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Akihabara
is well-known throughout the world as the center of retail electronics
in Tokyo. I've occasionally sent computer parts seekers a map
here, a website there, and "Look for the side street after the bank"
type of instructions, and now I'm finally putting something
on-line. This page is by no means comprehensive and is meant
simply to point out a few shops that I've found to be useful and also
to give those who haven't been to Akihabara some slight idea of what it
looks like.
Warning! - In the last few years, there have
been a lot of changes in Akihabara - as this page currently stands, I'm
afraid it's more of historical interest for how Akihabara used to be. I'll try to put
together a modern version. -
Lyle H Saxon
Left below - Plat'Home
(blue mark
on white sign on the building on the right side of the picture) used to
be there - like in the photo, but has since closed and is only an
on-line business now (so far as I know anyway - if you have information
to the contrary, please let me know!)
Middle & right photos above
and left & middle photos below - Otto - in my opinion, was the
best
place to get used computers, particularly used desktop machines.
Unfortunately they closed the shops shown in these photos - a sad day
for used computer buyers in Tokyo!
Right above - looking down "Used
Alley" (my term) from in front of [former location of] Otto.
Middle below - T-Zone
- a
good place to get some new parts, like hard drives, DVD burners,
memory, etc. Right
side below - another [former] Otto
shop
- down at the end of the street and looking
the other way as the view on the right above. Left below - an
actual old house (at the end of the street) still on the ground, in
2005 Tokyo! No small feat that - in this land of perpetual
renewal!
In the middle photo below is a
clearer view of the entrance to the same Otto shop as in the photos
near the top of this page. Go in the door, up the stairs, and
have a look. Not everyone there speaks English, so it's best to
use Japanese.
A cheap place to buy flash memory
is at the lower right shop - down another street, on the back side of
the Laox store, which is across the street from the former
Tokyo-Mitsubishi Bank. Aside from the name change,
the bank is gone anyway, but when these photos were taken, they still
had ATM machines under the name Tokyo Mitsubishi.
Sofmap
is all over
the place, as you might surmise from the numbers after the name.
Starting from the left photo above, walk down the street (middle photo
above) and the cheap flash memory place is on the right (right photo
above and 3rd from left photo below).
Back to where we started - the
1st & 4th photos above are of Plat'Home - taken on the same day
about ninety minutes apart. The second photo above is a place
that sells nothing but monitors - it's just down the street from Otto,
on the left side of Used Alley before you get to T-Zone, which is on
the right.
Left above - the counter to the
left of the register by the door, where they have the flash memory (see
photos and text further above). The other five photos (two above
and three below) are closer to the station than Used Alley. In
the right picture below, that is
the station there on the left.
The way a lot of shops have
things sitting out on the street in front (left photo below), makes the
area an interesting one to walk through. Also sort of nostalgic
in a way - newer stores are squeaky clean, modern, and blasted with 200
times more light than they need, but in the old shops is something of
the past that is far more interesting than the big new stores (in the
way of atmosphere)....
The three main JR lines that pass
through Akihabara are the Yamanote Line, the Keihin-Tohoku Line and the
Sobu Line. There is also the new Tsukuba Line (underground at
Akihabara and surface further out), and the Hibiya Line (subway).
In the area, there are several other stations: the Ginza Line (subway -
Suehiro-cho Station), the Toei Shinjuku Line (subway - Iwamoto-cho
Station), the Marunouchi Line (subway - Awaji-cho or Ochanomizu
stations), the Chiyoda Line (subway - Shin-Ochanomizu Station), and the
Chuo Line (Ochanomizu Station), with some requiring more or less
walking, depending on what part of Akihabara you want to visit.
Left above - just
ten seconds
from the JR ticket gates. Middle - Keihin-Tohoku Line.
Right - Sobu Line, with new Yodobashi store in the background.