Categories
Manga

Cheap manga

If you like manga then Japan is your paradise, manga is cheap here and there are millions of them. If you buy new manga it costs around 400 and 600 Yen, but if you buy used manga volumes then you only have to pay around 100 Yen (1.1$). Even though manga is still popular, the industry is immersed in big crisis and people talks about the 90s as the golden decade for manga and anime. If people read manga while commuting in the old time, now people prefers to use their keitais (mobile phones) to read the latest news or send emails and play with their Nintendo DS or PSP.

manga
100 Yen manga

manga
250 Yen

manga
100 Yen

manga
100 Yen

Categories
JapanGuide Travel

Tokyo Midtown

Tokyo Midtown is the name of the last “micro-futuristic city” in Tokyo. The construction cost was 300 billion dollars and it opened its doors last year.

The direct competitor is Roppongi Hills, that it’s just 500 meters away. Midtown’s main building is taller than Roppongi Hills Mori tower, in fact, it is the tallest building in Tokyo. Inside Tokyo Midtown there are the offices of Konami or Yahoo Japan, it seems the office rental is cheaper than the Roppongi Hills one. There are also apartments, if you want to live in Tokyo Midtown it will cost you around 5.000~8.000$ a month for a100 square meters.

Here there is a map with the most interesting places in Tokyo Midtown:

Tokyo Midtown

Tokyo Midtown

  • 1.- Main entrance: from this entrance you have the best view of the complex. It gives access to the commercial area that fills the first five floors.
  • 2.- Suntory museum: museum with temporal exhibitions.
  • 3.- Hinokicho park: is my favorite area. It’s a very quite park even been in the center of a so big city.
  • 4.- Oedo line Roppongi station exit 7: the best way to arrive.
  • 5.- Design Sight: it’s a little building designed by Taku Sato e Issey Miyake (Yes, the same guy who “makes” perfumes).
  • 6.- Chiyoda line Nogizaka station exit 3: it’s a little bit farther than the Oedo line exit but it’s also pretty convenient.
  • 7.- Roppongi Hills: read more about Roppongi Hills.
  • 8.- The National Art Center: one of the best museums in Japan.
  • 9.- Roppongi crossing: considered the main reference point in the area.

It’s interesting that the complex doesn’t have any shopping malls (American and European style), but it has museums, luxurious shops like for example the one selling food for dogs, expensive restaurants etc. Both, Tokyo Midtown and Roppongi Hills are pretty far away from the western commercial area we are used to that would include a cheap shopping mall, a big cinema and access only with car.

Tokyo Midtown
Tokyo Midtown scale mode.

midtown tokyomidtown roppongi 2007

midtown tokyomidtown roppongi 2007

midtown tokyomidtown roppongi 2007

midtown tokyomidtown roppongi 2007

midtown tokyomidtown roppongi 2007

midtown tokyomidtown roppongi 2007

midtown tokyomidtown roppongi 2007

midtown tokyomidtown roppongi 2007

midtown tokyomidtown roppongi 2007

midtown tokyomidtown roppongi 2007

midtown tokyomidtown roppongi 2007

midtown tokyomidtown roppongi 2007

midtown tokyomidtown roppongi 2007

midtown tokyomidtown roppongi 2007

midtown tokyomidtown roppongi 2007

midtown tokyomidtown roppongi 2007

midtown tokyomidtown roppongi 2007

midtown tokyomidtown roppongi 2007

midtown tokyomidtown roppongi 2007

midtown tokyomidtown roppongi 2007

midtown tokyomidtown roppongi 2007

midtown tokyomidtown roppongi 2007

midtown tokyomidtown roppongi 2007

midtown tokyomidtown roppongi 2007

midtown tokyomidtown roppongi 2007

Categories
Videogames

Videogames market share evolution

Found at Kotaku.com a really interesting video showing the video-game market share evolution during the last eleven years in Japan.

  • Blue: Sony Computer Entertainment
  • Red: Nintendo
  • Green: Microsoft
  • Purple: Sega
  • Yellow: Bandai

It’s astounding how Sega disappears at the begining and Sony conquers the pie and keeps the majority during many years. At the end Nintendo starts to re-conquer and ends up with more than 75% of the market!

This a similar version but with data from all the world and more years: