Tokyo's Geek Ghetto 488
anaesthetica writes "The Washington Post is running a story on Tokyo's "Geek Ghetto" which has arisen in the city's electronics retail district, "Electric Town." From the article: "We have been discriminated against for being different, but now we have come together and turned this neighborhood into a place of our own.... In Akihabara, we don't need to be ashamed of who we are and what we like.... We can feel comfortable because here, we outnumber everyone else." There are concerns, however, that the total immersion in escapist culture may be causing social problems, including a growing number of shut-ins." I've gone to Tokyo 3x and visited Akihabara all three times. Highly recommended for anime fans and techies.
Geek persecution (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Geek persecution (Score:4, Insightful)
I've never been persecuted. I might be a geek, but I am also so many other things. Labels are stupid.
Re:Geek persecution (Score:2, Offtopic)
Re:Geek persecution (Score:2)
It makes it easier for him to process and communicate ideas.
Geek Pride (Score:2)
This is astoundingly similar to self-formed gay "ghettos". When you feel uncomfortable with how the general public sees your tastes and/or customs, you'll gravitate towards your equals and create a micro-culture. I think the SW Episode III lines are the geek equivalent to the Gay Parade
Re:Geek persecution (Score:2, Funny)
"....Now the time has come for geek persecution to end...."
"Nerd!"
"Nerd!"
"Nerd!"
Ahh Revenge of the Nerds. Can a quote be anymore pathetic? =)
Re:Geek persecution (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Geek persecution (Score:5, Interesting)
So I guess, from my experience, I would suggest talking to your sons about how they feel about themeselves. Figure out a way to get them to talk about how they percieve themeselves. Some methods that might work are what there dreams/goals/aspirations or who their idols are, I've found with myself those things were a reverse manifestation of how I really felt about myself. I dunno if any of that is a help but let me know.
Re:Geek persecution for a reason maybe? (Score:2)
Persecuted? Not really I was a white middle class kid that was good at science and computers. I work now as a programmer so if I do not fit your definition of a geek that is fine with me. I prefer the term techie
Re:Geek persecution for a reason maybe? (Score:3, Interesting)
Most techies are good with computers and science and go out to make a pile of cash. Those are not geeks.
Re:Geek persecution for a reason maybe? (Score:5, Insightful)
Here in the USA, we have restaurants where women are paid to dress up in tiny orange shorts, white tank tops, sneakers and pantyhose. A while back there were clubs with women in satin bustiers, hose, high heels and rabbit ears that catered to the wealthiest businessmen. The servers in many casinos wear skin-tastic outfits that aren't remotely grounded in typical dress standards.
The shut-in part is certainly an unhealthy lifestyle, but there's nothing particularly odd about enjoying waitresses in 'fetish' costumes, particularly when common denominator is lots of exposed skin.
Re:It's important to note... (Score:5, Interesting)
This is so true. I used to have this good looking friend. After knowing him for a while I realized he was really smart. Way more intelligent than me. He spent most of his free time socializing with friends and he either had a girlfriend or was kind of looking for one. So between that and school or work, that took up all of his time. To me, it seems like he wasted all that brain power of his. But he was living his life the way he wanted. From my perspective he has 'achieved' nothing in his life, (except maybe for an attractive wife).
It's not that American geeks are smarter than normal people. They just have more free time.
This is an aspect of the whole nature vs. nurture thing. Being a geek has absolutely nothing to do with being intelligent. That is, being born intelligent. Geeks will often know more than non-geeks in their fields of interest, but that's just knowledge not real intelligence.
With a fixed number of waking hours in our lives, the fewer number of hours spent on socializing whether with friends or MOTOS, the more hours there are for accomplishing 'things', finishing projects, whatever you want to call it. Life really is like a zero sum game. The more time you spend hanging out with friends at the pub or smooching with your girlfriend at the park the less time you have for writing programs or working on important 'stuff'.
This is really one of the biggest differences between us and other mammals. If we are lucky enough to be born with some intelligence, we can achieve something tangible in our lives, something more than just making more humans who will also achieve nothing. While it is not likely that any program that you write will be around after you die or that that OLED display you invent will still be used in 30 years or that that game art you worked so hard on will ever be seen in 20 years, you will still have contributed more, been more a part of history than guys with girlfriends and social lives. If that's any consolation. And those few with REALLY big brains can do stuff like invent calculus or the transistor, after which you will always be a significant part of history. (Or you could just crash a plane into a skyscraper...)
