Where to Start:
Amidst the hundreds of shops, the two below are a bit pricier but much easier to navigate for those who don’t speak Japanese. For non-residents making purchases above ¥10,000 (roughly 90 USD), the 5 per cent sales tax can be waived. Bring your passport to complete formalities. Be aware that unless labelled otherwise, AC-powered electronics operate at 100V and that some devices may only work in Japan. It’s always best to ask sales staff before buying.
LaOX Duty Free
Multilingual staff and a small, though fairly reasonable selection. They have a separate camera and watch store next door.
1-15-3 Soto-Kanda (Chuo-dori exit, JR Akihabara station)
+81-3-5207-5027
HYPERLINK "http://www.laox.co.jp/loax/index.html" www.laox.co.jp/loax/index.html
10am-9pm
Yodobashi Akiba
Nine floors of fun. If it’s electric, Yodobashi probably have it. There’s also an entire floor of restaurants and a golf range on the roof. Some multilingual staff.
(next to JR Akihabara, Showa-dori exit)
+81-3-5209-1010
I remember when I last lived in Japan spending several months trying to decide whether or not to by a Sharp Zaurus. Part camera, part word processor and part web surfer (you plugged the phone cable straight into a jack on the side of the machine to transmit); I thought it would be the perfect tool for an aspiring travel writer.
It wasn’t cheap – something like 500 USD at the time – the camera wasn’t too powerful and the rod processor was a little slow. Boxy and rather heavy, it wasn’t exactly a looker either. By today’s standards, it wasn’t much to get excited about but that was back in 1992, it was practically magical.
Japan has long been ahead of the curve, electronically and digitally-speaking. Electronics may not necessarily be the bargain they are in other Asian cities but as the place the big Japanese manufacturers try new ideas out for size (and for that matter shape, colour and configuration too), it is still the place to go to see the shape of things to come.
For anyone in touch with their inner geek, standing at the Electric City crossroads in front of the JR train station at Akihabara, listening to competing calls from rival stores will make you feel like a six year old with their nose pressed up against the window of a chocolate shop.
Akiba, as the neighbourhood is affectionately known, is an explosion of fluorescent posters and scintillating neon signs – it is not for nothing that Japan is known as the ‘Empire of Signs’ – advertising cameras, computers, household electronics and video games and come the weekend, the streets are packed with hordes of anime-freaks, electro-geeks and foreign shoppers.
The side-streets are home to a mind-numbing collection of spare parts shops, minuscule computer stores and games retailers, a riot of cables, connectors, capacitators and calibrators that looks a little like the stage set for Blade Runner but it is to Chuo-dori, the main drag, where most non-Japanese speakers go. Here you will find block after block of towering electronics superstores (many of them designed with foreign tourists in mind) where you can find anything powered by plug or battery pack.
It is also Anime heaven and tucked amongst the electronics merchants are stores selling Japanese comics, figurines and cartoon DVDs, as well as a scattering of Anime cafes where waiters and waitresses wearing costumes inspired by Japanese cartoon characters serve drinks and food.
And gizmos abound, many of which only ever come out in Japan. If you have the cash, there is always the Tiffany’s diamond-studded 94,000 USD cellphone or lower down the food chain, a Swarovski-covered MP3 player.
For the health conscious, there are heated toilet seats [Toto toilets] that play music while you sit and come with a retractable washing device that can also analyse your urine and monitor blood sugar levels. Then there is the Plasmacluster air conditioner, which contains a purifying unit capable of filtering bacteria and even viruses like Bird Flu from the air.
Need help around the house or perhaps something really special for your children’s next birthday party? The answer in either case might be a robot. Either way, Tsukumo Robot Kingdom (1-9-7 Soto Kanda, Tel +81- 3-3253-5599) is definitely the answer. Expect to find everything from pre-assembled housebots like the Roomba, which can do basic sweeping to artificial pets that will give you unconditional love at the touch of a button and even laughing Hello Kitty bots, though given their limited abilities, these might not amuse anyone over the age of two. Better yet, many of these robots are also available as DIY kits, so you can not only be the first in your group of friends to have a robot, you can be the first one to have built it yourself,
Couch potatoes will certainly be tempted by the new 103” Viera Plasma Flatscreen TV – a snip at almost 54,000 USD. Or maybe an Aquos TV that comes with a built in computer and Internet browser. Those on the go will appreciate something smaller. Try the micro-sized range of VAIOs, less laptop, more palmtop, or if you are looking for something even smaller, there is the Willgo, the VGN and the SL-C3000, PDAs that are computers in all but name. Finally, everyone has a phone with a camera but how many people do you know who have a camera with a phone? If that appeals, the new Sureshots will delight. A slight drawback is that they only work in Japan.
In fact, rather a lot of what is on sale in Akiba will only work in Japan. Amongst the more frustrating Japan-only items are super cell-phones that do everything short of make coffee in the morning and which offer everything from location-tracking and live TV to mobile credit card payment and LED flashlights, there are 3D TV sets, fridges that talk, home dry-cleaning machines and perhaps most painfully, at least for the children (and the children-at-heart), Playstation 3 selling for less than half the price it costs in the Middle East or Europe.
Inveterate shoppers beware. Once you realise how much you can’t buy, you may find yourself wondering whether it isn’t time to move to Tokyo instead.
