Akihabara

Akihabara (秋葉原) is Tokyo’s “Electric Town”, located on the eastern side of the central Chiyoda ward. The area houses thousands of shops selling every technological gadget you can imagine, from computers to PlayStations and vacuums to DVDs. Getting toAkihabara Akihabara is centralized around Akihabara station (located on the JR Yamanote, Keihin-Tohoku, and Chuo lines), just take the conveniently labelled “Akihabara Electric Town” exit to be dropped in the middle of the action. Getting to Akihabara by subway is also quite easy; travel to either the Akihabara or Suehirocho subway station on the Metro Hibiya line. See & Do inAkihabara Akihabara is mostly shopping, but there are a few sights. Transportation Museum (交通博物館 Kōtsū-hakubutsukan For fans of trains, planes, and automobiles, here’s your chance to see a shinkansen bullet train up close (without paying Y10,000 to ride it). Open 9:30 AM to 5 PM daily except Monday, admission ¥310. BuySprawled in every direction off the main street Chūō-dōri (中央通り) are more smaller streets with even more electronics stores. Note that the further from the main street you get the better the prices - but the more you stray, the less foreigner-friendly the shops are. On Sunday afternoons, the main street is blocked to vehicle traffic and the area becomes a bit of a flea market - you can walk freely along the main avenue and many small vendors set up tables on the side streets. Note that products intended for the Japanese market usually require 110V electricity, have no international warranty, and (the kicker) are labelled and documented only in Japanese. Head for the many duty-free shops to find export models, which are priced at a premium though. LaOX Duty Free(1-15-3 Soto-Kanda, tel. 03-5207-5027; on Chuo-dori, close to JR Akihabara station) specializes in export products and has multilingual staff on hand. Radio Center (right outside JR Akihabara) is an unbelievable two-floor warren of tiny shops, each specializing in (for example) LEDs, voltage meters, ceramic capacitors or miniature cameras. Heaven for the hardcore do-it-yourself electronics geek. Larger shops can arrange sales tax exemptions for purchases of over ¥10000, saving you 5%. Unlike most countries, in Japan the tax is waived immediately, so there is no need to run through complicated reclaiming hoops. However, you will have to show your passport and (in theory) you should clear your purchase through customs at the airport on the way out. Some shops take credit cards, but it’s not recommended to use them since a small percentage is added to the transaction (usually 2%). Eating out inAkihabara There are a large number of fast-food places in Akihabara, but not much in the way of haute cuisine. One concentration of eating places can be found under the train tracks to the north of JR Akihabara. Tenya (てんや), located a few blocks down Chuo-dori towards Metro Suehirocho, is a chain specializing in cheap tempura: your basic tendon bowl will cost less than ¥500, a steal by any standard. Looking for accommodation in Tokyo? Please support our site by using our hotel reservation system Tokyo Hotel (Article from/based on Wikitravel article and may be copied freely) |