Gizmodo: akihabara

Japanese Cellphones Control This Giant Billboard Video Game

Adrian Covert — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 22:00:00 EDT

Nikkei has a post about Toshiba's new Digital Billboard in Tokyo's Akihabara district, where passerbys can dial up a number and connect to an interactive game which is displayed on the giant sign.

Cellphone gamers square off against other players connected through Toshiba's Youtube channel. The number keys are used to control a paintbrush, and the goal is to cover squares on the grid in paint while searching for the Toshiba mascot.

The game was created as a marketing ploy to show that the billboards could relay data from the internet in real time. And while the game isn't the most exciting thing in the world, the idea that you could randomly walk by and interact with it is very exciting. [Nikkei via Pink Tentacle via Dvice]

Before Neon Lights: What Tokyo's Akihabara Geek District Looked Like 50 Years Ago

Brian Lam — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 07:20:44 EST

Before Tokyo's Akihabara geek district was laced with neon, it looked like this photo taken circa 1950 which I saw on my recent trip. Despite the cow in the photo, even around this time, gadgets were a part of the trade. (Although as the ads below show, phonographs and vacuum tube radios made up some of the choices.) Doing some research on the area, I did not know that almost 100 years before this time, the area was razed by fires and when it was rebuilt, it was rebuilt with a Shinto shrine on its premises with the name "The extinguisher shrine". People assumed that the Shrine was devoted to the popular deity of fire-control named Akiba, which is the root of the somewhat similar name of the region today.

Visiting Thanko's Tokyo Mecca of USB Weirdness

Brian Lam — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:00:28 EDT

Near a highway, a few hundred feet from the biggest electronics building in Tokyo's Akihabara district, sits a tiny mecca for gadget geeks. The orange store belongs to Thanko, masters of weird USB devices, and it is their first of 4 shops. The blinking raremonoshop sign tickled my eyeballs, but my geek lust was triggered in full by the wall flyers for odd gadgets printed on top of a mosaic of origami paper.

Inside, I found it a bit like the best of Gizmodo's Japan blog pages splattered into a retail space, complete with instructional placards and demo stations. They were all here. The USB heated mittens, the USB lock, the USB microscope, the USB neck tie cooler, to name a few. My purchasing restraint fell, and my credit card did not remain sheathed during this visit. Here's a map to the store if you would like to pay homage to the USB gadget gods. Special thanks to Gizmodo.jp for leading me to the treasure trove.

Tour Tokyo's Tech Paradise, Now On Google Street View

John Mahoney — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 09:00:00 EDT

Google's dutiful camera vans have finished canvassing Tokyo, which means today you can now tour some of the world's most geek-friendly real estate in "electric town" Akihabara without the 14 hour plane flight. The folks at Mars Mag have put together a tour of some of their favorite Linux Maid Cafes, Dream PC builders, arcade palaces and electronics megastores that call Akihabara home.

Places like the Linux Cafe, your Gateway to the Open Source Computers!

Or Yodobashi Camera, one of the biggest electronics stores anywhere. A bajillion floors packed to the brims.

And little hovels like the Queen Dolce Cafe, where untold costumed geekery happens well above street level.

Google Street View also hit in Australia today, so if anyone unearths a magical district of electronics wonders down under, let me know. And hit Mars Mag for more: [Mars Mag]

Update: Japanese News Broadcast of Akihabara Killing Spree

Jack Loftus — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 17:30:00 EDT

Even if you don't speak a word of Japanese, there's a lot of intensity and information to be had in this newscast of the tragic Akihabara killings last Sunday. I'd just offer up a word of warning before you hit play, as there's graphic material found throughout the clip.

[TokyoMango]

Madman Kills 7 In Akihabara Gadget District Rampage

Wilson Rothman — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 14:26:15 EDT

A 25-year-old man who went berserk in Tokyo—killing seven people and wounding at least 11 others—told police, "I came to Akihabara to kill people... I am tired of the world," according to Reuters and other news stories now hitting the wires.

The Akihabara district is known to gadget lovers the world over as Japan's gizmodic heart. Today, though, a 25-year-old man named Tomohiro Kato allegedly drove his rented van into a crowd of people, then jumped out stabbing more people, including those he'd already hit with the vehicle. Reuters says that among the reported dead were six men aged 19 to 74—one who may have died from a heart attack—as well as a 21-year-old woman.
[Story and photo gallery at Reuters]
[Murky video and additional pics and maps at BBC]
[More local details at AP Japan]

Japan Watch: Akihabara Stores Using Porn to Sell Vista

Jason Chen — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 18:00:47 EDT

We all knew Japan loves running Hentai games on Vista, so it's no wonder that stores selling Microsoft's newest OS are advertising to the same market.

Scope this ad, found in a shop in Akihabara, saying "Vista Aero function is not possible on XP". Of course, Aero is a pun for "ero", or "erotic", something Ashcraft had to explain to me between swigs of sake and bites of a turkey and cheese sandwich (don't ask).

But is it helping sales? Not even in Japan. – Jason Chen

Akibablog [via Kotaku]

Noob's Guide to Akihabara

Jason Chen — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 18:00:47 EST

If you're dying to head to Akihabara after seeing our own Lam groping dozens of cellphones, here's a video for you. Essentially a complete noob's guide to Akiba, it's a good primer for people who know absolutely nothing about the area. Even if you don't get any new info out of this, you can laugh at the narrator's completely stilted reading of her lines. – Jason Chen

Akihabara video guide for otaku beginners [JapanSugoi via Kotaku]

Touching Dozens of Beautiful Japanese Cellphones

Brian Lam — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 11:39:11 EST

I'm in Tokyo, and I've been avoiding gadgets. After all, I'm supposed to be on vacation. But today Lisa took me to Akiba, and I ended up running through a dozen stores, groping over 50 handsets. I've written about some, like the incredibly simple Wilcom R9, glowing Sony Ericsson w43s and walkman-like w42s. But gripping the alien tech live was unexpectedly incredible. Here's a video of the most gorgeous handsets I could find. –Brian Lam

Japan [Gizmodo]