Friday Travel: Akihabara, Japan
(This post will begin a regular Friday feature, which will appear here obviously each Friday unless there is “megaton news” going on. As part of our title includes the phrase “on the go”, we’ll take a look at just where you can take said gaming while you are on that go. This Friday feature may include looks at where handhelds are being played, sold, or whatever. It’ll be a little different than what you are used to on most gaming blogs, but I’m hoping you’ll enjoy it.)
It’s a slow day, so let us take this opportunity to allow ourselves a look into the cradle of our little subset of civilization which rests within the land of the rising sun. We’ll take a little visit to Sofmap in Akihabara, Japan.
A place in which you almost literally can take your thumb out of your mouth to test the winds of change within Japanese sensibilities when it comes to video games. The retail environment within there itself looks entirely different than what we’re accustomed to here in the West. Depending on how you chose to take it, it’s either the residue of a vomit of pop culture or the physical representation of a video game itself, entailing “levels” of game systems and accessories, each of which looks entirely different.
Throughout much of the past decade, the popular system in Japan at the time would attain much of the main attention by existing on the first, and obviously most travelled floor of the establishment. But there’s a bit of a change lately. The pictures caringly supplied by Kotaku in this post, actually all are on the first floor. You may notice the Nintendo love shown as well. Yes, it’s true. What was once Sony territory now has the fine people of Japan scurrying amongst its aisles looking for Nintendo property. It’s happened over this past Summer, and it’s a very good indication of what’s currently happening in the industry as shown by the smart consumers of Japan.
travel, gaming, sony, nintendo, japan
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