Story of a visit to Akihabara

Story of a visit to Akihabara

Akihabara. The holy land of figurines and all things otaku. It’s a promised land that many around the world have only dreamed of visiting. Some have even had the chance to visit it in person, admiring the many shops crammed into a few blocks, marveling at the neon and LED signs in kanji, hiragana and katakana hanging on the side, and overwhelmed by the view and the sounds, in some cases, the smell of this place. It is a cultural paradise. Living here has meant that the glow of those bright lights and department stores filled with merchandise has slowly dimmed. However, I still like going there, if only to admire the figurines on display at AmiAmi. The following is my "normal" (perhaps a bit exaggerated) experience of a summer visit if I were to look at figurines.

It's Sunday, my day off from work. I just got my paycheck, chores are done, coworkers and friends aren't really interested in going out. They want to relax, they say. Okay, I understand you. Well, it's about 35°C outside. Hmm, I could stay home and play "The Legend of Heroes" or "Red Dead Redemption 2"...but hey, my Seishun 18 Kippu is about to expire, so let's go to Tokyo. But where ? Hmm, I'd like to try and find the Taito Hatsune Miku "Fashion" figure (Jirai-kei, actually), so I guess I'll head to the source. Head to Akihabara!

It's 11 o'clock. I board the JR Chuo line towards Tokyo. Given that it's Sunday, the salarymen have been replaced by young men and women heading to Shibuya and Shinjuku for a pleasant day out. “Pleasant” is a relative term. It's hot and humid outside. You'll hear this phrase many times, muttering to each other on the train, "atsui ne~?" “Hai,” I think to myself… God, I wish I had brought a portable fan. This napkin in hand will have to do the trick. I change trains at Ochanomizu. In the distance, I see the famous green bridge that crosses the Kanda River, and just beyond that, Akiba. “Soon I will be with my people,” I think to myself. I board the Sobu Line train and stand on the left side of the train near the window. It's just one stop, so there's no point in sitting down. We cross the elevated tracks to Akihabara Station, and briefly see the skyscrapers and shops along Route 437. We are there!

I get off the train and head towards the door of Electric Town, as is usual. Yes, I know that the Atré gate exists, but unfortunately, I have to have my ticket checked by the attendants at the station. Tickets checked, I turn left, because I always forget that the right side has an exit and I go outside. Labi Akiba, Radio Kaikan, a pachinko parlor with all the girls from Railgun and Laox at the end of the street. It's a view I've seen countless times, but I admit, it's always nice to see it every time I visit.

First, I head to the Surugaya in the alley just past the Familymart. This is probably my favorite store in Akiba. No air conditioning, limited selection and expensive. But their selection of figurines to win is... ok. I check. There's Miku, but she's not the one I'm looking for. Let's move on.

Then, naturally, it's Radio Kaikan, home of the AmiAmi flagship store. Before entering, on this day, the guy who sells new figurines sets up his stand outside the entrance. I glance at the outdoor booth, and immediately think "lmaoo man, these prices are a ripoff. Who's going to pay 9,000 yen for a Taito AMP+ Albedo? They sell for 2,500 yen." I pass quickly. I head towards the escalator. On the second floor are the "cube shops", I entertain myself and see what is available. There are good things for sale, but naturally, all of them are overpriced. "Yor Forger SEGA prize at 5,500 yen...man...wtf...?" I find my Miku. The price, 7,000 yen. No. Let's move on.

On the 3rd floor, Melonbooks . Well, I'm going to jump today.

On the 4th floor, AmiAmi. I'll be back, I need to check out the upper floors first.

I head to the 8th floor (no need to visit the 9th and 10th floors, I'm not interested in maps)... to check out Volks. Wow, these dolls are quite pretty. Let's continue.

7th floor, Jungle. Yeah, there's some good stuff here. A nice selection of figurines for adults. She's not there though. Following.

6th floor, Yellow Submarine. You know what, I'll take a look at the selection. It's a little limited, but the prices are... fair. Following.

5th floor, Kaiyodo, X Rajikan. Yeah, overpriced, but X has a GOOD selection of Azur Lane figures. It's okay, Race Queen Baltimore is all I need...for now.

4th floor, AmiAmi. My sanctuary. I come here almost every week, even every month, to photograph the prototypes on display. This week, some new additions, some from a year ago. I head to the checkout, "oo new figures, let's see..." "oh, I've never seen that before" MFC checks. "Oh, she's pretty. Someday, but not today." I wander around, weaving my way through the horde of tourists and locals carrying big backpacks and carry-on bags while crammed into these small corridors perusing merchandise. “Guys,” I think annoyingly to myself, “the station literally has luggage lockers you can use.” Not much has changed since my last visit, so it's time to sneak onto the escalator and leave for another store.

On the 1st floor, I stop by the Family Mart for a famickiki and a Pocari Sweat. The winners’ snack.

