I've travelled to Japan for the sake of going to Akihabara on 7 different trips. AMA

You have friends then? how can you enjoy a trip there alone?

>You have friends then? how can you enjoy a trip there alone?
I've had friends there since my 3rd trip. Met them in Comiket, they have a circle and they make illustration books. My japanese is not that good and likewise their english so we speak 50/50 both to understand each other.

I can enjoy it alone though. I just wander around looking for new stuff to buy or see. Nobody telling me what to do or where to go. If I get tired of Akihabara for a while, I go to another part of Tokyo for the day and my apetite for Akiba returns by the evening. It's great

Is there a lot of stuff that you can only buy there instead of just buying it online?

>Is there a lot of stuff that you can only buy there instead of just buying it online?
For sure.
Although, much of the mainstream stuff like official character goods and figures, or even doujinshi you can get online and delivered to your home, there's always stuff that you can't find online.

There's lots of specialty stores in Akiba and you can find old and new stuff you couldn't get your hands on otherwise. You can find all sorts of items you didn't know even existed.
Sometimes there are temporary stores in event spaces in Akiba dedicated to a certain anime or artist that are there for just a month or something.

Can you pay a jk to walk around akiba with u?

Yes. Although I must admit I've never tried it myself. I suppose some establishments might reject gaijin customers but there are bound to be at least some that will serve you too.

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How to get to the soapland

What's the weirdest/most interesting stuff you've found there?

I'm kinda jealous. Have fun, user. It won't last forever.

frankly I don't even know man. I was never going to spend my doujinshi money on 1 hour of sex
>What's the weirdest/most interesting stuff you've found there?
Maybe the weirdest things are the anime sex products aimed for men. Like girls' clothes designed for men so they have extra space in the panties for your dick or something. THere's ton of those in certain places

The most interesting thing for me is to just explore around. Every time I go there, it's been a while so there's bound to be new stuff in the shops. Some shops aren't there anymore and there are new ones in their place. I just love taking something from the vending machine and going around looking at whatever I find interesting. I love it

>I'm kinda jealous. Have fun, user. It won't last forever.
I know. That's the sad part. Anyway, if you have an opportunity, after this corona thing calms down, I recommend you to pack your bags and go to Tokyo for like 2 weeks. Get a capsule hotel (or a regular one if you're ready to pay a bit more) in or near Akiba and go there. Preferably during Comiket so you get to experience that too. It's a blast.

And thanks man

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Do you ever see crazy fujoushi girls going crazy over bl stuff?

How much of the doujindhi that they sell at comiket is erotic? And is it actually good, or just fanfiction level quality?

Does Akihabara have stuff you can't get online?

not that I notice, they're probably introverted type as those degenerates should be
Roughly said around half is erotic. As far as the art quality, it's top notch. Of course there are totally badly drawn cringe artists too, but you have to remember Comiket is the largest anime convention in Japan. It attracts the top artists, so you can find a lot of skilled circles there

>Does Akihabara have stuff you can't get online?
Yes

Akiba sucks and is mainly filled with mainstream anime trash nothing but Wan piss and Dragonball shit.
Ikebukurou and the mall there was better with cute shit and the pokemon store and cute clothes.

Harajuku was cool but had to look around to find something I truly wanted.
Best thing I did in Akiba was browse the doujin stuff and look through all the porn and touhou sections.
Also bought Geiger counter 1 and 2 cause I happened to find it there and took it back with me to the states.

MaidDreamin was a little disappointing it felt dperessing to think of the type of person who would regular them and it was late when I went so very small and kinda dank.
The matcha ice cream with tayaki or something other flakes in it was fuckign cute and delicious though.

Can you smoke pot in Japan? Asking for a friend.

Probably not? Smoking is prohibited on public places anyway in Tokyo. You can only smoke on special areas where or you'll get a ticket. This is why smoking areas are common in many restaurants still

like I remember in my capsule hotel there was a special room with no windows where smokers went to smoke. Must feel like death in there

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How claustrophobic is it outside hotels and buildings? Like, in the open air, how cramped is it? Do you see much sky?

depends on where you go. There are some really tightly packed streets in Tokyo, but there are open spaces too. Places like Shibuya and Shinjuku have massive but also air to breathe. There's a ton of people everywhere you go though. Fortunately there are also parks and shrines and vegetation planted around so you can feel the fresh air

Have you been to Gamers? Pretty sure they have a store there.

youtube.com/watch?v=KGmY7ndiuuE

yes. They don't have any figures, but they got like 7 floors of all sorts of other stuff. Anime related magazines, manga, light novels, CDs anime music and idol songs etc, even some dating sims, gacha, all sorts of anime merch from keychains to wall scrolls t-shirts hug pillow covers etc. It's a really good vibes shop, not the best but one of my favourites. And they have an air freshener which is really sweet. Man I wanna go to Gamers rn

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what do you mean when you say "circles"? I'm not big into doujinshi shit so is it supposed to be like a team of artists or something?

