Akihabara (秋葉原, Akihabara^?) ("Field of Autumn Leaves"), also known as Akihabara Electric Town (秋葉原電気街, Akihabara Denki Gai^?), is an area of Tokyo, Japan. officially, is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. It is located less than five minutes by rail from Tokyo Station. is a Train station located in the Marunouchi business district of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan, near the Imperial Palace grounds and the Its name is frequently shortened to Akiba in Japan. While there is an official locality named Akihabara nearby, part of Taitō-ku, the area known to most people as Akihabara (including the railway station of the same name) is actually Soto-Kanda, a part of Chiyoda-ku. is locatedin Tokyo 's Chiyoda ward It is at the centre of the famous Akihabara shopping district specialising in electronic goods is one of the 23 special wards in central Tokyo, Japan. In English it calls itself Chiyoda City

Akihabara is a major shopping area for electronic, computer, anime, and otaku goods, including new and used items. (anime in Japanese, is a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests particularly Anime, Manga, and Video games. New items are mostly to be found on the main street, Chūōdōri, with many kinds of used items found in the back streets of Soto Kanda 3-chōme. The Japanese addressing system is used to identify a specific location in Japan. First-hand parts for PC-building are readily available from a variety of stores. Tools, electrical parts, wires, microsized cameras and similar items are found in the cramped passageways of Soto Kanda 1-chōme (near the station). Foreign tourists tend to visit the big name shops like Laox or other speciality shops near the station, though there is more variety and lower prices at locales a little further away. Akihabara gained some fame through being home to one of the first stores devoted to personal robots and robotics.

Contents 1 Brief history 2 Establishments around Akihabara 2.1 Manseibashi Police Station 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

Brief history

• The area was just out of Sujikai-gomon city gate (present Mansei bridge) which was one of the city gates (Mitsuke) of old Edo (Tokyo). The multinational technology company Dell Inc develops manufactures sells and supports Personal computers and other computer-related products A city gate is a Gate which is or was set within a City wall. is a Concrete single Arch bridge across the Kanda River in Chiyoda Tokyo. literally bay - Door, " Estuary " edo once also spelled Yedo or Yeddo, is the It was the gateway from inner Edo to northern and northwestern Japan and Kan’ei-ji temple in Ueno. is a district in Tokyo 's Taitō Ward, best known as the home of Ueno Station and Ueno Park. Many dealers, craftsmen and relatively lower class samurai lived there. is the term for the military nobility of Pre-industrial Japan.
• 1869: A major blaze destroyed the area. It brought about the decision to clear the 30,000 square metres of land in order to keep future fires from getting into inner Tokyo city.
• 1870: In this cleared land a small Shinto shrine once in old Edo Castle was built. is the native religion of Japan and was once its State religion. also known as, is a flatland castle that was built in 1457 by Ōta Dōkan. The shrine’s name was 鎮火社, which means "the extinguisher shrine").
• But many downtown Tokyo residents misunderstood the shrine. They thought that the deity Akiba or Akiha (秋葉) which was the most popular fire-controlling deity in central and eastern Japan must have been enshrined in it. They also called the cleared land "Akiba ga hara" or "Akibappara" which means "the deity Akiba’s square".
• 1888: The shrine moved to Matsugaya, near Asakusa. is a district in Taitō Tokyo, Japan, most famous for the Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the Bodhisattva Kannon.
• 1890: Extension of the rail line (now the Tōhoku Main Line) from Ueno to Akihabara. The is a 6313 km long Railway line operated mainly by the East Japan Railway Company, although a small segment in the north is now operated by the Iwate Ginga Railway At first there was no passenger service, for south of the station was the Akihabara cargo docks, where goods from all over the world would flow into Kanda by river and be hauled up the east bank of the canal to be ticketed at the central cargo transport window.
• From the Meiji to the Shōwa period, as the electric railway improved transport to Akihabara and the surrounds, and especially due to the growth in dealerships, the district was designated as Seika Shijō (青果市場: vegetables and fruits market). The, or Meiji era, denotes the 45-year reign of the Meiji Emperor, running in the Gregorian calendar, from 23 October 1868 to 30 July The, or Shōwa era, is the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Shōwa ( Hirohito) from December 25, 1926 to
• 1925: Akihabara-Tokyo station connection opened as the Tohoku line extended to Tokyo.
• 1930: The temporary Manseibashi Subway Station opens; it is closed in November 1931. can refer to two closed train stations all in Chiyoda Tokyo, Japan
• 1932: As the Green Line station opened with an interconnection, Akihabara became an important transfer point.
• 1935: Official establishment of Seika Shijō. (Kanda Seika Shijō).
• 1936: The site of Manseibashi Station was closed (later the Transportation Museum—now closed). can refer to two closed train stations all in Chiyoda Tokyo, Japan Railway mania had reached its zenith. The area became the number one place for electrical supplies.
• Circa 1945-1955 After World War II, a black market at Kanda developed around the first school of electrical manufacturing (now the Tokyo Denki University:東京電機大学). World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Clustered around the Sobu Main line, what began as a host of electrical stores selling vacuum tubes, radio goods and electrical items to the students, has today come to be known as Electric Town. Definition The character of the line distincts at Chiba Western urbanized section is informally but commonly called without "Main" This article is about the electronic device not an evacuated pipe used for experiments in Free-fall. Called "musen" or "wireless" shops, they were the first to begin selling radios. With the advent of wireless and radio goods, people came to be much more connected.
• 1960s: Thanks to advanced technology, the rival Nipponbashi district of Osaka took its position as an equally prominent Electric Town, selling vast volumes of household consumer durable goods such as televisions, refrigerators and washing machines. is a shopping district of Naniwa Ward, Osaka, Japan. The area is centered along Sakaisuji Avenue extending from the Ebisu-chō Interchange of the Hanshin Expressway is a city in Japan, located at the mouth of the Yodo River on Osaka Bay, in the Kansai region of the main island of Honshū Consumers refers to individuals or households that use goods and services generated within the economy. In Economics, a durable good or a hard good is a good which does not quickly wear out or more specifically it yields services or Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic A refrigerator (often called a " fridge " for short is a cooling appliance comprising a thermally insulated compartment and a Heat pump - A washing machine, or washer, is a machine designed to clean Laundry, such as Clothing, Towels and sheets The term is mostly applied
• 1980s: Accompanying the spread of the personal computer in family homes ("Famikom"), local shops increasingly began to deal in computer games, and major gaming chain stores appeared on the market. A personal computer ( PC) is any Computer whose original sales price size and capabilities make it useful for individuals and which is intended to be operated A personal computer Game (also known as a computer game or simply PC game) is a Video game played on a Personal computer, rather
• 1989: Kanda Seika Shijō moved to Ōta-ku, south district of Tokyo. is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan.As of 2008 the ward has an estimated Population of 677341 and a density of 11360 persons per
• 1990s: With the Yamada and Kojima household chain stores appearing throughout the suburban outskirts of Tokyo, the sale of consumer durables at Akihabara was greatly reduced, however the sale of computer goods increased in equal measure.
• 1991:Sofmap begins its rise as a major seller of new and used Japan-market computer parts and software, including popular systems from NEC (PC-8801 and 9801), Sharp (X68000) and Fujitsu (FM-Towns). Sofmap Co Ltd (ソフマップ Sofumappu) ( is a Japanese Retailer which sells both new and used electronics. is a Japanese multinational IT company headquartered in Minato Tokyo, Japan. SHARP may refer to Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice Super High Altitude Research Project, a 1990s project to develop a high-velocity is a Japanese company specializing in Semiconductors Computers ( Supercomputers Personal computers, servers, Telecommunications Sofmap chain stores begin popping up in different locations in Akihabara.
• 1994: The Windows PC boom and accompanying computer store growth began.
• It was also during the 1990s that the anime craze grew out of computer games, and the youth group known as otaku began to pour into Akihabara.
• Since 2000, with name-brand computer sales in decline, anime shops have arisen in their place, selling to the otaku crowd.
• August 25, 2005: Tsukuba Express, Tokyo's fastest private railway, opens in Akihabara. Events 1248 - The Dutch city of Ommen receives city rights and fortification rights from Otto III the Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The, or TX, is a Japanese railway line of the Metropolitan Intercity Railway Company that links Akihabara Station in Chiyoda Tokyo and
• Since 2005, major redevelopment and modernization of the station and surrounding area.
• June 8, 2008: The Akihabara massacre took place on the Sunday-pedestrian-zoned Chūōdōri street. Events 68 - The Roman Senate accepts emperor Galba. 536 - St Silverius becomes Pope (probable 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common The was an incident of Mass murder that took place on Sunday June 8, 2008 in the Akihabara shopping quarter for electronics video games and comics in Car-free zones (also known as auto-free zones and pedestrian zones) are areas of a city or town in which automobile traffic is prohibited A man killed seven in an attack on a crowd using a truck and a survival knife. Survival knives are intended for Survival purposes when lost in a Wilderness environment ^[1][2][3]

