Akihabara

As you know, Akihabara (many locals call it Akiba) is the famous electric town in Tokyo. In my school days I'd be there almost every other weekend - mostly browsing PC and Nintendo games and the 'strategy guidebooks' for the games. Brings back many fond memories of Final Fantasy, Fire Emblem, Romance of the 3 Kingdoms etc.

Maybe I spent too much time there in the past, so I no longer feel as excited the last time I went there. Or maybe it's because the scenary has changed quite a lot; there're many more new buildings especially around the train station.

There's one good thing about all this change though. My recommendation - head straight for Yodobashi Camera. It's a big building right next to the station. For starters it's probably the only place you need to go to know Akiba. Nevermind that it's called 'Camera'. They probably started selling only cameras many decades ago but today, they represent everything that Akiba is about.

Besides electric gadgets, they also sell toy models and figurines - Gundam etc. They dedicate an entire floor to just this.

As usual, I have something to say about ramen. There's a good one on the top floor, name's Chabuton. Apparently this is the first ramen restaurant ever to be listed in the Michelin Guide.

More info on Akiba here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akihabara
(Can never underestimate Wiki's usefulness :D)