Not OP, but I'm in and around the Tokyo area for work a fair bit and I never really feel boxed in by the city. Sure, you're surrounded by multilevel buildings most of the time and certain areas can get a lot of foot traffic, but it's not like you can't just take a backstreet, visit a park, or hang around less developed areas.
I moved from Busan to just outside of Osaka this year, but I spend a lot of time bouncing around east Asia for work so I've seen a fair number of cities. Over all, Tokyo is extremely nice for the large city it is, better than most I'd say. It's easy to navigate, has no shortage of good places to eat, and has a shit ton of little convenient quality of life things stuffed into it.

Circle is the thing that produces and participates in doujin events. It's supposed to be a group of likeminded individuals, but not necessarily there are lots of 1 man "circles" as well. But anyone who wants to participate in Comiket has to apply as a circle even if he was just going there alone to sell his own work.

okay. just seems like a strange use of the word circle to decribe that, at least to me.

Is comiket worth going if im a casual anime fan

Maybe you will faint in the crowd. Casuals would find it exhausting for sure. But Im a maniac so I'm ready to do what it takes to get my vibes and cute girl stuffs

What work user not an english twacher?

How to prep for comiket? What else is there to do there to spend the whole day?

No, I started doing consulting work a year and a bit ago. I basically advise companies who are looking to work with, or sell to, organizations or people outside their own country. I primarily deal with Anglo / oriental markets.

How did you get into that! i never understood these kind of jobs

Im a software dev so i always filter out jobs that don't have the technical requirements, only seen rakuten in jap as a gateway job

>How to prep for comiket
as soon as you arrive to Japan, try to buy the catalog ASAP (supposing it hasn't already sold out). Usually Comiket entry is free, but recently to cover the cost of the extra space they've added to the convention they've been selling bracelets for about 5 bucks per day to participate. If these sell out then entry becomes free which is good for you. But if they don't then you might have to wait in line for half an hour or more at Comiket entrance to get one. If you get your hands on the catalog it should have 1 bracelet for each day, so that's good.
Learn to use the catalog and navigate the Comiket map. Check your priorities and plan your day accordingly. If theres some special goods you want you will have to get there early.

Bring a backpack. Buy some snacks and DRINKS (especially during summer, I recommend Pocari Sweat) so you can survive the lines and the heat. Although you dont have to bring so many drinks because there are a lot of vending machines at Comiket so you can get drinks easily. Especially at lunch time the queues to the convenience stores in Tokyo Big Sight can be long.
Bring hand gel. Comiket has a lot of people and lot of filthy otaku so lot of germs.

As far as what there is to do, you can spend the whole day just looking around the different halls for differnet doujinshi. They're massive.
You can enjoy the best cosplay on the planet at the cosplay areas. Those are large too and you'll surely have fun.
If you find nothing interesting in the doujinshi area of the given day, head to the official company booth area and see company merch. There's probably something that interests you there.

It will be shocking how big it is and a bit exhausting but you will have a blast don't worry.
Also learn some basic japanese and you will have easier time and a bit of fun too. Who knows maybe you'll make a friend

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I was doing foreign correspondent work before hand, that's why I was in Korea in the first place. I just sort of got in the habit of talking with people and maintaining decent relationships with them outside of a 'work' capacity. Those people gradually grow to respect my opinion and either ask for advice or refer me to someone else. Eventually I just figured I may as well get paid for my time.

If you're looking to get into consulting or contract work you're in a pretty good place as a software dev. The management side of most companies don't know their ass from their elbow when it comes to software, so its a good opening to exploit. Honestly, the best thing you can do for yourself is network, flex your knowledge, and as you get to know people, make it very clear what you want.
It's hard work on your own since you have nothing and nobody to fall back on when things get rough, but I love the freedom of it.

Do you have a lot of spare money / good job? That must be expensive depending on where you live. What's so special about Akihabara, I don't know much about Japanese locations but a lot of their cities look pretty nice

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Also you seem very normie and to have life pretty figured out. What brings you to Yas Forums?

Skin color? How old your first trip? How old now? Do you see yourself still being a weeb at 40? 50?

