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GeordieBoy

Fri Oct 23 2009, 11:02PM

Registered Member #1232 Joined: Wed Jan 16 2008, 10:53PM
Location: Doon tha Toon!
Posts: 881

Hi guys,

I've spent the last 2 weeks in Japan (Tokyo area) visiting family and exploring. I've posted a few photos that I thought you guys might find interesting here:

The first few pics (and MPEG video) are of Tokyo's famous "Electric Town" Akihabara. In the confined space beneath the train line there is a thriving market... But, this particular market doesn't sell fruit, veg, or even raw fish, it's actually full of little shops selling every electronic gadget and component you could think of! (Not many places where you can pick up a 1000A thyristor and RF Vaccum tubes whilst in town doing your weekly shopping.)

The "Mylord box" was a piece of electronic art in the form of a 10x10x10 ft touch-sensitive cube covered in lights. It was located at the end of a busy street near Shinjuku main station. The plastic case had hand symbols printed on it to encourage passers-by to touch the surface. Doing so started a swirling pattern of colours, a growing light spreading from where it was touched, or snowfall that gradually built up at the bottom! Neat! It would even leave an after-image of your whole body if you stood against the surface for a few seconds, and was bright enough to light up the street.

The last few pictures are in reply to the one posted on here some time ago showing cables coiled up overhead. There's lots of overhead wire in Japan, because it's an earthquake zone so expensive to dig up and replace damaged cables. The top of the poles carry 6600V lines (the local distribution voltage) and lower down is the 100V to nearby buildings. The transformer is balanced on the pole somewhere near the top, with a sign near the bottom reminding people not to stand underneath: Remember the earthquake problem! Their tendancy to hang all of these wires overhead also causes a lot of surges to residential properties due to the frequency of lightening in the area

There's also the clichÃ©d city by night pictures and a packed subway train. (I was told "don't count on being able to inflate more than one lung if you catch a busy train after 10pm", and they weren't joking!!)

-Richie,

Myke

Fri Oct 23 2009, 11:29PM

Registered Member #540 Joined: Mon Feb 19 2007, 07:49PM
Location: MIT
Posts: 969

Wow. I really like those pictures you took.
Those are some expensive audio tubes

Did you get any electronics parts while you were in Akihabara?
*wants to go to japan*

Proud Mary

Sat Oct 24 2009, 09:37AM

Registered Member #543 Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992

We used to have electronics shops like that in Britain - piled up to the ceiling with WW2 electronics - WS19, WS52, Parmeko xformers, magnetrons with giant magnets, all at giveaway prices. Now we only have wishy-washy Maplin, though I guess ebay has more than made up for the loss.

Steve Conner

Sat Oct 24 2009, 10:37AM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

Great stuff Richie!

I've always wanted to see the Akihabara market, it looks like geek heaven. I think they'd be envious of my tube collection, though.

Harry: I remember the last of the surplus electronics stores, though they all went out of business years ago. There was a little shop in Glasgow's Saltmarket street, like a sweet shop but stacked to the roof with goodies like miniature light bulbs, buzzers, crocodile clip leads in every colour of the rainbow, and CB radios.

Maplin are OK, I needed parts to build my guitar fuzz box, and was able to get most of them over the counter.

Ebay is OK, but it's not half as fun as rummaging through boxes of stuff in a real flea market.

Proud Mary

Sat Oct 24 2009, 10:59AM

Registered Member #543 Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992

[quote]
Ebay is OK, but it's not half as fun as rummaging through boxes of stuff in a real flea market.
[/quote1256381875

I'll second that, Steve. Nothing like the allure of hidden treasure!

Noelle

Sat Oct 24 2009, 04:24PM

Napoleonic Powermonger
Registered Member #2 Joined: Thu Jan 26 2006, 05:10AM
Location: Meadville, PA
Posts: 70

Those are some cool pictures! What an interesting side of Japan to see. Most pictures I see of that country are the same; people eating sushi, kids dressed up crazy. I like seeing the more everyday aspect.

GeordieBoy

Sat Oct 24 2009, 08:10PM

Registered Member #1232 Joined: Wed Jan 16 2008, 10:53PM
Location: Doon tha Toon!
Posts: 881

like a sweet shop but stacked to the roof with goodies like miniature light bulbs, buzzers, crocodile clip leads in every colour of the rainbow, and CB radios.

That's exactly what it was like Steve. Each stall was literally packed with stuff in little boxes, zip bags and trays from the ceiling down to the floor. Some also had cardboard boxes full of miscellaneous "junk" around the floor too. I wish I'd had a few hours to rumage!

Those are some expensive audio tubes
Did you get any electronics parts while you were in Akihabara?
*wants to go to japan*

Yeah, the exchange rate now is 150 Yen to the pound (or about 92 Yen to the US$) so some of those tubes are worth over a grand!

I bought a few transistors that are hard to get here for an analogue synthesiser project, that's all. (Hopefully these genuine parts made in the land of the rising sun will have special Ninja powers and make it sound as good as a Roland, Yamaha or Korg!)

Japan is a great place to visit if you can think of a reason to go. Very clean, very efficient, and very little street crime. Food not great though.

Watching the engines of a 747 wobble as we landed at Narita in a Cyclone wasn't much fun either!!! (>.<)

-Richie,

Avalanche

Sat Oct 24 2009, 08:13PM

Registered Member #103 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 08:16PM
Location: Derby, UK
Posts: 845

There is still one of those type of shops here in Derby called RF Potts - it's a family owned setup and the front window looks like that shop in Richie's video. I used to buy components from there all the time when I was a kid, it's probably what got me into building stuff, because I knew I could just go and give them a big list of components and they would go and find everything, even germanium transistors and it wasn't that long ago! I feel guilty using the likes of Farnell nowadays, supporting local business and all that.

Nicko

Sat Oct 24 2009, 08:17PM

Registered Member #1334 Joined: Tue Feb 19 2008, 04:37PM
Location: Nr. London, UK
Posts: 615

Bring back HL Smiths, Proops, (the original) Henry's Radio etc.

I worked in Hong Kong about 18 months ago - there's an area in Sham Shui Po (Kowloon side) called Apliu Street

and

that is FULL of electronic component stalls. I have an HK Chinese colleague who is into tube audio (like me) and who took me around - most of the stall holders only speak Chinese dialects and you need a native speaker to spot the fakes and to argue for the "local" price (not the tourist one). The Golden Centre is full of 1000s of gadget stalls similar to the ones in your photos.

Interesting that you showed a lot of tubes - not at enormously attractive prices either. FWIW, HK was the same - my colleague says that even he doesn't buy tubes in HK any more - he buys either from the mainland or from eBay - its cheaper.

What were very cheap were amazing audio/video cables, big capacitors, amazing gadgets etc. You have to be selective...

Geek Heaven!

Marko

Sat Oct 24 2009, 08:21PM

Registered Member #89 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 02:40PM
Location: Zadar, Croatia
Posts: 3145

Hm, am I only one to notice the apparent Japanese fascination with making everything extremely colorful - even inside of the electronics shop? :D

It's really overcrowded though - I probably wouldn't want to live in a tokyo center myself, but I'd really wish to visit the place one day.

Could you communicate with sellers and etc. in english, Richie? How good are they at it?

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