Some Of Our Most Favorite Places In Akihabara

On the last couple of visits to Japan, our exploration has narrowed in on a few specific stomping grounds. A week in Tokyo can blast by fast… As you’re getting ready to go, bags stuffed beyond capacity, you realize you have taken very few pictures, slept very little, and had an absolutely amazing time. You just don’t want to leave. With very little time elapsed, a place you’ve been many times feels new again. I think that is how we can keep returning and enjoying it, even when we hit up some of the same places. For us, our absolute favorite place has been the Akihabara district in Tokyo.

With each additional visit, there are more and more tourists to the area. Our first trip in 2006 saw a fraction of the visitors that are there today. Regardless, the place is no less charming or intoxicating.

Here are a few of our favorite shops and things…

Don Quixote is a chain store with a number of locations. There is a big one in Roppongi (for example) that seems to have particularly large areas of merchandise marketed to foreigners. The selection varies from location to location, but the general theme is the same. The store is a bit hard to describe. It’s a discount store with everything from basic groceries to clothing to toys to adult novelties  to home goods and more. It’s like Big Lots meets CVS meets Target/Wal-mart meets Spencers. There is a lot of really bizarre stuff spread over a number of floors. You can spend full days poring over all the stuff in this store. The top floor is currently a decent-sized arcade with the largest collection of DDR arcade machines anywhere in Akihabara.

Imagine Best Buy expanded into a ten-story building… that’s Yodabashi Camera. A whole floor of camera’s and accessories, a whole floor of video games and toys, a whole floor of appliances and home goods… you get the point. The prices here are pretty good and they have duty-free shopping. Most of the time when you see things out at the smaller electronics stores, Yodabashi has them beat. It’s a great place to stock up on stuff. Afterwards though, you may need to run back to Don Quixote to pick up some cheap suitcases to cart all the goodies home.

I’m really not sure what the uniform name for these stores is in Japanese. They are essentially consignment stores: small rented showcase boxes with items organized, numbered and priced. Usually the cubes/capsules have some kind of theme: video games, anime collectibles, collectible coins/currency, etc. Some of the stores that have these things can be pretty uniform and others can be an incredibly random journey. It’s like a flea market without actually interacting with the people selling the stuff. Everything is marked with the price. All you do is scribble down cube and item numbers on a piece of paper and a clerk gets you your stuff. The pictures above are from (what we considered to be) a pretty good one inside “Radio Kaikan” at the JR Akihabara main entrance. There are a number of them, both large and small, scattered around Akihabara.

Gashapon (capsule toys) are certainly not unique to Japan, but they elevate things to an entirely new level. Every visit to Japan is going to see entirely new “collections” of these toys. Sometimes the themes seem random or silly, but people go nuts over these little things. Basically, for $1-$5 you get a plastic capsule that has one of a handful of possible themed collectibles that make up a full set. There is usually one item in the set that is extra special and rare. It’s basically a way to combine a small gambling rush with some inexpensive shopping. The way I figure, if you get a few duplicates, they usually make great gifts. However, if you really want one particular item or a full set and want to cut the BS, there are a number of resellers that sell current and classic gashapon items for a small markup compared to the vending machines.

CoCo Curry is one of the larger curry chains in Japan, but it has proved to consistently be a group favorite. They have pretty comfortable seating compared to some of the standing-room-only spots. Their menu is large and has a lot of potential add-ons, including really stepping the spice level up. Take note of the color difference between the top and bottom curry pics: the top one is darker from a considerably higher spice level.

Kaiten sushi joints can be found all over the place…. they are even beginning to pop up occasionally in the States. The fact that there are a couple of them in Akiba is yet another reason to not leave that side of town.

Ramen bowls. Okay… I’ll admit that these two aren’t from Akihabara. We actually found a ramen spot we both enjoyed inside Tokyo Station near all the “character” shops. There do seem to be an awful lot of Udon and Soba shops around Akiba by comparison.

Honey Toast: full loaf of fresh warm bread, cored and cubed, filled with ice cream and drizzled with honey and chocolate and covered with whipped cream and fruit. Amazing.

Canned coffee…. I’m not sure what kind of witchcraft they use to make these as tasty as they are, but trust me, these little cans of coffee are great. Vending machines have them both hot and cold. My personal favorites are Rainbow Boss and Emerald.

Once upon a time, Mister Donut was an American company. As it exists now, it is many times removed in terms of ownership, marketing, and menu. There are always time-limited cross promotions for free merchandise… the donuts are incredible, and the iced coffee is done right. It’s a great place to start the day. Oh, and the locations in Tokyo are far better than the ones we’ve encountered in other parts of East Asia.