Akihabara’s Empty Buildings are on the Rise

[Music] line greetings welcome to akihabara this is the platform at the jr akihabara station and in this live stream i'm going to be taking you on a short walk around the streets here i try to come here i try to come here every month just to kind of get an idea of how this city is changing and akihabara has been one of the places that has changed the most over the last uh year during the pandemic as a lot of these businesses geared towards foreign tourists are gone so we're gonna see what's left here together as the yamanote line makes its way out of here welcome everybody if you've never been to tokyo japan you're about to get a dose right now that's the famous yamanote line that goes around tokyo goodbye all right let's get to it from the platform you can see quite a bit that's that's the uh yodabashi camera akiba which is the largest they say the largest electronic store china might have something bigger i'm sure how you doing everybody 36 pm or electric town exit land of so it's good to see the vide france is still there some of the cafes that's good all right here we go electric town engine exit right here let's go down this is kind of a neat escalator it goes flat for a little bit usually on a sunday this place would be packed with people i'm shocked at how how few people there are here [Music] all right there's the electric town exit right here to the right well there's a ramen place right inside right off of the platform you get ramen in akihabara that's pretty cool and here we are so for the next 15 20 minutes seriously that it's gonna be a short one i just want to take a look at the streets give you an idea of what's what's here what's not here because for me personally i want to know out of curiosity [Music] all right so akihabara sega building number four is still healthy the number two building went out of business uh last year around august this one is doing okay but all of these game centers have done something interesting they've moved the ufo catchers to the bottom because they might make the most money and the video games to the top so we will see and you can see dragon slayer and some of the other demon slayers some of the other games are making um marketing moves even from the exit of akihabara station you see manga and anime making their way oh look at that you know what that is that is the uh coronavirus mascot or please get please save us from this pandemic mascot i forget the name of it but she's here in akihabara too or he i'm not not really clear on that there's so many mascots in japan that one is an ancient one for diseases and stuff all right the sakamo building is still gone i was wondering if they were doing anything with it let's let's move back a little bit i'm going to pan up these hamster tubes are infamous outside the exit of akihabara and the banners are still here i guess they're using the building as a post board but the tubes are empty usually there's people in there that look like hamsters going up and down it's pretty nice sad arya knows what i'm talking about and the uh that pablo cheesecake place is gone you can see it's shutted shut it up shuttered up i guess is the way to say it it's just an empty white building actually eric eric i don't know if eric serves six watching this might be a good place for an office right there boom you definitely would make dude pretty good business rajio kaikon which has become a skyscraper it used to be much much older i guess there's collectible shops i haven't been in here in ages looks like they're doing okay a yeah that's right amabie is the name of that mascot good catch there angelica all right now look oh there's a building right there that's shuttered so this guy he had shops all over the place in akihabara and now he's just got one left which is in the old electric area he's one of those guys that likes to turn their collars up because he thinks it's cool i do that too just panning around oh that's gone it's true right on the left side you see that building i'll i'll put a pan around a little bit more this used to be a tax-free shop with a lot of electronics and used products is gone this shop here um probably teetering again the rents are probably really high here so i can't imagine unless they're doing a lot of business they can they could stay afloat all right let's let's go over to this corner this is the building that i wanted to see that that a lot of viewers said what's that car this is the corner a lot of viewers told me to go and check out that's now out of business and i'm looking at it right now and i'm in disbelief we can't lose any more man i mean i wonder what it's going to become we'll walk around this intersection here uh we're underneath the train line check it out behind me it's empty that's crazy look at it it's so empty i don't even remember what this was i [Music] it's abandoned all the signs are off of it it's an empty building even the signpost here is empty and the windows it just looks bare it's so out of place in akihabara which is the very colorful place here i got some of those little figures you balance on a cup in there right it's a nash abroad guess they had all sorts of different shops in there we're gonna cross the street and get a a wider view of it right here hold on a second this is the intersection um with the sandwich vending machine let's take a look at the map really quickly monse bridge is right here the sandwich vending machine is here i took mike chen there a while ago the weird vending machine area is over here we're not going to go there this is the sega 2 building and we're going to walk around this this neighborhood here right on this side there's the station i'm just i'm just in shock seeing another that building looks so empty here is the um sega number two building that's gone another iconic building with tubes that go up the side of it you'll get another view from from when i cross the street but this one out of business last august and it's i was hoping it would turn