Little TGV

This article is based on a visit made on Monday, 14 November 2016.

In the 2000s, the first "maid cafes" sprung up in Akihabara.  These are restaurants where light meals are served by waitresses in French-maid-style uniforms, who greet customers with phrases like "welcome home, master" and other such respectful language, and chat with and even play small games with them in between delivering their food.  In recent years, not only has this trend expanded to other cities in Japan, but the concept has evolved into other themes.

After a long afternoon at Nakano Broadway and the Ghibli Museum, I returned to Akihabara to have dinner at Little TGV (鉄道居酒屋LittleTGV, Tetsudō Izakaya LittleTGV), a "railway tavern".  The theme is based on a fictional line called the "New Akiba Electric Railway (NAER)", the waitress uniforms are "moe"-fied versions of train conductor attire, and the walls are decked out with pictures of trains, line maps, schedules, number plates, and other train-related artifacts.  Even the name of the restaurant is a railway reference, to the TGV high-speed network in France.

Little TGV sets itself apart from other maid cafes not only from its decor, but from its menu.  As per its name, it is an izakaya, a type of Japanese pub.  The food menu is not terribly long, but has an even balance of fried and grilled dishes, salads, and more, most of it common Japanese fare.  Their drink menu includes a wide list of cocktails, both alcoholic and not, named after trains and train lines.  For example, a Screwdriver (vodka and orange juice) is here called a "Sobu-sen", after the Sobu Main Line.  Expect to pay between ¥400 to ¥800 per item.  There is an extra cover charge of ¥500 added to your bill, but even with that, this place is not terribly expensive.

Little TGV is still a maid cafe at heart.  Some special menu items come with a little performance; for example, if you order the "Gata-Goto Fries", your waitress puts the fries in a paper bag with your choice of seasoning, then shakes up the bag while the both of you chant "gata-goto", the Japanese sound effect for a train chugging along.  As can be seen above, she even made an origami papercraft thing (it looks kind of like a plane, counter-intuitively...) for me to rest my chopsticks on!  The ticket near the top of this picture is a receipt for the cover charge I mentioned earlier.

It wouldn't be a railway-themed establishment without a model train display set up!  There were, of course, a few trains running laps around it, such as the green train (from the Yamanote line?) barely visible on the right side.  Still others were parked below the tracks, including a few Shinkansen models and a "Doctor Yellow" maintenance train (should be easy to guess which one).

If trains aren't your thing, or even if they are, there are other kinds of concept restaurants out there in Akihabara.  For example, there's "Little BSD", a fantasy-demon-themed cosplay pub, "Little PSX", a maid cafe where you can play darts with the maids, and "Akiba CIA", a spy-themed bar.  Come to think of it, all those three examples, plus Little TGV, are affiliates run by the same company. But there are sure to be more of these concept restaurants all over Japan, so keep on searching!

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Hours: Open from 6:00 PM to 11:00PM on Tuesdays to Fridays, from 4:00 PM on Saturdays, and from 12:00 PM on Sundays.  Closed on Mondays.

Access: The closest station is Suehirocho (Tokyo Metro Ginza (G) line), followed by Akihabara (JR Yamanote (JY), Keihin-Tohoku (JK), Chuo-Sobu (JB), Tokyo Metro Hibiya (H), and Tsukuba Express (TX) lines).

Directions: From Suehirocho Station (exit 3), walk down two blocks and turn right, at the Excelsior Caffe.  Walk down two more blocks and turn left, at the Cafe Euro.  The restaurant entrance will be on the left.

From Akihabara Station (Electric Town exit), turn right out of the ticket gates, then left.  Cross Chuo-dori and turn right.  Walk down five blocks (300 m / 1,000 ft.) and turn left, at the Excelsior Caffe.  Walk down two more blocks and turn left, at the Cafe Euro.  The restaurant entrance will be on the left.

Address: Isamiya #3 Building 4F, 3-10-5 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tōkyō-to 〒101-0021

Website: (Japanese)

Akihabara Walk

This article is based on visits made on Sunday, 30 March 2014, and Sunday-Tuesday, 13-15 November 2016.

