Akihabara: Japan's NERD Paradise

ever since japan closed its doors to general tourism during the covet 19 pandemic its economy has been in weird limbo which makes things tough for towns and businesses that heavily relied on visitors to pad the revenue so when i finally got a chance to visit tokyo after almost three years i had to check up on a spot very close to my heart a mecca for anime games and tech to see how much has changed let's talk about akihabara this video is a change of pace from what i normally do here on denki channel but i've always wanted to do a piece touching on the history of akihabara not just because i love making story time videos or throwing bits of anime culture here and there but rather because this place is pretty special to the channel denki is derived from denki guy or electric town a nickname that was left from akihabara's interesting past but we'll get there in just a moment having spent the last 10 years of my life indulging in a stupid amount of anime i always feel this mix of comfort and excitement whenever i visit akuba busy sidewalks bright advertisements and catchy anime theme songs playing at full blast might overload your senses but for me personally the overall vibe is weirdly chill on top of the chaos and that's because in akiba i'm surrounded by my own kind no need to suppress my hobbies or explain what anything is in that sense it kind of feels like home this is a huge reason why weaves from all around the world make the pilgrimage to see akiba for themselves or at least when the country was open to tourism tour tourism got a little new york on that one japan's economic decline caused by travel restrictions during the pandemic changed the landscape of akuba's main strip which mind you is as much a shopping destination as it is a place to visit and sightsee but with significantly less foot traffic these days looking around buildings that i used to explore are now vacant but to akihabara's credit over the past 100 years or so the town has always adapted and persevered through changing times situated along the condo river with direct connection to tokyo bay the geographic area akihabara is built on was always destined for trade this town was thriving at the turn of the 20th century a hub for local vendors and wholesale distributors that were moving fruits and vegetables to service other parts of the country and the world abroad but the nerds didn't really show up until the second world war and they really took over world war ii triggered an important cultural shift in the market as demand for produce leveled akiba rapidly became a trading destination for electronic components in light of japan's war efforts places that once sold oranges and lettuce got pushed out in favor of businesses carrying vacuum tubes and wires all to manufacture and fix radios which was one of the hottest commodities during the war to stay up to date on what was happening and interestingly enough this demand for radios maintained long after the war things might have not ended favorably for japan ultimately leaving its economy in turmoil and much of the country starving however radio broadcasts held strong as a popular form of entertainment that unified the country at a time when luxuries were scarce additionally for a bit of perspective japanese engineers that spent years focusing on the war were now trying to figure out what to do with their lives now that it had ended many of them found that they could make a living working on radios and help their country emotionally recover and rebuild by boosting morale through the radios that they built it's certainly a noble feat and akiba was right in the center of it bringing it back around this is how it picked up its nickname denki guide or electric town and this would continue to become a core part of its identity for the next few decades post-war reform in the 50s led to an economic boom in the 60s and akiba capitalized businesses sold everything from rice cookers to fridges to washing machines and of course who could forget the radio it's like america forgetting dolly parton the average suit and tie wearing japanese salarymen now had disposable income and they used it to splurge on their families to improve the quality of life and to shop they went to akihabara to browse the wares however people can only own so many toasters 450 for a toaster that toasts one side of the so after a decade once appliances hit critical mass sails flatlined and akiba kind of coasted for a bit that is until the advent of the personal computer which spread like wildfire so now it's 1976 and personal computing was about as niche a hobby as you can find we're talking still a year out from iconic mass-produced machines like the apple ii to the average person who's already used to analog ways at this point in time the value in personal computing was yet to be seen but japanese electronics manufacturer nec found a way to break through early on all thanks to a neat little kit called the tk80 that was affordable for a basic computer in 1976 while the company expected to sell only 200 units a month and primarily to engineers it ended up selling 10 x that and part of what helped its popularity was a good old-fashioned brick and mortar store in akihabara called nec bit in located on the seventh floor of akiba's famed enthusiast hotspot radio kaikon this store was originally open to help both experts and beginners alike troubleshoot problems they had with their tk80s however over time nec saw that their sales were reaching beyond the intended audience students hobbyists accountants even doctors that sought to experiment out of curiosity or even to add a new level of efficiency to their work the success of the tk80 not only led to more iterations of that product but also worked to flesh out the bit in itself which turned into a buzzing hangout spot it formed a community and everyone ate it up what started as a floor in radio kaikon was now a full-fledged aqua takeover with pc retailers popping up left and right selling all the newest hardware making the area a prime destination for early adopters however it was only a matter of time before software would take things to a whole other level of course with software comes video games which combines this nerdy desire for fantasy and mixes it with enthusiasm for tech gamer preferences crossed many genres over time but in the 90s and 2000s akihabara became a haven to indulge in galgae and eruge which are too spicy to cover on this channel but all you need to know is that these anime style games primed the land for akuba's shift in focus to anime proper and this includes its adjacent subcultures that cropped up especially during the advent of internet video anime saw a surge in popularity going into the 2010s turning akihabara into the culture hub it's known for today though i don't think it's crazy to think that akiba might have had a hand in anime's increased popularity it's hard to put into words but akihabara influences anime almost as much as it is influenced by anime itself you can eat at a themed cafe play in its arcades check out seasonal exhibits buy stuff from its stores or simply just hang out and loiter with your closest friends but from a romantic perspective some of the most popular franchises around are produced by fans who turn professional one way or another the way akiba is a center for anime and immerses people in the ecosystem more often than not can inspire and encourage fans to utilize their creativity to maybe one day see their work on the billboards or on store shelves in the present sure akihabara might continue to evolve but i don't think it will ever completely lose its identity like rings inside of a tree the town continues to hold onto remnants of its former self in the limited time i had to explore i prioritized visiting places i took for granted prior to the pandemic and so i set my sights on what's left of akihabara's denki guy yeah it's still there look past all the fresh billboards and anime stores and you can still find electronics hobby shops selling appliance parts computer components endless varieties of buttons switches leds wires and of course throwbacks like radios or i guess really a lot of stereos the japanese really love their audio you can even find obscure stuff like this speaker that was sourced from a vintage ferrari if you're a tech enthusiast anime fan gamer or some combination of the three i highly recommend making a point to visit akiba if you ever find yourself in tokyo there's really no place like it and if you do go welcome home

Channel: Denki

Views: 141,644

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Id: QChrdxc-FFY

Length: 10min 10sec (610 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 22 2022