Akihabara - the mecca of electronics. Who wouldn't want to live there? Especially when there aren't enough places to live, or it costs you both arms, both legs, and mortgaging your first-born child. Surprisingly, there are places around Akihabara that are just right for the taking, just not in Akihabara. In the last of a two part series we continue to explore living in Akihabara.

Want to live in Akihabara? Part Two

Because it has everything needed close-by for a decent urban life - close to the major business districts and conveniently situated near major transportation nodes, Akihabara is potentially prime real estate.

This however, according a couple of successful PC shop employees, is not the case. The truth is, its reputation as an electronic wonderland and geeks’ paradise actually hurts Akihabara. Most people want to keep their distance, but there are still a number who would like to live close to it all – if most of them didn’t end up giving up. The real thing keeping these people at bay is the lack of available housing.

The number of people who say with certainty, “The rents too high” or “There aren’t enough available and decent places” is truly overwhelming. Strangely, no one wants to live next to a 24-hour anime porn store, or someplace where people shout about having the lowest prices on stereos, hairdryers, washing machines, and mouse-pads. In order to get to the bottom of this, Mr. Kubota of Aparutoman, who’s familiar with the real estate situation in Akihabara and the surrounding area explained the situation.


Mr. Kubota of Aparutoman - the man with the housing plan

According to Mr. Kubota, the situation of not enough housing is talk of the past. In 2000, Akihabara was chosen as the terminus for the new train line, the Tsukuba Express. Soon to start serving as the door to Northern Japan, the area surrounding Akihabara has become home to a flurry of new construction projects. Since 2003, the number of available apartments has increased.

An area within 2 to 5 minutes from the JR station has been occupied by Kajima Construction’s luxury condominium, Tokyo Times Tower. In its shadow a number of more affordable condos and apartments are being built.


WIth luxury condos going for up to 100,000,000 yen (about US $1,000,000), one can have a fine view of the Don Quioxte and anime shop signs.

This is important for the many males in the twenties and thirties (including PC shop employees). Assuming their average rent is under 100,000 yen/month, there are a number of available places. If rent starts at 90,000 yen/month there aren’t many availabilities in new buildings. But, if a person is willing to have a place that isn’t new, has had a little wear and tear – and has the bath and toilet in separate rooms, as well as a place to put a washing machine, prices start around 70,000 yen.


This apartment is 7 minutes from the station, was built in December 2004, and goes for 87,500 yen per month - with maintenance fees included.

(Above) This room in a steel-framed, concrete 12-story building was completed in December of 2004. The area of this apartment is 22.44 square meters. It faces the Kanda River so gets plenty of sunlight. Apartments are furnished with an automatic lock and 100Mbps LAN – best of all, it’s a bargain at just under 90,000 yen. The cable installation was just finished, so you can catch the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and then watch the Discovery channel and Cartoon Network until the wee hours of the night.

To find a similar apartment in some of the other areas of Tokyo along the Yamanote line, it’d cost roughly 100,000 yen around Shibuya, 90,000 yen around Shinjuku, and 80,000 yen near Ikebukuro – the prices decrease in a line. It just goes to show people will pay a premium for a new building and convenient transportation. Thus places in Akihabara seem like a pretty good deal.

It’s a major hurdle to find a place under 90,000 yen. However, if one is willing to go outside the center of Tokyo, apartments in Nakano, slightly west of Shinjuku, go for roughly 70,000 yen. If one is willing to go as far as Shin-Koiwa, there are even cheaper places at 60,000 yen. If one is willing to go without some of the finer things in life – like an older building, unit bath, or paper-thin walls, the rent is sure to come down even lower. (If you want to really live on the cheap, you can live in a cardboard and blue tarp structure in Shinjuku-gyoen and use public restrooms. You might not be clean, but you can pay for karaoke in the park and buy all the One Cup Ozeki you want.)


This apartment is 6 minutes from the station, was built in September 1984, and goes for 72,000 yen per month - with no maintenance fees.

