So you want to go to Akihabara? You’ve seen this place in a few anime and maybe a couple movies. “It looks and sounds amazing”, you might say to your friends and family. “I bet they have all the anime stuff!”, you also say out loud. Well, you aren’t wrong.

This was a bucket list item for me. Even on top of just going to Japan, I really just wanted to go here more than anything else. Hell, I didn’t record much video when I was here because it was so amazing. I wanted to see, hear, smell everything with my own senses. Digitally recording the trip at this point seemed to take away from the experience a little; I also didn’t have the best battery life on my phone. I have a moment of footage in an arcade but we found out that it wasn’t allowed. However, I did document the place with photos. Taking a photo is much less cumbersome than taking video.

How was it, you ask? The electric city of Akihabara was everything I thought it was. From street to street, alley to alley, there was something for any otaku. I’m not using that term in a negative connotation either as we were all there for that sweet anime loot. The streets were littered with people and I mean LITTERED. Some people looked as if visiting this area was a simple trip to starbucks as an American would. There were PLENTY of tourist, though. The streets had cafes, shops, arcades, game stores, electronic stores, manga shops, anime shops and more. It was insane to say the least.

Why did you want to go to Akihabara so badly? Anime has been apart of my life since I watched Kiki’s Delivery Service on VHS while trying to make-believe pokemon were real. It defined me as a person and helped me grow. Anime was a great escape and this was a opportunity to be where anime merchandise revolved. I had to do it. Once we were in the area, I freaked out. Everywhere I looked I seen an anime advertisement or something showcasing the hottest manga. Brilliant. I looked into every shop to see what figures I could buy or memorabilia from a show I adored. The feeling was exhilarating. I’ve never experienced these emotions before! I am in the place where anime is created and sold!

After the dust settled and we as a group were open to doing whatever/whenever with our time off, I went to the electric city many, MANY times. I went enough to knock out what stores had a better price, better merchandise, better payment options, etc. I loved it. My only gripe was that I’m not a millionaire so I couldn’t buy everything I saw. Man was the merchandise expensive! Narrowing down what was travel friendly and affordable made me sad at times but it turned out okay.

From one ghibli shop to another, the gift was being here. I had already won the best prize.

I will touch more on akihabara later as it was a big part of my journey.