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Akihabara (Page 12)

First Carl’s Jr. opens in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, massive line-up ensues

Master Blaster
Mar 5, 2016
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Does Carl’s Jr. have what it takes to survive the grand-opening frenzy that every American fast food chain enjoys in Japan? We wait in line four hours to find out.

Food & Drink, Japan, USA
(Akihabara • burgers • Carl's Jr. • fast food • grand opening)

Tokyo specialized school’s new department will teach you to be an Akihabara professional

Casey Baseel
Feb 24, 2016

Courses include maid cafe management, idol production, and dojinshi promotion.

Japan
(Akihabara • anime • cosplay • dojinshi • Idols • maids • manga • schools)

Spooky cosplayer dressed as Japanese urban legend ghost plays pranks on passersby in Akihabara

Audrey Akcasu
Feb 16, 2016

Akihabara may be known as a mecca for cosplayers, but it’s not every day that you run into the horrific “Slit-Mouthed Woman” on the street!

Japan
(Akihabara • kuchisake-onna • prank • scary • Super Sonico • video)

AKB48 and Nogizaka46 songs to be played as subway train departure melodies in Tokyo

Oona McGee
Jan 21, 2016

You can probably tell which stations they’ll be played at, but can you guess which songs have been chosen?

Japan
(AKB48 • Akihabara • Idols • J-Pop • Nogizaka46 • otaku • subways • trains • travel)

Upskirt umbrellas are now a thing in Japan

SoraNews24
Jan 13, 2016

We thought we’d seen everything from Japan, but this is one thing we never saw coming.

Japan
(Akihabara • anime • JK • joshi kosei • manga • umbrellas)

【2016 Lucky Bag Roundup】We buy a 3,000-yen, 5-kilo Lucky Bag of junk in Akihabara

Master Blaster
Jan 4, 2016

Mr. Sato visits the Iwayuru Junk Shop in Tokyo’s Akihabara district in search of a true lucky bag: one where you don’t know what you’ll get inside.

Japan
(Akihabara • fukubukuro • junk • Lucky Bags • shopping)

We check out the awesome Tokyo restaurant sandwiched between two active train tracks

Krista Rogers
Nov 16, 2015

Earlier this year, we shared news about a restaurant in Tokyo where you can dine between the train tracks of the busy Chuo Line. One of our Japanese-language reporters finally got the chance to visit the location for himself, and we’d like to share his thoughts about getting up close and personal with some trains!

Japan
(Akihabara • bars • cafes • cool • restaurants • Tokyo • trains)

Shangrila, a maid cafe staffed exclusively by cute “plump” girls, opens in Akihabara【Pics】

Scott Wilson
Nov 12, 2015

We’ve seen all kinds of maid cafes all over Japan, from ones that specialize in zombie girls to ones where the girls seductively make rice balls right in front of you. But one type of maid cafe that has been sorely lacking is one dedicated to girls with a fuller figure, the kind of girls known in Japan by the playful monicker of marshmallow girls.

But all that changes now! Shangrila is a maid cafe that recently opened in Akihabara, and it will be staffed completely by more well-rounded young women. What kind of stuff does a cafe like this have in store for its customers? Read on to find out!

Japan
(Akihabara • body image • cute girls • fat • maid cafe • marshmallow girls)

Travel around Japan with stunning videos from the 4K ultra HD video library

Oona McGee
Nov 11, 2015

There are many beautiful videos of Japan floating around on YouTube, but there’s one special channel that’s aiming to stand head and shoulders above the rest. Called TokyoStreetView – Japan The Beautiful, this is an ongoing project that’s working towards compiling a library of high definition 4K videos, showcasing unique aspects of Japanese culture and featuring beautiful locations all around the country.

We take a look at four of their stunning videos, filmed within the nation’s capital, at Akihabara and the famous Senso-ji temple in Asakusa, and in its more picturesque regional areas, at Nikko and Ise Grand Shrine in Mie Prefecture. The superb, high quality of the images is so remarkable, you’ll feel as if you’re seeing the country not through a lens but through your very own eyes!

