IDG News Service in Tokyo produced this review of our Tokyo Realtime tour of Akihabara for their monthly online TV show, Akibatteru, which focuses on the worlds of Japanese anime, manga, figures, robots and gadgets in and around Akihabara.
Jump to 3m09s for the Tokyo Realtime segment.
To find out more about Tokyo Realtime, please visit www.tokyorealtime.com
The New York Post recently reviewed White Rabbit Press’ Tokyo Realtime guided audio tours.
“If everything you know about Tokyo you learned from a Ranma ½ marathon, you need help. And it’s here, in the form of mp3-player-friendly audio.
Tokyo Realtime ’s guides (order on CD or download directly) give you a serious insider’s walking tour of the 東京’s wackiest, seediest and geekiest hoods. The first in the series, narrated by a researcher of otaku (anorakism) at Tokyo University, explores Akihabara — a k a “electric town” — the city’s top stop for all things gamer, manga and cosplay related (this being Tokyo, that’s saying something).
Packing in even more of the awesome, though, is the tour of the Kabukicho area, Tokyo’s red-light district. Interviews with bar owners and a bondage artist, among others, take you through a world populated by Yakuza, hookers and pay-per-hour hotels — makes Bangkok look like Salt Lake.
Besides the hour-long audio, each $12/$18 Tokyo Realtime guide comes with a map and photo book. Order online here.
The August 2009 edition of the The Tokyo Amercian Club magazine, INTOUCH, featured a story on Tokyo Realtime: Kabukicho, which has since been named as a finalist in the 2010 Audie Awards – ‘the oscars of the audiobook world’. Placed in the Package Design category, it is up against industry heavyweights such as BBC America. The winners will be announce in May 2010.
Legendary musician cEvin Key visited Japan in October 2008, and had this to say about his meeting with White Rabbit Press producer Max Hodges.
“Over here in Japan land already[...]
The show at MARZ is in a part of Tokyo called Kabuki-cho in Shinjuku a notorious neighborhood of Yakuza, sex clubs, and more lights than 100 times squares, so it is kind of cool. Earlier this year I sent some tracks to Max (White Rabbit press) here in Tokyo and he has made a virtual tour of kabuki-cho that is extremely interesting. It gives all the details of the “behind the scenes” and what is really going on here, plus the history of the area. This is now available with some music by Download/Mark Spybey at Tokyorealtime.com. I recommend this tour if visiting Tokyo. I will be meeting up with Max again to do some more work on the second tour.”
The Fab/March 2008 edition of JSelect magazine ran a story on Tokyo Realtime: Kabukicho.
Here’s what they had to say about the tour:
“I have to admit that before starting out I was unsure whether I would enjoy it or not, and I half expected the kind of stereotype-ridden offering common in English-language media when it comes to talking about Japan. I was wrong, this tour guide is different; it neither seeks to glamorise nor condemn what goes on in Kabukicho. Instead, it introduced me to aspects of the area and goings-on behind closed doors that I would probably never otherwise had known…”
For more information on our Tokyo Realtime guided audio tours, please visit www.tokyorealtime.com.