A Gaijin in the Akihabara?

cayle clark asks: "In April I will be on a tour that spends 5 days in Tokyo, and on one of these days I hope to break away from the planned cultural events for a visit to the Akihabara, the world-famous electronics market district, partly just to gawk, partly in hope of finding a deal on a really whizzy mini-notebook or handheld pc. But... can a gaijin ^? who doesn't speak or read Japanese get around in this place? Would anyone who's been there comment on prices, selection, or experience with the many duty-free shops?"

Comments

Learning to read "katakana" is worth it

[patbernier]

Lucky you! Akihabara is heaven on earth for true geeks! You shouldn't have any problems shopping over there, the prices are well indicated (but sometimes you can try to get better bargain... politely ask "what is the discount price"). But learning just a bit of Japanese can make quite a difference -- e.g. how to formally introduce yourself, and politely ask if they speak English....

But even if you don't want to learn any Japanese per se, I would recommend learning a bit of "katakana".

In Japanese, three sets of symbols/alphabets are used. "Kanjis" are the most complicated, with each symbol representing one or more meanings and having one or more possible pronunciations. The two others, "hiragana" and "katakana" (collectively known as "kana"), are more simple, and represent sounds/syllabs.

Katakana is almost always used to write foreign words, most of them English. This means that if you can read katakana characters, chances are that you will be able to guess the meaning. This is especially true for technical material.

The first time I went to Japan, I spent about twenty hours studying katakana before going, and didn't regret it. Not only did it help me in my Anime and computer shopping, but also in understanding a lot of restaurant menus -- especially fast food ^_^ I think it's definitely worth it.

For a quick learning experience, I recommend Anne Matsumoto Stewart's "All About Katakana", ISBN 4770016964. It's quite cheap, and fun to boot :) Your favorite online bookstore should be able to ship it within a day or so, it's usually in stock.

Now for the _real_ fun, also learn "hiragana" and practice by reading the name of the train stations ;->