Re:It's important to note... (Score:4, Insightful)
Apparently you are the "live to work" type, while your friend is more in the "work to live" camp.
As the famous philosopher Torquato Tasso said "Any time not spent on love is wasted." Sometimes those personal projects we like to think are important are really just an excuse to avoid social interaction. (trust me, I've wasted more than enough time in this manner)
Re:It's important to note... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:It's important to note... (Score:3, Insightful)
Do not measure the meaningfulness of a person's life by how much they achieve, but by how happy they are with their life. If you can sit around in the bottom of a ditch covered in shit and truthfully say that you have nothing to regret and would not have it any other way and are happy, then your life is far more meaningful than someone who is rich, has a handsome spouse, and all of the modern conveniences, and is miserable with them.
Lucky bastards (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Lucky bastards (Score:2, Funny)
I just live in the lab!
Re:Lucky bastards (Score:2)
A 2002 BBC correspondent program on japanese otaku (Score:5, Informative)
Why not in the US (Score:2, Interesting)
Geek universities don't count! (Cal, MIT, etc.)
Re:Why not in the US (Score:2)
Re:Why not in the US (Score:3, Insightful)
But they are social zeros because they can't get a date
Unfortunately, at least in the US, being a geek is kind of synonymous with being ugly. We are expected to be ugly. Some of us even became geeks mostly because we were ugl
Re:Why not in the US (Score:3, Interesting)
Being good-looking isn't the only issue (Score:3, Insightful)
So good looks aren't everything; there are also basic social skills, not talking in a monotone, making eye contact, basic personal hygiene, and being able to hold a conversation about things outside of one's narrow field of specialisation (be it microprogramming, football, the history of punk rock or whatever). And, of course, the skills that come from repeated social interaction w
Re:Why not in the US (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Why not in the US (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Why not in the US (Score:3, Informative)
There are entire malls dedicated to electronics and comics and figures..
There is one "underground" one also that has all the latest games in Japanese as well, with individual sellers able to go in and set up a booth.
The Japan society has huge anime and game conventions and there is a separate annual manga/anime convention in NY as well as Anime movie festival... SF is close, but not quite like it is here...
more details... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:more details... (Score:2, Interesting)
recently, a japanese word known as "moe" represent this situation. (i don't know how to translated it in English)
Re:more details... (Score:2, Interesting)
Oh, so geek men and women go there to hook up? Oh wait, read the article.
"These shops at Akihabara are not in the sex business because for geeks, fantasizing is much more important than actually doing anything with girls."
The "sex" are cute waitreses and posters with chicks. I'd hold back on those emotes next time
Re:more details... (Score:3, Funny)
And since that's the farthest they're ever gonna go, I suppose that's totally valid.
Re:more details... (Score:2)
Pretty spotty coverage...
A much more detailed picture can be found here. [brunching.com]
Re:more details... (Score:2)
Wow...here's something even more relevant. [midaregami.net]
Very .. VERY expensive... (Score:5, Informative)
I noticed that everything in Akihabara is very expensive. Buying the same stuff in Singapore is a LOT (I mean 30 - 40%) cheaper...
But, one thing I agree.. you can get some really cool stuff in Akihabara...that you cannot find in Singapore, but for regular buys, I would avoid Akihabara.
My 2c
Re:Very .. VERY expensive... (Score:2)
One stop shopping (was:Very .. VERY expensive...) (Score:2)
Tokyo (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Tokyo (Score:2)
Will not be a problem... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Will not be a problem... (Score:5, Insightful)
So: hello, speciation.
Re:Will not be a problem... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Will not be a problem... (Score:2)
Uh Huh. And just where are these geek girls? Keeping them all chained in your basement? Of course it's only fair because, as we all know, geek guys are only interested in geek girls.
My own strategy is simply to never venture out of my slimy, dripping, basement lair. Then I don't have to be tortured by the sight of cute female entities.
Re:Will not be a problem... (Score:3, Funny)
Funny, I was under the impression that most geek guys were interested in anything with a hole and a pulse.
Re:Will not be a problem... (Score:5, Funny)
I think you misspelled "or".
