Budget hotels thinking outside the capsule
With Japan's tourist numbers and hotel prices on the rise thanks to a weaker yen, developers are getting creative with a new niche line of stylish but cheap accommodations in bunks, cabins and pods of all shapes and sizes. Even a tiny double room in ...
Akihabara outfit aims to become a hub for hardware startups
Clustered electronics stores, maid cafes and the home of idol group AKB48 — Tokyo's Akihabara district is famous for many things. And the list of unique spots may get even longer, as the district now has a large-scale facility for hardware startups to create innovative ...
The AKB48 Theater in Tokyo's Akihabara district, the base for all-girl chorus and dance troupe AKB48, on Wednesday welcomed its millionth visitor since opening on Dec. 8, 2005. Its beginnings were underwhelming: There were only seven people in the audience during the group's first performance ...
Ninja promote 'cool' vending machines
To lure foreign tourists, especially Chinese arriving in large numbers for the Lunar New Year holiday, JR East is promoting Japan's cutting-edge vending machine technology at JR Akihabara Station in Tokyo, with staff dressed in ninja and kimono outfits. JR East Water Business Co. has ...
Top court finalizes death sentence over 2008 Akihabara murder rampage
The Supreme Court has finalized the death sentence for a man convicted of killing seven people and wounding 10 others in an indiscriminate rampage in Tokyo's Akihabara district in 2008, court officials said Wednesday. The court's First Petty Bench led by Justice Ryuko Sakurai on ...
Death sentence upheld for Akihabara rampage killer
The Supreme Court finalizes the death penalty of Tomohiro Kato for the vehicular homicide and stabbing spree that left seven people dead and 10 injured on the streets of Tokyo’s Akihabara neighborhood in 2008.
'Gacha gacha' machines not just for kids anymore
Among the wide array of vending machines peddling items from the everyday to the obscure, one staple in Japan is the toy-dispensing "gacha gacha," which is named after the handle-turning noise that precedes the release of the plastic capsule. While the majority of gacha gacha ...
Transformational Akihabara has its finger on the pulse of pop culture
Tokyo's Akihabara district is always transforming itself. Once promoted as the nation's largest shopping area for home electronics and computers, where vendors thrived in line with Japan's postwar surge in prosperity, Akihabara — or "Akiba" for short — is now the center of the nation's ...
Legendary Akihabara Radio Store closing its doors after six decades
The Akihabara Radio Store, the shopping center of small merchants that pioneered the development of Tokyo's Akihabara neighborhood as the world's largest commercial district for electronics, will be open for the last time this Saturday. Facing a decline in customers, the owners decided last year ...
Dempagumi.inc: Akihabara' kawaii-guru idols
Dempagumi.inc have become the faces of a new generation of Akihabara pop music, as well as a force to be reckoned with in the fashion world.
Six people were injured when their hands got caught in a damaged escalator at JR Akihabara Station in Tokyo on Wednesday, police said. At around 9:25 a.m., three men and three women got their hands pinched between the escalator's handrail and a 50-cm-long metal lip ...
Cult of the voice actor continues to grow
The voice actors behind well-loved anime are stars in the their own right.