Previously on Sekai Ichi, I checked into my hotel in Akihabara.  With multiple train and subway lines serving the area, and the hotel itself situated above the train station of the same name, this proved to be a convenient base for all my excursions in and around Tokyo.  But Akihabara (秋葉原, lit. 'autumn leaf field'), or "Akiba" for short, is a destination in its own right, so allow me to take you on a virtual tour of this neighbourhood

First, some orientation.  The major train station in the area is the cross-shaped Akihabara Station, which serves the Yamanote loop line to the north and south, the Chuo-Sobu line to the east and west, among other lines.  To the west of the station, the Chuo-dori (中央通り, Chūō Dōri, lit. 'central road') road also runs north-to-south.  Most of the major businesses in Akiba are situated along Chuo-dori.  On Sundays from 1:00 to 6:00 PM, a section of Chuo-dori is closed to automotive traffic.

I might as well briefly go over some history while I'm at it.  As a centre of business, Akiba's character has shifted multiple times over its history.  When Akihabara Station opened in 1890, many produce markets sprang up around it.  This entrepreneurial spirit led to various specialisations: electronics and radio parts in the mid-20th century, personal computers in the 1980s, and anime-related, or otaku (オタク), merchandise in the 2000s.  Akiba is also the birthplace of maid cafes, restaurants where waitresses cosplay as French-style maids.  I would later try out a maid cafe elsewhere in Tokyo, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Many of Akiba's major locations stand to the west of the station, so start your journey by taking the Electric Town Exit on its west side.  Turn to the right (north) from this exit, and you will find yourself on the UDX Plaza.  It is spanned by a pedestrian bridge leading toward the UDX Building on the north end of the square.  The UDX Building hosts numerous businesses, including a tourist information centre and the Tokyo Anime Center, a small but free space which hosts exhibits on recent shows and a shop selling various character goods.  The AKB48 and Gundam Cafes, one of which I have visited, are also situated along the square.

Conversely, turn left (south) from the Electric Town Exit, and you will find yourself in concrete canyons like these.  Due to the dearth of floor space, many shops are spread out among multiple floors, connected by stairs, elevators, and/or escalators.  The Yamada Denki store, the building on the left with its recessed glass tunnels, is such an example of this practise.  The important thing to be aware of in these multi-storeyed stores is that there are checkout counters on each floor, and you must pay for goods picked up on that floor before moving to a different one.

You may also have noticed a big block of scaffolding in the above picture.  That would be Radio Kaikan (ラジオ会館, Rajio Kaikan), a megastore which was undergoing renovation during my 2014 visit.  The original 8-storey building, hosting many electronic-part stores, was the first skyscraper in Akihabara when it opened in 1962.  However, concerns about its structural safety led to it being torn down in 2011 and replaced with a new building, which finally opened on 20 July 2014, just too late for me to catch it at the time.

Radio Kaikan in March 2010, before it was torn down and rebuilt.
street viewer [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

This is what the old Radio Kaikan looked like...

...And this is what it looks like post-reconstruction.  It now stands 10 floors and 46.5 metres (152.5 feet) above ground.  The shops in its new incarnation are more otaku-focused, but its iconic neon signboard and rainbow window-banners were faithfully re-created.

Chuo-dori is the main thouroughfare around which Akiba is centred.  One brand you'll see a lot of along Chuo-dori is the electronics retailer Sofmap (ソフマップ, Sofumappu), which has nine branches of varying specialties in Akiba alone.  Many stores in the area, including Sofmap, will offer sales-tax rebates for shoppers coming in from overseas.  Just make sure what you're buying is compatible with the electricity and region-control systems of your home country!  International products may also be available.

A walk down Chuo-dori represents many of the goods and services that Akihabara has to offer.  In this road alone, there are stores selling personal computers, computer components, cell phones, cameras, video games, anime DVDs and Blu-rays, manga books, cosplay outfits, and other anime merchandise, as well as video arcades, maid cafes, and other restaurants.  Akiba is also a hub for selling dojinshi (同人誌, Dōjinshi, lit. 'same-person document'), fan-made comics and software; the two towers of Comic Toranoana (コミックとらのあな, Komikku Toranoana), seen above, are a popular place to buy them.  Although, some of... well, okay, most of the stuff is more adult-oriented, so you should stay away from certain floors, or even entire stores, if you're under 18.

