> The massive real estate collapse in the 90s ended all that, and when I visited Chiba around 2000 for work the bit I went to was a drab business park.

I went to the famed Akihabra back in 2012. I'd been expecting, I guess, some super high tech futuristic place. Instead I wandered through rows and rows of street vendors selling what looked like bits of 1980s arcade games.