Walking Through Tokyo's Computer District: Akihabara in 1993 

This Mr. Hoffman, IS GOLD. An invaluable precious piece of history and maybe the only method to travel back in time.

WOW even though the electronics have changed, the signage aesthetic and marketing techniques sure have not! Also CRAZY QUALITY, WHAT A BACK IN TIME CAPSULE GOLDMINE THIS IS

You have to love how RU-vid is the closest thing to a time machine we have.

Just a random businessman playing with a SNES Light Gun on the streets.

It is a testament to the quality of Japanese products that the CANON EX-S12 digital camera and the PANASONIC HDC-SD1 camcorder that my Dad bought in Japan back in 2007 still work perfectly today without any problems. I spent my School years in Hiroshima between 2004 and 2009 when my dad worked at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries...Watching this video takes me back to the time when we used to go to the electronics stores just for fun and check all the new stuff every Sunday almost religiously!!! I profusely thank Mr.Hoffann for sharing this video!!!!

This looks like it was filmed just recently!

Thanks youtube for making this time machine for us...

I know I'm getting old when I look at electronics from 27 years ago and it all still looks pretty new and relevant to me.

This Shop is called "Bic Camera" It still exists and is still the same.

This is lost gold. More vintage Japan!

The 90s...when people actually had money to buy things. Good times!

いい時代だったなぁ・・・ まだオレの人生が夢と希望と可能性と頭髪に満ちていた頃だよ

I love how the store where the guy was playing the Super Famicom, today sells retro video games, so it feels virtually unchanged in 25 years!

ZERO of those devices were connected to the internet. Weird thought.

This is gold, back when we had enough tech for an easy life, unlike today where we are hooked to our cellphones, heck I just woke up and am surfing RU-vid, even commenting this from my phone still in bed LOL.

A camera of that quality in the early 90's must have costed the equivalent of 10 thousand dollars.

The song playing starting at 2:49 is 君に逢いたい午後 (The Afternoon I Want to See You) by 稲垣潤一 (Junichi Inagaki). It is my favorite Japanese song (I'm a 24 year old American). What a bizarre coincidence, and how cool to hear it being played at this time! Thanks for this video! Made my day!

Some of those gadgets would still look cool today.

Wow! Just randomly searched for 1990s Japanese gaming hoping to find some old commercials or something and this popped up. It's so awesome you got this footage. As others have said this is just like stepping into a time machine!

The cameraman is a time traveller. The quality of the video gives it away.

I was born in 1990, and it consistently fascinates me how much technology has changed since I’ve been alive. Also it’s so cool to look at videos from the past, it’s fascinating.

Wow, Akiba hasn't changed all that much. The crowd is different, but the vibe is the same. Also, 300k Yen for a laptop is insane.

Love running into old footage like this from the tech boom. Thank you.

Much better than what people film today!! Heck even my content is crap compared to this 🤣

Completely forgot about all the “digital organizers” during that time period. They were the precursor to the “Palm Pilot”, and then ultimately the smart phone. They mostly were just a digital calendar and Rolodex with a general note taking app. I think some had dictionary /thesaurus/ encyclopedia add ons.

Takes me back to the days of going into Sears/Wal-Mart etc. with my parents and making a bee-line for the electronics section to find the Genesis/SNES display until they finished their shopping and dragged me away. The 90's was a very exciting time for gaming and electronics, constant innovation and iteration. Also, what is that hawker (I assume he's trying to sell something/attract attention) saying at the end?

Wow miss the 90's. Thanks this is the hidden gold in youtube.

1993: Lots of buttons, tiny screen. 2013: Few buttons, big screen.

I'm just imagining how conspicuous filming this must have been in 1993 compared to today.

It is weird how older camera was able to capture such a good footage while many recording today are so grainy and bad

This brings me back to my first trip in 1999. Seeing the staff with their windbreakers, calculators and carbon receipts. It was very much like your video as an Electric Town. Now, living in Japan with Akiba close by, it is a shell of its former self with attractions catering to tourists and what they think Akiba should be. There are still places like this, tight alleys of shops but not many left. People forget Akiba was a place to buy electronics, washing machines, faxes and vacuum cleaners in a bargaining atmosphere. You can still do a bit of bargaining with quotes from outlets now, but basically most things are regulated to the Bic Camera, Yodobashi Camera and a few specialty shops.