-
Re:Will not be a problem... (Score:5, Funny)
Based solely on my limited knowledge of Bukkake, I will say, Yes. Yes, they are sluts. Praise be to the Otaku Bukkake and long-live the geek ghettos of Tokyo.
Re:Will not be a problem... (Score:2)
Not if they clone themselves and create fruit-named female androids to replace women ^_^
Re:Will not be a problem... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Will not be a problem... (Score:2)
Much like the gay culture will die in one generation?
Just because geeks might have a harder time reproducing, I don't think that's the end of their kind.
Re:Will not be a problem... (Score:2)
ob. star trek reference (Score:2)
shut-ins (Score:5, Funny)
akihabara (Score:5, Interesting)
The button guy (Score:5, Interesting)
Most likely that's one of the small electronic shops under the station. That's one of the most Blade Runner-esque spots I've ever seen. Many shops there are a 1x1 meter square with a hole on the midle barely wide enough for the guy to stand on it, with all kind of components surrounding the guy.
Shameless plug:
Akihabara photos on my site [ag0ny.com].
More Akihabara photos [ag0ny.com].
And more [ag0ny.com].
And yes, I'm living in Tokyo.
Re:The button guy (Score:2)
Re:The button guy (Score:3, Informative)
No thumbnails, by the way.
Re:akihabara (Score:3, Informative)
If you go to the normal places you will pay over the odds. Mainly because they're priced that way to catch out the people who don't know whats going on. There are tricks to buying stuff in Akiba. Such as in many places you can haggle down the price. And you can get it even lower depending on who you ask to reduce the price (Usually the oldest guy there).
Akiba is an excellant place to get cutting edge tech gear. But if you only stick to the common main street sto
I'd visit but (Score:3, Funny)
Visited there in 1993 (Score:5, Interesting)
I have a friend in Japan right now, but he won't go there because he says it's too nerdy. I don't know if it got worse in 12 years, or I got better.
Anime != geek!!! (Score:5, Insightful)
I play with Linux, computers and build things, but I have never really liked Anime, and I got over my comics phase when I was a teenager. In my spare time I sometimes play with the computers, but I also enjoy GETTING AWAY from the computer and play my son, go bicyling, play in the garden, etc.
Alert! Alert!! (Score:5, Funny)
Fake geek sighted.
He exercises, reproduces, touches non-processed plant material, shows signs of growing up.
He even LEAVES HIS COMPUTER ALONE! (Poor thing. Probably crashes in lonliness.)
Quick, somone hijack the space laser and fill his house with popcorn before he infects us.
Re:Alert! Alert!! (Score:2)
As an aside, it's scary to think I'm a part of a community in which it's assumed there have been OTHER True Genius references in the past.
Re:Anime != geek!!! (Score:2)
Re:Anime != geek!!! (Score:3, Interesting)
Phrases like: "He giggled with glee when his servers addressed him in the squeaky little character voices they use to delight their fantasy-loving clientele." and "Morning Daughter, a music group marketed to kids has become so popular among otaku that men so
Re:Anime != geek!!! (Score:2)
The majority of shows I see on television are crap. There are a few exceptions, but by and large the shows are all the same. Crime, mystery, sitcoms. One show, recently cancelled that accually fit outside the mold was Dead like Me [deadlikeme.tv], which I enjoyed quite a bit.
Anime provides an open medium. When you are drawing your characters and environment, you are completely unlimited in what you can do. It makes for more int
Re:Anime != geek!!! (Score:3, Insightful)
Isn't that what a geek is? Someone with interests outside the mainstream?
Oh the irony...
Anyone ever been to a *IT? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Anyone ever been to a *IT? (Score:2)
YT geeks will still stand out (Score:5, Interesting)
However, if you are non-Asian you will still be regarded as a bit of a monkey on display at the zoo. People may avoid sitting next to you on trains unless it is totally packed and you may be followed around while in some small shops with suspicious owners, as if waiting for you to pocket a few items and then make a run for it. So there is a bit of racism over there, but they are generally a nice group of folks.
Re:YT geeks will still stand out (Score:2)
They don't want to help the community (AKA all of Japan) out and are quite rude. Which obviously to them could mean alot of things, but general anti social behaviour I assume.
