Where is Akihabara, Japan?

Akihabara is Japan’s traditional electronics town (see picture), a five-minute tram (electric train) ride from Tokyo Station. Locals often call it Akiba for short. Since most of OTAKU's interests are in "ACG" (Animation, Comic, Game), and there is a greater demand for electronic and electrical products than ordinary people, for OTAKU, Akihabara is irreplaceable in their minds. Holy place.

There is also a group of people in OTAKU who focus on their interests and do not pay attention to dressing up. They are called "Akihabara style" (more commonly referred to as Akihabara style in Japan). Akihabara is called "Electronics Town" (Akihabara Denki Street). In Japan's popular online novel "Train Guy", the protagonist is an out-and-out "Akihabara" OTAKU. He spends three or four days a week in Akihabara, which has become a gathering place for OTAKU. .

Akihabara is located in the Chiyoda area in the northeastern part of Tokyo. It is on the Yamanote Line, a high-speed tram that circles the center of Tokyo. The scale of the tram lines is beyond imagination. You can reach any place in Japan by tram, even Hokkaido or Okinawa). Visitors can transfer from Tokyo Station, Ueno Station or any other station on the Yamanote Line, and the transportation is very convenient.

In Japan's Edo period, the area near Akihabara was once a settlement of lower-class samurai. The Japanese who advocated Buddhism and fetishism ushered in the "Akihabara Grand Prix" from Shizuoka in 1870. "The statue of the god, and this continued to form the place name of Akihabara today.

The reason why the Electrical Appliance Street was formed can be traced back to after World War II. In Akihabara, which was bombed to pieces by the Allied forces, a group of radio merchants gathered. Vacuum tubes became a popular commodity, and hundreds of open-air vendors and dozens of regular stores gradually formed. With the intervention of the US military command, in the late 1950s, people gradually gathered from the open air into some greenhouse-like shops. Since then, it has experienced the baptism of generations of new electrical appliances such as black and white TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, stereos, video recorders, etc. The global popularity has created the scale of Akihabara today. Akihabara has become a purchasing destination for global tourists because the digital revolution in the 1990s spurred demand for new products. Digital cameras, digital camcorders, and notebooks have become the new favorites here.

In fact, the famous Akihabara is not very big, but in this small area, which is 400 meters wide from east to west and 800 meters long from north to south, there are more than a thousand specialty stores gathered. If you walk into Chuo-dori Street, the main thoroughfare, you will find that the entire Akihabara is filled with all kinds of fashionable items. There are hundreds of large and small stores here, including super large chain department stores, second-hand thrift stores and even roadside stalls. From computer assembly parts to various software and hardware, home appliances, audio and even the latest technology products, and even outdated technology antiques. If you go deep into Akihabara, you will find that under the cloak of technological products, this place is full of interesting symbols of Japanese culture like other places. Walking into the alleys next to the streets, you can see groups of vending machines everywhere, which gives people a glimpse of the Japanese people's pursuit of convenience.

When the popularity of personal computers reached saturation and sales began to decline, some stores in Akihabara were forced to close. At that time, it was a natural trend for other industries serving OTAKU to move in. The items for sale started from computer peripherals such as DVDs and game software, and gradually expanded to include comic books, fan magazines, dolls, cards, etc.

So when I set foot in Akihabara today, in addition to electrical appliances, many stores have been replaced by computer games, online games, pornographic games, anime stores, and action figure toy stores. The appearance of the entire Akihabara has undergone a qualitative change. It reflects that Japan's new generation has transformed from technological progress into a future of nothingness and virtual world.

(Picture: Information picture)

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