Situated a block down Chuo-dori, Don Quijote (ドン・キホーテ, Don Kihōte) is a branch of a department store chain.  They have stores in all but two of Japan's prefectures (sorry, Tokushima and Kochi), plus Singapore, Hawaii, and California.  On its upper floors, this particular location also hosts a maid cafe (on the 5th floor), an arcade (6th-7th floors), and a theatre (8th floor) where the pop-idol band AKB48 play frequent shows.  As their name may suggest, AKB48 is made up of a rotating cast of over 48 members, only 6-8 of whom sing on any given song.  They formed in 2005 and have maintained strong popularity to this very day.  (I certainly didn't expect them to outlast One Direction, I'll tell you that!)  Their fame is such that they have inspired various copycat bands elsewhere in Japan and other Asian countries.

Just because Chuo-dori has the most traffic passing through, that doesn't mean there aren't more places to explore.  The blocks to the west of Chuo-dori are more tightly packed, but offer many pleasant surprises.  For example, Super Potato is situated among these western blocks.  Conversely, for those needing a break from all this technology and fandom, Kanda Shrine is just a few minutes further to the west.

Also located west of Chuo-dori, the big black building is the Akihabara branch of Mandarake (まんだらけ), the self-described "largest manga and anime shop in the world".  Superlative or not, Mandarake specialises in second-hand goods.  They may not always be cheap, but are of generally good quality.  If you want to see what I mean, my article on the used video game store Super Potato (linked above) should give you an idea.  And if you need more Mandarake, they have many other outlets in Japan, most of them across town in Nakano.

There's even more to see if we turn back and head south and east, under the train tracks.  You'll see more small electronics stores, izakaya pubs, and pachinko/slot parlours down this way.  You know, there's something charming about seeing old-style neon signs like these.

Cross on over to the east side of the station, and you will find yourself at the Akihabara branch of the Yodobashi Camera (ヨドバシカメラ, Yodobashi Kamera) department store.  In addition to the usual array of electronic products, this 9-story building includes a restaurant floor near the top, which is common practise for department stores in Japan, and a driving range for golfers on the top floor, which is... not so common.

Finally, taking it all back to UDX Plaza.  This was the scene from my other trip, when the sun finally peeked its way out, and all the people along with it.  Little did I know that this was during japan's spring school holidays, so crowds like this would set the tone for much of that trip.  Fortunately, this was less so when I came back a couple of years later in November, which we will continue on with next time!

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Access: The Akihabara district is best accessed by, naturally, Akihabara Station (JR Yamanote (JY), Keihin-Tohoku (JK), Chuo-Sobu (JB), Tokyo Metro Hibiya (H), and Tsukuba Express (TX) lines).  Alternatively, Suehirocho (Tokyo Metro Ginza (G) line) and Iwamotocho (Toei Shinjuku (S) line) stations are 5 minutes away on foot.

From Tokyo Station, take the Yamanote or Keihin-Tohoku line to Akihabara (JY03/JK28, 4 minutes, ¥160).  From Shinjuku Station, take the Chuo-Sobu (Local) line (JB19, 20 minutes, ¥170); if you want to save a few minutes, take the Chuo (Rapid) line instead to Ochanomizu (JC03, 10 minutes, ¥170), then transfer to a local train to Akihabara (2 minutes).

Akihabara Radio Kaikan

Hours: Open from 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM; hours may vary by store.  No regular closing days.

Address: 1-15-16 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tōkyō-to 〒101-0032

Directions: From Akihabara Station, turn left out of the Electric Town Exit ticket gates, and then turn right.  Radio Kaikan will be on the left side, before you reach Chuo-dori.

Website: (Japanese)

Don Quijote Akihabara

Hours: Open from 9:00 AM to 5:00 AM the next morning.  No regular closing days.

Address: 4-3-3 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tōkyō-to 〒101-0021

Directions: From Akihabara Station, turn right out of the Electric Town Exit ticket gates, then left, and then right onto Chuo-dori.  Don Quijote will be two blocks down on the right side.

Website: (English) (Japanese)

Mandarake Complex

Hours: Open from 12:00 AM to 8:00 PM.  No regular closing days.

Address: 3-11-12 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tōkyō-to 〒101-0021

Directions: From Akihabara Station, turn right out of the Electric Town Exit ticket gates, then left.  Cross Chuo-dori and turn right.  At the next traffic light, cross the road, turn left, then take the next right.  Mandarake will be on the right at the next intersection.