Establishments around Akihabara

Manseibashi Police Station

Manseibashi Police Station (万世橋警察署, Manseibashi Keisatsusho^?) [1] is a station of Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. The Metropolitan Police Department (警視庁 Keishichō) serves as the Police force for the entire Tokyo metropolis. The station takes its name from the nearby bridge, Manseibashi. is a Concrete single Arch bridge across the Kanda River in Chiyoda Tokyo. The area north of the bridge is Akihabara Electric Town".

The station is located slightly east of the Mansei bridge (35°41′50.2″N 139°46′18.5″E / 35.697278, 139.771806), on the Akihabara side of the Kanda River. ^[4] In addition to the police station, the building houses other government offices.

The station began as a substation of Kanda Police Station in April 1905. Year 1905 ( MCMV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting It was disbanded a year later, but re-established in various forms until June 1927, when it was established as the Kanda Manseibashi Police Station. It moved back in with the Kanda station after the station was destroyed in the WWII fire-bombing of Tokyo. In November 1948 the station was re-established under its present name, Manseibashi Police Station. Year 1948 ( MCMXLVIII) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. New station buildings were completed in 1969 and again in 2000. ^[4]

See also

• Nipponbashi, in Osaka

References

External links

• Akihabara Official website (Japanese)
• Akihabara Official website (English)

Articles

• Tokyo/Akihabara travel guide from Wikitravel
• In Tokyo, a Ghetto of Geeks from Washington Post
• Akihabara Guide @ Picturetokyo.comAkihabara Information & Gallery
• Akihabara - Tokyo

Media

• Photos of Tokyo and Akihabara
• Map of Akihabara's anime and manga related stores: (North is to the right)

Akiba Walker SOUTH (Japanese)

Akiba Walker NORTH (Japanese)

• Printable Akihabara shopping map (word doc)

Akihabara shopping map by ZiM Map in English

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