For those of you who don’t follow me on twitter, and that means pretty much everyone, I recently went to Japan. Two of my days were spent in Akihabara. Below are some of my thoughts on what some have referred to as the Anime holy land.
1 – Gamers and Animate are nice stores and they are definitely worth visiting, but unless you can read Japanese there really isn’t all that much for a foreigner to get here. While these stores do have some character goods, there are other places that you can get them for much less. I’d recommend going to places not on Chuo-Dori, even though you will feel drawn to it like a moth to a flame. Stores like Kotobukiya and the Cospa Gee Store have a lot of good character goods for a lot of popular/current anime, including T-shirts, wall scrolls, mugs, CDs, etc.
2 – While it was difficult to not have an otakugasm while walking in the many stores I visited, the most interesting things to me was how all of these stores were able to
constantly supply themselves and keep up to date. Since I went on the weekend I suppose it was likely less of a spectacle than I made it out to be, as I am sure there are less hectic days. Still, it seemed like the workers were constantly restocking shelves of manga, or putting in new merchandise while customers crowded the stores. Even more amazing was the way the arcades operated. Though my next note dives into more detail regarding the arcades, the constant turnover of what prizes offered was fairly amazing. As an example, I went to one arcade late Saturday night and then again Sunday morning, and it seemed like 75 percent of the prizes were different. I suppose this makes sense, given that people likely don’t want to win, or even play for the same prizes on a constant basis, but it was still pretty interesting. You could probably apply some of these concepts to a lot of big cities around the world in some way or another, the rest of Tokyo included, it just wasn’t something I think about on a day to day basis.
3 – If you have ever been to a Casino then you would probably understand what it is like to play in an Akihabara arcade. I spent most of my time trying to win prizes on some of the lower floors of the numerous arcades, as I have nowhere the level of skill to compete with the people playing video games on higher floors. Most of the prize games, if not all of them require the use of the UFO drop, and further require multiple plays to win. After someone does win, an attendant comes by to reset the game by putting the prize in a predetermined spot, which makes it sufficiently difficult but also equally alluring. Iwon’t get into the specifics of all of the separate games, but suffice it to say there are some that you just won’t be able to do. If you ever play in these arcades, i’d focus on the games you know you can win at that have the most personally alluring prizes, rather than basing your game choice on what you want the most. Everything can be bought somewhere else, instead of won, and it will save you some money in the long run. As for myself, after a disastrous first attempt, I readjusted to the above strategy and was able to win 5 pretty cool items, though not the one thing I really wanted.
4 – There is a lot of porn. No one is really that shameless about it, which makes everything somewhat comfortable, but basic man law still applies. Weirdest thing to me was that I saw what looked like a Mom with what was maybe her 15 year old son in the same store, with the son in the doujinshi section, and the Mom elsewhere, until he needed her to foot the bill. Of course, that could also be a description for a different type of arrangement.
5 – Mandoka really says everything I need to say about cosplaying in the Akihabara, but, more generally, there weren’t as many cosplayers as I thought there would be, and I even went on Sunday. That’s not to say there weren’t any, but just not a lot, aside from all the maids. Two things that stood out to me was that it seemed like there was a unexpectedly high level of cross playing going on, but that might just have been due to the smallish sample size. Secondly, those who did cosplay, whatever it was, really seemed to embrace the concept of the Absolute Area, but really, it seems like a large percentage of Japanese women do.
6 – I spent way too much money for my own good. As a side effect of this turn of events, I have realized that my fascination with Tomoe Mami from MSMM has already passed the danger zone. Further, I am glad that I went during the last part of my trip, otherwise I would have spent even more.
7 – Put three English letters together, followed by a 48, and you will probably name a girl group in the area. Obviously, that’s an exaggeration, but there were at least three. Didn’t bother to see AKB48, and I don’t think I missed much either.
8 – While there are a bunch of reasons to call this the Anime holy land, the one thing I found most enjoyable, and was easy to kind of overlook after a while was that there was anime shows and music playing all the time in the stores. To actually go to a place where this isn’t that out of the ordinary is a little weird, but it was alos kind of relaxing in a way. I don’t really know how to describe it, but it was nice. Also, it was kind of weird, but it seemed like every arcade I went to was required by law to play music from Seitokai Yakuindomo. I enjoyed it, but it still seemed kind of random.
9 – Did not have the balls to go into a Maid Cafe, considering that I went by myself. Don’t know if I would have wanted to either, though I suppose I might have under the auspices of being ironic.
10 – If I have one complaint about Akihabara, and all of Japan really, is that it is impossible to find a trash can. I mean, you have all of these vending machines all over the place, but no trash cans. It gets annoying, as I spent a lot of time just looking for a trash can. It’s like all the trash cans are in secret locations that only Japanese could ever possibly know about. I understand that trash cans are a security threat, and considering Akihabara’s past it isn’t that big of a deal. A lot of other countries I have visited have this same “problem”, but what can you do. This is one reason I kind of miss America, the land of the easily found trash can.
11- Even though the new season is only three/four weeks old I found it amazing how much Yuru Yuri was getting plugged. I’ve only seen the first episode so far, as the only thing I’ve watched in Japan was Steins Gate (interesting side note on Steins Gate: I was in a cab in South Japan and there was a radio program talking about Steins Gate. The cabby was getting pretty emotional about what they were saying, to the point he was slamming his fist at one point. The guy looked like he was over 50. No clue what was said on the radio about Steins Gate, as I can’t really understand Japanese people talking when it isn’t programming for someone under 5), but back on point about Yuru Yuri, I thought the one episode I saw was pretty good. Still, it seems like it is all over. It kind of also seems like Idolmaster was the next most popular new series, merchandise wise, but it was hard to tell. Inexplicably, in my opinion, Infinite Stratos is all over the town. Its merchandise is everywhere. Once again, I assume this means it’s popular, but I suppose it could mean that the stores are overstocked with its merchandise. It’s hard to tell. Madoka and K-On are pretty popular as well.
