tokyo: akihabara electric town & ameyoko

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akihabara

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

build your own electronic gadget!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

sofmap rulez

http://www.sofmap.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

lets save an electrifying old skool shop for last…that’s it from akihabara electrictown

 

***

 

wiki sez:

 

"Ameyoko is a busy market street along the Yamanote line tracks between Okachimachi and Ueno Station, the site of a black market after World War Two.

 

The name "Ameyoko" is a short form for "Ameya Yokocho" (candy store alley), as candies were traditionally sold there. Alternatively, "Ame" also stands for "America", because a lot of American products used to be available on the black market.

 

Today, various products such as clothes, bags, cosmetics, fresh fish, dried food and spices are sold along Ameyoko."

 

 

on and around ameyoko

 

this neighborhood is just south of ueno station

 

 

yay uniqlo! aka the japanese version of the gap (has a shop in nyc)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniqlo

 

yay jidou hanbaiki! aka funky japan vending machines u c everywhere

http://www.examiner.com/japan-travel-in-national/japanese-vending-machines

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

capsule hotel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsule_hotel

 

 

no picture!  :laugh:

 

nama biiru!

 

nama sake!

 

kissaten! hmm, i wonder if any haruki murakami characters are up there?

 

 

 

 

hanko aka personal stamp shop

http://www.englishtreejapan.com/archive/Hanko.htm

 

go go curry … so glad they have a branch in nyc now!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_curry

http://www.gogocurryusa.com/index.html

 

 

yo right on tokyo!

 

*** i hope u enjoyed the strolls around these interesting electronic/anime/discount tokyo ’hoods ***

 

 

  Enjoyed. Thanks for posting.

Interesting. The tourist-oriented shopping areas seem to take tacky and garish to a whole new level!

^ actually rob these neighborhoods were more for the locals, with the exception of otaku (fanatic) anime fans who would get off the plane and run straight to akiba to get their fix. anime related business is taking over many of the old electronic shops around there. this style of over the top advertising is endemic to many large tokyo neighborhood business centers.

 

generally tokyo seems to shuttle the tourists into ginza, roppongi, shibuya, odaiba & asakusa (old edo) neighborhoods. at least i never really saw many obvious tourists outside of those places. actually i never saw many tourists at all vs. new york. of course tourists are concentrated to lower manhattan in ny and spread out in tokyo so hard to say.