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Japan might seem like a familiar, yet strange and foreboding place to first timers. It’s clean, safe and not lacking in creature comforts for those used to the first world urban lifestyle. Yet, Japan is a place with her unique cultural norms and a disciplined way of living that is foreign to most people. The deficiency of spoken English places another barrier between the natives and the visitors. The natives could be polite, but not necessarily friendly to Outsiders. Especially the ignorant Baka Gaijins (バカ外人). Japan is a place where others are expected to conform to their system.
The Otakus’ Sacred Ground
For Otakus who’re not so well versed in Japanese, it’s as good as landing on another planet. Here’s some tips for Level 1 adventurers making their first pilgrimage to Akihabara. (For veteran pilgrims, do share your ideas on how you navigated Akihabara and other sacred grounds, too.)
HOMEWORK
Before you embark on your pilgrimage, you will need to do some homework.
Familiarity with Area of Operations
Familiarise yourself with the general information on Japan (grab any of those travel guide books from your library for the preliminary studies). Next, read up on the Otaku hotspots. Most of them are found within the capital of Japan – Metropolitan Tokyo, although there are regional hubs such as Den Den Town (でんでんタウン) in Osaka’s Nipponbashi.
There’s plenty of Akiba guides around. However, in spite of the overwhelming interest in Akihabara and Ota-culture in the English speaking world, there hasn’t been many special interest guides in the familiar language to assist Otakus for their pilgrimage.
Here’s some of the good (and fun) resources:
“Cruising the Anime City:An Otaku Guide to Neo Tokyo” by Patrick Macias and Tomohiro Machiyama.
Cruising the Anime City
This book is rather comprehensive and covers the essentials – which also includes (but by now, out dated) floor guide to Broadway Nakano. As this book is not written specifically for the fan, so some of the seasoned otakus might find the content a little patronising. This book provided some valuable nuggets of information when I was a n00b on the streets of Tokyo.
Another publication that I picked up just last week, “Pop Japan Travel” from Digital Manga Publishing.
Pop Japan Travel
This guide follows the tradition of edutainment manga – with the story about this bunch of ignorant American Otakus making their first trip to Japan. Interestingly, “Pop Japan Travel” is a company that organises special interest tours to Japan (more on that later).
The knowledge should be useful when planning your itinerary on the places that you’d like to visit. I’d recommend at least two full days for Akihabara, and a reserve date for doing your last minute raid before you head home.
As for when to make your pilgrimage, you might wish to go during summer. Other than the fact that it’s packed with ota-cultural events such as Comiket, WonFes, Chara Hobby, you don’t have to pack warm clothing for the trip. That would free up plenty of luggage space (ESSENTIAL!).
Do check out online resources such as Akihabara Channel 「秋葉原チャネル」 to keep your finger on Akiba’s pulse.
For all travelers, maps are an essential item. Sometimes, special interest maps found in guides come at a price. But these days, Otaku interest maps are now available for free. You can pick up maps such as this from the shops in Akihabara:
Akihabara Entame Map
However, most of these material are in Japanese only. But the illustrated guide would be good enough to let you find your way around.
Tokyo Metropolitan Rail and Road Atlas
You may wish to supplement your map with a general map of the city, that includes the train station guides. The bilingual “Tokyo Metropolitan Rail and Road Atlas” serves that purpose. It comes with the street directory of the areas around the major train stations, and also road networks leading out of the metropolis.
Language Pack
Although not necessary, having Japanese language skills is a perk that will let you go far on your pilgrimage. I’d like to think that there’s five levels to skill:
Level 1 – Understanding and speaking simple phrases – such as “Dochira” (which direction?) “Doko” (where?), “Sumimasen” (excuse me), “Ikura” (how much), “Kiero” (f**k off)
Level 2 - Recognising Hiragana/Katakana. If you can read Katakana characters, you’ll be able to unlock more doors/maps. The Katakana characters are usually used to Romanise foreign words into the Japanese vocabulary. And it’s a close approximation to the English/Deutsch/French term.
Level 3 – Recognising Kanji. If you’re Chinese, or understand Chinese, the kanji (Chinese characters) allows you to open even more doors/maps. Although Japanese kanji differs from the contemporary Chinese characters in terms of semantics, much of it still approximate in terms of meaning. It’s useful if you can write some simple kanji and hope that the natives catch your meaning. From what I understand, Japanese understand written English much easier than spoken English – so you might want to carry a pen and notebook around with you.
Level 4 – Being able to read and write Japanese/Comprehend spoken Japanese. Personally, I find it easier to read and understand Japanese, than to express myself in spoken language. You can take time to process what you read, using a dictionary if necessary. That would also mean understanding spoken Japanese (the usual phrases and instructions – such as please stand behind the yellow line if you wanna live).
Level 5 – 日本語できます。読む、聞く、話す、全てOKです。You can hold a simple conversation in Japanese, supplemented by the appropriate body language.
