Akihabara is not the best place to buy consumer electronics. Granted, it's an AMAZING place to find rare, esoteric, new, or otherwise difficult to find bits of bits, stuff for ham radio, transistors, computer parts, and lots of things that you didn't know existed but do. Commonly available consumer electronics, on the other hand, are generally overpriced in Japan and only slightly less overpriced in Akihabara. I went there to buy a new Sandisk Ultra II 16GB memory card for my camera and couldn't find one for less than double what it goes for online. What I did find was a plastic edamame that you can squeeze to make a little plastic soybean with a dog face pop in and out of its skin. And thus we have the true reason that one should make the trek to Akiba: weird, weird toys, and the girls in maid outfits that come to buy them. Oh Japan, you're the best! Also, I bought a new mouse; I feel like buying it in Akiba has imbued it with mystical powers. This is a bit of willful delusion, as the same logic has quite obviously not panned out re: the GameboyDS that I bought in Akiba last year, on which I continue to suffer one brutal defeat after another in Mario Party, at the hands of Julie DePaulo. Darn you Jukie!!!!!