Japan
(4K • Akihabara • Asakusa • Ise Jingu • Nikko • Senso-ji • shrines • travel • videos)

Otaku speed-dating party lets participants chat online before event, review each other during it

Casey Baseel
Oct 21, 2015

Even as the world of otaku becomes an increasingly co-ed one, many of Japan’s obsessive fans of anime, video games, and other forms of pop culture struggle in finding a romantic partner. That’s where Aeullura, a matchmaking company specializing in konkatsu (marriage-minded dating) events for otaku, comes in.

But conventional speed-dating can be intimidating for even ordinarily outgoing individuals, let alone otaku who might very well spend more of their free time watching fictional characters than interacting with other people. Add in the pressure of a ticking clock, and some might not feel confident in their ability to walk up to an attractive stranger, make a good impression, and then find out more about them.

That’s why Aeullura is flipping that sequence of events for its upcoming otaku matchmaking party by giving the speed daters access to a wealth of information about one another, and even letting them communicate online, before putting them all in the same room together.

Japan
(Akihabara • anime • dating • events • otaku • romance)

Naruto themed cafe in Akihabara is where all the ninjas eat

KK Miller
Jun 3, 2015

Time and time again we have professed the end of Naruto. While the original manga has certainly finished, there always seems to be something new for Masashi Kishimoto’s ninja clans. If you haven’t gotten your fill of Naruto yet with the new manga featuring Naruto’s son or the live-action theater production of the series, you should ninja run to the Adores building in Tokyo’s Akihabara. Their collaboration cafe is currently featuring the boisterous boy ninja and all his sneaky pals, but you better get there quick before the whole cafe ninja vanishes!

Japan
(Akihabara • anime • cafes • manga • Naruto • restaurants)

Mimi-kaki: We let a total stranger stick things inside us at an ear-cleaning salon【Video】

ロケットニュース24
May 25, 2015

Akihabara is considered by many to be a holy land of otaku culture, and with good reason. From anime to electronics to maid cafes, there’s not much you can’t find here. You can even pay someone to clean your ears! Which, to this writer, sounds absolutely horrifying. The idea of a total stranger getting inside my ear canal and scraping out all the gunk is both gross and horrifying, mainly because I can’t stop imagining the ear cleaner slipping and driving the ear-pick deep into my brain.

And that’s probably exactly why the RocketNews24 editors chose me to try it out! If you’ve ever wanted to have a young woman lay your head in her lap and then scrape the wax out of your ears, here’s your chance to see what it’s like.

Japan
(Akihabara • ear cleaning • experiencing Japan • maid • mim-soji • mimi-kaki • video)

The most crowded place in Tokyo? Might be the Kanda Matsuri festival, but it’s still awesome

Casey Baseel
May 13, 2015

Even in a city as packed with people as Tokyo, some places, and times, are more crowded than others. So when and where can you find the largest, densest mass of humanity? Some would say the Yamanote loop line during the morning rush hour. Others would vote for Shibuya’s scramble crosswalk intersection on a Saturday night.

But before you go awarding the crown to either of those two candidates, take a look at the massive crowds that came out for the Kanda Matsuri festival last weekend.

Japan
(Akihabara • culture • festivals • Kanda • mikoshi • shinto • shrines)

Pay to have a cute girl squeeze your rice balls at “Galmusu”, Akihabara’s onigiri idol cafe!

Evie Nyan
Apr 23, 2015

Onigiri are the perfect Japanese snack food. Portable and (generally speaking) healthy, they consist of a small ball or triangle of rice containing one of a huge variety of fillings, wrapped in seaweed or coated with some kind of seasoning. While most of the onigiri you can buy at convenience stores here in Japan are probably filled and shaped by machine, it’s traditional to roll ’em yourselves by making a squeezing motion with your hands. And now you can combine your love of onigiri with your love of cute idol girls by heading down to “Galmusu”, a new cafe where, for a small fee, a cutie will squeeze your rice balls for you right in front of your eyes!

We sent one of our Japanese reporters to investigate this new form of edible performance art!

Oh, but before you read on, we should probably mention one thing: our reporter usually can’t stand anyone handling his food…

Internet, Japan
(Akihabara • cafe • culture • cute • Japanese food • Kawaii • maid cafe • model • onigiri)

Akihabara Internet cafe looks like a beautiful Japanese inn, still has tons of free manga to read

Casey Baseel
Feb 20, 2015

Being the very heart of the anime and consumer electronics scene in Japan, it’s no surprise that Tokyo’s Akihabara neighborhood has Internet cafes where you can also read comics from a massive in-house manga library. But as nice as it can be to immerse yourself in all of the extremely important information available online, or to gorge yourself on a year’s worth of manga at a fraction of the price you’d pay to buy it, you might find yourself wanting to do so in relaxing, even traditional surroundings.

