Akihabara - Line and Shadow [ Panasonic GX7 ]

When you hear Akihabara what do you think of?

This weekend was cold but the weather was perfect so I headed once more to Akiba, the geek mecha mecca of the world.




When people think of Akihabara, probably nowadays the main image that comes to mind is AKB48, game shops, and electronics. 15 years ago it was a grungy dump, perfect for digging around for spare parts for old computers, buying a new washing machine and maybe a new MD player or game system, but it wasn't a gaming center by any means and there weren't any idols, maids - or many women in general - to be seen at all.




Akihabara has always, however, been the home to a lot of cool bridges, since you have rivers and several train and subway lines intersecting in one area.




Akiba's still a great place to find neat shit lying around or get rid of stuff you don't need. As you can see in the above pic there are tons of bigger stores offering bargains on the main types of appliances and gadgets, but squeezed between them are a million little shops all with their own particular focus.

This time I came with two bags full of old video games and sold the whole bunch. I'm always amazed at the stuff you see people selling at the used stores here, especially like the huge bag of porn the guy waiting in line in front of me was selling.




You also can't always find things if you don't dig around a bit. I've probably been here 100 times over the past decade but this time found a huge old used lens store I'd never heard of or seen before, even though I probably walked right in front of it at least a dozen time.

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If you are in need of a new game, want to see a live idol performance, have your earwax cleaned, want to sell your 7 year old phone, need some cologne, are looking for that one special 1/72 scale tank to finish your collection, or are just looking for a place where you can get lost in the stacks of porn DVDs, Akihabara is the place for you. Go there, look around, get lost, and find something you need or more likely don't need, but if you bring something even slightly valuable to sell you can often get away from the day spending almost nothing.




These pictures were all taken with my Panasonic GX7 micro four thirds camera. Today I went completely with the 14mm F2.5 lens, a great (and tiny) lens for taking pics of buildings and snapshots of stores and people.

For more pictures, check out my Flickr Photostream, or for a huge set of posts check out all the pictures I've taken with it so far: Six Days in Chiba GX7 pictures.