Today I went to Akihabara, the famous electric town of Japan. We went during day, so neon lights were not on, but it still felt magical, a giant shopping complex with tall buildings filled with dozens of floors full of electronics, anime & manga, as well as maid cafes. There were so many Anime posters everywhere, some of them as big as a building. Every second shop had something to do with Anime. So yeah, if you like anime, Akihabara is a paradise on Earth for you.
Only 20 minute train ride away from Shinjuku stands Akihabara. The train ticket was less than 2€ which makes visiting Akihabara a weekend thing for me from now on. I will be exploring it more each weekend, as there is a lot to see. One can not simply explore all the shops within one day, and there is also rare shops for true explorers who will find hidden gems within the heart of Akihabara.
When we exited the Akihabara station, the very first sight outside the station's west exit was a giant red building with SEGA logo on it, two to be exact. We didn't go inside, but if I am correct, it is a game house filled with video games and arcade machines. Outside the station, I was greeted by three Japanese men who gave information and sold guide maps for turists on the street (young men in their 20s, I think). One of them spoke relatively good english and was very happy to help us with any questions we had about Akihabra. They only asked 1yen for their service and 10yen for a map that was so bad it didn't show anything special on it more than Mcdonlands and the biggest shopping malls, but oh well, at least the conversation with the bunch was interesting and worth the 10yen map price I paid just for the chance to hone my Japanese a bit.
1yen does not sound much since 120yen is roughly about 1€. It actually sounds fishy, but if you could see how many turists come and go and might buy their map for 10yen, one can make 10€ (1200yen - rounded) in relatively short amount of time with minimal effort. I think these three did it only because it was a great opportunity to earn a bit of cash but more importantly have a chance to talk to foreigners, which Japanese people seem to enjoy a lot. My HelloTalk Japanese friend comfirmed this when I asked about it. Obviously I must now take this for a fact, for she is Japanese and an English teacher on top of it.
The first 200 meters from the station blew my mind. There were giant anime posters and stores everywhere as far as the eye could see. The streets were filled with people walking left and right, and if this wasn't Japan, I would have been holding on to my wallet with all my might due to fear of being robbed. People were bumbing in to one another so often that you would not notice if someone slipped their hand into your pocket to reach for the wallet. I didn't feel like a stranger in this crowd at all. I went in to shops like I had been there before, and if the shopkeeper approached me with a question, I could easily tell them in Japanese what I was looking for or what I wanted to buy. They were amazed by this and each one gave me huge compliments about my skill in Japanese. Akihabara is a turist hot spot, but even then one does not see that many foreigners outside Asia. I spotted 3 to 5 westerners during my visit in Akihabara.
There were people walking the streets in massive crowds as far as the eye could see.
In one store, I was buying a wallet, and when I went to the casher, the casher quickly rushed to get english papers which would guide turists of the store's customs of paying and so on, but when she returned, I told her I could speak Japanese, and she was blown away by this. This shop was very high class and had top quality clothing, wallets, and so on. The shop offered to wrap your purchase as a gift and even send it to a desired address, free of charge. This is why the casher was afraid when approached by a foreigner, for many foreigners do not know about this feature, yet they offer it in english for them as well. Shopkeepers in Akihabra seem to meet a lot of turists all the time, but very few can speak Japanese, I think. They seem to be impressed if a turist can even say the most simplest thing such as "I would like this, please." Another store we went in was an art shop with beautiful paintings of Japan, Tokyo. The storekeeper was a cute young lady so eager to make a sale, that she tried her best to use english to get us in her shop. When I spoke Japanese to her, her face was filled with excitment, because now she could ask the kind of questions about us that she couldn't ask in english. Again, Japanese people are very interested about foreigners, since they are rare here - especially ones that can speak Japanese.
After a while of walking around and appreciating all the beautiful buildings around us and the crowd that made the scenery even more amazing, we went to a random Anime shop, which held 5 floors full of anime figurines and Anime related products. My words can not express how much anime figurines there was on display. Each floor held its own theme of products for Anime. The shop was for all ages, yet there was K18 products on display like they were a normal thing for a child to look at (figurines only).
I didn't want to make a fool out of myself inside a shop, so I didn't take any pictures of their amazing figurines. The ones you see here is nothing compared to what's inside the store!
