Akihabara

One of the places I just "Had To" see in Tokyo was Akihabara, the famous "Electric Town." It's a shopping area in Japan that specializes in duty free shops featuring tons of electronic equipment, DVDs, Manga and the like. You could call it "otaku central" in Japan (for those who don't know "otaku" is the Japanese term for 'fanboy' or what we in the U.S. would call a 'geek').

Akihabara certainly lived up to its hype, with huge neon displays and brightly lit shops that told you it was time to wake up and shop. It was similiar to the farmers' market I went to in Kanazawa, except here they were selling Gameboys, movies and cameras instead of fruits, vegetables and fish.



There were also anime and manga references splashed all over the place. The poster below uses characters from Neon Genesis Evangelion to sell some sort of canned coffee.




If this coffee can make Ayanami Rei look like this, it must be good!

As with most of my trip to Japan, the only regretable thing was not having more time to spend (or more money to shop with). I'm already planning a future trip to Tokyo, where I plan to spend more time in "Electric Town."

Erick.