Website: (English/Japanese)

Yodobashi Multimedia Akiba

Hours: Open from 9:30 AM to 10:00 PM.  No regular closing days.

Address: 1-1 Kanda Hanaoka-chō, Chiyoda-ku, Tōkyō-to 〒101-0028

Directions: From Akihabara Station, turn right out of the Central Exit ticket gates.  Yodobashi Camera will be on the right side of the plaza immediately outside of the exit.

Website: (Japanese)

Remm Akihabara

This article is based on a visit made on 12 November 2016.

Edit 2 October 2019: Updated prices to reflect the increase in Japan's national sales tax.

Previously on Sekai Ichi, I finally arrived at my first destination of Akihabara, in Tokyo.  Why did I choose Akiba over all of Tokyo's many other districts?  Believe it or not, it wasn't because of my obsessive love of Japan's anime and gaming sub-cultures.  ...Well, not just because of them, anyway.  It also happens that Akihabara was a convenient base for taking public transportation to the places I wished to visit on my trip, and there was a hotel there which met all my requirements.  It was close to the train stations I would be using frequently, featured a contemporary style which was relevant to my tastes, and was priced comfortably within my budget.  Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to the Remm Akihabara (レム秋葉原, Remu Akihabara).

The Remm Akihabara is part of a small chain, owned by the Hankyu-Hanshin Holdings corporation, with additional branches in Tokyo (Hibiya and Roppongi), Osaka, and Kagoshima.  As you can see, I didn't have to go far upon arriving at Akihabara station to check in.  The hotel occupies the tower seen in the centre of this picture.  It stands directly adjacent to the station, also seen here.

Across from the hotel entrance, you will see this building.  It's partially obscured by the trees here, but a large calendar and clock display is situated above the entrance to various restaurants.  There is also a FamilyMart convenience store right next to it.

This is the street entrance to the hotel.  It takes you to an elevator which leads directly to the lobby on the 6th floor.  The hotel can also be accessed by elevators from the Akiba Tolim mall below, to the right of the street entrance.

The single room I stayed in measured a snug 14.3 m² (154 ft²), which was just barely enough for a solo traveller like myself.  Couples (who aren't very, very close with each other) may want to upgrade to a twin room.  Still, the bed was roomy, at a width of 140 cm (55 in).  There was a massage chair in the back corner, but I couldn't figure out how to operate it, so I just used it to hang my clothes on.

The bathroom extends the modernist theme with its use of white porcelain, chrome trim, and glass.  Its most notable feature is its "rain shower", where the water falls straight down from a head embedded in the ceiling.  There is also a hand-held showerhead which can be mounted on the wall if you prefer.

Amenities in these hotel rooms include a safe, a mini-fridge, and even a cell-phone charger, compatible with many types of power ports!  However, this particular one was a little flimsy, in that it didn't always stay plugged in for very long.

The leaflet seen in this picture is an advertisement for breakfast at the Portal Cafe restaurant, in the mall below this hotel.  Breakfast is served as a buffet, with a variety of Western and Japanese-style items.  Hotel guests may buy entry for a discounted rate of ¥1,400; to get yours, buy it from the concierge desk on the 6th floor.

Finally, some views from the 13th floor.  (What is it with me and getting hotel rooms on unlucky-numbered floors?)  This one, taken from my room, shows the morning sun waking up the electronics stores on Chuo-dori.

And this one, taken from the elevator lobby on the same floor, offered a view of the train tracks running to the south, towards Tokyo Station.  I even managed to snap a shot of a Hayabusa + Komachi Shinkansen service -- which, for the record, are my favourite trains ever.  Maybe some day I'll actually ride one of them...

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Remm Akihabara

Address: Akiba Tolim 6F, 1-6-5 Kanda Sakuma-chō, Chiyoda-ku, Tōkyō-to 〒101-0025

Access: Remm Akihabara Akihabara is adjacent to Akihabara Station (JR Yamanote (JY), Keihin-Tohoku (JK), Chuo-Sobu (JB), Tokyo Metro Hibiya (H), and Tsukuba Express (TX) lines).

Directions: From Akihabara Station, turn right out of the Central ticket gates, and continue straight, cross Chuo-dori, and take the next right afterwards.  The direct entrance to Remm Akihabara will be on your right.

