akihabara, tokyo

this time, i write in english in order to fulfill the first aim of the blog, "write either in japanese or in english," although i havent told about the blog for any friends who dont understand japanese. just to satisfy myself...

today the topic is about the mecca(s) of geek culture in Tokyo; Akihabara and Nakano.

Akihabara, so called Akiba, is originally developed as the town of electric products. gradually, it has been becoming famous as the mecca of geeks, by adding some characters such as video games, animation, and even pornography. it was well known for its street performers on the main road which became pedestrian street on weekends, yet ive heard that its not happening anymore after the random killing in the summer of 2008. its a pity... so, this is the brief description of the area. from now, i try to analyze the area by SWOT.

first of all, the strengths of akiba is surely its unique culture and built environment which support the culture. there are so many elec shops, animation shops, geeks cafes and porno shops. since people tend to wonder around instead of head to one specific shop, good pedestrian facility is needed. it is true that it doesnt appear to have good pedestrian facilities, but there are. the main road running in the middle of akiba is very wide and often busy, but thanks to that, people can just wondering around the streets behind the main road without any dangers or hesitation. furthermore, although the road is pretty wide, the pedestrian street along it is also reasonablly wide, so that pedestrians can feel safe to walk, and many shop keepers try to catch customers on the street. this built environment stimulates the unique geek culture of akiba, and create vibrant atmosphere. the good connection of public transportation is also the positive aspects.

on the contrary, the weakness of akiba is the danger that happened last summer. although i think there are more securities today, some people still believe that its a dangerous place to go. at the same time, since geek people tend to be the targets for the street extortion, some other aspects of lack of security could be observed.

thirdly, the opportunities that would bring the prosperities to akiba is the dominantry popular japanese animation around the world and tourism. since japanese animation tends to be popular no matter how high or low the cultural capital is, many international tourists are coming to vitis akiba. furthermore, because of its original characteristic of elec shops, its become the shopping district for super rich tourists (often from china) to buy tv and computers as souvenirs. such diversity make the area more flourishing than ever.

the threats could be the second mecca of geeks, Nakano. nakano is still small, but its growing its potential as the hub for geek culture littel by little. some of my geek friends even say that nakano is more in than akiba today. i couldnt find whats in and out but this great challenger could threat akiba's post as the hub of geeks... or they both can stimulate compete each other to grow even more... who knows. at least i dont know. 

im not sure how its like on weekends today after the random killing, it would be great if the pedestrian weekends project are starting (if its not going on today...) the atmosphere of akiba is surely different from any others',  and even me kind of geeks (who dont know anything about electric appliances and animation but have some strong passion in something else) can surely enjoy.