into something but it's not it's still the same there's no signage or anything anymore but you can see that all the sign boards and everything just blank left open for another business that might want to buy it all right let's cross the street here this gotcha pawn everywhere now businesses are trying to squeak by selling anything that they can so there's been more gachapon machines popping up especially on the street it's just considered a little bit safer than going inside people don't want to go inside too much we're still very much in the pandemic here in tokyo although america is opening up japan looks like it's going to be a while all right i'm panning up a little bit this is the sega number two building that's still abandoned but it looks silver now they've really cleaned it up i guess it's an effort to get a new vendor in there but check it out that silver is gleaming that building looks like it's brand new doesn't it wow i'd like to rent that but it's going to cost a fortune for that whole building hey guys if you do like the akihabara street view this kind of stuff the reason why i keep doing it is because you keep clicking that like button so if you do find this content interesting send me some support and likes i appreciate it because that's how i gauge if a content's successful or not some figures there it's a good place to buy lots of figures and collectibles here that shop sells everything including uh booze now here's the thing a lot of people especially the maids are really shy about photos but they don't seem to mind that much they want any attention that they can get now hey abe khalid it can be the new only in japan office this absolutely could be this is so sad look at it all right i'm gonna move a little bit behind here okay now you can see both those buildings abandoned do you see it there's these are really it's really awful to see this abandoned buildings like this wow just kind of absorbing it right there and there's another abandoned uh business across the street here check this out i think i think we saw this last time do you see where the people are crossing abandoned over there and it's released i don't know if it's because it's a new building or if it was something before my memory i'm just getting used to buildings being shuttered here all right let's let's move around onoden is still doing okay he's been here for ages that looks like an underwear on your face sir saying always be honest with your friends [Music] there's another kick-ass car check it out wow done it got it dude all right let's go this way we're just going to wrap around real quickly i'm going to bring you around back to the uh chill avenue in a bit i'm just kind of looking around and making sure that some of my friends businesses are still here we made friends with with a guy who had a little radio shack not not that not the actual radio shack business but um a shack that had radio parts for real and he uh i don't think he's doing too well whoa there's that bloody pulp of food right there made from wagyu all right all right here's that mystery machine it still seems seems to be doing well although they're all available so the ceo must have just arrived and filled it up kfc is doing pretty good business at lunchtime second breakfast is here here's something for the vending machine thank you second breakfast they're on the road there's a tsukumo has a lot of shops here that wasn't the only one but that was a main one the hamster tube building across from the station so scum is still in business it's just they're in business in other places all right there's a vending machine i might stop off at in a little bit we're basically here on a trip to see what's in business and what's not in business here in akihabara as the rain starts to come down a little bit stronger again ufo catchers on the first floor of all of the game centers has been the standard now for a couple of years i guess it's just they found a way to make more money from it what the heck is that check it out boost latte what i don't know if i'm kind of scared to try that it's coffee it's a coffee drink it's not coffee that's scary boost latte what so made cafe alley looks a little suspicious here as we walk around [Music] super potatoes okay for anybody who is worrying super potatoes always going to be okay i think they got mail order stuff that you can order off of their website net order one day we'll get access to go and film in there it's they've said no a lot of times wow this is the maid made alley they don't like their pictures taken i don't want to take the chance but lately they've been okay when they see cameras they turn their backs i'm not actively trying to film them so we're good there's a vending machine over there i'll see if i can stop by in a second and we're going to wrap around just at home which is one of the first made cafes in in japan it seems to be doing good business there's a line out the door just for anybody who doesn't know about the maid cafes there's an entrance fee and a beverage food fee so that might give you help give you some uh insight into the whole process and there's a set menu you get food like that and they put cuteness in it to make it more delicious i don't think it works but just depends if you believe in tinkerbell and magic dust let's get moving we're on a mission okay folks we're on a mission to look for businesses that are not here anymore so we can get upset i don't know what are we supposed to do about it start a petition that's that's new i never saw this one it looks like a local business asian food market this was not here before i don't think there's a lot of tourists from all over the world that seems to make sense but none of the tourists are here right now all right we're not going to go any further down chill avenue this is the limit but i will go around this intersection how about that the old shrine the ancient hidden shrine that i showed you in a live stream of in 2017 is still there it's been renovated it's brand new kind of and