Website: (English) (Japanese)

Akihabara Nighttime Walk

This article is based on a visit made on 12 November 2016.

I embarked upon my latest holiday to Japan in November of 2016 for a number of reasons.  First, I quite frankly needed something to look forward to during the American election cycle.  But politics aside, I chose November over other months in order to see both autumn tree colours and Christmas light displays.  I'm happy to say that I was not disappointed in either of these arenas, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

As always, I arrived at Narita International Airport after a 14-hour nonstop flight.  Despite not getting much sleep aboard the plane (such is the curse of not being able to afford business class), I had enough wits about me not only to locate and board my connecting train, but also to pick up the Japan Rail Pass that I would use later on in my trip.  I even had enough time before my train to do so at the JR East travel office at the airport, where they were promoting Akita Prefecture in northern Japan.

Akita is famous for various festivals, such as the Kanto Festival (3-7 August in Akita City) where skilled men parade while balancing bamboo poles laden with many lanterns (as seen in the previous picture), and the Namahage Sedo Festival (mid-February in Oga), famous for people dressing up as ogres called oni, as seen above.

The train I took this time around was the Skyliner limited express.  Compared to the competing Narita Express, the Skyliner runs at a top speed of 160 km/h (100 mph) and follows a more direct route to central Tokyo, resulting in a travel time of only 45 minutes from Terminal 1 to Ueno Station (versus 60 minutes for the N'EX).  From there, it was a mere 5-minute train hop to my final destination of Akihabara.  For more information on the Skyliner, read my guide on transit from Narita International Airport.

One of the major meeting places in Akihabara is the UDX Plaza, named after the UDX Building seen above.  There is a pedestrian bridge crossing the plaza, from which I took this picture.

Many cities in Japan set up Christmas and winter illuminations as early as November.  (Man, that's almost as early as here in the US!)  I saw proof of this even on my first night, with displays like this animated-light tree that was set up in front of the UDX building (also seen in the previous picture).  There were even a few Space Invaders aliens showing up on the tree, but unfortunately I was not quick enough to get a good picture of them.

On the west side of the UDX plaza, underneath the Yamanote train tracks, stand two cafe-restaurants serving light meals themed after two sub-cultures that are tightly associated with Akihabara: the giant-robot anime franchise Gundam, and the pop-idol group AKB48.

Me being a dude and all, I had my dinner at the Gundam Cafe.  The storefront is guarded over by this scale-model of the RX-78 robot.

The Gundam Cafe also has a take-out window where you can order snacks like "Gunpla-yaki", baked pastries named after the plastic model kits.  They come with fillings such as custard and azuki bean paste; I bought a custard one and, my goodness, it was so delicious!

Walking down the path towards Chuo-dori a bit, I chanced upon this little garden on the side of the road.  Even in places as buzzing as Akihabara's Electric Town, one can manage to find places of relative serene solitude, and I've got to respect that.

A wider shot of the garden from the previous picture, here behind a food truck.

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Access: The Akihabara district is best accessed by, naturally, Akihabara Station (JR Yamanote (JY), Keihin-Tohoku (JK), Chuo-Sobu (JB), Tokyo Metro Hibiya (H), and Tsukuba Express (TX) lines).  Alternatively, Suehirocho (Tokyo Metro Ginza (G) line) and Iwamotocho (Toei Shinjuku (S) line) stations are 5 minutes away on foot.

Gundam Cafe Akihabara

Hours: Open from 10:00 AM to 10:30 PM.  No regular closing days.

Address: Atre Akihabara 2, 1-1 Kanda Hanaoka-chō, Chiyoda-ku, Tōkyō-to 〒101-0028

Directions: From Akihabara Station, turn right out of the Electric Town Exit ticket gates, and continue straight.  The Gundam Cafe building will be on your right, directly past the AKB48 Cafe & Shop on the same side.

Website: (English) (Japanese)

Kanda Shrine

This article is based on a visit on Monday, 31 March 2014.

Previously on Sekai Ichi, I visited the famous Meiji Shrine.  After a couple of stops in Harajuku and Akihabara, I walked over to the nearby Kanda Shrine (神田明神, Kanda-myōjin), another major Shinto shrine in Tokyo. It stands only minutes on foot from Akihabara, but despite its proximity, provides a serene escape from the wondrous sensory overload of its neighbourhood.

