I will start off by making a quick comment. In linking to
my Flickr page, I've noticed an inconsistency in how I am numbering the days of this trip. That is because when I took pictures and posted them to Flickr, I didn't count any travel days. So I lost 3 days on my 10-day trip traveling between Narita and LA and when riding the
Shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka. So, when I say it's Day 3 on my blog but link to Day 2 on my Flickr, I'm not crazy. On with the tour!
Ah,
Akihabara. Day 3 say us scheduled for a half-day tour of Akihabara, an electronics/gaming/anime/etc. district in Tokyo. This guided tour would be a little different in that we would be lead off the main roads towards the back alleys where some of the older stores are and where people can find the better deals and harder to find items.
The tour started off with us going through a collection of electronics shops and up a stairwell, where a small shrine had been placed. If I remember the explanation our guide gave to us, I think the shrine was a small replica of one that used to exist in this district and was dedicated to Akiba. From there, we briefly went along the main road before turning off towards the back streets.
On the main street, you'll see people trying to hawk their goods or hand out flyers for restaurants, cafes, etc. Most of these cafes are themed, so you'll see people dressed as maids or in some other fantastic outfits.
Of course, once you move off the main streets you see a different side of Akihabara. Our guide showed us a bunch of older stores, from when this area was known as "Electric Town" and sold items such as radios, vacuum tubes, televisions, cameras ... pretty much all your general electronics. As we continued through the alleyways and back streets, we were treated to more and more specialty shops that sold anything and everything you might be interested in, especially if it was technology or electronics.
After we finished being led around the lesser-known areas of Akihabara, we were left to do our own exploring. Pretty much everyone left to shop; I was able lucky enough to find things that friends had asked me to look for, and since it was a few months before Christmas I was able to do some holiday shopping as well.
Overall, it was a full day even though it may not have sounded like it. Since I was more focused on shopping, I don't have many pictures from the area but you can check out what I have
here.
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