uh looks nice oh she's an aggressive mate so she's that's really nice so we will do okay there's a sea of umbrellas right now so you're gonna cross the street here and take a look down two avenue from uh from the corner it's a pretty iconic view and a lot of the international media takes this shot especially akihabara [Music] oh yeah this corner is if you get the angle right it's really nice especially at night when the it's raining and the streets are wet and the light is glistening from the streets a little bit little glare and then you have the sible line going by not at the moment but it looks like on the other side not not many businesses have gone under it looks like it's okay on this side but we're gonna walk now uh back underneath the bridge here see if we can find a vending machine i'm gonna stay away from that that boost coffee that looks scary go go curry's doing good people still gotta eat all right everything looks okay i thought that that carl's jr went out of business like uh it was still there sometimes i forget the location of stuff just because i haven't been i wasn't coming regularly here to check up on stuff so i do that now just to get a lay of the land the sega number three buildings doing okay it's just number two it went out probably because of the rent it's interesting to see the the streets crossing usually on the weekends they close down akihabara but on a day like this it doesn't make a lot of sense to do that carl's jr i think only has one shop in japan which is in akihabara a lot of businesses came here uh to kind of pick up on the tokyo olympics the media buzz from that but obviously that's not gonna happen there's very little buzz around these these olympics that has any positive feel to it wow i guess that's coming on blu-ray most of you know what that is that's about it so walk on this side i'm just in shock that we lost that lost all those uh businesses they're just abandoned buildings carrie writes in it's so quiet it is wx turbo's in the house warren bon toronto's in the house too have you been to a butler cafe um i've heard about it i know people who have gone there i probably am not one of their target audience i'm not sure unless it was for a tv show or something and they paid me to go maybe i would go but i'm not i don't think i'm gonna go to butler cafe these maid cafes and butler cafes they're not really a thing anymore they've become too mainstream and i want to talk to my friend patrick about this he's more in touch with the maid cafe scene he used to have a pile of point cards that was this thick of by going to the maid cafes each one like offered him a picture of a maid or something so this one is gone everybody for those that are joining us right now i want to say thank you to everybody who's supporting it definitely click that like button because if you want me to come back next month to take a look at the vibe of akihabara i'm gonna have to get two thousand likes on this and then i'll know for sure our audience is into it i like it i like to come back here and see what's what's still around right now not as much as there was last month as we lost this building which i guess sold a lot of figures and stuff i'm panning right now it's just an empty building the windows have never been cleaner seriously i don't think they've ever been this clean yeah it's very eerie and very worrying folks i i think japan is more in a hurry to get tourism back than ever but the public is not into it because the vaccine rollout was super slow although it's starting to gain momentum i reported about four days ago at yoyogi park that 485 000 people per day were getting vaccinated and that's still short of the one million per day gold of prime minister suga but i think that the situation is going to continuously change and get better and better and i'm an optimistic person except you know some days i think it's not it's a little bit harder to stay optimistic but um right now i think it's still 70 and over or 65 and over it's still people that are quite old i can get the vaccines there's a mass vaccination site that i might be able to take you to next week to give you some insight and i as a reporter i'm curious too i want to know what exact what is actually happening at these vaccination sites how fast are they going is it comparable to what happened in the united states what was happening at stadiums and things like this we're going to find out but a lot of people here in japan want to return to tourists to return in order to do that the population here must feel safe and they just don't right now not yet mahi mahi writer thank you for becoming an insider all right and those are the hamster tombs that scammer building that i showed you before it's coming colors are still there sort of still hanging on right there as people dodge the rain i'm getting wet here right now any questions before we cut this off thank you welcome new traveler appreciate it very much folks even like some emoji i i actually don't watch anime that much i leave it to the professionals that's pretty nasty it's a one-eyed teddy bear buy it from a vending machine where this street has changed a lot too this building on the side here is new newish toby stays away from the rain i think it's something about him melting i don't know wow that's new it's like a showa era shokudo so that's new that used to be that used to be a different business but they sold out so that's a new restaurant right there wow the adult video shop is still here i think that lady's too young to go in there i'm not the police is the yamanote line above us so we'll go this way slightly extended live stream as i look for a vending machine pachinko loud and smokey i didn't see any itasha that's kind of weird i thought i would see at least one itasha itasha or cars with anime or manga all over it wrapped in anime characters it's it's quite a beautiful sight to see oh there's some vending machines across the street so i think i can get across the street here this light will be turning the