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A Video Guide To Akihabara
freaklabs writes "Tokyo Hackerspace just put up a video guide to Akihabara in Tokyo, an area that's densely populated with electronics components shops. We get a lot of questions about where to go over there and also requests for guided tours so we figured it's probably best just to put up videos, descriptions, and Google map markers. It was always difficult to tell people where to go, since the places are hard to find, so we're hoping this makes it easier for visitors to Tokyo that want to get their geek on."
It's like Digikey, Mouser, a hamfest, Radio Shack and Best Buy all mashed up together. Awesome.
Better known as 318230.
So your complaint is that shops in Japan sell tings to the Japanese market? That they sell things designed to work in Japan? That they sell computers with a Japanese-localized OS on it?
Wow, the shops in the US are crappy! I mean, this game is designed to work with NTSC consoles and not PAL consoles! This toaster only has a US outlet on it and won't work with UK power! And I mean, they spell colour without the U! Its like the people in the US are self-serving and cater to people who live in the US and not people visiting!
I really don't see your complaint, people in Japan sell to a Japanese market, people in the US sell to a US-centered market, people in the UK sell to a UK-centered market, etc.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
But OK, everybody has his price. I admit to spending the saturday before the Super Bowl last year scouring every big box store in town for a nice flat screen at a competitive price. I really wanted one THAT DAY. But I didn't find one, and got a really good deal on a refub Sony Bravia from ebay instead. It was still an enjoyable game on the old Trinitron, and I saved something like $400 on the new LCD.
And so help me, I will never buy cables at a local retailer, strictly on principle even if I win the lottery, unless they quit charging 1000% markup on them.
Shipping is one of the biggest problems with online retailers, but the other is knowing what you want to buy.
Try shopping online for something that you don't know the technical term/trade name for.
Try comparing different items online when you don't know what the difference in the specs translates to in real world performance.
Sometimes you need to see the selection in person to know what it is you actually want to buy.
Having lived in Tokyo before, I've never understood what the fuss is about.
OP is (currently) modded as a troll. Anyone who's lived or been there and isn't a fanboy knows that the OP is /not/ a troll.
Sure, you could buy anything from anywhere from the comfort of your home. Isn't there something to be said for browsing? How much inspiration comes from looking at that bin of wiring harnesses and realizing this other harness that you hadn't thought of would allow you to solve some other problem...allow your project to do more?
I've about given up on being able to go to a hardware store (in my local town, USA) and asking the hardware store employees for help solving some problem that requires thinking outside the box. If they don't sell some product that solves my problem, they don't carry it.
But why do we need a big electronics bazaar nowadays? You can buy anything anywhere, including from home.
Probably because if you wanted to, you could hop on transit and pick up the parts and build your project over the weekend. Fresh idea + Momentum = Exciting!
Perhaps you didn't see any products of interest to you, but I know of nowhere in the US or London that even comes close in terms of diversity of components for the do-it-yourselfer. Perhaps, things are picking up in Hong Kong.
If you actually go there, and you know what you are looking for and are willing to learn a little Nihongo, it is awesome.
For a quick non-professional filming effort, it more than served its purpose. My congratulations on developing a very interesting tour.
Anyway, I really appreciated the tour. We'll all be looking for SuperBananas awesome video of his local Akehabara on a future slahsdot post so we can make a fair comparison.
Hee hee hee...yes, I love enclosures. But perhaps you missed the FPGA development boards, the canine robot, 300 yen 5.6-inch LCDs, induction motors, wall of thermocouples, wall of tweezers, wall of heat sinks, wall of fans, airwolf RC helicopter, EL wire vest, RGB acrylic panel, surplus components, and the giant Mario statue.
The moderators seem to be appreciative of your dismissive tone. It sure sounds like you could do a lot better.
But until you do, this is actually pretty fun to watch for some of us that have never been able to make it to Japan yet.
Ironically, the lack of IP protection, safety code enforcement, and easy access to manufacturing is spawning a world of innovation that just wouldn't be possible elsewhere.
There's nothing ironic about it; that stuff was DESIGNED to retard progress for specific financial gain, by making it harder to sell small improvements to the designs of others. Go sit in the corner with Alanis.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"