did anyone went to Akiba
 

did anyone on this forum ever visited Akiba ward?

I have TV Japan & showed brief clips of Akiba

the last I heard from NHK news that there were a bit of trouble with cosplay cafe incidents and Akiba is shrinking, fewer people going there to shop

from what I read about Akiba - its the world's largest electronics place (analog radio parts to PC parts to cell phones) & for Moe (anime & manga & cosplay)

I wonder whats going on right now?

Akihabara is not shrinking, and from the news I see, there is no shortage of people going there, but it is possible that its reputation is larger than reality (especially for foreigners) and some people are disappointed in what they find.

I went there last summer, it s a pretty cool place.
i have heard a few stories lately about maids and stuff.

Akiba is shrinking? Are you kidding? It's expanding!!

I see considerably more people there these days than 10 years ago. Akiba used to be only good for electronics shopping. Now it's like otaku heaven as well. It's pretty hot in Akiba now.

I'm going to Akiba this summer!^^
I heard it is really the place to be for otaku's.:)

Hm, i'm an otaku so i'm happy!^^

Don't get too excited. It's not like Disneyland...but good for a couple hours of decent exploration.

i just visited akihabara 3 days ago and it's the same. no way that it's gonna change and of course shrink. in fact, it is expanding and there are still many construction projects underway.

what i saw was that becoz of the tv news, more people are going there to check things out!!

ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THEY CLOSE THE MAIN STREETS AND PEOPLE ARE EVERYWHERE
I hope that was loud enough as it is a fekking madhole on weekends.

Try buying a 120ohm resistor on weekends and reap the winds of AKIHABARA SAN. you will have to pick maids out of your gaddamn teeth before you even sniff a PC

Haha, I love it. This man speaks the truth!

I found akiba to be a little boring to be honest. It was just electric stores everywhere. I did have a nice dinner right next to Akihabara eki, though. :)

Akiba is the place to be for gamers and anime, I went there last year. There were people as far as the eye could see. Maybe a little exageration. Here is a photo from inside the train station.



I just realized how ould this thread is. XD

Went to a maid cafe in Akihabara with a friend two days ago. It was a bit expensive but good fun and my perception of maid cafes has changed (I was expecting them all to be a bit sleazy but the one I went to wasn`t at all). Worth going to at least once for experience sake.

I'm a huge fan of Yodobashi in Akiba. Well worth a trip!

I went to the @Home Maid cafe last month and it was really interesting. I was expecting a regular cafe with girls dressed as maids but I didn't expect it to be so entertaining. The girls are amazing actresses!

I was also surprised at how many of the customers were female. Probably 1/4 to 1/3?

Either way, Akihabara has been changing over the years. It seems to be growing in the services field (video parlors, maid cafes) while its electronics retailers are slowly disappearing.

Akihabara for me it was like Ikebukuro i tried the maid cafe i was curious but nothing special other than a lot of electronics ...
I prefer a lot Shibuya or Asakusa. :vsign:

.-.
 

i think akiba is pretty cool, if you have money to spend.
my freind forced me to get a picture with a maid. one said no but other said ok lol.

I went to Akiba last year wit my friends, but when I went there it is almost rush hour time coz almost all shops is starting to pack their things inside to close their shops.. they close soo early here.. huhu~

a couple hours.... A COUPLE HOURS??? I spent that long looking through ONE store, not to mention the fact that there were about 20 others like it that I had to go through. Maid cafes, C&C curry, arcades... Actually, come to think of it, I think my friend and I spent nearly a week solid there. Granted, we did go back to some places that we visited before, but it was still a very entertaining week!

Mmm, C&C Curry... And they sell the rouxs, too!

I went to Akihabara on Sunday with a friend, mainly to try and get some pics from inside a maid cafe. Unfortunately they didn't allow pictures (they showed us a lists of rules before we were seated).

The maid cafe experience was underwhelming, to say the least. Some of the maids looked attractive in their outfits, but my friend and I already had pretty girlfriends, so we were very interested. But the cafe was full of others (20/30-something male virgins) who couldn't seem to get enough of them.

As it was, it cost us 3000 yen for our seats, 600 yen for some noisome (which means not-very-good) chicken nuggets, and another 600 yen for a beer. 4200 yen total... the money would have been better spent at a hostess club.

But the day wasn't a total loss, I found a good deal on a clean Nikon F4, and an HDMI cable for my television.

There is a trick with Akiba. You need to pay attention to the signage! I know it helps if you can read kata/hiri but this does not mean you can't explore, and that is what Akiba is about.

There are basement shops and shops on 7th floors that you will always miss. There are always new vendors alongside the established guys selling cheap chinese gadgets. There are maid cafes you never hear about that are much better then the home@'s of this world.

You need a good firm set of balls that will let you walk anywhere and into anything, only then will you find the true gold of Akiba and not just the tourist crap that everyone gets to see.

You can go and see some awesome robot battles if you know the right floor to goto in the right building. It is all there for you, but like some of the best video games, you need to solve the puzzle to find the treasure.

Ask people, poke things with your zelda sword, play your ocarina to the right person or defeat a pokemon trainer and you will progress to the next stage of Akiba'ness.

Advice: Take pictures first, ask later!

Went there for one hour so I'm coming back to enjoy it some more...