rain's coming down hard folks oh wait okay there's some vending machines across me you go to brush all camera i've gotten i've gotten stuff from there before so let's let's go over there the starbucks is still doing okay ellie rain while i'm in the rain thank you for keeping us connected to the places we love while we are unable to be there in person thank you so much and tony p is in the house dancing it up hey look at that pigeon he thinks he's going somewhere no ticket no ride dude so it's 100 yen for bike parking if two hours are free 10 hours is 100 yen and it's good for peace of mind so if you if you're riding a bicycle this is a good place to park a lot of homeless on the side here all right here's one of the largest electronic stores in the world we'll go go buy a drink and see if they still have this green creme brulee donuts i know what you're thinking one of my friends owns this the digital signage right there or at least he used to i like to get only in japan on that digital signage that'd be pretty sweet all right so sweets paradise is still here with their wicked what the heck is that coco curry on a chain there's some weird gachapon i have no answers to these questions i just know that it looks very wet right now sergeant drymo so you can see sweets paradise is famous for this stuff cake that looks like ramen and they even have sushi cake it's sushi that cake that looks like sushi and they have gyoza that's apple pie it's a thing of beauty but i like this here the creme brulee donut and i'm going to get one oh they're making them right now they got tiramisu doughnuts cafe latte cream and cheese whip that was the fastest i didn't even have to wait in line that long all right let's let's chow down on this thing this is better than a vending machine oh hey kokeshi they got kokeshi how cute his head all right you know what just go in the rain it's all good it doesn't affect the food that much all right so i got a cream brulee donut and this is our happy ending okay folks take off my mask which allows me to eat go in a safe corner away from people how you dennis what i look like is that a mask all right creme brulee donuts are almost a thing here you have to get one let's check it out my friend peter and i always get one when we're here they creme brulee the top with sugar blow torch it and the cream inside this one looks like toby might have been investigating it looks like he pecked in in the middle of it of course there's lots of sugar and stuff that will give you all the hyperactivity for the next 24 hours in the corner here oh wow it's so good that's so good just inject the glucose into my veins check out the cream it's got little uh you can see the vanilla beans in there is that real i don't know gotta find out come to japan get a creme brulee donut yum yum coffee would be good john kimono's here hey john coffee would be very good with that i just crossed the street why did i do that i gotta get my mask back on i gotta get back to uh back home so as promised i will hit a vending machine did i promise that did i i don't remember if i did i really maybe i did i don't remember all right these vending machines seem to have the best voices in the corner here um nothing is hot oh there's that boost all right we better just try it i don't know looks pretty nasty though all right this is for your pleasure not mine my pleasure says don't do it but somebody said get a coffee that's what i'm gonna do right now this is coffee latte boost never seen this before craft peach tea who wrote that aaron hi john wash it down with a craft peach tea my siblings and i miss it take care you got it i think maybe i'll buy one for kanai to take it home thanks aaron all right this is what it oh it's an olympic thing it's an olympic thing it's got energy i'm not gonna drink this whole thing i'm just i'm just prying it okay this is added for science it's science one just a little bit i'm not drinking the whole thing i don't care waste whatever just sue me this is made for somebody in their teens i think oh my god whoa just just look at the color it's for science it looks like coffee with milk but there's stuff in it that's making me feel kind of funny all right recycled i'm done with that um do you see any craft peach tea here then we get that oh there's some i'm gonna get get this for kanai all right i've got 8 000 yen on my card there you go craft peach tea looks good always bring home a present thanks for that i appreciate all the super chats guys check that out your umeboshi is in human form on top of a rice that's pretty nasty all right let's get out of here i gotta get i got to get back home no no no no [Music] oh are you going oh are you going o-h i don't know all right folks that's it for sure for real this 15-minute live stream is turned into 41. um so it looks like we did lose a couple of really big businesses that's sad but i think they're going to turn into something i'm going to say stay positive here and just hope that when you can come back here i'm still hoping for october depending on how the vaccine rollout goes here and everything in the in the u.s and other countries but for me i'm going to be back here next month check it out see if they have any businesses that are gone and kind of keep you up to date on what's going on i might check out um not on broadway and some of the other places and see how businesses are doing over there so thanks everybody until next time make sure you subscribe don't don't forget to watch the new only in japan channel subscribe to that last video on the tohoku shinkansen was pretty epic [Music] bento episode see everybody i'm going home [Music] this is the long way to the yamanote line bye everybody

Channel: ONLY in JAPAN * GO

Views: 39,749

Keywords: Only in Japan, Japan, John Daub, Japanese, Tokyo, Akihabara, closed, building, shopping, shop, abandoned, out of business, game center, maid, maid cafe, reopen

Id: UHwHbcI6m8s

Length: 42min 48sec (2568 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 05 2021