Kanda Shrine was founded all the way back around AD 720. It was moved to its current location in 1616, was destroyed in the 1923 Kanto Earthquake, and rebuilt with concrete in 1934; it thusly survived the wartime bombings a decade later. The buildings are freshly-painted in vermilion and gold, with greenish copper roofs.

Kanda Shrine sits atop a short hill. Walking uphill to the southern entrance will bring you to this gate.

The main hall. Three major spirits or gods (神, kami) are enshrined here.  The first two are Daikokuten (大黒天) and Ebisu (恵比寿), two of the Seven Gods of Fortune (七福神, Shichi fukujin). The other is Taira no Masakado (平 将門), a samurai who led a rebellion against the government in Kyoto, in the AD 930s. His deification was controversial; his spirit was removed from the shrine during the Meiji period, but reinstated after World War II.

A side building selling omikuji. Because of being so close to Akihabara, some of the omikuji sold here are geared toward technology, for example, talismans designed to bless electronic devices against harm.

A wide view of the shrine grounds. It was cherry blossom (桜, sakura) season during my trip.

Further into the grounds. The statue on the left is, I believe, the god Daikokuten, mentioned earlier.

A rock-and-waterfall arrangement, with a statue of a lion (石獅, shishi) above.

I mentioned the kind of charms sold here, and Akihabara's love of technology is also represented by this fortune-telling machine. This mechanical lion does a little dance before vending your fortune readout.

Of course, Akihabara is also famous for its businesses relating to anime and manga, so plenty of the ema hung there feature drawings by manga artists, in addition to their wishes and prayers.

That's not the only connection Kanda Shrine has to the anime world. In the show Love Live! School Idol Project, about a club of high-school girls who form their own pop-idol band, one of the main characters, miss Nozomi Tojo (東條 希, Tōjō Nozomi), also works part-time as a shrine maiden at Kanda Shrine. The show's popularity has even become such that the real Kanda Shrine adopted Nozomi-chan as its official mascot!  They announced this adoption on Twitter:

TOKYO MXテレビで、アニメ「ラブライブ！」が、1月4日23時から放送されます。

神田明神公式アイドルの「東條 希」が出演していて、神田明神もアニメ中に出てきます。

僕、ししまいも応援していますよm(_ _)mhttp://t.co/f3sxOOeGnV

— 神田明神 (@kanda_myoujin) January 2, 2015

A rough translation of the above Tweet:

"The TOKYO MX TV network will broadcast the anime "Love Live!" starting on 4 January [2015], at 11:00PM [JST]. The idol of Kanda Shrine, Nozomi Tojo, will appear; Kanda Myojin will also appear in the anime. We also support the lion dance. [bow]"

Kanda Shrine is also notable as the focal point of the Kanda Matsuri, a festival featuring a parade leading from and back to Kanda Shrine. It is held on the weekend of 15 May every other (odd-numbered) year, i.e. the next one would be 13-14 May 2017.

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Hours: Always open.  No regular closing days.

Costs: Free.

Address: 2-16-2 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tōkyō-to 〒101-0021

Access: Kanda Shrine is 5 minutes away on foot from Ochanomizu Station (JR Chuo (JC), Chuo-Sobu (JB), and Tokyo Metro Marunouchi (M) lines), or 10 minutes from Suehirocho (Tokyo Metro Ginza (G) line) and Akihabara (JR Yamanote (JY), Keihin-Tohoku (JK), and Tokyo Metro Hibiya (H) lines) stations.

From Tokyo Station, take the Chuo (Rapid) line (JC03, 4 minutes, ¥140, JR Pass OK) or Marunouchi subway line to Ochanomizu (M20, 5 minutes, ¥170).  From Shinjuku Station, take the Chuo (Rapid) line to Ochanomizu (JC03, 10 minutes, ¥170, JR Pass OK).

Directions: From JR's Ochanomizu Station, turn around out of the Hijiri-bashi exit, cross the bridge, and continue to the next traffic light.  Turn right, then left through the torii gate.  The shrine is at the top of the hill ahead.

From Tokyo Metro's Ochanomizu Station, turn left out of Exit 2, continue until you reach the bridge, and go up the stairs on the left side.  Once atop the bridge, turn left and continue along the directions listed above.

From Suehirocho Station, turn left out of Exit 3.  After 5 minutes, there will be a set of stairs with a torii gate at the top on your left.  Climb these stairs, and you will enter the shrine grounds from behind.

