Tokyo - Akihabara

---

---

We left Yamanaka and took a old train towards Gotenba to catch the Shinkansen to Tokyo. It was a lovely train journey passing by all these lovely houses up in the hills that had vegetable patches in the front garden. The train journey took just under a couple of hours and then we took the Shinkansen to Tokyo which took just over an hour.

We both had chosen to go to the neighborhood of Akihabara that is situated in the Northern area of Tokyo. It is known as the electric district of Tokyo for all the electrical stores that are based there and also for the sleeping capsule hotels there.

We went and reserved a capsule each for two nights for around £40 each a night. The capsules themselves are very spacey with a T.V and Radio in the pod. There were around 25 pods in each level of the hotel and is safe and clean. They are normally either used by travelers or businessmen who are in the city for a couple of days so it has a nice vibe.

The neighborhood itself is very bright, it is the equivalent of Times Square but to a much larger scale. There are not a lot of bars but some restaurants so I would say that just one night would be fine to stay and explore then move on to another place.

We went to the many electrical stores that are about eight stories each but the stuff in there is expensive if not very hi-tech so be warned. There are also huge game arcades in this area with lots of varied games - it is a geeks dreamland so if that's your thing then I would strongly recommend it. We played Mario Kart and Tekken 6 which was fun.

The locals there don't speak a lot of English so make sure you have your little Japanese book with you and be polite, that will get you far. The people there are not like normal city folk they will try and help if they can and will go out of there way for you.

All in all a great place to visit if this is your kind of thing.

---

Photos

Taito Station
Games Arcade