{"id":7872,"date":"2012-08-24T22:37:36","date_gmt":"2012-08-25T02:37:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/?p=7872"},"modified":"2012-08-24T22:37:36","modified_gmt":"2012-08-25T02:37:36","slug":"the-decline-of-akihabara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/2012\/08\/24\/the-decline-of-akihabara\/","title":{"rendered":"The Decline of Akihabara"},"content":{"rendered":"

A reporter for The Register<\/a> visits Tokyo’s Akihabara district and finds it’s not quite the tech paradise that he was hoping for<\/p>\n

\nStep out of the station\u2019s \u201cElectric Town\u201d (denki machi) exit today and it\u2019s difficult to see what all the fuss is about.<\/p>\n

Along spotlessly clean pedestrian precincts you might spot the odd PC or computer parts store but for the most part it just looks like the rest of Tokyo \u2013 restaurants, cafes…, pubs and bars jostle with karaoke emporia, book shops and endless branches of the ubiquitous 7-11.<\/p>\n

Cross the main thoroughfare \u2013 Chuo Street, which bisects the district \u2013 and the streets get narrower, the otaku<\/a> (geeks) a little thicker on the ground and it\u2019s all generally a bit more \u201cAkiba\u201d, as the locals call the area.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll see the odd store here devoted to electronic parts, used PCs, smartphone accessories, gaming gear and even spy cameras, but still \u2013 where\u2019s all the cutting edge tech? Where\u2019s the unusual and bizarre gadgetery we\u2019ve been led to believe only Japan can produce thanks to the curious Galapagosization of its technology industry?<\/p>\n

The answer lies partly in an overzealous mayor who has for several years been driving out the old electronics shops to replace them with shiny glass and metal tower blocks like Akiba Ichi \u2013 filled restaurants and offices \u2013 or gigantic family-friendly mega-tech department stores like Yodobashi Camera.<\/div>\n
Akihabara unplugged: Tokyo’s electric town falls flat<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is pretty consistent with my own observations but I suspect the redevelopment is more a symptom than the cause.<\/p>\n

Akihabara’s reputation as Gadget Central peaked in the late 1990s, in the early days of the Internet. Today someone who wants to buy high-tech gadgets can find a better selection and lower prices on the ‘net. This leaves little room for the specialized boutique electronics stores that the district used to be famous for. If you want an innovative gadget that no-one else has you would probably do better to look on Kickstarter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile the anime<\/a> and manga<\/a> stores and the maid cafes continue to flourish and expand. Their otaku fans aren’t just looking for something that they could buy on the Internet. They want a chance to get together with like-minded people. And for mainstream tourists there are the shiny new department stores selling upscale mass-market goods.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A reporter for The Register visits Tokyo’s Akihabara district and finds it’s not quite the tech paradise that he was hoping for Step out of the station\u2019s \u201cElectric Town\u201d (denki… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[116],"class_list":["post-7872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-japaneseculture","tag-akihabara"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7872"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7884,"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7872\/revisions\/7884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}