If so, a visit to the Nagomi-Style Cafe Akiba is in order, as it’s the only manga and Internet cafe in Akihabara designed with the look and atmosphere of a Japanese ryokan inn.

Japan
(Akihabara • beautiful • cafes • Internet cafes • manga)

CosBox: A rentable room in Tokyo for creating cosplay masterpieces

Krista Rogers
Dec 18, 2014

Just the other day, we brought you news of HACOSTADIUM, a photography studio equipped with over 40 backdrops to create all of your dream cosplay scenarios. But let’s take one step back now–just where are you supposed to design those fabulous costumes in the first place?

Introducing CosBox (コスバコ), a rentable room outfitted with all of your costume-making needs. It just opened this month in the Akihabara district of Tokyo, and its managers are offering some serious opening month deals. Whether you’re a diehard cosplay fanatic or are just breaking into the hobby, CosBox may be the perfect place to prepare for your next big convention!

Japan
(Akihabara • CosBox • cosplay • costumes • sewing)

Akiba Stealth: Assassin’s Creed brought to Akihabara in “real-life” prior to game release【Video】

Audrey Akcasu
Nov 13, 2014

Imagine yourself walking through the busy streets of Akihabara (or Akiba), Tokyo’s electronics and gaming haven (a.k.a. otaku central), when suddenly, a nerdy guy busts his way out of a dark alley and does a flip over a passer-by, with guards tailing him by only inches. Surprised? Welcome to “Akiba Stealth.”

In preparation for the November 20 Japanese release of the newest game in the Assassin’s Creed series, “Unity,” the creators, Ubisoft, came out with a promotional video, entitled “Akiba Stealth,” to get the attention of the Japanese fan base. The video is supposed to be a “real-life” Assassin’s Creed in Akihabara, lovingly dubbed “Ota-ssin’s Creed.” (Get it? Otaku + assassin… otassin. No?)

Japan
(Akihabara • Assasin's Creed • otaku • video games)

We try ramen from a can on the backstreets of Tokyo【Taste Test】

Casey Baseel
Sep 26, 2014

Akihabara has a well-deserved reputation as having Japan’s highest concentration of anime and video game shops, not to mentioned maid cafes. There’s one other thing it’s known for, though, and that’s weird vending machines.

And no, we’re not talking about Japan’s fabled panty vending machines, but rather automated sales of odd canned food. A few years back, Akihabara came to be known as the place to score canned bread. Next came the canned oden craze.

On a recent trip to the Tokyo neighborhood, however, we stumbled across something we’d never seen before when we spotted a vending machine that spits out hot cans of pre-cooked ramen.

Japan
(Akihabara • food • ramen • taste test • vending machines • weird)

Blown all your cash on anime? New restaurant in Akihabara has pasta for less than two bucks

Casey Baseel
Aug 28, 2014

With the highest concentration of anime and video game specialty stores on the planet, it’s pretty easy to go over-budget spending a day in Akihabara. But while some otaku might claim that Japanese animation is their lifeblood, eventually everyone needs to eat something.

So for everyone with a crying wallet and a grumbling stomach, a new restaurant has just arrived in the neighborhood, serving pasta to-go, starting at just 190 yen (US$1.88).

Japan
(Akihabara • anime • cheap eats • food • pasta • restaurants)

Akihabara’s first rental nerd looking to cash in on his jobless status

Casey Baseel
Jun 8, 2014

In a lot of ways, the NEET social phenomena is something that could only happen in Japan. The term stands for “not in education, employment, or training,” and refers to those individuals who are neither earning a living nor officially doing anything to approach that basic goal in life.

In many other countries, most people would conclude that a dose of tough love, or a few swift kicks to the backside, is in order. And while that’s the strategy Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino would recommend, in Japan, a large number of parents are willing to support their adult children’s NEET lifestyles for years on end.

Now, though, one man is putting a twist on the “not in education, employment, or training” label by renting out his services as a professional NEET.