WHEN IN TOKYO…
Getting to the Metropolitan Neo-Tokyo
Depending on which airline you’re on, you’ll arrive at either NARITA AIPORT (which is the default Terminal 1) or NARITA TERMINAL 2. The airport is located in Chiba prefecture, and not Tokyo itself. So you’ll have to catch your connecting land transport to bring you to the heart of Tokyo.
You can take the Airport Limo (its a coach service), or the trains (there’s the Keisei Line and also the Narita Express). Taxis are expensive. Better to save the money for your booty.
Narita Express
While the Airport Limo can take you directly to the doorstep of your hotel (depending on where you stay), the trains provide the most predictable schedule since its not affected by road conditions. The Keisei Skyliner and Narita Express are the fastest mode of transport to the city, taking about 90mins (depending on which station on the Yamanote line that you intend to alight)
Within the city, you’ll only have to pay attention to the Yamanote (山手線) Line (green in colour). It’s a circular line that travels round and round Tokyo.
MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS
Phone
Nowadays, how many of us can live without our mobile phone? For most of us living outside of Japan, you might find that you’ll need a Japan-network compatible phone else you’ll be deaf and mute in Tokyo. If you’re in a group and need to conduct decentralised operations, you’ll need a means to rendezvous after you split up to pursue your own interests. Perhaps, you might even have local friends that you wish to meet. A mobile phone is indispensable for such purposes.
There’s phone rental services available at the airport. For the trip this year, I pre-booked a phone from AIRS. The advance reservation allows you to have your phone number before you arrive, so that you can communicate your contact to your friends living in Japan.
Keitai Rental
The phone rental booths are hubbed together. Even if you did not make a pre-booking, there ought to be enough vendors to satisfy the demand.
The phone rental package varies, but it should come with a complete set including the phone charger.
Rental Kit
I thought I would be getting a banged up, cheap-looking mobile phone.
Hand Set
But it turned out to be rather new and impressive. The functions and menu are all in English, which makes it easier to use. It’s definitely more advanced than the one I use in Singapore.
The rental rate is pretty affordable. In Singapore, the local telcos do offer rental services of Japan-capable handsets. But I’m not sure if they can beat the packages offered by the Japanese vendors.
Internet
How can a geek be without Internet connection?
If only I came across Wifi411 when I was in Tokyo, I would have been able to suss out the free Wifi hotspots in Tokyo.
Wifi Hotspots
But since my hotel offers NTT’s HOTSPOT, I didn’t mind paying 500円 a day to get access to the wireless broadband service.
NTT’s Hotspot card
For those who want free connection, can check out Softbank’s free wifi (locations) or Freespot.
Oh, don’t forget to bring your travel adapters. Japan’s power sockets use the flat, two-pin plugs.
PACKING
For n00b pilgrims, you’ll have to strategise your inventory. Being a RPG gamer would have given you sufficient training in this aspect. Know that you’ll have to lug all your booty with you to the train station and then the airport, so choose a piece of luggage is truly portable (with wheels, or ergonomically designed harness).
Pack Mule
And be mindful of the weight limit that your plane ticket allows. You wouldn’t want to fork out excess baggage charge when you return. Sometimes these charges can be as much as the price of another air ticket. I would recommend to bring one piece of hard-case luggage and an empty duffel bag. If you know that you’ve overshot the permissible weight limit, there’s the option of mailing back your stuff by post.
The hard case should protect all the fragile items (such as figures and boxed items) while the duffel bag can be used to carry the hardier stuff, such as printed material. Usually the main culprit that contributes to the weight of your baggage are the books.
GOLD MINE
Although most places in Tokyo accept credit card these days, not ALL the shops do – especially not the small ones and maid cafes too. At rental showcases, its mostly cash terms. I haven’t figured how to use the local ATM to get cash (and am not sure if you can get cash on favourable terms). So, do bring sufficient cash with you.
In case you run out of money, and still need to bring gifts back for your otaku comrades back home, what should you do?
Fret not. The streets of Akihabara is paved with gold.
Chirashi
The chirashi (flyers and pamphlets) found around Akiba are good enough to be mini-posters for otakus to put up in their cluttered bedrooms.
You can even bring some of the nicer ones home to sell. Even at $2 per piece, you can make enough to buy yourself a figure if you can sell 20 pieces of those.
CHEAT SHEET
For those who prefer the safety of large groups, there’s always the guided tour option. Instead of sitting on coaches that bring you from one tourist trap to another, there’s now tours that cater specifically to the otakus’ interest. Check out the ota-culture themed tours provided by Intermixi Japan Tours (Intermixi will be fielding a Tokyo Game Show tour in September) or Pop Japan Travel (I’ve mentioned their edutainment manga above).
Those who want to find out about visits to anime/manga/toys museums, it’s good to drop by the Tokyo Anime Center located in the UDX Crossfield building next to Akihabara station.
Tokyo Anime Center
There’s a service bureau with all the information you need if you’re interested in visiting Ghibli Museum or Shotaro Ishinomori Memorial Museum.
Oh, don’t forget to bring along a pair of comfortable walking shoes. You’ll be doing lots of walking.