I'm not saying all the Japane
Re:YT geeks will still stand out (Score:2)
It's not only rasistic, its stupid and ignorant. Thats no excuse for not accepting foreigners.
Re:YT geeks will still stand out (Score:2)
First, there's racism everywhere. Anyway, I just wanted to give a counterexample. I've per
Re:YT geeks will still stand out (Score:4, Informative)
You don't have to leave to the US to get that whole monkey in the zoo effect though. I was visiting a friend in Nashville, TN and we went to the mall. Now I'm white, he was from Taiwan and we went another friend of his who was African-America (very dark-skinned as well). People stared at _ME_ the whole time. I'd never seen anything like it. Apparently they couldn't believe a white guy was hanging out with non-whites. My friends both said they were used to it and just ignored it, but it was an eye-opener to me. Racism is alive and well in the US.
I think part of the problem is they expect Americans to be rude (sadly we have this reputation just about world-wide). If you're polite and friendly they won't have any problems with you. I don't know why you'd be rude and hateful to someone when you're in a foreign country but apparently a lot of people are.
Oh yes, it's funny that in only two weeks I got used to doing the little bow while thanking people. It felt strange to not have people do that when I got back to the US for a while. :)
Re:YT geeks will still stand out (Score:3, Interesting)
Call it a Troll if You Like, But (Score:5, Interesting)
(a) "We can feel comfortable because here, we outnumber everyone else"
As someone who has been a member of both predominantly geek- and non-geek social groups at one point, I've always wondered greatly why geeks, who always complain about being tortured and abused by non-geeks, turn around and do it amongst their own geek groups? "We outnumber everyone else" is hardly the way geeks should be fighting back against the non-geeks they claim abuse them so much, and if ya ask me, I'd tell you they were acting just like the non-geeks to one another. Just goes to show you that social structures work the same, geek or not.
(b) "Here, the waitresses' uniforms are inspired by the French maid-meets-Pokemon outfits of adult manga. At other cafes, waitresses greet patrons at the door with a curtsy and the words "Welcome home, master.""
So most of the 10% females left in this area have resorted to saying "welcome home master"? I feel kinda awkward saying this, but any self-respecting (woman-loving?) geek should be trying to get the hell OUT of there as soon as possible, not try to rush into this place.
(c) "Nerd subgroups include not only people obsessed with cartoons and computer games, but also pop idols such as Morning Daughter, a music group marketed to kids that has become so popular among otaku that men sometimes attend its concerts wearing kimonos covered in glossy pictures of young band members.
That, along with the child pornography aspect of some adult manga, has led to allegations that some nerds are pedophiles."
This has been a very long-standing problem in Japanese culture in general (five minutes of Google should net you more than enough information), so trying to stick this behavior to just the nerds specifically discussed here is misguided, to say the least.
Re:Call it a Troll if You Like, But (Score:4, Interesting)
And do note, they're employed there, they don't have to work there. They may not live anywhere near Akhibara (this wouldn't be at all unusual, lots of people commute to work in Japan, some have multi-hour trips). They took the job knowing what it entailed. You never know, they might actually like the job and what they do. That'd hardly be degrading.
You've also assumed that all the otaku like that kind of thing, but that's not correct either. Not every cafe is like that, they cater to different tastes. Someone else pointed out an article on Japan Today [japantoday.com] that's more accurate and less biased. One of the cafes it talks about the waitresses all wear long full skirts and elegant maid-style uniforms. That's not very degrading.
You should also note that wearing a uniform for work is a common practice in Japan. In fact at most places the employees change at work. Fancy/cute uniforms are quite common for females in many job areas. And we can't forget the extremely common school uniforms females have to wear from middle school up. Some elementary schools have uniforms too but it's less common.
Real estate opportunity (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Real estate opportunity (Score:2)
are you kidding me? (Score:4, Insightful)
A nice beach - cold beer - girls - bikinis!
The purpose of a vacation is to ESCAPE - the last thing I want to see is technology and be surrounded by GEEKS.
(no offense guys)
Re:are you kidding me? (Score:3, Funny)
The purpose of a vacation is to ESCAPE - the last thing they want to see is technology and be surrounded by GEEKS.
Persecuted? (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm a big fan of the dark underbellies of society, but I'd go there because I want to lookit all the pretty lights, not because I don't feel welcome anywhere else...