From Akihabara Station, turn right out of the Electric Town Exit ticket gates, then left.  Cross Chuo-dori and turn right.  At the next traffic light, cross the road, turn left, and keep straight, bearing right at the second traffic light.  Afterwards, take the next right and head uphill to reach the shrine.

Website: (English) (Japanese)

Super Potato Akihabara

This article is based on a visit made on Sunday, 30 March 2014.

As you might be able to gather from reading my other blog, especially my older reviews, I quite like retro video games. But it's not the most accessible hobby, with the major game retailers in the US long having since stopped selling anything more than ten years old. You'd pretty much have to rely on conventions or online shopping to find older stuff. Japan is a little better in this regard, with some anime and game/related stores, like Mandarake, having sections for used retro games. But the crowning jewel of this market has to be Super Potato. Super Potato is actually a small chain with stores across Japan (full list: (Japanese)), but their flagship store is in Akihabara, due west of the train station.

Super Potato occupies the 3rd, 4th, and 5th floor of this black building you see here. The Pac-Man and Donkey Kong characters on it are hard to miss.

There is an elevator in the building you can use, but take the stairs at least once. They are labeled with what is for sale on the next floor up.

Customers are greeted on the 3rd floor by a life-size statue of none other than Mario! But don’t touch! Other "characters" you can see in this pic include the Super & 1-Up Mushrooms and Goomba from Super Mario (top centre), and a Slime from Dragon Quest (top right).

Apart from game hardware and software, you might also find some unique merchandise based on your favourite characters. For example, I picked up a Legend of Zelda deck of playing cards.

The 3rd floor focuses on older consoles (NES, Super NES, Sega Genesis, etc.), and the 4th floor focuses on newer ones (PlayStation 1 & 2, Nintendo 64 & GameCube, etc.). The games shown here are for the Nintendo Famicom, the original Japanese version of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) sold in America and Europe. As seen here, loose cartridges are shrink-wrapped for preservation. For example, humidity is a serious problem during summers in Japan. Whatever the reason, you just don’t get that kind of service over in America!

Games are also sold complete-in-box, but cost more.

An aisle of Super Famicom (Super NES) games for sale. Certain games are grouped together instead of by title, for example by publisher (Nintendo, Namco) or genre/theme (role-playing, fighting, anime-licence). The rest are sorted by the consonant of the first syllable. For example, first you have the "blank vowels" (A I U E O), then the 'K's (Ka Ki Ku Ke Ko), the 'S's (Sa Shi Su Se So), et cetera.

Games for the PC Engine, sold abroad as the TurboGrafx-16. While the TG-16 didn't garner so much support abroad (thanks to competition from the Sega Genesis and Super NES), it got hugely popular in Japan and stayed that way for some time. TG-16 games were sold both on solid-state cards (seen on the left) and CDs (to the right).

Now, before you start writing your Super Potato shopping list, please be aware that not all Japanese video games are compatible with American or European hardware. There are different work-arounds available for each console, but the easiest method is just to buy a Japanese console. It’s not necessarily expensive, either -- a used Famicom should cost less than ¥5,000 / US$50. And, of course, there's the language barrier to get over, but this is less of an issue for more action-oriented genres.

The 5th floor hosts some arcade games and light vending options, all guarded over by Metal Gear Solid’s Big Boss.

Simply put, Super Potato is the kind of place where, if they didn't close, I'd never leave!

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Hours: Open 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM on weekdays, and 10:00 AM to 8:00PM on weekends.  No regular closing days.

Address: 1-11-12 Soto-Kanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo-to 〒101-0021

Access: Super Potato is accessed from Akihabara Station on the JR Yamanote (JY), Keihin-Tohoku (JK), and Tokyo Metro Hibiya (H) lines, or Suehirocho Station on the Tokyo Metro Ginza (G) line. From Tokyo Station, take the Yamanote or Keihin-Tohoku line to Akihabara (JY03/JK27, 4 minutes, ¥160, JR Pass OK).

Directions: From Akihabara Station, turn right out of the Electric Town Exit ticket gates, and immediately left upon exiting the station.  Continue straight, cross Chuo-dori, and take the next right afterwards.  The Super Potato building will be on your right.

Website: (Japanese)