The Five Yen of Happiness! Akihabara Days

The Five Yen of Happiness! Akihabara Days

• I give in – I need a break (Introduction)
• To Heathrow and The BA Galleries North Lounge
• BA902 London Heathrow to Frankfurt Airport in Club Europe
• Bumbling around Frankfurt Airport with random #AVGeek spotting
• Meeting the A350 and the Air Canada Lounge
• Qatar Airways QR068 Frankfurt to Doha
• The joy of Hamad International Airport, and The Oryx Rotana Hotel
• Qatar Airways Flight QR812 Doha to Tokyo Haneda
• The Hotel JAL City Haneda Tokyo
• Shikansen Adventures to Hiroshima!
• Time in Hiroshima (featuring the ANA Crowne Plaza Hiroshima)
• Hirosihima – 70 years on
• A day trip to Itsukushima
• More Shinkansen fun to Kyoto (Featuring Kyoto Tower Hotel)
• A trip up to Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine
• Dinner with The real_jetsetr!
• The JR Central SC Maglev and Rail Museum
• Shinkansen to Tokyo
• The Strings by InterContinental
• Cheap evening – From the Tokyo Metropolitan Building
• The JR East Railway Museum, Saitama
• Shibuya nights
• Akihabara Days
• Gotta Catch them All! A few Pokemon Centres.
• Off to Narita
• Nartia Airport, The JAL Lounge
• Qatar Airways Flight QR807 Tokyo Narita to Doha
• Four and Half Hours in Doha Airport
• Qatar Airways Flight QR067 Doha to Frankfurt
• More time in Frankfurt
• BA8735 Frankfurt to London City Airport (Club Europe)
• Homeward
• Memories
• And about that Five Yen Coin – The Sensoji Temple, Asakusa

Editors Note: We’re fast approaching the part where there are planes again. There is another story about what I did in Tokyo before my trip to Akihabara – and that’ll all be explained in the final part of this trip report. But for now, lets go to Otuaku Central.

Akiharaba. For some, this is the home of electronics. For others, maid cafes. For some, collectables and manga. For me: A blend of madness.

And I love  madness.

Getting There: Akihairba isn’t hard to find. It’s on the Yamanote line, north of Tokyo Station, south of Ueno, and intersected by the Chou line. You can’t miss it.

Makes sure you exit through the Akihabara Electric Town exit, and you’ll be in the malestrom .

One of the JR entrances (not the electric town entrance).

I went on a Sunday – where the main road in Akhiabara is shut to traffic, and becomes a pedestrian zone – makes dealing with the place a lot easier.

And on a sunny Sunday, Akihabara is fun to explore.

Of course, Akiahbara is home to many things. Such as various Otaku…

Of course there’s someone cos-playing!

And catering for the needs of the Otaku.

Food is covered by tradtional means…

A Victorian Pub. Hmmmmmmm.

Although I’ve never seen a more creepy version of Colonel Sanders in my days.

And of course the maid cafes. Because this is Akihabara.

Going thorough one of the back streets of Akihabara, the polish facade is peeled away, as the road gives up more of its traditional electronic stores, as well as cosplaying employees trying to entice people into their cafes.

As well as being home to the maid cafes, the area is home to supergroup AKB48 – where they have their theatre and cafe – because the Otaku do love their idols.

As well as the Gundan Cafe (a long franchise featuring giant mechas called… Gundan).

Of course, if you look in the right places, you can see signs of old the electric town.

Traditional electronics and electrical cables – not too hard to find at all.

And more modern electronics (Radeon = Graphics chip for gaming as well as displaying images on your PC).

Of course, there’s plenty of normal walking areas – enough to enjoy the madness that is the place.

However, with time never being on my side and the clock ticking, it was time to head off back to Shinagawa to collect my luggage and deal with the fun of the Yamanote line for one last time.

Because I love the Yamanote line. Like I love the Central Line at Peak (as you can guess, I love neither, and actively avoid both…).

However, whenever you arrive or depart the JR station… beware of “upskirting” when going up or down the escalators.

Only place I spotted these signs…

Overall: Akiharbra is a place of contrasts and one that I enjoy – not just for the electronics shopping or getting the hard to find manga items.. or even the madness of the maid cafes. Rather, I really enjoy it for the people watching.

And when travelling, sometimes people watching is part of the experience.

NEXT: There’s one set of adventures that I want to tell you about – and I’ve bunched them all together…. as they’re all about Pokemon as I explore the Pokemon Centres….

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