AKIHABARA SHOPPING

Akihabara Shopping - Akihabara is famous for its electronics and hi tech shopping. This even includes cameras with a massive Yodobashi Camera store.

Akihabara (秋葉原) is Tokyo's "Electric Town", located on the eastern side of the central Chiyoda ward. The area houses thousands of shops selling every technological gadget you can imagine, from cameras to PlayStations and vacuums to DVDs.

Some of the smaller market style stores in Akihabara

Akihabara Shopping

Sprawled in every direction off the main street Chūō-dōri (中央通り) are more smaller streets with even more electronics stores. Note that the further from the main street you get the better the prices - but the more you stray, the less foreigner-friendly the shops are. Refer to our Tokyo Map for the locations of the most of the popular stores in Akihabara. On Sunday afternoons, the main street is blocked to vehicle traffic and the area becomes a bit of a flea market - you can walk freely along the main avenue and many small vendors set up tables on the side streets.

Note that products intended for the Japanese market usually require 110V electricity, have no international warranty, and (the kicker) are labelled and documented only in Japanese. Head for the many duty-free shops to find export models, which are priced at a premium though.

Duty Free Stores
Larger shops can arrange sales tax exemptions for purchases of over ¥10000, saving you 5%. Unlike most countries, in Japan the tax is waived immediately, so there is no need to run through complicated reclaiming hoops. However, you will have to show your passport and (in theory) you should clear your purchase through customs at the airport on the way out. Some shops take credit cards, but it's not recommended to use them since a small percentage is added to the transaction (usually 2%).

Shopping Comparison
Most major items I found to be similar pricing to that in the USA or Australia, but exchange rate variations can make for short term discounts. Warranties are the other issue to consider, many brands do not have international warranties. The advantage of shopping in Japan for electrical or photographic items is the access to a range of products that are not released outside of Japan. These items may not have had their international release or may never be released. This also applies to many smaller items and accessories, but the internet has started to make some of these items more available outside of Japan.

What was cheaper: (April 2006)

• Ultra light notebooks and a much larger range including the 1Kg model from Panasonic. I must admit these did tempt me as the ultra light notebooks were around A$2,000 compared to A$3,000+ in Australia.
• External hard drives - not a big difference, but even well priced units could be found in local department stores. The high level of notebook ownership in Japan probably explains the greater need for external hard drives.
• A camera tripod (light weight) for A$12. I am sure these come on special in many places, but I have never seen one for this price given the size and quality.

Should I buy a camera in Japan or locally?
Potentially you may be able to buy a model a few weeks earlier in Japan or for a little less. It was difficult to make a comparison, but the difference didn't seem to that great. Part of the problem, particularly with digital SLR cameras is the lenses packages vary and even the name of the camera. My current camera is called a Canon EOS 350D in Australia, a Rebel XT in USA and a KISS in Japan. Then there are many combinations of lenses that can be packaged with it.

I strongly recommend buying your camera before you travel unless you are already very familiar with the camera. You really need time to learn all the different aspects of the camera before you travel, other wise you will be in a situation where you want to take a difficult or unusual photo and the result may not be the best it could be. Even with many hours practice with the camera before I left for Japan, I was still caught out in one situation where I had to switch to automatic mode, thus missing a particular low light long range flash photo.

Akihabara Shopping - Main Stores

Laox Stores
(1-15-3 Soto-Kanda, tel. 03-5207-5027; on Chuo-dori, close to JR Akihabara station) specializes in export products and has multilingual staff on hand. There are in fact eight Laox stores in Akihabara, including the main store, computer store, Duty free store, musical instrument store, hobby, game, watch and camera. Each store covers several levels, but the floor area per level in not great.

Yodobashi Camera Store
The household electric giant Yodobashi Camera, previously based in Shinjuku, opened its first store in Akihabara on September 16th, 2005. One of the largest electric appliance stores in Japan, it has 9 stories above ground and 6 below, with shop floor space of 33,000 square meters. While there is parking for 400 cars, I would strongly recommend taking the train. The 7th-9th floors feature restaurants and cafés

The massive Yodabashi Camera store in Akihabara

Radio Kaikan
The cradle of modern technology in Akihabara. In the early days of personal computers, NEC established a direct sales outlet here, where it sold the first personal computer in Japan. Now there are more hobby-type stores, but on the 7th floor there is a plate announcing "The Birthplace of Personal Computers". Radio Kaikan today provides a home for Kaiyodo and other hobby specialists, and is well worth a visit.

Radio Center
Radio Center is an unbelievable two-floor warren of tiny shops, each specializing in (for example) LEDs, voltage meters, ceramic capacitors or miniature cameras. Heaven for the hardcore do-it-yourself electronics geek.

Tsukumo Robot Kingdom
Japan's first robot specialist store. It offers a wide selection of assembly kits, from pet robots to biped robots. Worth a quick look or go shopping if you are into this type of product.

Akihabara Cross Field
In March 2006, "Akihabara Cross Field", consisting of two high-rise buildings (Akihabara Daibiru and Akihabara UDX), was opened as a major redevelopment project slated to become a center for Japan's frontier IT-related technology, people and culture. It is now a focus of attention as a venue for "crossings" between industry, technology, people and culture. The Animation Center on the 4th floor of the Akihabara UDX provides visitors with information about animation.

(Article based on Wikitravel article by Richard Petersen, Paul N. Richter and Ted O'Neill and Wikitravel user(s) Jpatokal, Nzpcmad, Huttite and Luke. Article used under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0.)