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The Akihabara Electric Town in Tokyo
By Nick on June 9, 2008
Akihabara is a district of Tokyo famous for its electronics, anime and manga comic books, otaku (geeks), and more recently, maid cafes. I’ve only passed through the town once, and was overwhelmed by the sheer number of electronics stores.
One of my favorite Japanese films is Densha Otoko, a movie about an Akihabara otaku who rescues his dream girl from a drunkard on a train, and turns to his friends in cyber space for advice on winning her heart. For me, it really sums up the type of people who visit “Akiba” – very shy and quiet young men who are crazy about computers and anime. Probably the same people that spend hours and hours drawing 3D buildings for Akihabara in Google Earth…
It’s chilling then, that Akihabara was the scene of a brutal knife attack on Sunday, June 8th, when a 25-year-old man from Shizuoka announced on the internet that he was going to go to Akihabara and kill people. He gave regular updates online of his progress – leaving, arriving, taking a break, finding the right spot, before announcing “It’s time” and went on to murder 7 people in the densely crowded areas of Electric Town.
As frightening as that attack was, it won’t stop the people of Akihabara enjoying the unique culture of a place that has become world famous for its anime and electronics. The otaku will still go shopping for dolls, get served by cute girls in French maid outfits, and ogle at the Japanese idols that visit the area promoting their latest DVDs and calendars.
Learn more about Akihabara:
- Akihabara on Google Maps
- Akihabara on Wikipedia
- Akihabara Massacre in the news
- Japanese Otaku on Wikipedia
- Densha Otoko movie/novel on Wikipedia
Posted in Asia | 3 Comments
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3 Responses to “The Akihabara Electric Town in Tokyo”
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Mark Ramsay, globetrotting from an armchair in England.
9:20 pm on June 14th, 2008
That’s a terrible thing that happened in Akihabara. Hard to explain why anyone would do such a thing.
9:33 pm on June 14th, 2008
Yeah nobody is going to stop me from shopping Akihabara, and buying dolls!
2:58 pm on July 19th, 2008
Truly a terrible situation.
I forgot that google earth had 3D models of certain areas. Very cool.