the morning, then you're still too early to check in to your hotel, so you drop your baggage in a coin locker, and make a 15min walk (or take the Yamanote/Keihin-Tohoku line for 2 stops), and do a quick visit to Akihabara :p. At least, that's what I always do; but then I just do some looking around to see what's new and almost never do any buying. That's for the next days to do :) But I think that next time, I'll buy some figures and put them in a box and mail them home ;p. I used to not buy any manga, because I can't read it, but now I'm buying under the pretense that it will help me learn japanese (mostly the ones that have furigana). It's a good start to learn to read hiragana fluently. and my post is getting long... ;p
I know that there are stores that only sell gunpla, but are there other stores that only sell a certain theme of merchandise, or like only one anime's stuff? That would be pretty cool to stumble upon a store that only sells stuff from your favorite anime....
Except for a whole floor of Gundam, there isn't any shop of just one anime that I know of. Not even for Evangelion, even though it would be possible to fill a whole shop with it. Maybe Hello Kitty, but that's not really considered an anime.
Akihabara, my kinda town. A warning to anyone going there for the first time, it's noisy and confusing as well as exhilarating! The back streets are the most interesting. Advice also to anyone purchasing large PVC figures - if you really can't get the box in your luggage, remove figure from box and wrap in bubble wrap, paper or whatever - it'll take up much less space in the case, and they are pretty strong so not too much worry about brekage. PL
Akihabara!!! I've dreamed of going to that place ever since I knew about it. You can bet that's the first place I'll be visiting the moment I get to drop by japan. ^^ Still waiting for that faithful day up to now. heheh I see a lot of posters in the pics...I simply love posters. That's probably where most of my money will be going. ^^
OMG !! Akihabara !! When can I go la ??! Japan is so expensive !!!
I loves me some junior idols. "The worst thing is that they also sell DVDs full of pictures of dead people - people who have been in accidents with half of their face torn off." OH, JAPAN!
Hm, I guess spending $100-$500 is the most realistic as the trip itself will already cost a bunch. While surfing through the eroge section I had to think of the Genshiken crew and Sasahara's first visit to an otaku shop^^
Akihabara here i come ^^ i made plans alrdy to go... Hmm i got atleast 4,000 dollars usd to spend ^^, going with family to japan in a couple weeks ^^. Good thing i decided not to upgrade my computer!
n....e....e....d.... go..... to....nippon..... for....2nd....time... to.... aki....ha.....bara.... akihabara is truly dreamland of otaku
4k bucks.... well, you better plan how to bring the stuff back
Akiba and Den Den Town are places where anyone can spend loads of cash. It's just so easy to do. What really concerns me now is when my fiancee and I move back to Japan. Never do I have a problem with controlling excessive cash flow on a trip, but if I live near one of these place and I know I will... Ooh... ^o^ Photos look good Danny! Always enjoy seeing photos you take when out and about in Tokyo.
I've been in Japan on vacation for the first time for the past 2 weeks. As I reached my budget of about 1k USD spending money I had to get creative to fit it all in my luggage. :3 Be wary of what you can carry ;-;
I would spend all my money in Akihabara ^_
Arekusu, Sunday is a nice day to go to see cosplayers but its very crowded. Andy, I do get people asking if I am Danny Choo ^^; I dont get freebies from shops. Ken, Figure.fm development is behind schedule due to Mirai.Inc taking on more work than expected. Aya, Thanks *^^* Jonhohx, 293 days is a long time! Sgt Beavis, Prices for electronic goods are actually over priced. Your best bet is places like Bic Camera and Sakuraya in Shinjuku. Leo, Never tried them. Prefer a kebab while sitting down but that place is only a stall.
omg ... after seeing the pictures .. akihabara is so cool and full the stuff that all otakus including me like !! hehe . is the IDOL magazines legal to all people ?? including
Japan sure seems clean to me. Look at Akiba. So many people, yet places are generally quite clean.
I would like to visit akihabara at least once. It just means i better get rich to fly to japan
Ah, Akiba... Would like to visit there if I ever go to Japan but not sure if I'll have the guts to drop into a maid cafe. After the Densha Otoko drama a lot of Japan travel shows seems to cover them! There must be some sick people to sell mutilated pictures of dead people...
Great coverage as usual. Lots to visit, do, spend and weird things to look at and to avoid too. The DVD of dead people... I can't understand how some can get any pleasure in it. Humanity can be strange. Another confirmation!
Akiba, the land of milk and honey for us otakus ^^ i got envious at my friend who went to Japan for a vacation and went to akiba but i told myself i'll soon and eventually visit akiba in the near future ^^ shopping for otaku items like anime, game, manga and of course idol merchandises XDDD what are the other districts where we can cosplayers besides akiba?
One of my dream is coming to Akiba. This place will be in first priority list if i go to Japan. (Unfortunetly, i cannot speak Japanese TT_TT) BTW, is Akiba always have cheaper price for anime stuff rather than other place in Tokyo?
Looks like one big money sink if you ask me. XD
Ugh. I went to Akiba a couple of times this past may while on vacation in Japan. Maybe it was good we didn't spend too many days there. Let's just say I spent way too much there and leave it at that. I wish I had more time to browse and take in the sights, but then I'd be more inclined to buy the amazing things I kept seeing.
it will become a dream come true for me if I get to visit akihabara. maybe I should start saving some money !!
Can't post the full long link, but I'll post the general link to my blog. The last two are about figures I found there and some Evangelion stuff I saw, like the lockers in Akihabara. When I finally get around to writing my new blog entry about Akihabara and the stores in Japan, I'll make sure to post a link to your page here. You know the names of all the places, I was just following my friends who have to the area. Oh and I was in shock most of the time.
Star Kebab was nice! got one more at ameyoko ^o^
i hope i can get there someday, AHHH AKIHABARA!! 4sure i'll take a lot of money 2 buy figures hehe & model kits
i love akiba i swear ill be there a least 3 times to spend time money because being an otaku is now one of my priorities
You used a phrase similar to what I wrote in an article on Tokyo (about otaku having to visit Akihabara). Here is the 'official' English-language Akihabara World-Wide Website = http://e-akihabara.jp/en/index.htm Did Sofmap buy or merge with Yamagiwa? There are bargains to be had in Akihabara. I was looking for AVs (regular AVs). I went into Sofmap's 'Building "A"'
