Akihabara: Den of devices and gadgets

I had to cut short the title but as a matter of fact, Akihabara is not only a tourist Mecca for having innumerable electronics shops but in more latter years it has become the center of Japan’s otaku (diehard fan, mostly of animes) and anime culture. Hence, the existence of maid cafes, manga cafes, and stores particularizing in anime, manga, retro video games, figurines, card games, and other collectibles have filled the district like mushrooms. As you stand in the middle of all this stuff, you feel like you’re not in the real world. By the same token, seeing otakus hanging around there just adds thrill to the ambiance. Seemed to me that they were anime characters in a series that came to life. What a shame I wasn’t able to capture any of them. I wasn’t that confident enough to take photos of them for my first visit. I was thinking they might get mad at me or something. 😄

This was the first establishment that ever caught my eyes. I confess I am not a fan of this famous girl group, AKB48 but I do enjoy watching them perform.

Who would forget Gundam? I used to watch this anime TV series of giant robots way back elementary school days. How about you?

Another thing that gave me quite a shock was the sex toys shops. I’ve seen one shop of a kind in our Macau trip but it was covered and located inside a building. On the other hand, in Akihabara these shops are legal and boldly seen. You can tell by the big photos or ads posted on the walls of the shops. Unlike in Macau where the hubby and I hesitated to get in, but in this district? The posters were welcoming so I asked Danny to get in one shop and have a look at the inside. Remember the curious bug in my head? haha To my relief, I wasn’t the only woman looking around there, saw 3 white women and looked very comfortable in there. They even bought something. Please don’t get me wrong. These shops are not just prevalent in my home country. I’m not judging but merely describing, yeah? 🙂 The rest of the customers were Japanese men of starting 20s and above. Some of them glanced at me every time I voiced “oh”, “aha”, and “wow”. I didn’t expect those things really exist. Interesting, though! 😃

Okay, let me just tell you another fact. 😊

On weekends, main streets are closed to vehicles for the crowd to freely walk. Isn’t it amazing? 😂