Went back to Akihabara yesterday to pick up the 2 kick harnesses that the Mak Japan staff had prepared for me. While I was there, I picked up a Sol Divide pcb (w/original instruction cards & manual) marked down to 5,000 yen as part of Mak Japan's New Year's sale. If any members in Japan are interested in a Sol Divide pcb, Mak Japan had one left in stock (for the same price, also w/original paperwork) after I bought mine. It looks like they've been putting out their sale items in waves, as the Sol Divide boards (along with most of the other sale items I saw yesterday) weren't there during the first hour or two of the sale on 1/4. Among the sale items were a selection of MVS carts (w/color-copied instruction cards) going for 1000-3000 yen (including four (IIRC) KOF'99 MVS carts for 1000 yen each). I didn't pick up any of these myself, since I prefer to get MVS carts w/original instruction cards, but I thought I'd mention these in case any members in Japan wanted to take advantage of the sale.
In addition to Sol Divide, I also picked up a fistfull of normally-priced MVS carts that did have their original instruction cards: KOF'94, Fire Suplex, Ryuuko no Ken, Ryuuko no Ken 2, Samurai Spirits, Gekka no Kenshi, Real Bout Special (for 1000 yen each), and KOF'98 (for 5000 yen). They didn't include any of the original brown cardboard boxes, but the labels were in decent shape and they all included the original instruction cards -- at this point, I'm a little more concerned w/the instruction cards than the cardboard boxes (which would just end up occupying space I could put to better use, anyway).
On my way to and from Mak Japan, I took a slew of photos and made some mental notes regarding the locations of the various pcb shops in relation to one another. When I get back to the States, I'm hoping to post a webpage (and a link here) that'll include photos, directions, and maybe some maps that others could use to prep themselves for future pcb-hunting expeditions in Akihabara. In the meantime, I wanted to post some updated directions here, as my shopping trip yesterday revealed a few inaccuracies in the info in my previous post.
When exiting Akihabara Station, follow the yellow signs marked “d‹CŠXŒû (in Japanese) and "Exit for Akihabara Electric Town" (in English). Emerging from this exit will place you at the corner of an L-shaped intersection of two streets. Head up the street that runs off to your right. As you walk up this street, you'll see a branch of the famous GAMERS chain of game/anime/manga shops on your right, a branch of K-BOOKS (anime/manga/doujinshi/etc) on the 3rd floor of the ƒ‰ƒWƒI‰ïŠÙ Radio Kaikan building on your left, and the Ishimaru Denki building and one of Akihabara's LAOX buildings at the end of the block. This street will end at a T-junction with the Electric Town district's main thoroughfare, labelled ’†‰›’Ê‚è (in Japanese) and Chuo-dori (in English). Turn right at this T-junction and walk up the right side of the Chuo-dori.
A short distance up the street, you'll see a sidestreet branching off to the right. Landmarks identifying this sidestreet are the ƒ„ƒ}ƒMƒ Yamagiwa building (at the corner of the Chuo-dori and this sidestreet) and a 3-story McDonald's restaurant (next to Yamagiwa, on the sidestreet). Use the crosswalk to cross the sidestreet to the Yamagiwa/McDonald's side, then turn right to walk up the sidestreet, going past the McDonald's and turning left at the next intersection.
Turning left will send you along a backstreet that runs parallel to the Chuo-dori. A short distance up this street, you'll see the following buildings on your left:
> the Kurihara Building ƒNƒŠƒnƒ‰@ƒrƒ‹ (a redbrick building with a video store on the first floor, and (previously) the SETUP pcb shop on the 3rd floor)
> the Try Amusement Tower (an 8-story white building with a colorful sign identifying the building hanging over the entrance)
> and J-Game (a 4-story game center housed in a beige-colored building, introduced to tsukaesugi by eight one, and hailed by tsukaesugi as
The Best Arcade in the World)
Click this link (originally provided by BarfHappy) to see a small photo of the entrance to the Kurihara Building; a large photo of the Kurihara Building, the Try Amusement Tower, and a portion of the J-Game building; and a map showing the relative positions of Akihabara Station, Chuo-dori, Yamagiwa, McDonald's, SETUP, Try, and J-Game. You'll notice in that large photo that the 3rd floor window of the Kurihara Building has a sign that reads "Arcade Game & PC Shop SETUP."