I step out into the hot sunny alley, now 36°C, towards the main street. Immediately, I am drenched in sweat. Yes, it's summer in Japan. And people say Florida is worse...yeah right. As I approach, I hear the inescapable anthem blaring from the speakers of Maidreamin Maid Cafe. The unofficial Akihabara theme song, to be honest. I can also see police officers with barricades preparing to close the street... Unfortunately, they won't close it for another hour or so, so I will have to wait to cross the street. I wait under the railway tracks, opposite the GiGO building. What a shame it's no longer SEGA... the unmistakable smell of sewers hangs in the air as I wait for the light to turn green. It turns green quickly. I quickly walk through and take a look at the SEGA building, I mean, GiGO, looking for new figures to win. Nothing this week, except Albedo, Marin and Miku. She was there, but I know better than to try my luck at a pincher. I would probably spend 3,000-4,000 yen trying to win her. I'll take the easy route.

I go out and turn left to go to Sofmap. She won't be there, but I'll take a look at the selection. "Lol, is that Freia from Redo of Healer? Nice."

I get out and head to Traders, my favorite store. The little store is always handy for figurines at reasonable prices. No Miku here. "Too bad, that's strange. I guess she's really that popular. I'll keep looking." Before leaving, something caught my eye. "Wait, is that the Max Factory Racing Miku? 22,000 yen?! It's cheaper than AmiAmi!...hmm, I'll remember that." Just for fun, I take a look at the upper floor above Traders... oh my ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).

Then I head north towards the second AmiAmi store. Along the way, maids of all types and personalities try with all their might to recruit visitors to their establishments. I feel sorry for them, I can't imagine how uncomfortable it must be to be in a thick, fringed dress with nothing but a hand fan and maybe a parasol to refresh. Good luck girls. Earn that money. I glance at Kotobukiya. Most of their selection doesn't interest me, except the Legends of Heroes line. In recent years we have been spoiled with figurines from this Japanese role-playing game series. Unfortunately (or fortunately, if you want to look at it another way), each time you visit, their stock of Legend of Heroes figurines is sold out. I'm so happy to see this series gaining popularity and attention.

Then it's Akiba Zone's turn, mainly Lashinbang. When I arrived in Japan, I loved Lashinbang. I thought their items were really cheap. Now... no, it's the most expensive second-hand figure store chain in Japan. Sometimes, though, depending on the store, they have good promotions, and their rewards system is decent. The one from AmiAmi is much better overall. Okay, on the first floor, it's the merchandise and figurines up for grabs. It's time to look! Damn, she's not here either. Maybe I'm just too early, I mean, it came out in arcades less than a week ago. I'll just wait.

Then, I take a trip to Mandarake. For classic toys, it is THE golden reference. For figurines, I've had reasonable success with them, but they seem to be on the expensive side, even for second-hand. But I just need to know what I'm looking for. "Hmm, bunnies, NSFW figures, some older figures from older series like K-On", yeah never mind.

At this point I walked and looked around these stores for about 2 hours. The heat exhausted my energy and my will to continue searching for that much-desired figurine. I decided to narrow down my shopping selection before heading home and, more importantly, grab dinner. I decided to skip Surugaya, as Akiba's are, to be honest, average. Those in Tachikawa and Shinjuku are much superior anyway. It's time to finish with a visit to my other favorite store, the second Traders store. I enter the narrow spiral staircase to the third floor and there it is, a display case of figurines without boxes. But damn, these bunnies are tempting. Looking at the rest of the store, I see a few Miku, but not the one I'm looking for (however, the Taito AMP+ Sakura Miku was there, for 2,800 yen! Really good). Lots of quality figures, and some really cool SkyTubes, but again, no NSFW figures for me today. Let's see the last store .

On the way out, a crowd of people is crowded in the middle of the street. “Oh, thank God the street is open to pedestrians”! Let's go straight to the second Volks store and look at their selection. As I cross the street, I see groups of people happily taking photos of themselves and the famous thoroughfare. In the distance, I see a yellow Sobu Line train crossing the green bridge, framed by the Bic Camera on the left and the triangle-shaped building advertising the At Home café and Genshin Impact on the right. I was happy that they were happy. I enter Volks and go up the stairs to the fifth floor. The selection is good, above MSRP, but they had a few figures on display to photograph. After a few photos, I left.

Tired and hungry, I returned to the station. I briefly considered stopping at Carl's Jr. just up the street. Then I remembered the Max Factory Miku figure I saw at Traders. Well, if it's still there, I'll take it. It will go perfectly on my figurine shelf. I turned back to the first Traders store I had visited, and lo and behold, she was still there.

Well...now I'm 22,000 yen poorer, but wow, she's gorgeous. To celebrate, I went to dinner at a quality restaurant, a place with real protein. I'm talking about CoCo's Ichibanya, of course. Chicken chop, 3 pieces of fried chicken, pork curry, half cheese, 300g rice, spice 5. Masterpiece. Refreshed, I began the long journey home by fast train. Thank goodness it's not a Monday, otherwise, me and my purchases would be squeezed against salarymen heading home during rush hour. 6 hours, many stores. In the end I got a Miku figure. Just, not the cheap kind. Despite the heat, I had a great time!