Akihabara pretty much sucks now, ever since Densha Otoko got big it's turned into one huge goddamn freakshow. I hate it.
It seems pretty much the same to me, just with maids and shit now. But even that seemed to be in decline last time I went there. Since I pretty much stopped buying old shit a couple of years ago, the only reason I even want to go there now is to go to the import game shops and buy American games, or search for Xbox games that I won't find anyway.
It's very creepy to go into a big video game store only to notice that it has a basement floor filled with porno. And it seems that's the way it is for most of the big stores in Akihabara. Gotta cater to the deviants!
They know their customers! There's more porn shops now than before, too. First time I went to Aki was in 2001. Tons of game shops everywhere. When I went back in 2004, the first shop I walked into (up some stairs right around the corner from the station exit) had been changed from games to PORN.
God, I would love for some random (non-yak) japanese person to attempt to mug me. The ass whoopin after that would be hysterical.
I don't think they'd try to mug a non-Japanese, no matter how weak and nerdy they might look.