Akihabara

Geography

The main area of Akihabara is located on a street just west of Akihabara Station. There is an administrative district called Akihabara north of Akihabara Electric Town surrounding Akihabara Neribei Park. This district is part of Taitō ward.

History

Akihabara was once near a city gate of Edo and served as a passage between the city and northwestern Japan. This made the region a home to many craftsmen and tradesmen, as well as some low-class samurai. One of Tokyo's frequent fires destroyed the area in 1869, and the people decided to replace the buildings of the area with a shrine called Chinkasha (now known as Akiba Shrine 秋葉神社 ja, ), in an attempt to prevent the spread of future fires. The locals nicknamed the shrine Akiba after the deity that could control fire, and the area around it became known as Akibagahara, later Akihabara. After Akihabara Station was built in 1888, the shrine was moved to the Taitō ward, where it resides today.

Since its opening in 1890, Akihabara Station became a major freight transit point, which allowed a vegetable and fruit market to spring up. In the 1920s, the station saw a large volume of passengers after opening for public transport. After World War II, the black market thrived in the absence of a strong government. This disconnection of Akihabara from government authority allowed the district to grow as a market city. In the 1950s, this climate turned Akihabara into a market region specializing in household electronics, such as washing machines, refrigerators, televisions, and stereos, earning Akihabara the nickname "Electric Town".

As household electronics began to lose their futuristic appeal in the 1980s, the shops of Akihabara shifted their focus to home computers, at a time when they were only used by specialists and hobbyists. This brought in a new type of consumer, computer nerds or otaku. The market in Akihabara latched onto their new customer base that was focused on anime, manga, and video games. The connection between Akihabara and otaku has grown to the point that the region is a center for otaku culture.

''Otaku'' culture

| File:Akihabara -05.jpg|Animate and Comic Toranoana stores | File:Akihabara Night.jpg|Club Sega | File:Akihabara Maids.JPG|"Maids" promoting maid cafés near Akihabara Station | File:Electric City Akihabara Pachinko.jpg|Pachinko parlor | File:Japanese shmup arcade.jpg|Arcade with candy cabinets

The streets of Akihabara are covered with anime and manga icons, and cosplayers line the sidewalks handing out advertisements, especially for maid cafés. Release events, special events, and conventions are common in Akihabara. Architects design the stores of Akihabara to be opaque and closed, to reflect the desire of many otaku to live in their anime worlds rather than display their interests.

Akihabara's role as a free market has allowed a large amount of amateur work to find an audience. Doujinshi (amateur or fanmade manga) has been growing in Akihabara since the 1970s.

Transport

Akihabara is accessible by train, bus and car.

Akihabara Station

• Keihin-Tohoku Line (JK-28)
• Yamanote Line (JY-03)
• Chūō-Sōbu Line (JB-19)
• Hibiya Line (H-16)
• [[File:Tsukuba_Express_mark.svg|18x18px]] Tsukuba Express (TX01)

Iwamotocho Station

• Toei Shinjuku Line (S-08)

Suehirocho Station

• Ginza Line (G-14)

References

References

1. Cybriwsky, Roman. ''Historical dictionary of Tokyo.''Scarecrow Press, 2011.
2. Nobuoka, Jakob. "User innovation and creative consumption in Japanese culture industries: The case of Akihabara, Tokyo." ''Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography'' 92.3 (2010): 205–218.
3. Yamada, Kazuhito. ''Entrepreneurship in Akihabara.''
4. (6 September 2013). "Tokyo Akihabara "Must See" Top Five".
5. (22 May 2014). "秋葉神社（台東区松が谷）".
6. "秋葉神社の概要".
7. "Akihabara: Electric Town For Tech, Games, Anime!".
8. IMAI, Nobuharu. "The Momentary and Placeless Community: Constructing a New Community with regards to Otaku Culture." ''Inter Faculty 1'' (2010).
9. [https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/tokyo-geek-guide/index.html The ultimate geek's guide to Tokyo], [[CNN]] travel (18 December 2018)
10. Morikawa, Kaichiro. "Learning from Akihabara: The birth of a personapolis." ''Gentosha'', Tokyo (2003).
11. "電車のご案内 – 秋葉原電気街振興会". Akihabara Electric Town Promotion Association.