Akihabara is known as "Electric Town" - it is here that the biggest concentration of electronic stores in Tokyo is found. The competition is cut throat and prices generally much lower than elsewhere in Tokyo. Few Tokyoites will consider a major electronic purchase without first visiting Akihabara. It is also the place to go for the latest in anime and video games.

In Japan a new model of a kitchen appliance comes on the market at least every year. For televisions, video cameras, video machines and stereos, a model is old after six months. For PC and PC peripherals the lifespan is even shorter and for some cellular phones it can be as short as five weeks! You may find electronic cheaper back home but unlikely newer. In large stores, which often have several branches in Akihabara such as Llaox, Sato Musen, Yamagiwa and Ishimaru, you can see and compare the latest models from all major Japanese manufacturers.

The love for the new often means that the old can be had for a song. Literally thousands of smaller stores sell these "last year’s models" for much cheaper than the flashier stores with the up to the minute models.

Right in front of JR Akihabara station is a kind of component market. Hundreds of minute stores, some not bigger than a seat for the owner and tens of boxes with thousands of small components are squashed in together in a small crowded area. Aisles are narrow and with stuff hanging from the ceilings taller people have to duck from time to time but you can get practically anything used in any electronic or electric device here. Need an adapter for a Dell notebook cable to plug a small South African standard three-point plug into a Japanese two-point outlet? Email me - I can cut your search down from more than 20 stalls that I had to visit to just one!

Shops in Akihabara tend to open late - at 10:00 am the place is still virtually dead. Best is to arrive at 11. Shops stay open until about 20:00. Like the rest of Tokyo

Akihabara is best reach by JR Chuo or Yamanote lines. There is an Akihabara subway station but it spews you out at the wrong end of the JR station and you are in for a long walk on pedestrian unfriendly roads. Best is to use the Ginza subway line to Suehirocho Station, which takes you to the computer shop end of Akihabara. Consumer electronic and electric devices dominate the area closer to the JR station.

People go to Akihabara to shop not to eat so the choice of restaurants in this area, although improved the last couple of years, remains dismal. Apart from some fast food outlets and a few coffee shops the choice is pretty unappetizing and it is better to head elsewhere at meal times.