Akihabara Panorama

Akihabara Panorama │ NEX-7 & SEL16F28 & UWA │ 16mm, ISO 1600, f/2.8, 1/500, Panorama

Akihabara (know colloquially as either "Akiba", "AKB", or "Electric Town") is a great place to visit in Tokyo. Located just a few minutes from Tokyo station, anything with a wire inside can be bought here. It's also the place to get household goods, camera equipment, bags, climbing gear, and to visit a maid café (more on that another day).

The area used to be almost entirely dedicated to games, back in the 90s, when SEGA, Sony and Nintendo, dominated the world. Since then, there has been a slow drift into the more "otaku" (lit. geek) culture, who idolise the girl group AKB48 (a super group of 48 girls performing nightly in Akiba), who've had so many #1 singles I have lost count. There are also 24 hour manga (comic book) stores, maid cafes, and shops dedicated to erotic games and "literature" (comic books). Comic books aren't typically read by adults outside of Japan, so unless you know the culture here well, it seems odd at first. So in turn, the anime characters, with huge ... eyes, small bodies and squeaky voices, could be nothing other than Japanese.

The above panorama was taken on a very dark night [higher res], but the night is as bright as the day, in AKB.