Akihabara

Akihabara (Akiba) is a palimpsest of a place where previous phases get pushed aside, but never totally erased. There are all sorts of sites and blog entries on Akiba, here is my short list:

• Wikitravel has a page on Akihabara with instructions as to how to get there - http://wikitravel.org/en/Tokyo/Akihabara
• Japan National Tourism Organization site on Akihabara - Tokyo's hobby heaven - http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/indepth/cultural/kie/akihabara/index.html. This has a page about the history of Akiba, http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/indepth/cultural/kie/akihabara/kie_akihabara_06.html.
• Akihabara News is not really about Akiba, it has stories about Japanese electronics and high-tech of the sort associated with Akiba - http://en.akihabaranews.com/
• A good academic discussion of Akiba and otaku is Galbraith, Patrick W. "Akihabara: Conditioning a Public "Otaku" Image." Mechademia 5 (2010): 210-30. Print.
• Galbraith also has a good article on the Maid Cafe phenomenon at, http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue25/galbraith.htm
• Slater and Galbraith have an article on the Akihabara slayings in 2008 titled "Re-Narrating Social Class and Masculinity in Neoliberal Japan: An examination of the media coverage of the 'Akihabara Incident' of 2008", http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/articles/2011/SlaterGalbraith.html

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