12 – You can spend 9 hours walking around the area, which includes a whole bunch of stairs, and who knows how many miles that equates to, but you won’t feel tired in the least.
13. Homura seems infinitely more popular than Madoka. Example: You put a Madoka shirt in a UFO drop table. No one plays it for a long time. Put a Homura shirt in, its gone in 5 minutes.
14. Didn’t bother going to the Tokyo Anime Center. It looked kind of lame from the outside, and it seemed like a tourist trap, but then again I suppose the same could be said about the arcades.
15. Anaru jokes are universal.
I wished i could go to japan, but if i went now i would burst into a loud ”Kyaaaaa ” all over the city, after seeing anything anime related… It would be imposible to keep it in for me, so I have to wait till i learn some more self control.
In my country its pretty rare to see anime stuff, mostly its a few drawings , that some company boss decided to put on a notebook cover without knowing what it is. I once brought a diary, jounal with Ikki (from Air gear) on it. For some reason there were also pank silhouettes, a brithish flag and a phonebooth with a writting ”hip hop” on the cover too… werid.
Well it certanly takes guts to go inside a Maid Cafee. Altrought you know what to expect (adore cuteness, moe pwa, and probably a nosebleed )
=3
I was in that “Kyaaa” moment if you will, not that I would say that in RL, but I was like a kid in a candy store, so I bit my lip for the first 20 minutes until I calmed down a bit and lost a couple thousand yen in the arcades.
Weird thing about the Maid Cafes, no one I saw take a flier from the maids on the street, but when I walked by a few cafes that were lower to the ground(as it seems like a lot of them are six or seven stories up) there was always a line.
When I went in may the Spring Season had just started yet there was A-Channel stuff all over the place. Like it was predetermined what people were going to like while other series were left in the dust.
What I really liked was the walls covered in future merchandise and you could take tickets reserving this items. Of course it didn’t do me a lot of good but anime lovers in the area could have something to look forward to later.
In my experience there was usually some sort of trash can near a convenient store. But the one convenient store on that street was near the end so it was hard to find places to throw stuff away.
There was not enough Mami stuff when I was there XD Really want the nendoroids when they come out.
The only thing I was disappointed with was the lack of older anime stuff. In a few of these consignment type shops there were some booths with older series. But in the actual retail stuff finding anything Tsubasa was impossible.
Also going on a Sunday was X__X. So many serious people with suitcases on a mission and here I am all up in the way.
yeah, i saw the tickets too, but it seemed like it was a reserve type situation and I wasn’t going to be there for that long. You are right about the older stuff. For example, I tried to find something related to Lucky Star, but the only thing I could find was some old crappy puzzle, and that was after two days of walking around the town, assuming you aren’t including doujinshi. Speaking of Tsubasa,,,
Maybe A Channel/Yuru Yuri for the marketing, because it’s easy to market goods with cute girls (by the way, YURI YU RA RA RA RA YURU YURI) – I doubt there’s many Steins;Gate goods out there, even though it’s a vastly better anime.
That said, the cabbie wasn’t even in Akiba, was he? So regular Japanese people would ride in cabs and the drivers would listen to people on the radio talk about anime? Interesting, cause there’s a lot of comment on about how many Japanese hate otaku, etc.
Ahh, Japan. We think it’s all so awesome and cool, but at the end all of this is still only for money. :L
cute girls are my kryptonite. after hearing the Yuru Yuri soundtrack over and over again, I eventually caved and bought the CD. no regrets.
Yes, it is all for the money. Steins Gate did have a lot of advertising, but you are right there weren’t that many goods, but Kotobukiya had a display full of shirts and mugs, so I bought a Christina mug.
Otaku are still men at heart. Having a shirt with an anime girl in all black/grey is marginally better than having one in pink, the marginally stretched to monumentally the more insecure the guy is.
I dunno, this place just never struck me as the kind that would be comfortable, but then again I’m somebody easily prone to sensory overload. And Akihabara assaults all your senses in one coordinated attack unceasingly.
in regards to the second part of your comment, I agree. It was tough trying to hold in my smile as I stepped out of the station for the first time, because in a way it is a lot like Christmas morning.
As for the first part of your comment, I’m not really sure what you were trying to get at, as it was difficult to understand. Though I did by a few shirts, and usually the black grey/shirts are larger in size and seem designed with men in mind, where as the smaller shirts are in some sort of unnatural color and are designed for woman.
I’ve been living for two years in Japan and I’ve still not been let in on the secret of where the trashcans are. :(
There are no trash cans. You take your trash with you until you get home or to a restaurant or something with a trash can and throw it away there. No, really. That’s why the streets are so damn clean. No trash cans = no overflowing trash cans dependent on street workers to empty = clean!
My first stop would be Akihabara if I’d visit Japan. It’s same like a place I know where I live, it’s the anime counterpart. You get all electronic goods, gadgets and stuffs there. Anime is pretty rare in the country where I live but we’re promoting anime here. Akihabara is like the place where every Otaku would like to make a halt though Gamers are most welcomed here. I’ve read many things about Akihabara and would like to go there.