Akihabara (Tokyo)

[RayB]

I went to Tokyo and spent a few hours in Akihabara on my last day (nowhere as long as I'd have liked to unfortunately).

I have several photos of arcades and geek stuff that might interest you nerds.

The bottom line to the America VS Japan arcade debate:
- yes, arcades are plentiful here;
- no, they aren't that great. Why? They have pretty much succumbed to the same problem as here: tons of crane toy machines, redemption games, photo booths, etc. The video based stuff is driving, fighting and networked games (mahjong, soccer, fighting, gambling themes) and some pachinko and pachislots.

I have to go to bed now. More photos soon

[RayB]

ARRGH. It's not upside down when I preview it in Windows!

I'll post to Flickr or something, so you don't have to download such large files.

[Vigo]

ARRGH. It's not upside down when I preview it in Windows!

The photos upside down because of your camera's auto leveling function. It detects which way is down and makes that the bottom of the photo. Since you are on the bottom side of the earth, everything is naturally upside down, but your camera cannot detect that. You can resolve this by purchasing a double convex lens to invert the image for your camera. On certain models of camera, you can also fix this by changing the default language to Japanese or Chinese. You can also ask your photo subjects to stand on their head while taking their photos.

[rooter]

hey have pretty much succumbed to the same problem as here: tons of crane toy machines, redemption games, photo booths, etc.

 I would tend to argue that they were the ones who MADE the Arcade industry fail ultimately.
Remember, that most game companies are in Japan... and games were Imported to USA and all
over the world.

Arcades will have whatever games people will put money into.  It has nothing to do with influence from Japan.

It used to be that you played a normal arcade game because it was better than anything you could play at home.  Consoles are so powerful now, that something other than graphics and game play needs to give people a reason to spend money on an arcade game.  That means sitting in a racing car and using a realistic steering wheel, jumping up and down on a lighted DDR floor, or giving people prizes.  I was kind of hoping that this would cause a resurgence in pinball, but that isn't really the case.

[rooter]

Arcades will have whatever games people will put money into.  It has nothing to do with influence from Japan.

 You really dont know much about Arcades.

You are putting the cart before the horse.  There are tons of american video game companies.  Why are they making console games instead of arcade games or starting a company that would compete with Namco?  Because that consoles are where Americans put their money.  If there was more support from American consumers there would be more and better arcade games from Americans.  By the time you got to your issues with Japan, it was already over.  Also, pointing your anger at a country that is actually producing arcade games seems misdirected.  Perhaps you are biased because of your work experience with Namco?

[RayB]

my thread has been Xiaou'd.     No photos for you!

[CheffoJeffo]

my thread has been Xiaou'd.

QOTD

[rooter]

my thread has been Xiaou'd.     No photos for you!

Sorry, we had top kill time doing something while we waited for more photos.

[Gray_Area]

I missed it all, but support the cleanse.

[RayB]

Sorry it took so long, but I finally found some time to upload some pics. (No I wasn't taking my ball and going home because of the arcade arguments, it was just busy life  ).

So basically, I went to Japan for 11 days with my girlfriend who is fluent in Japanese (makes for a much better experience than being completely bewildered). Our visit was concentrated in Tokyo (Shinjuku, Shibuya, Harajuku, Jingumae areas and Akihabara on my last day), plus a couple excursions farther out: Ashikaga, Ota, Asakusa, Kawagoe, Kamakura, Kichijoji and Narita airport ...

Akihabara: map
http://www.flickr.com/photos/81628839@N04/sets/72157630376808940/
Was there only a few hours on my last day, so I didn't get to check out very much. The area used to be the place to go for cheap electronics, but how it's less "cheap" with more targeting toward geeks and gamers. There are still some locations left with dozens and dozens of small booths selling specialty parts and electronics (like just buttons, or LEDs, etc) but mostly it's computer and electronics stores, game shops, used game stores, maid cafes, arcades, "gacha" vending machines, anime DVDs, etc.

The girl in the frilly dress, is promoting a Maid Cafe. As I walked by she said "Numbah wan maid cafe in Tokyo. I waiting for you inside!" (imagine that in really thick japanese accent). These chains seem to be everywhere, but we/I didn't visit any.

Coin-op / gaming related photos from other places:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/81628839@N04/sets/72157630376521862/

Sorry for the shite quality of some of these. People are generally shy about getting photographed, and since I can't read any signs, I couldn't tell if photography was a no-no inside arcades, so what you see was snapped fairly quickly when no employees were around.

First time using Flickr, so let me know if I didn't set things up properly.

[Benevolance]

Used panties are a cultural resource. They don't let you export them.

People are generally shy about getting photographed

Many Japanese instinctively duck out of a photo, assuming that you want to photograph something around them. They are getting out of the way so they don't ruin your shot.

I find the arcades to be a mixed bag in Japan. The Warehouse chains were more like amusement parks with arcade games on a couple of levels: lots of darts, pool tables, and an internet cafe. The Sega arcades tended to be packed with games, but mostly redemption games and horse racing simulators.

How did you like Kamakura? Did you pay the 10Y to pet Buddha's belly?

[RayB]

How many used panties did you bring back?

Those have been banned (at least in Tokyo, so I've been told).

How did you like Kamakura? Did you pay the 10Y to pet Buddha's belly?

Yes I went inside the statue. 
Kamakura was nice. Had a quaint small town feel in most of the areas we went to.