But it is those independently owned places that still remain that are the gems - scratch under the surface, and find the hidden shops on the upper floors and you discover the remaining independent traders which made the area what it was. Radio Kaikan may be a hole in the ground, and there may be a different current visibly flowing through Akiba these days, and Den-Den Town in Osaka is slowly falling into the same trap (but still fantastic in it's own right), but stores such as Super Potato (which still sell original unwrapped mint copies of Gameboy Games out of the original carton that was found at the back of an old warehouse for only 300 yen a game), or the hard-to-find Arcade shops on the fringes of akiba (that will let you handle some of the rarest arcade boards known to man, and then sell you a mega pile of spare buttons and joysticks for only 25 pounds) are what really make those places shine.
And what have we got in London? Tottenham Court Road? I'd rather have a Maid Cafe than a DFS, and Yodobashi Camera than PC World, thank you very much....
Biting the hand that feeds IT
