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I live in Kanagawa, but spent today in Akihabara and in my local Yodobashi Camera (mega-geeky places to hang out in Japan). I saw similar things. People were as interested to play the PSPs on the next booth over. I had no trouble getting on the two machines they had set up, and got to have a go without delay. The other thing was that there wasn't much playable. I saw someone getting frustrated with Kameo (had some issues working the controls out - couldn't make his armadillo do a super-roll), and other than that it was mainly just video snippets. They were all very well produced and looked like in-game footage, but I have to agree with the parent thread; there's nothing terribly spectacular setting them apart graphically. And especially when you can't play very much it's not very enticing. I noticed the number one selling game that week was ICO for the PS2 (discounted down to about $15). It think they're happy with the cooler, cheaper stuff.

I was lucky enough to go to the XBox 360 Lounge. As an aside, it's a really nice place that serves good food at a cheap price. But the main point is just how dedicated Microsoft are to get the 360 in the public mindset. Personally, I don't think they've made as big a dent as they'd hoped.

i present for your enjoyment, the Akihabara home page, plus an intriguing article entitled: Akihabara becomes geek sex paradise. :-)))

Japanese seem to be at least 5 years ahead of the US in many respects, where consumer electronics are concerned. If you've ever been to Akihabara in Tokyo -- an electronics district -- you would realize how much more of a fundamental use the Japanese make use of communications devices. So yes, this might be a bit easier to roll out in Japan, where adoption is concerned.

However, I'm not so sure about the "densely populated" argument. Granted, it doesn't make sense to wire more rural communities -- so start with the densest areas of the biggest US cities. Manhattan is pretty densely populated, and there's a ton of unlit fiber lying beneath the streets. There's no excuse for new buildings that are erected not to be wired with fiber -- and yet, it continues to happen. The biggest reason: telcos have a monopoly, and are content to sit on existing profit margins for as long as possible. If you allowed 3rd parties to provide FTTC / FTTH (Fiber to the Curb / Fiber to the Home) services, I bet you'd see them picking up the pace pretty damn quickly.

And I don't want to hear anything about the US not having had enough time to do a rollout of this scale. When I visited Japan in 1998, they were waaaay behind the curve. At least three NTT central offices that I visited during my stay there had dialup connections to their own backbones in their own offices!

Just in case nobody knows what / where Akihabara is, here's the official Akihabara home page as well as a nice shopping guide in English.

I am currently a student in Tokyo and I may be able to assist you.

I am afraid I cannot recommend specific shops since school duties have prevented me from frequenting "Electrical Town" perhaps as much as I would like. However I do not think that you will have any difficulties either navigating the district or the individual shops.

All shops will have prices clearly posted so if you are familiar with a certain piece of electronic equipment, you will be able to identify it as well as the price. If you wish, you can attempt to bargain with the vendors; it would no doubt help to have a Japanese speaking freind or colleague with you, but many vendors will speak enough English to permit basic bargaining.

May I refer you to the following link: http://www.akiba.or.jp/index_e.html. This is an official page with much information in English about Akihabara.

Good luck, and I hope you enjoy your visit to Tokyo.

R. Suzuka

What do you mean by the "cellphone/modem" circuit? The possibility of connecting a cellphone to it?

I've been to Japan just recently and purchased a GBA. In the manual there were some pictures of how to attach a cellular phone to the GBA. I couldn't read the text, but it's probably for multiplayer games.