Japan 2019 Day 13 Part 1 - AKIHABARA!

Mar 10, 2019 4 min read

Exploring Japan and visiting shrines is cool and all but this is the real reason I’m here.

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🔞 It’s Akiba. You’ve been warned…
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It’s taken me so long to write these that this blog post is like a pre-pandemic time-capsule.
Akiba was hit hard by the lockdown…

>5 hours sleep
GODDAMNIT I KNEW IT

This is a game about warships.

🗿

I always liked the look of these, such a pleasing green.
I’ll miss them when they’re gone, almost as iconic as Britain’s red telephone boxes.

I’ve been to Akiba so often that I already have a path in mind that covers the whole area.

Yodobashi Camera

Oh hey

Mitsuboshi Colors: Episode 2

It’s the place the Mitsuboshi Colors played hide and seek in.

AKIHABARA!

Though no one is playing Streetpass in 2019.

DO NOT

Tatsumiya - Japanese Restaurant

Photo by miku take from Google Maps

Huh, I had no idea there was a food floor at the top of Yodobashi Camera.
I’ve always regreted eating at the same basic place over and over again during our first trip.

On Google Maps, it seems like a lot of people were lured in by this dish, to mixed reviews.

Beef sukiyaki bento set

After the wagyu beef yesterday, I was still in the mood for more.

The staff that brought my meal over was like one of those sweet old lunch ladies. She even slowly explained that I was supposed to dip the beef in the egg and the tempura in the tentsuyu (tempura dipping sauce).

Oishii 👍

It’s the same Souls-dude from 2017.

Somewhere out there, there are agriculture otakus.

I watched all the MCU movies shortly before this trip. I can now confidently say this is Iron Man.

Now I never need to learn Japanese.

A table filled with very expensive pieces of glass.

This Yodobashi Camera branch knows its demographic.
Maybe I should’ve picked up one of these lights…

🤓📸

This ad they had playing for these bendy glasses.

Japan.

Hey, I use these capture cards. Mine didn’t come with an anime girl though.

E-SPORTS

World’s most advanced fax shredders.

Lemon Inc

Oh, let’s check that out.

Wow, they stole my company name.

Akiba’s the place to be for niche nerd hobbies.

ソフネット本店

This sign pointing into a dark basement next to Book Off isn’t shady at all.

Kizuna Ai x Aikatsu

They combined a vtuber with an idol from a little girl’s cartoon.

When your school needs more funding and your idol activities aren’t cutting it.

Akihabara X Main Dept

They sell used figures here so you get a pretty unique selection of stock worth checking out.
There’s also prize figures if you don’t want to waste all your money on crane games.

Alolan Sharo.

Akihabara Station South Exit

And we’ve circled back round to the station.

The Quintessential Quintuplets anime was airing at the time.

Radio Kaikan

This building is finally fully opened up again.
I recommend the ground shop for grabbing edible souvenirs with anime girls slapped on the box.

Or something drinkable with anime girls slapped on the box.

This is the 3rd time I’ve taken a photo of these usagi cakes this trip. They must be cursed, they keep vanishing from my memory as soon as I walk away. In fact, I completely forgot I even bought a box until I checked over my photos recently while editing.

Akihabara Main Street

Cutting through this electronics alley under the railway.
This place feel like it was frozen in time back when Akiba was known as the Electric Town.

Ooh, they close off the main street on Sundays. Neat.

Aww… This building closed down after the pandemic. F.

Poor anime girls (now homeless).

Sure is lively.

(I stood around for ages waiting for a train to pass by.)

Minna happy happy days~

I’m cringing just remembering this show.

Hololive pre-blow up.
Can’t believe they sent in this pic with the rigging on her arm so broken.

This time, I took photos of all the signs I came across to google later.

This could be you!

Left is one of those napping shops I’ve heard about where a cute girl hangs out with you on a bed.

Right is a shop where cute not-JKs chat with you, until the final 5 minutes of your timeslot where you fondle their tits after the lights go out.

Melonbooks

Follow the light…down into the basement.

Oh… This place has downscaled.
This used to be the second part of their book shop. Now it’s just an event space.

What are the staff up to back there?

IOSYS

Presumably this hardware store has no affiliation to the doujin music circle.

Japan were ahead of the pandemic.

A clothes dryer for when you only need to dry a single pair of socks.

千住ビル7 Building

Pretend this is day time.

There’s this shop I discovered last time that I really liked. It’s in this building in this alleyway.

(That retro game shop on the bottom no longer exists, it’s a cosplay cafe now.)

Through this sketchy looking door.

6F AKIBA-HOBBY 秋葉原店

One incredibly cramped lift ride to the top later.

These guys sell a lot of doujin goods from Touhou and mobages.
They’re also the only place I’ve found to sell stuff from Aikatsu.

Most of the stuff in their display cabinets have long since sold out. Such a tease.

You can tell the shopowners are massive otakus themselves.

Oh hey, I use those headphones on the left, the AKG 702.

Japan, the last remaining bastion for indie music CDs.

This is really nice. I can’t remember if it was for sale but now I want it.

2023 update: I couldn’t stop thinking about this so I did some digging.
Turns out it’s just a clear file inside a separate LED illuminated poster frame.
This is the original artist.

Watch Aikatsu.

Oh hey, I used this gun in my team back when I played.

Girls Frontline was the in mobage at the time.

I don’t know what this is but it’s free.

My tip for visiting these buildings is to take the lift to the top so you can take the stairs down.

Imagine having to walk past this everyday on your way up to the office.

3F Getchuya Akiba shop

I wonder what’s behind this butt?

Another butt!

Very advanced nipple technology.

Don’t hack my onahole pls.

Goodbutt, till next time.

Comic Jiku-Chushinha Akihabara Shop

This shop used to basically be a Coffee-Kizoku and Kantoku tapestry store.
Now it’s just a Coffee-Kizoku monopoly.

This is another store that had downscaled compared to the last time I had visited.
It’s mostly an event space now.

(2022)
Looks like it went through further downscaling after the pandemic. It’s just a corner now, selling the latest book releases. The rest of the space is taken over by Art Jeunesse’s exihibitions. Also the only way to get in and out is through the lift which uh, seems like a fire hazard.

At least the signature wall is in-tact.

Right is Wanokuni. A relaxation massage place, but like, not the proper therapist kind.

This could be you!

Left is Hapihani. A place to get pampered by cute not-JKs with massages (not the proper kind), hand-holding, hugs, and more!

Toranoana has a match-making service for geeks.

Akihabara Gachapon Hall

I always visit this place every trip.
Mainly for the Gee! cosplay and merch store on the upper floors.

Though it looks like the Gee! store moved to another building in 2022.

This Godzilla hoodie.

Ah, the early vtuber era.

Baby dan dan~

I keep doing this thing where I tell myself I’ll buy something after I finish circling the store but then I forget and leave and don’t realise I forgot until I’m already back at the hotel.

…

Absolute chad.

ホワイトキャン

Checking out that Touhou store where that westaboo owner talked to us for half an hour before and gave us those free postcards.

Oof, this place has downscaled a lot too.
Apparently they were getting sued for selling unlicensed Love Live goods. I bought some of those unlicensed goods last time… Maybe I would’ve had enough money to catch a taxi if I hadn’t bought them. The quality sucks too and they’re falling apart already.