Hot In Tokyo: Akiba

In full, Akihabara. If you like anime, manga or electronics, this place is a must to visit. Myself, I've arrived there from the rear, so to say as I've wanted to see some temples in the area. I seem to have some fixation with temples lately :P.

View from a bridge near the station. It just felt very "Tokyo". It's very cramped, there's lots of buildings, often high and a lot is going on.

I'll just throw a few photos of the 2 temples I've seen in the area. I don't you really want to read about them ;)

Now, back to Akiba. The heart of it is a pretty long street, Chuou Dori. On Sundays it's closed to vehicle traffic and that's when it's the most fun. I have yet to be there on a Sunday but maybe this weekend... Basically, Chuou Dori and nearby streets are full of stores selling mostly electronics or anime & manga goods, restaurants ( like the famous maid cafes ) and game arcades. There are also other types of stores. On the main street, there's a sex shop with 5 floors in total ( top two supposedly "men only" ). As far as I could tell, the underground floor had the more "kinky" stuff. Anyway, if you want to see a shop with several floors dedicated only to figurines, Akihabara is the place to go. I'm certainly buying a few later! On this topic, in one shop I've seen 2 figurines for 70k and 50k yen respectively. That means the more expensive one cost somewhere around 900$. If you're wondering, it was a 1:6 scale Belldandy & Holly Bell from Oh! My Goddess. There was also a floor where you could buy anything you could want for making your own doll ( seemed like a serious hobby from what I could see there ). They had some finished ones on display ( not for sale:/ ) and they were pretty cool. The maid cafes and the girls advertising for them aren't all that common on Chuou Dori but if you take a step off it, into surrounding areas you'll find a whole lot more. Sometimes there may be too many, really :P. There were hardly any cosplayers around but I hear that's something you should look for on Sundays. Other than that, there are 2 huge electronics stores, Laox Electronics and Yodobashi Camera ( the bigger one ). I've only seen the Yodobashi store and, personally, I think it's a case of a shop being too big. It's downright tiring to navigate. Lastly, you can find ( if you look around ) some used electronics shops. Unfortunately, both new and used, the prices aren't really any better than in Poland. Some things are even more expensive.