In Tokyo, A Ghetto of Geeks

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/06/AR2005060601767.html

Old news, maybe, but the drawing of the Miyazaki at the bottom of the balding/clippers thread brought this to mind... Where would this be in the US, I'm wondering?

― giboyeux (skowly), Friday, 17 June 2005 15:52 (twenty years ago)

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/images/fatnerd1.gif

― the PSB signal (nordicskilla), Friday, 17 June 2005 15:55 (twenty years ago)

Ishihara maintains a growing collection of 130 life-size pillows of female anime characters

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 17 June 2005 15:57 (twenty years ago)

That sentence is missing the phrase "cum-stained."

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Friday, 17 June 2005 15:58 (twenty years ago)

That's the one. And I am stupid: it's on the Howl's Castle thread. WHich would make sense, of course.

...can you imagine living in the Geekto? Or get your head around the fact that there's a alarmingly large population of "shut-ins?" Too creepy.

(xpost: ....shudder)

― giboyeux (skowly), Friday, 17 June 2005 15:58 (twenty years ago)

I love how they follow up the information about the 130 pillows with his quote: "There are some people who do lose their grip on reality, but that is not me -- or most of us."

― Leon C. (Ex Leon), Friday, 17 June 2005 16:00 (twenty years ago)

Dr. Z: "THEY'RE the ones who are INSANE!"

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 17 June 2005 16:01 (twenty years ago)

a building where Japanese nerds rent transparent, locker-size cubicles in part to sell, but mostly to show off, collections reflecting their distinctive tastes.

wtf?

― Miss Misery (thatgirl), Friday, 17 June 2005 16:10 (twenty years ago)

If you are in NYC, go to the final Murakami Superflat exhibition ("Little Boy" at Japan Society) which cohesively and coherently addresses the whole yurui/kawaii/moe phenomenon of the past 30 years (just scanned the article and see that it's touched on a little bit, but just to elaborate).

I found Akihabara not esp. weird, especially compared to certain (similarly merchandised but with entirely different content) shopping experiences in America (eg, the Grenada, Mississippi SuperWalMart's three empirely massive aisles of candy/junk food).

The Akihabara electronics shops are really great if you are into latest trends in electronics, there is nowhere else on earth where you can find all the up-to-the-second technology at your fingertips.

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 17 June 2005 16:12 (twenty years ago)

Yea, but its all in JAPANESE

― DAEREST V1CE MAGAZINE!!!!! (ex machina), Friday, 17 June 2005 16:21 (twenty years ago)

a building where Japanese nerds rent transparent, locker-size cubicles in part to sell, but mostly to show off, collections reflecting their distinctive tastes.

This just sounds like most small antique/toy shops in the US where collectors rent out display cases and put their stuff for sale on consignment. So you'll see a case full of '60s Barbies next to a case full of TV show lunchboxes next to Star Wars toys, with each case reflecting that person's collection. It's not really that weird or unusual.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 17 June 2005 16:51 (twenty years ago)

I agree, Akihabara didn't strike me as really weird. But then I was probably too busy gawking at the electronic gadgets. :-)

― nathalie's post modern sleaze fest (stevie nixed), Friday, 17 June 2005 16:53 (twenty years ago)

Akihabara sounds just like the SF Bay Area. Too bad Fry's doesn't have the imagination to hire cute female employees and dress them up in anime costumes. It would be huge.

― mikef (mfleming), Friday, 17 June 2005 23:03 (twenty years ago)

Fry's does have pretty cool fantasy themes though. I've been to the Pyramid themed one in San Jose, the Alien/UFO/B-movie themed one in Burbank, and the Alice In Wonderland Fry's in Woodland Hills. I agree that these themes would be vastly improved if the employees were all in costume.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 17 June 2005 23:07 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, the themed Fry's were hilarious, just for their WTF value. The Palo Alto Fry's is western-themed, there's the "Sine Wave" Fry's in Sunnyvale too. But I think all the newer Fry's are unthemed.

― mikef (mfleming), Saturday, 18 June 2005 02:36 (twenty years ago)

Oh here we are, I guess they are all themed:

http://www.frys.com/hisframe.html

I do think the pyramid theme is the best.

― mikef (mfleming), Saturday, 18 June 2005 02:39 (twenty years ago)

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