Embrace your geekdom!
Re:Persecuted? (Hairy Underbellies) (Score:2)
I thought it said "a fan of big dark hairy underbellies". I have visions of construction workers in hard hats wearing too short tank tops with their beer bellies hanging out and and their pants too low in the back showing a lot of hairy ass crack.
Re:Persecuted? (Hairy Underbellies) (Score:2)
Re:Persecuted? (Score:3, Insightful)
Geek Ghetto Gangs (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Geek Ghetto Gangs (Score:2)
WoW 1, Woman 0 (Score:4, Funny)
The woman to my right never spoke to me again for the rest of the flight.
So I didn't get laid, but I did get tips on completing my last 2 quests in Zul'Farrak, in particular, that one where about 100 NPC's storm the stairs and you have to defend the high ground. Fun stuff for a party with people who don't bail early...
It is for this reason that I feel I have to maintain "secret likes", which often includes anything IT or game-related, to the point where I find it difficult to even describe my job as it's pretty geeky and I'd rather just say I'm a "consultant". Unfortunately, to my horror I recently discovered that if I google my full name (which is uncommon), it becomes far too obvious what my really geeky likes are, despite my efforts to remove all traces of my full name from Internet sites. See, the gals I date are usually cute and best described as "geek-compatible", not "geeky"...
Akibake (Score:2, Interesting)
living in Akihabara (Score:2)
Part One [techjapan.com]
Part Two [techjapan.com]
The Price of Freedom (Score:5, Funny)
1-way ticket to tokyo(expedia.com) - $700
new laptop - $2500
Finding home at last.. - Priceless
Similar problem in the US (Score:3, Insightful)
However, in Japan, my perception as a Gaijin is that Japan's social structure is far far more rigid. You fly this way, or else face social rejection!
Why do geeks in the US withdraw into themselves? Because society shuns them! Why to geeks in Japan withdraw into their houses? Because society shuns them!
My point? Well the article misses the problem because it suffers from the US perception of geeks as weird and shunned. The problem is not the geek, it's the people who shun them. Maybe society needs to be more accepting of these peoples behaviors and appearances add not judge them on actions that do not hurt other people. Otherwise it's society itself that's to blame for people who cannot interact with the rest of society.
Otaku to you (Score:3, Interesting)
Otaku are considered flunkies and not highly regarded by society at large, etc. I liked one quote: "Socially inept, but often brilliant"
BTM
Yeah, right. (Score:2)
Japan will never change. It's repressed, crazy, and highly productive. Pretending it's a geeky tourist destination is just lame PR.
Geekier than Sim Lim Square in Singapore? (Score:2, Interesting)
Two questions, really. Is Tokyo's Akihabara as geeky as Singapore's Sim Lim Square? More importantly, I suppose, is it safer for my wallet? Sim Lim Square, at the corner of Bencoolen St. and Rochor Canal Rd., just next door to the Little India district, is seven floors of IT hagglers' paradise.
Link [vr-zone.com.sg], Link [virtualtourist.com], Search [google.com].
Serious Disconnect (Score:5, Funny)
Tetsu Ishihara, 34, a computer programmer whose three-room apartment in west Tokyo is filled from floor to ceiling with comic books, does not want to be associated with such charges. Ishihara maintains a growing collection of 130 life-size pillows of female anime characters -- both purchased and self-designed. His favorite is Mio-chan, a female character from a love-simulation computer game in which a high school boy builds up the courage to ask a girl for a first date.
"There are some people who do lose their grip on reality, but that is not me -- or most of us," said Ishihara, a chubby man with glasses who this year started dating a woman steadily for the first time.
What exactly constitutes loosing grip on reality, brother?
My Akihabara visit (Score:3, Interesting)
Wandering around Akihabara at random, I went into what I thought was a comic shop. Which it was... but a very specialised comic shop. It was devoted to fan-produced manga based on videogame characters.
Pornographic fan-produced manga based on videogame characters. A whole shop of it.
Now if that's not an extremely specialised geek market, I don't know what is!
What really struck me about the place was that even however many years ago it was, they were selling hardware that's still barely reached Western markets - and at sale prices! Saw my first ever HDTV in Akihabara, and nobody seemed interested in it but me...