>you seem very normie and to have life pretty figured out
Na man, my life has been pretty fucked up. Long story short, I was abused heavily as a child. As soon as I was old enough with enough money saved up I took my younger sister and moved out of our whore of a mother's place. Since then, I've basically done nothing but work my ass off to support myself and my sister.
I can act normal and get along with people in public fine, but I have an extremely hard time trusting or connecting with anyone outside of my sister. I just learned early on that I can get a lot more out of people with honey than with vinegar.

>What brings you to Yas Forums?
I don't use Yas Forums as much as I used to, but I'll still kick around my usual boards every now and again. I'm sort of stuck away from home right now thanks to this corona shit, so I have an unusual amount of spare time on my hands right.

I live at home with parents still so I'm able to save money much more easily than if I lived on my own. I don't have a "good job" just a basic job. Basically I'm a filthy home basement dwelling rat. I've been basically blowing all the money i earned on my weebdom ever since Akihabara
Akihabara is the weeb's Legoland. That's why I love it.

White, 18 on my first trip went right after high school, 23 soon. Yes I will be a weeb at 50.

Is it all just normie and fotm shit, or is there some pretty cool and niche stuff? Also is there idolshit and toku stuff even though it's known as an anime attraction?

What were your interactions with japanese people like?

There's niche stuff as well. The doujin shops have a lot of variety, definitely niche stuff there. And whatever other hobby or random you have, you can pretty much find it in one of the many specialty stores. For example model builders got a lot to choose from and there are tons of card game shops etc. as well.

You probably know but AKB48 has a cafe and their own concert theatre in Akihabara. There are also smaller idol groups in the area and there are numerous event spaces where live shows are held regularly. Although for many of those you might have to get tickets well ahead. Other times if you get lucky you might walk upom a sudden live concert held in the main street. Not to mention all the smaller up and coming singer girls who are performing near the Akihabara station entrance trying to get fame and establish themselves in the idol scene

Mostly positive. They're very polite and generous. I remember one time I was next to a vending machine digging coins from my wallet when one middle aged man went ahead to get his drink and he inserted 2 dollars for me before i could decline. God bless that man

I'm currently 18 and was thinking of going to Tokyo. I'm not really a weeb but I like anime once in a while. I'd quite like to get lost in Akihabara though. Japanese culture is also very attractive to me.
But, flights to Japan from the UK are expensive so if I were to go, I probably would go for at least a week.
It's also very intimidating going to a country where you can't speak the language :( I could try learning, but I already spent years trying to learn Mandarin and got almost nowhere
anyway glad that you have found somewhere you're happy

you into Gundam at all? I had a 5 day trip to Tokyo planned before this corona shit cancelled it all. I've never been, but I was planning on spending a whole day in Akihabara to find waifus and gunpla. Know any good places for gunpla that wouldn't be entirely obvious like Mandarake and Kotobukiya and shit?

This is one of the best threads I've seen so far, thank you OP. Ganbatte

That's cool. I went for 10 days on my first trip. Was the time of my life. You will have fun if you're into anime for sure. Make sure to check out some other areas in Tokyo too.
And don't worry about it. Just learn some basic Japanese. Learn the hiragana and katakana(those are fast and easy to learn) so you can read something. Japanese is not mandarin, it's much simpler. Just learn some phrases and don't be afraid to use them. No need to stress about it, I literally knew only few words from anime on my first trip and I still had fun.

Sorry I just never got into the mech genre. There are several Sofmap stores in Akihabara and those surely have some gunpla in one of the higher floors. Also Radiokaikan(the image here) has in the higher floors mech and gunpla and all that stuff. That would be a spot to check out as well.

You probably know but near the Akihabara station theres a gundam cafe. And on Odaiba - an artificial island with malls and attractions in Tokyo - there's a giant life-size gundam gundam that has some light and sound effect show at certain hours. You would love to see that. Oh and on the mall behind that statue there's a gundam store, a big one. Google it up.
Recommend you to check Odaiba out as well. There's a beautiful monorail train ride that goes there over the sea, shows a fantastic view of Tokyo from the sea.

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You flatter me man. Arigatou. And sorry guys if I'm writing stupid things and making typos, it's middle of the night, I had 2 cokes and 4 coffees, the caffeine is making my heart overload lol soz

How good are you at Japanese? I learned some basic stuff but it seems like it would take a looong time to be able to casually read stuff for fun, even just manga

I'm lower intermediate maybe. I can't read except a few kanji and I'm not fluent by any means but I can get my message across. I can't have too deep conversations but I can manage something. I can order food, ask for directions or help and talk with my friends about anime and stuff. Can't read manga tho and that's a shame

Wait are you not the op? Why buy do much doujinshi if you can't read them?