Wandering Through Akihabara

When I first heard about Akihabara, long before visiting Japan, I was told it was a huge technology district. That is a gross understatement. Since there isn’t anything that truly comes close to this in the US I was under the impression that Akihabara was like the strip in Las Vegas, but instead of gambling there were towers of anime and video games. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Waiting at the Crosswalk	Wandering Around

The sheer size of Akihabara exceeds any preconceptions I had about it. There really is no end to the sky-scraper arcades and department stores complimented by the innumerable smaller arcades and specialty shops. If we had all of the time we wanted then I’m sure we would have stopped into every arcade along our journey for a few rounds of Street Fighter IV against the locals… a slaughter basically. However, we did visit a few staples including Club Sega and the huge Taito Game Station. Both arcades are packed with games on every floor and each floor represents a different genre of game. Floors of racing games, fighting games, redemption games, and sports games are all present here. What wasn’t present were the youth. The arcades seemed to have mostly over-20’s there with a few younger patrons here and there. Arcades seem like a more adult friendly affair in Japan, especially with the smoking friendly environment and smaller arcade machines which allow players to sit while enjoying their favorite game.

Tech Shops	Club Sega Building

Moving back outside along the busier parts of Akihabara you’re field of view is filled with at least 10 advertisements at once. Buildings are used as billboards, billboards are used as billboards, people are used as billboards, and there are even some shops with people on loudspeakers to attract patrons through rhyme. I can only assume they were rapping about the amazing deals that could be found in the store since my Japanese knowledge is very limited and was practically non-existent during my visit. Not only were the billboards in place, but I received so many handouts about video games, anime, club events, and in-store sales that I filled the display on my arcade cabinet up with them instead of getting a piece of art commissioned to fill the void. Even after filling that display up I’m left with a stack of flyers in a binder that serve as memories of the trip.

GAME (huge arcade)	Huge adverts

As we wandered from tech-heavy Akihabara to anime-heavy, game-heavy, and fetish-porn-heavy Akihabara we came across the gaming store of gaming stores. A store you hear legends about on gaming forums. Super Potato. Arranged by category per floor you start at one end of the gaming spectrum and work your way to the other. From the NES and other early systems up through the last generation of consoles almost everything you can think of is accounted for, plus more. The top story of Super Potato is an arcade with candy cabs running games from the past. We couldn’t pass up this opportunity to play some Street Fighter II or take our picture with the life-size mannequin of Snake. Just so I can sound like everyone else who has visited Tokyo and been into Super Potato, if you go to Akihabara you must track this place down. It’s a great store to just wander through and browse even if you don’t end up purchasing anything in the end. I picked up Mother 3 while I was there to remind me of the concentrated awesome that is Super Potato.

Super Potato!	Me and Snake