Those days were lovely

Everything was so high tech and new at that time. So much innovations, miss those good ol days.

Hey, it's the Hamster Tubes! While I've never been to Japan, I've been fascinated by that country for a long time now, then last year I discovered NHK World, have gone through most of the Journeys In Japan, Cycling Around Japan, J-Trip Plan and Tokyo Eye 2020 episodes available on RU-vid, while waiting for sleep to arrive and take me away. So this video is a fascinating slice of a very recent past that still feels as far as the dark side of the Moon, thank you very much for posting. Something else I'd love to see is a video like this of the Kabukicho district. That was still a rough place back then which has since been cleaned up, family-friendly now. Sort of like the Tokyo equivalent of 70s Manhattan midtown.

These are just random stuff that no one would think of putting it on tape... BUT after so many years, I'm actually super glad that you did for posterity. These places are my candy stores.

I'm really glad you kept this stuff and released it.

The good old days. The world was much much slower, but we still had 95% of the modern conveniences of today.

I remember walking into the stores in NYC back in this era and marveling all all the gadgets they had for sale. I wanted all of them!

Looks like a golden era of innovative technologies

'90s Japan was absolutely amazing.

From what I can tell - Akihabara has not changed that much. It has one of the most unique and exhilarating atmosphere's I have ever experienced.

The moment i wished for a time machine, I realized i would eventually just wish for more time. :/

It's almost like I can reach out and touch the past 30 years later. Wow... Just, wow. Thank you for this gift of a video.

An absolutely mesmerizing time capsule. Thank you so much for posting this!

This video transported me to the magical 90's , sounds visuals the texture can be felt...

I wish I lived in this era. I’m 15 and this would be my dream. I love retro things and back then you had good music AND groundbreaking tech.

This is breathtaking even today!

Beautiful video. Thanks for the look back in time!

Wow, those prices! Electronics in Japan cost so much more than they do in the US. I also love the Western rock music they played in those stores :). I was living in Japan in 2004-2005 and I remember being in a grocery store (the only American/Westerner in there) and hearing 1980s Cindi Lauper. Very surreal. Thanks for uploading this! I would have been all over the video games!

*1:58** EARLY TABLETS.*

I was 7 years old then. If at that moment I got there, I would have gone crazy.

Interesting to look back. Thank you for uploading.

You won't believe the amount of goose bumps I had seeing that Super Scope.

Surprisingly good image quality! Doesn’t look out of place on my iPhone at least. Interesting look at the resent past too.

The quality of this footage is amazing. I still remember seeing some of these electronics back in 98 when I was 8 years old. It's hard to believe that i was around during this time...... Makes me wish I could go back.

i was 3 years old. But I love watching videos of the 90s. Thank you!

Damn I was born in 1993. I wish I had been born a few years earlier so that I could have experienced these times and remembered them. Seems like such a simpler time

I spent 9 weeks in Yokkaichi city in Mei prefecture from mid August to mid October 1993. Maintenance technical training on automated manufacturing equipment. The exchange rate was right at 100 yen to the dollar, which made understanding prices easy. Just drop off the last 2 zeroes of the prices of those electronics and you have the US dollar amount. A big mac meal with medium fry and regular size drink was 850 yen. Move the decimal to the left 2 digits and you get 8 dollar's and 50 cents for a big mac meal 26 years ago. It was a very educational experience.

Amazing footage. I believe this is an example of they mean by the phrase, the first draft of history. Just some shots of what was for sale on this particular day, in this particular place, it means a lot to us now. Thank you!

Wow I love this really clear footage of Japan in the early 90s. I was only 1 years old at the time of that recording but so cool to see that technology. Thanks for sharing!

