Akihibara

After the Sky Tree I make my way to the Akihibara district which is the home of the original Otaku (obsessive fan, often creepy, of manga and anime). This place is famous for discount electronic stores and maid cafes where patrons are waited on by subservient maids in traditional uniforms.

This is also the home base for AKB48, Japan's most popular music group. The band is actually some weird kind of collective with over 90 members. All cute girls in skimpy outfits. Apparently one member may even be a composite computer program. With over 90 members they are always releasing singles and performing so they have been able to retain dominance of the pop charts for the last 2 years.

There is a massive fan base for the group (as much male as female, maybe more male). People can vote for who they want to sing lead or which sub group of the band (yes, there are subgroups) they want to release the next single. Who needs actual politics when your favorite pop group already operates like a small country.

Anyway Akihibara is pretty seedy and I'm not finding anything of interest. Plus there's a 6 story tall poster of Celine Dion on one of the buildings so I need to get out of here as soon as possible.