When I went to Akihabara in 2019 I took photos of the stairwells at some of the pop culture, comics, and figurine stores. But I never published the photos, so I’m finally catching up now.
I found the stairwells to be dizzying in a couple ways - first there was just so.much.stuff. to look at. Colors, shapes. Also I’d never seen or heard of most of what was going on, except the stairwell in a retro game store. But even then there were some mysteries.
What I got from most of Akihabara was a use-every-square-inch aesthetic. Every surface is maxed out with images. Almost nothing was left white or blank.
It’s also interesting to me to see what was promoted outside or in the front of each stores and what was promoted in the stairwells. At the time, a game called BanG Dream! Girls Band Party was being promoted everywhere outside each store, it was on posters in windows and on kiosks. I imagined that someday, years from now, it might have a poster on one of these stairwell walls, like the walls of history of pop culture and anime.
