Chapter Three: It’s Super Effective!
To Trash’s relief, Danny paid for the lunch. There was a momentary bit of drama when he pulled out a credit card, however.
Trash realized that the American might not have enough cash to pay. He had seen foreign tourists get in trouble many times because they expected everywhere to accept credit cards. Something that was not that common for small businesses. More than once, with no other option, restaurants had no other choice but to just let them go.
Luckily, the owner quickly reached under the register and pulled out a small credit card reader. It was one of those internet-connected ones that only recently started gaining popularity. Trash felt like he had just barely avoided a disaster.
With the payment taken care of, they were about to walk out onto the street when the owner spoke again.
“Patientez s’il-vous-plait.”
Danny looked at Trash, but Trash was just as clueless. He hoped that there was nothing wrong with the payment. The lunch bill was his whole week’s food budget.
Reaching underneath the counter again, the owner produced a large paper bag. Opening it up, he pointed to the two white boxes that Danny was still carrying in his hands. Unlike Trash, who carried an enormous backpack wherever he went, the American had shown up to the meeting without even a briefcase.
Danny handed over the boxes hesitantly, which were gently placed into the bag. The owner then stepped out from behind the counter and handed Danny the bag with both hands, bowing slightly.
He followed the pair out the door, and as they started walking down the street, the owner once again bowed from the doorway before returning inside.
They stopped at the corner, and Danny turned to Trash.
“What the heck was that?”
Trash took a moment to realize what Danny was talking about.
“Oh, yeah. That’s just a Japanese service thing. Just being polite to a VIP customer.”
Danny mulled that over in his head for a moment, then lifted the bag up to eye level. Trash couldn’t help but notice now that Danny was standing upright, he was even taller than his own 180 centimeters. Trash was tall for a Japanese, inconveniently so, but the American would have to watch his head to ensure he didn’t bump it on doorways.
“What about the bag? It’s not like this is takaway.”
“He just thought you might be inconvenienced by having to carry those boxes around loosely. He was trying to be helpful.”
It pained him to admit it, but that waiter had turned out to be a pretty decent human. He was too good looking to be a straight-up person, but he certainly had the service thing down. It was his bad, for not thinking to bring a separate bag for Danny to carry the boxes in. He now felt he owed that guy some credit for covering his error.
“Hmm, yeah. The staff at the hotel are pretty deferential like that, too. Must be nice to live here.”
That statement struck a nerve with Trash. He tried to keep a scowl off his face but only partially succeeded.
“Japanese people are very polite, but polite is not the same thing as nice,” he warned.
Danny studied Trash’s face and considered that response.
“Good to know,” he said with a wry smile. “I’ll keep that in mind. So, you’re going to give me the premium Akihabara tour, right?”
Trash gave him his best fake smile, then barked his response like a soldier.
“Hai! Lancelet-shi”, using the form of address used more commonly by the geek inhabitants of Akihabara.
Inside, Trash was regretting his offer to show the American around, especially with the deal in limbo. He didn’t feel like playing tour guide right now. Still, he couldn’t head back home now. He had a lot of things he still needed to do today, and one of his cardinal rules was he only left his home once a day. He would not go back until all his business was taken care of care of for today, making it a long day indeed. He had a few hours at least to kill, so there was no harm.
“I have a few stops I need to make, if that’s okay. For my work. You might also find them interesting.”
“Sure, lead the way, Comrade Trash!”
Trash nodded as he led the way toward the Mikura bridge. It was still hot and humid, even though the sky was darkening clouds keeping the sun from heating the roads. Trash was still sweating buckets and pulled out the handkerchief to mop his face after they had only walked a couple hundred meters.
Turning right onto Yasukuni road, they passed nondescript small office buildings one after another. This was hardly the atmosphere that people associated with the famous “Akihabara.” Trash smiled at that thought. Foreign tourists were sold on the image of maids, anime stores, and flashy electronics, which, in all fairness, was what it looked like by the station, but Trash had spent countless hours canvassing the surrounding neighborhood. He knew every secluded cafe, hidden shrine, and secret back-door shop from Kanda to Ueno.
After a few blocks of walking, Trash could feel Danny getting bored and confused. That was fine. They would soon be back to the heart of the geek capital. First, however, he had work to do.
Stopping in front of what looked like a typical, shabby old office building, Trash motioned for Danny to wait while he stepped into a side door entrance. He only stepped into the door for a moment, however, and immediately came back out. When he did, he was carrying a few pieces of colored paper full of printed text.
He moved to the next building and repeated the pattern. A few buildings down the road, they stopped in front of a rack full of papers, like a magazine stand outside the door, Instead of going in, this time Trash just grabbed a couple of the sheets of paper before continuing down the street.
They repeated the pattern a few more times over the next couple of blocks. Trash now held a stack of papers in his hand. Danny finally had enough.
“What the heck are you doing? Are you some kind of paperboy?”
“Paperboy?” Trash looked back, confused. The word didn’t make any sense to him.
