What the Tsukiji Central Fish Market is to the foodstuff trade, Akihabara is to Japan's renowned electronics business: full of life, full of activity and excitement to observe. You do not have to wake up early in the sunrise to catch the battle - afternoon is most important time.

Big box vendors, wholesale shops and small stalls all fight to sell you everything from large appliances to microscopic components, robots, mouse pads and next year's computers, some at a steep discount from prices on the outside. Some items are intended for export, others are just coming on the marketplace, and so even if you have no purpose of shopping now, it is worth a quick look to see what you may be buying two years from now.

Akihabara can no longer assert special rights to the title of the city's electronics center, however it is still quite the sight. As the electronics industry has moved elsewhere, Akihabara has focused to the boom market in comic strip manga, frequently of the pornographic assortment, to round out its financial activity.