Visiting Japan's Otaku District Akihabara from your Home
If you watch a lot of anime, chances are you've heard of Japan's famous electric town, Akihabara, AKA Akiba for short. A hit among anime fanboys and maid cafes alike, Akihabara is the only place with constant otaku activity happening in such abundance.
The district is filled with signs depicting anime girls, ads for the latest dating sims, and even foreign video games from the west. If you're into something nerdy, you can find it there. If you're into retro games, there's a place for that. If you're into maids, there's a place for that. If you're into hentai... well, you get the picture.
Famous places of note in Akihabara include the Gamers store, whose mascot is Dejiko from the old Di Gi Charat TV show. Gamers sells anime, manga (including doujins), video games, anime music CD's, and all sorts of otaku merchandise. You can actually simulate owning and managing this store in a game called Di Gi Communication for the GBA! It's pretty fun.
Another famous place is the Radio Kaikan building, although they've renovated and changed their look since their appearance in Steins;Gate. It's a bit of a pity, in my opinion! They should have kept that look up just for Steins;Gate fans! They went through the trouble of advertising Steins;Gate with a fake satellite that appeared to have fallen and hit the building. Might as well keep up the original look, too.
Akihabara is home to the idol group AKB48, whose name actually derives from the district. AKB48 has their own cafe and shop near Akihabara Station, where you can meet the idols and watch them perform while eating expensive treats. Is the experience worth it? Well, I'd do it.
Next to the AKB48 Cafe is the Gundam Cafe. Who needs maids or idols when you can have giant mecha suits?!
There's a store in Akihabara that sells nothing but Gachapon figures. It's called Akihabara Gachapon Kaikan. These are available in various areas in Tokyo, but Akihabara is our focus right now! Akihabara Gachapon Kaikan contains 530 different Gachapon machines, many of which are anime-related. In case you get repeats or unwanted figures, there is even a showcase area where you can sell your figures and get some money back!
Toranoana is a chain of manga stores in Japan, and they have a branch in Akihabara. This is the store that was referenced in the anime/manga DENKI-GAI.
Low on cash? There's still a place for you in Akihabara! There's a square where Nintendo 3DS gamers meet up and interact with one another in their games. It's actually a really crowded spot! You'll probably finish all the Mii Gate puzzles in no time if you hang out there for a few weeks.
Of course, since Akihabara is located in Tokyo, Japan, it's unlikely that most readers here will actually be able to visit. Right?
Wrong!
There's actually a couple of methods I know of for foreigners to visit Akihabara straight from the comfort of their own home. I mean, a few things are left out such as the ability to feel satisfaction from your figure purchase when you're not getting it physically, or the smelly otaku crowd... You also don't get flyers shoved in your face as you walk down the sidewalk... Okay, a couple of those things are good to avoid, but anyway! You get to visit and explore Akiba whenever you feel like it, and that's pretty neat.
The first method is called Akiba's Trip: Undead and Undressed. This is a PS3/PS4/PSVita game that takes place in Akihabara! You can visit many stores and the game is quite detailed with their listings! Of course, it's a little unrealistic because you need to strip vampire girls to expose their skin to the sun and kill them, but hey, that might make it better for some people. The game is also a bit grindy, but it's still a nice way to satiate your inner Akiba cravings. At least, it's definitely more affordable than physically visiting the district.
The second method is a custom map in Garry's Mod. If you play Garry's Mod, chances are you've probably already seen it, since it's a popular map. The map is actually called gm_AKIBA and it was created by the user sa-mon. There's a couple of advantages to this map in comparison to Akiba's Trip; all the names and pictures are of the actual district. Akiba's Trip takes a lot of copyrighted names and edit them, such as the AKB48 Cafe, which they turned into AKW48 Cafe. That doesn't happen in gm_AKIBA. Another advantage to this is that there are no loading times. It's just one big map, rather than being split into sections like in Akiba's Trip. Also, the map is free, so if you have Garry's Mod, you're already set.
And there you have it. These methods may not be as amazing as the real Akiba, but they're something you can do in the time it takes you to save up for the trip to Tokyo.
