Japanese Akihabara

This page is a work in progress. As a result, the layout and/or content herein may be subject to change.

To do: Include more details for the assets from this theme. Also include the "Giant Sackboy" holding a sign featured in a promo video; it features the mini city concept area but with moving cars. (maybe sackboy was meant to be large here?)

Overview

Japanese Akihabara, also known as Japanese Shop Window, was a scrapped theme intended for the original LittleBigPlanet. It was based on electronics and the Akihabara District in Tokyo, Japan. A particular note of interest about this theme is that the background environment features a view out of a window looking out onto a city skyline, hence the name "Japanese Shop Window".

History

Repurposed Assets

Very few assets for this theme were left in the game.

For the main costumes, both the Robot and Neon sets were put into the Wilderness as prizes.

Three materials were leftover in the final game; two concrete tile materials and polystyrene packing, all of which were put into the metropolis theme.

All the leftover stickers for this theme were put into the islands.

The interactive music for the area was released with the Mm Music Pack 1 as 'Wise Owl.'

Given the similar theming, it's possible that concepts for the Japanese Akihabara theme where later reused in LBP2 for Avalonia and The Cosmos.

Concept Art

In-Game

A single piece of concept art for Japanese Akihabara was included in the game as a sticker; the "Mini City Concept".

A larger version of this concept is included with more detail below it, as well as overlays of giant monsters or robots, likely a reference to kaiju or mecha films. A few LAOX signs can be seen, a store in the real Akihabara district.

A concept for a Tsukiji Market gameplay section was uploaded to Kengo Kurimoto's Website in 2021.