Name: Exploring Old Akihabara Before it Disappears
Uploaded: 2025-10-22T18:24:55.000Z
Duration: 12 min 29 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

The superlative

These are some of the oldest shops in Akihabara, with some owners going for half a century or more apparently, but

Present continuous

Future simple

A few years back, I documented the closure of this area's most legendary shop.

And when I finished, its owner, Shimiyama san gifted the shop to me.

I rebuilt the shop into my studio here in Akihabara and shared that too.

The project gained a lot of momentum and way more attention than I ever expected.

And little did I know that it would lead to me being called out to a warehouse at 5am Just a few years later.

So I got a phone call from a new creative partner to the channel asking me to come to this warehouse.

Well, it is five o' clock in the morning right now.

So there's a tiny little retro arcade machine over here, and it seems like there's something on it.

It says head into deep Akihabara and meet some of the characters who have worked there for as much as half a century.

Learn from each of them and along the way, collect instructions and pieces to gear up this retro arcade machine to play Ninja Gaiden 4 on day one with Xbox game Pass.

This needs to be completed by the end of the day.

Your first hint is Akihabara's tiniest bookstore.

And now I get the tiny 80s retro arcade machine because the original Ninja Gaiden game was released for arcade just like this.

And I'm pretty sure she's been here longer than Shimiyama san was.

We're gonna have to come back and do a much more detailed.

It's crazy to think that when she started, side scrollers like the original Ninja Gaiden didn't even exist.

And now we've got cutting edge experiences like Ninja Gaiden 4.

I'm guessing these are the items I need to track down.

And number three is an exclusive custom controller.

But only two of these have hints written on it.

The heart and the controller make sense because Xbox Game Pass allows you to play on any device with cloud gaming.

Just like I am right now on a rooftop with the preview.

But something tells me that a retro arcade machine from the 1980s probably doesn't meet the system requirements.

But looks like we're going to Looks like we're going to build some stuff out.

Just because that feels like the easiest grab.

The hint for it was the Tokyo Radio Department Store, first floor.

It feels a lot less like a hint and more of just telling me where it is.

So this here is the legendary, yet somewhat hidden Tokyo Radio Department store.

And all these parts shops were kind of forced indoors after Tokyo passed a law back in 1949 making it illegal for them to set up street stalls out on the streets of Akihabara.

Turns out that hint probably could have been a little more hinty.

So we'll come down here to the first floor.

And I guess maybe I'm just supposed to go around speaking to random people.

There's a big city sign here for all of the shops, but I have.

this envelope seems way too tiny to have a controller in it, but

Please come back at the end of the day after the shops closed.

So while you're waiting, call this number and have the arcade machine custom wrapped with near future Tokyo style artwork that represents the Ninja Gaiden four game.

Okay, I don't know this person and they don't know me, but let's give this a shot.

I was told to call you and ask if you have the custom wrap for the arcade machine ready to install.

I guess I'm not the only one under a time crunch.

But that would bring us to the trading card man.

And I think that'll take us underneath the tracks of Akihabara Station.

Because I think a bunch of these proprietors have their own trading cards.

Shops closing so early in Akihabara has always been weird to me, especially as the tech capital of Tokyo.

But a lot of these shops, like the old woman, run on one shift, so short hours but it's crazy to see just how many of these places are shuttered up.

It's just you can get all these parts online now.

So the parts shops just aren't as necessary as they once were.

I do like though how all of this feels like a game.

I genuinely feel like I'm on a bit of a quest or an adventure right now.

This is the gentleman that we need to find next.

And some of the people up on this floor have their own trading cards.

This shop as well, which I really like is this card.

Which means it's probably going to be this gentleman.

Subtitles ListPlay Video

Exploring Old Akihabara Before it Disappears

incredible

reveal

grab

wrap