“Paperboy. Like newspapers and shit. What are those things you are collecting.”
Trash smiled slyly. This was his chance to show off a little bit.
“This. This is my work. Here, take a look,” He said, handing the stack of paper to Danny to look at.
Each page was covered in tiny printed tables. It was an Excel nightmare of Japanese words, letters, and numbers. It made no sense at all, and Danny had to look away after just a few seconds before he got a migraine from the tiny text covering every bit of the page.
Trash took the papers back and rolled them into a cylinder. Using it as a pointer, he waved down the street at the buildings they had just passed.
“They call Akihabara the ‘Electric Town,’” Trash explained.
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“It used to be where the Electricians college was, and after that, where all the parts and suppliers were gathered. Now, people still come to go shopping for cameras, dishwashers, and air conditioners. But all those flashy shops in front of the station are for normies. Those shops will rip you off every time.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty much the same in every country. Go into any tourist shop, and you’ll be lucky to get out with your shirt still on your back,” Danny agreed, nodding along as though he was an old hand at this type of commerce.
“But what are those buildings then?” He added, realizing that the mystery was still unsolved.
“Those are also electronics stores,” Trash explained.
“Bullshit,” Danny shook his head and laughed.
“You don’t believe me? Come, I’ll prove it to you.”
They had nearly reached the Mansei bridge. Trash led them through a side alley so they could walk straight to the large restaurant on the southern side of the bridge crossing back across the Kanda river. On the other side was the beating heart of Akihabara.
As they crossed the bridge, Danny finally caught sight of the lights, the signs, and the crowds of people filling the streets. This is what the travel guides had led him to expect.
Trash pointed down the main drag. This was where all the movies and TV shows filmed the money shot, lights, noise, and chaos of Akihabara. You could see dozens of maids passing out flyers everywhere. The Sobu Line elevated train cut across the tops of old buildings housing electronics shops. Tourists clogged the sidewalks, surrounded by gaudy electric signs and loudspeakers.
This was one of Trash’s favorite views of the town. It captured the chaotic and eclectic personality of the town, but from the outside looking in. To Trash, who felt that he was a native inhabitant of this place, crossing the Mansei bridge was like opening the front door to his home.
「I’m home,」he whispered under his breath as he led the American into the heart of Akihabara.
It was only a few steps in before they reached Onoden, one of the giant magnet stores that had been in Akihabara since before Trash had been born. Like every other major retailer in the area, the first floor of the large building was a nightmare of light and noise. Flashing lights, giant television sets, sirens, speakers blaring music and sales pitches in Japanese, English, and Chinese. It was truly a retail hellscape.
“This is also an electronics store,” Trash explained to Danny.
“Yeah, this is pretty much what I expected. Were those other buildings the offices for this place or something?” The American guessed.
Trash grinned. It was a pretty good guess, actually. Wrong, but intuitive. It was hardly surprising. Even most Japanese didn’t know Trash’s shopping tricks.
Trash pointed at a large flat-screen television set in the front of the store. He found the price tag and model information on a tag on one side and pointed it out to Danny.
[HANSA HDT-3DSX-101–90S, ¥185,000]
“That’s the brand new Hansa 3D TV. 40-inch screen LED. It just came out a few weeks ago. The price there is 185,000 yen before taxes. At a place like this, you can get it tax-free if you are a tourist. What do you think?”
Danny mulled it over.
“How much is that in dollars? Like $1,500?”
Trash nodded. Of course, he was good with numbers, remembering what the American man did for a living.
“Not bad. I don’t know if that 3D thing gimmick is worth the price. Glasses included?” He asked.
Trash checked the specs.
“Nope, Those are extra. 4,800 yen each. Like $45.”
“Well, these stores are pretty impressive. That’s a huge amount of product to have right here on the street like this. But I don’t think I can fit one of those in my suitcase,” Danny grinned, then panned his head around to see what else he could see that might be interesting.
“Check this out,” Trash said, pulling his attention back.
Trash took the first set of papers from his stack. He took a second to scan the tiny text, then turned them to Danny, his finger pointing out one line. The American had to squint to read it.
[HDT-3DSX-101–90S, 32, ¥168,350]
Trash grabbed the next set of papers. Not finding what he wanted, he sorted through a few more until he found something, then pointed it out to Danny.
[HANSA HDT-3DSX-101–90S, 3, ¥166,00]
“What is this?” Danny asked, confused.
The prices those shops sell the same TV for.
Danny looked at the papers again. He checked the prices, then looked back at the sign on the TV in the store.
“That’s a pretty good discount. Nine to ten percent. What’s the catch?”
“Look at this store. It’s right across from the station on the main street. Pricy real estate,” he pointed into the store.
“There are a dozen salespeople on this floor alone, and there are six floors above this one. That’s a lot of staff to pay.”
Danny nodded his agreement. Then his eyes opened.
“Wait. Those places are outlets? No sales staff. Just warehouses?”
Trash was surprised. He caught on very quickly. Not many people he knew understood how it worked.
