Tokyo--the mecca for technophiles

The ever-metamorphosing electronics town of Akihabara (or Akiba for short) in the day.

Photo credit: Lynn Tan, ZDNet Asia

Neon signs light up Akiba at night.

Photo credit: Lynn Tan, ZDNet Asia

The Yodobashi Akiba shopping hub across the other side of the railway track from the old Akihabara quarters, that houses main tenant Japanese electronics giant Yodobashi Camera.

Photo credit: Lynn Tan, ZDNet Asia

A photography shop that is two-thirds filled with DIY photo-printing machines

Photo credit: Lynn Tan, ZDNet Asia

A customer at work.

Photo credit: Lynn Tan, ZDNet Asia

DIY photo-printing, a commonplace trend in Tokyo's tech landscape.

Photo credit: Lynn Tan, ZDNet Asia

Consumers can print high-quality photos that cost 30 yen (US$0.25) for a 3R-size photo, and a single photo takes approximately 40 seconds to print.

Photo credit: Lynn Tan, ZDNet Asia

Close-up of the easy-to-use DIY photo machine.

Photo credit: Lynn Tan, ZDNet Asia

Non-japanese speaking customers can choose to view instructions in English, Chinese and Korean.

Photo credit: Lynn Tan, ZDNet Asia

The DIY machine can read from a variety of media, such as Compact Flash Microdrive, infrared and USB.

Photo credit: Lynn Tan, ZDNet Asia

Beverage vending machine in Ginza, that lets consumers make contactless mobile payments.

Photo credit: Lynn Tan, ZDNet Asia

A TV display on the vending machine touting the use of QR Code (a matrix code or two-dimensional bar code created by Japanese corporation Denso-Wave in 1994) to buy beverages from the vending machine.

Photo credit: Lynn Tan, ZDNet Asia

Aside from cash, customers can also make payments via a variety of cashless options using their mobile phones.

Photo credit: Lynn Tan, ZDNet Asia

A close-up of the menu selection panel on the vending machine.

Photo credit: Lynn Tan, ZDNet Asia

A close-up of the contactless mobile payments options: infrared, QR Code and near-field communications (NFC) respectively.

Photo credit: Lynn Tan, ZDNet Asia