Akihabara Electric Town

After the Second World War a black market grew near the station, and by the 1950s the area specialised in household electronics. As home computers arrived in the 1980s, shops turned to computers, anime, manga and video games, and otaku became their customers. Today the streets are covered with anime and manga imagery, cosplayers hand out flyers for maid cafes, and large arcades and electronics shops fill the district. It is widely seen as the centre of Japanese otaku culture.