“Every day they print out the prices and stock. Not just those, but there are a dozen more similar shops in the area. But the prices change daily, and you must hunt for the best deals. Anywhere between 3% and 20% cheaper compared to the major retailers in the area.”
“So when you said this is your work…”
“I keep up to date on prices. Find the really good bargains. I have some clients who come to me just to find good deals. Mostly businesses that need to buy office equipment quickly or stuff like that. They give me a percentage of the savings compared to the retail price.”
“You make much money doing that?”
That question banished what little smile he had from Trash’s face. The truth was that it wasn’t very profitable at all. He’d brokered a couple of large sales. Those had earned him a tidy amount, but most of the time, his kickback was just a few hundred yen. Usually, he just settled with a cup of coffee or, if he was lucky, a dinner of curry rice or maybe a pork cutlet set.
It probably was not worth the time it took for Trash to run around the town collecting the daily price lists, and some of them had already started to transition to online sales, which would effectively eliminate his value.
In the end, this was another dead-end idea, one of many he had pursued to find a way to support himself with odd jobs.
“Not much,” he admitted. “It’s good for building up relationships with my clients though. I have a reputation for knowing everything and everyone in Akiba.” Trash played up his image on reflex. He just needed one big payday, and… well, it would get him out of his current crisis at least. Tomorrow would always have a new crisis, but that was for his future self to deal with. The disaster in front of him right now was his to figure out.
“I see,” Danny replied, perhaps just to be polite.
“So what’s inside those doors? Back in those outlet stores. Who’s inside?”
“Just a guy at a small desk. You grab the price sheets. If you want something, you give him the product number, and he calls someone. They find it and bring it to you. Cash only. No service. No one gives you a nice paper bag and brushes the dust from your shoulders in the doorway. You can’t ask them any questions about specifications or anything. Just read them the number, pay the money.”
“Sounds kinda shady. Like buying stuff from the back of a U-Haul.”
Trash gave him a questioning look, then shook his head.
“You know, the neighborhood discount? Red and blue light special?”
If anything, the sound of Danny’s laughter was even worse outside. At least a passing truck kept the sounds from drawing attention.
Trash didn’t even want to know what the joke was. He just wanted the noise to stop.
“That sounds pretty shady. Are you sure the stuff they sell there is legit? Like, is it water damaged or anything?”
“Oh! No. Nothing like that. They are normal stores. You get invoices and warranty cards, and everything is the same as the other stores. They just don’t have to pay for all the extra floorspace and staff. Even with the discount, they make more profit than the big stores.”
“Hmmm. It’s an interesting model, that’s for sure. Can’t really think of anything close that I’ve seen before. Not sure it would work anywhere else, though.” Danny looked back into the electronics store, then turned back to Trash.
“Okay, what’s next?”
“Just one more quick stop. Then we can go to a maid cafe or something.”
Danny raised his eyebrow. “Maid cafe? Seriously?”
“Well, if you want the whole Akiba experience, you should at least visit one once.”
“You are the leader. I shall trust your guidance,” Danny said theatrically.
“Don’t worry. I think you will like this next place quite a lot. It’s very much your kind of place,” Trash assured him.
Trash led the way through the crowds toward the busy street in front of Akihabara station. They were now completely surrounded by tourists and maids. The street was busy with camera stores and some shops that sold nothing but Japanese comic books and anime-related goods, as well as others with posters of all the new adult DVD releases.
They stopped in front of an old eight-story building with a giant gaudy yellow and red neon sign. Rather than enter from the front, Trash led Danny along the side of the building, passing through a narrow maze of passages that quickly had Danny turned around.
“This is Radio Kaikan. It’s a landmark. They say the building is dangerous, though. Cracks on some of the floors. If you feel an earthquake, better run fast, okay?” Trash explained with a smirk.
“Ha, Ha. Funny.”
Danny, thankfully, just responded this time with a fake, mock laugh.
“No, seriously. They are going to condemn the building. Tear it down and maybe rebuild it? Next year, I heard.”
Danny stopped. He looked at the old concrete walls suspiciously.
“Wait, if the building is unsafe, why is it still full of people?” Danny demanded.
“Huh? Well, no new building is ready yet. Where would all these businesses go? There are dozens of stores here. If a quake hits, well, maybe bigger problems. For now, they are just keep it quiet. Some people know that it’s dangerous. Enter at your own risk, you know? I think there is a sign somewhere.”
“In English?”
“Maybe?” Trash pushed through the busy crowd until they reached a dark and suspect stairway.
“Third floor,” Trash said as he started the climb.
Danny followed, holding the paper bag with the white boxes to his chest.
At the second landing, Trash turned and walked down an equally dark and narrow hallway. The walls were covered by towers of boxes, stacked Tetris style to the ceiling and reducing the hall space in half.
Finally, he stopped in front of a large doorway into a thankfully well-lit shop.
“Here we are.”
Danny just shook his head, wondering what kind of rabbit hole had he fallen into.