(Above) This 10-story building is closer to Asakusa-Bashi Station than Akihabara. It features concrete and steel-frame construction. Many of the apartments are bought, but they’re being leased out to tenants. Constructed twenty years ago (old by Japanese standards), apartments are a claustrophobic 19 square meters. In comparison to some other places - it’s old, key money and the deposit are low, and there are no maintenance fees – it’s reasonable at 72,000 yen/month.

This is the place that even students would think about living in. At a price that good, the bad image of the place starts to fade way. For those that persevere, there are truly cheap digs to be had. As negotiations progress, there’s even talk of the 30,000 yen apartment. With the time between January and April being a prime time to move, the number of available apartments is sure to increase.

There’s not a lot of them yet, but the practice of reforming office buildings into usable cheap apartments is on the rise. Without going through the hassle of changing the piping and making the bathroom and toilet communal, the price really goes down. One of Mr. Kubota’s clients is in negotiations for a 10 square meter room (size of a really tiny bedroom or walk-in closet) for 40,000 yen.

According to Mr. Kubota, as a result of the continuing recession, many office building owners are starting to take a look at reusing their buildings for housing. For this purpose, students, part-time workers, and young company employees who want to live in the heart of the city make a good match.

Until recently, many students who commute to universities in Bunkyo-ku and Kanda have lived in Kameido and Kinshi-chou on the Sobu line. However, as prices continue to fall across the board, the student housing area is becoming gradually shifting towards Ryogoku, Asakusa, and the surrounding areas. If the trend continues and the amount of housing increases, it’s highly likely that it’ll reach Akihabara.


As the recession continues... Many buildings, yet also many "For Rent" signs

As a large commercial district becomes an area with increased housing, one could say that it’s a symbol of the decline of commerce. As a prominent electrics hub, the dense thicket of shops and offices will continue to remain the heart of Akihabara. However along the outskirts, the number of available housing units is sure to increase.

If being right in Akihabara isn’t your cup of tea, there are plenty of areas close by that by bicycle. According to the well-informed Mr. Kubota; Asakusa-bashi, Okachimachi, Kanda, Yushima, Nippori, Ryogoku (where sumo tournaments are held), and Kodenma are all only one stop away. There are many people who dream of being able to live in Yushima, a well-known upper-class residential area. However, what if being close to Akihabara isn’t good enough. Is it hopeless for people who still want to live in right where the stereos, video games, costume bars, anime porn shops, and big-screen TV’s are?

The concrete reason for the lack of housing in Akihabara is due to being regarded mainly as a commercial area - the lack of affordable housing and the high price of available housing play a major role. Living near the JR Akihabara station may be impossible, but there is one nearby area where the housing situation is improving.

Among the familiar PC parts and anime shops, due to the development projects near the station, Akihabara is undergoing massive changes to become a large IT base.

However, certain real estate agents who handle many buildings in the Electric Town area say, “If there’s an available lower floor space, the first ones wanting to lease want to open an anime shop.”


Luxury apartments, PC parts, and scantily-clad cartoon schoolgirls - who knew it'd go so well?

Mixing luxury apartments, high-tech offices, and the Electric Town stores, plus anime shops all in a central area certainly provides unique and but confusing elements in the modern Akihabara. But the future Akihabara, with the new Joban line slated to open in the fall of 2006 and the Akihabara UDX development project slated to be complete in March 2006, will certainly cause a 180-degree change.

It’s clear that as the area becomes more residential, the number of supermarkets and stores necessary for daily living will also increase – making the area just as livable as the surrounding areas.

As the year begins and the flow of students and company employees moving to Tokyo starts, it’d be nice to be able to recommend Akihabara. Besides having great available housing, they also don’t have to go far to get the latest and greatest electronic gadgets – digital cameras, rice cookers, cellphones, TV’s, computers; their anime fix (need I say more), and fulfill their cosplay fetishes.

Previous Article available here:
Part One
Article Inspired by:
http://www.itmedia.co.jp/pcupdate/articles/0412/28/news024.html