During my visit in Akihabra, I only bought a backpack and a new wallet for myself, so that in the future I can fill it with all kinds of goods that I may bring back home in Finland. The backpack cost me only 12€ and it's good quality too (not a cheap chinesse knock off). There were so many stores selling backpacks for 30€ and more, and you had to pay 80€ or more to get the same that I bought for 12€. Luckily I knew, that in Akihabra everything is cheap, if one knows where to look at. Not that I did know where to look at, but I trusted that we would find a place that sold backpacks for cheap. So that's a hint for you who might be coming to Japan and visit Akihabra: do not buy the first thing you see, explore as much as you can in peace and then make your purchases. You might buy a wallet for 30€ and soon find even better one for only 10€. I know this because it happened to me on my wallet's case, but this wallet is the best wallet I have ever bought in my life, so it does not bother me at all that I paid a little more than I could have.
Some more Anime figures sold outside a shop. These ones are around 12€ in cost.
I bet you want to know how much the Anime figurines cost inside shops. They are about the same price as in Finland, varying greatly between 30€ all the way to 200€, but where in Finland you might see around couple dozen figurines at best in a store which are few in number to begin with, in Japan there is so many stores selling Anime products and the selection is so big that you would spend months exploring them all. There is many quality figurines costing around 12-25€ but these figurines are usually out of their original collector box and are hard to carry back home due to their fragile nature.
We tried Japanese McDonalds in Akihabra, but I must say, I was a little disappointed, since it didn't prove to be anything special from finnish McDonalds experience. In a way I would dare to say we have a better McDonlands than Japan, but what makes a huge difference in Japanese one is the varying seasonal selection. We happened to be around the time when there was nothing special in the menu for them to offer. I did take a Teriayki burger with BBQ sauce, and yes, it was good, but nothing I haven't seen before. I will still give Mcdonlads a second try at some point, but McDonalds is the kind of thing which every country has. You can not expect to have a memorable experience in such place, or at least that's what I think. I rather spend my money trying new Japanese restaurants and different kind of foods each day, since they are more exotic and cheaper, too.
Some kind of icecream waffles. Next to me was a long line of people eagerly waiting to get their own. We just ate at the McDonalds, so I was not that keen to taste one myself, perhaps next time I will buy one.
So that was my first solo day in a big city without Kato-san and Ogawa-san. I think we survived just fine on our own and nothing seemed hard or intimidating. I am already used to big crowds, and since my Japanese is only getting better and my accent is only getting stronger by each day, I always welcome the opportunity to talk to Japanese people when such a chance presents itself. I talk to my Japanese friend often through HelloTalk application, and she teaches me so much Japanese. I suggested we would meet in Tokyo in couple weeks since I happen to be here, and she said yes, so now we have a date. Do not get any wrong ideas, it's just a simple Japanese/Finnish lesson over a cup of coffee, nothing else. She studies Finnish and that's where I know her, from HelloTalk. She is just a beginner in finnish language but she is very determined to learn it. We have been teaching each other our own language for a while now, since I was in Finland.
To close this day, I talked to my neighbor (a french boy around same age as me) in Sakura house just couple hours ago in kitchen while having a nice evening bento meal. I learned he works as a person who invites people in to bars and gets paid a small amount for each customer who mentions his name to the bartender, I forgot what they are called. I was surprised to know one lives under the same roof as me. He works at Roppongi, a notorious town for its chaotic night life. It's amazing place to go out and party hard till next morning like there was no tomorrow, but it's also dangerous, for many turists gets in trouble in there either by Yakuza or Nigerians who run many of its nightclubs and bars. American embassy has even told its people to avoid this particular town, for too many turists have run in to trouble there. Roppongi is infamous for its drink spiking incidents that happen both to male and female, amazingly more often to men than women, I have read.
Am I going there? Maybe, but only because I have done my research months before coming here, and I know about Roppongi and its dangers. Besides, I make it sound far worse than it actually is. If you know what you are doing, you are completely fine there, especially if you know Japanese, because these people do not mess with those with ability to communicate with the police. Their greatest strength in fraud lies within turists' ignorance in local prices and customs, as well as incapability to seek help due to language barrier. I won't be drinking, since I have lost interested in such, but I do want to experience the night life of Japan, so I will be going with the Sakura house people, perhaps next weekend, if there is time.