However, I didn't see this sign when I visited the Kurihara Building. There were 4 mailboxes on the first floor just inside the stairwell, but I didn't see any of them marked for SETUP. I climbed the stairs, but found only closed doors (none marked for SETUP) on each floor. I talked briefly with the clerk on the first floor of the Try Amusement Tower, and he confirmed that SETUP was no longer in the Kurihara Building. My Japanese is still pretty limited, so I wasn't able to get a clarification (did SETUP simply change locations, or did they go out of business?). Looking at SETUP's website, however, it appears they are still in operation. The site shows a change in their Phone/FAX number, but still shows their address as the 3rd floor of the Kurihara Building. They posted a new stock list on their site as recently as 1/3/2004. When Matsuda-san gets home from work, I'm going to ask him to try calling their phone number to find out what the deal is.
From this area, to get to the next pcb shop (Mak Japan), you'll need to go back to the Chuo-dori. Turn right, and continue walking up the right side of the Chuo-dori, as you did previously. After a few short blocks, you'll come to a sidestreet that crosses the Chuo-dori. Where the sidestreet crosses the right side of the Chuo-dori, it is flanked by the Comic Tora no Ana manga/doujinshi building (easily distinguished by its bright orange signs) and 2 of the Liberty (used game/cd/dvd/ld shop) buildings. Where the sidestreet crosses the left side of the Chuo-dori, it is flanked on the left by the ŒbŒõƒrƒ‹ Keikou Building. The Keikou Building's first floor is occupied by TSUKUMO (with a large mint green sign with white lettering over the front entrance), the 2nd floor is another Liberty used goods shop (with LD - DVD - CD in bright red neon letters in the front 2nd floor window), the 3rd floor is occupied by an anime shop called Getchuya (with a large bright pink sign in the front 3rd floor window, emblazoned with Getchuya's name and mascot characters), the 4th floor is home to a model railroad hobby shop (with a large white sign with red lettering in the front 4th floor window). Finally, the 5th floor is home to Mak Japan (with a large blue sign with yellow lettering in the front 5th floor window). A crosswalk leads directly from the front of Comic Tora no Ana to the front of the Keikou Building. Cross the Chuo-dori via the crosswalk, and go into the side entrance of the Keiko Building (the side entrance will be the first doorway on the left side of the sidestreet).
You should find a wooden A-frame style sign emblazoned with different pcb advertisements standing just inside the side entrance's doorway. You'll have to climb a short flight of 8 or so stairs to get to the elevator. Take the elevator to the 5th floor, and Mak Japan will be on your right as you exit the elevator.
To get to the Try pcb shop, simply leave Mak Japan, go down to the ground floor, exit the Keikou Building via the side entrance, and turn left to go up the sidestreet (away from the Chuo-dori). You'll go two short blocks up the sidestreet, at which point you should see Try on your left. Try occupies the ground floor of a corner building, and its windows are filled with sunfaded advert posters for various video games.
To get to the G-Front pcb shop, go back down the Try/MakJapan sidestreet to the Chuo-dori, use the crosswalk to go back to the Comic Tora no Ana side, turn left, and proceed up the Chuo-dori for a couple of blocks. You'll find G-Front on the 4th floor of the Kobayashi Building, which is just past another Akihabara branch of the GAMERS chain of shops, and roughly across the street from ŽO˜a‹âs Sanwa Ginkou [Sanwa Bank]. The front face of the 4th floor of the Kobayashi Building has a large bright yellow sign with a green G-Front logo. There's an elevator just inside the front doorway of the Kobayashi Building, which you'll need to use to get to the 4th floor. Step out of the elevator, and G-Front will be on your right.
--Chris
demo shougatsu wa sou iu mon nen na 