Shut-ins. . . (Score:3, Interesting)
This is the part I found interesting. --Minus the sensationalist hype.
Should we really be surprised to see this kind of behavior pattern in a society which rigorously punishes people for trying to be unique individuals, for having the gall to actually try to maintain any kind of self-love and respect?
Men are expected to stand out, to express themselves in order to gain power in this world, so of course they are going to have problems when they are forced to grow up under the confines of a no-win situation. I'm not surprised at all that so many of them give up and opt out. Relationships require self-confidence and a wide variety of dynamic social skills which are certainly not taught by punishing people for stepping out of line to experiment with their lives when they are kids.
The retreat into fantasy of a million working-age males isn't their fault. It's the fault of a seriously messed up society.
"The nail which stands up will be hammered down."
Ugh. There are many types of population control and herding in effect in the world, but this particular one really steams me.
-FL
What the? (Score:3, Interesting)
IE, in the US, if you have a Kanji shirt or tattoo, it's meaning is somewhat important. You probably wouldn't want to say "I sleep with my sister," for example.
In Japan, it doesn't matter what your shirt says, as long as it's in English. The meaning is almost irrelevant (if there is any meaning).
And food..
In the US, pizza can have a variety of toppings, but when it comes down to it, there's bread, tomato sauce, and cheese.
In Japan, squid-ink is a popular substitute for tomato sauce. Sometimes you can't even get tomato sauce. I'm sorry, but that's not pizza.
But it's a society where everyone is expected to behave and live in a certain way, so there's not a lot of room for individualism, which can ironically, I suppose, lead to feelings of isolation and not belonging, since nobody knows the "real you." But that happens everywhere.
Most people carry their own towel for washing/wiping their hands. You can find napkins, but they're generally very small, and waxed.. for reasons nobody yet understands.
But I digress.. at any rate, I've been to Akhiabara a few times, and it's not all that spectacular. Tokyo is divided into districts, and each district generally serves a purpose. It's an interesting way of arranging a city.. clubs are in Roppongi, electronics are in Akhiabara, clothing stores are somewhere else.. There's a little mixing, but generally, that's how it is. It makes it less convenient to shop for different types of things in one trip, but more convenient to find the exact item you want. (Although, when you do come across a department store, there tends to be LOTS of space devoted to electronics.. Almost every department store I saw had mini Crusoe powered laptops, for example. What's "geek," in the US is much more mainstream there, hence the first sentence of my post).
Honestly though, the prices aren't much better than the states for computer equipment, possibly worse if you're converting from US$. Aibo's are still 5 grand (or however much they cost nowadays), and the fastest P4 is still going to set you back close to a grand. (Although cell phones are generally significantly cheaper). You're also not going to see some advanced PC technology you've never heard of, like USB3.0, or 15000RPM 2TB SATA hard drives. What you will find is a lot of brands you may not have heard of (Albatron, for example, which I'd never heard of before visiting Japan 3 years ago). And be careful what you buy, because the stores aren't under any obligation to accept returns. When I bought a Gigabyte motherboard and couldn't get it to boot (after swapping out everything, one component at a time), I eventually took it back and I was told to run slower memory and an older video card. They wouldn't let me return it or exchange it for another. Just because they sell a ton of electronic equipment in Akhiabara, don't expect the stores to have more or equal knowledge than you do. These guys are just salespeople and first-level tech support, just like anywhere else in the world.
It *is* easier to find exotic parts that you'd generally have to mail-order in the states, like a Zhallman fan.. although some cities (San Diego, for example) have tons of mom'n'pop computer stores with the same sort of things.
Pretty much, if you have a Fry's near you, you're not missing anything except huge throngs of shoppers, and people who aren't sure if you know which side to walk on, so every-other head on encounter turns in to a little dance.
Re:Wow (Score:2, Informative)
if you go to Shinjuku or Shibuya in Tokyo, you would find that most people in the street are not geek!
people in Akihabara (aka: Akiba) are so different to other district.
Re:Where to go (Score:2)
As for Akihabara? I was underwhelmed. The place seems so impractical. But maybe that's kind of the point. I did find a used Linksys router there for $18 which was great because the router used at the residence I stayed did not allow me to VPN back to t
Re:I suppose... (Score:3, Interesting)
If the truth hurts, whose fault is that?