Man the 90’s seem to have so much variety when it came to electronic gadgets. Feels like losing all the variety that came with the iPhone era wasn’t worth it

I somehow miss these days even though I wasn't even born yet.

i've never had a chance to see this decade as it happened, i wish i did, though..

The quality of this standard definition video is incredible and colours are great! Testament to the tape and camcorder quality at the time. Absolute gem of a video.

9/10 of those gadgets are now replicated in a smart phone, they're mostly obsolete now.

Stores with "Going Out of Business" signs STILL there in 2020, with the SAME sign in the windows, LOL!

Oh man, mystic 90's... . nostalgia all over. I'm RELIVING the feeling! ☺️

Thanks for the content, it was very entertaining. Good quality btw

It feels like it was not that long ago... I'm getting old 😰

And now almost all of this stuff is in a landfill somewhere to this day.

David Hoffman you rock! Thank you for capturing this piece of history!

This was the year i was born! Thanks for uploading and sharing this. Im nostalgic for a year i was barely alive in and a country im yet to visit.

In my town, in 1993, we still used carriages

This feels unbelievable from 2020, was so new yet so old

This wasnt even filmed in my home country *yet I feel so such a sense of nostalgia. BUTTERFLIES ARE FLYING IN MY STOMACH. This is so cool!*

Straight down to memory lane with my father and sisters. Thanks for posting this

Oh, I do miss the days where you could travel to places like Japan and see tech you've never imagined. The internet has kind of ruined it for everyone in a way.

having been there not so long ago, it's both interesting and somewhat sad that so little changed in three decades. Japan froze in time. It's almost like it needs a new Meiji restoration to push itself into the new era

Your channel is pure timetravel gold Mr Hoffman. ✌️

That was nostalgic and awesome! Thanks for sharing!

Okay, old out of today’s standard, but not in my eyes. This is NOT the Stone Age Kids. Try electronics from the early 80‘s. This is very futuristic out of this perspective. Thanks for the upload. An amazing time. Someone still remember the run for the 1 GHz 6 years later?

I still have most of that stuff in my attic. It’s funny to how long the stylus has been around and how little outside of artists, designers and other specialties, it has ever gained adoption.

Haha - so fun to watch. I just found and uploaded my own DV footage from 99 in Tokyo - but this is superior quality to my video recordings

I miss the 90s. Thanks for uploading this.

People were cooler back then

i am glad i could experience this being born in 2000 this was still a reality in my countty till 2010

Sometimes i want to just go out and film like this. How everything changes in time is pretty cool to see. Streets, buildings, fashion, cars, even quality of video takes me back.

Wow! Seeing this is like going back in time. What's more the quality of this video is so good!

懐かしいです🥰

I think we're gonna see a lot of this stuff in Ireland next year.

Super clean footage and the audio is pretty good for how old the footage is. Awesome share! Thank you!

THAT is awesome! I remember going there at about that time and being totally blown away by all the awesome tech.

many years have passed since and still many countries do not get the development level of Tokyo in the 90's LOL

As far as Akihabara, things look similar from when the last time I visited. The main difference is the replaced lit signs and lights with LED stuff. The electronics have changed. Most of that today is in a landfill. Maybe one thing that's the same are basic calculators. They look the same.

Amazing video. I just stumbled this today. It's 93 but it feels like yesterday, the picture is so clear. Also amazing that Akiba still feels the same today (or at least like how I visited in 2018), the tech may have changed but it's still the same cramped town with gadgets stacked on each other.

Oh wow, I was born in Kanda (a station away) and this brings back memories. My friends and I'd take the bicycle from Kanda and always loiter around the game centres back then. Thank you so much for sharing.

A lot of that still looks pretty modern. Hard to believe it was 1993 and all that time has past.

The days before Akiba turned into Japanese animation ground 0... I do love the insane Akiba of today, but my nostalgia bone still love the section of the market where people still sell chips, boards and electric components. Is it me or the backstreet was more busy back in the days than now?

Thanks for sharing this!

This is amazing. It’s like the video has foresight into us watching it from now