Japan Times: Take a guided tour of ‘Akiba-land’
June 6th, 2010In today’s Japan Times travel section, Rough Guides author Simon Richmond explores Tokyo’s sub-culture capital with Tokyo Realtime: Akihabara.
“…there is always something new to discover in the dense, multilayered, eternally evolving metropolis that is Japan’s capital. And so up on the sixth floor of Akiba’s famous Radio Kaikan, I find myself in Volks, marveling at beautiful — but creepily realistic — Super Dolfie dolls that are priced at over ¥100,000. In an adjacent case a miniature figurine of a limping, black-eyed girl with a hand inching its way out of her emaciated chest is displayed beside a pop band of perky, innocent-looking teenage schoolgirls. I had passed through the rabbit hole and, like Alice, emerged in a wonderland where anything is possible.”