Video summary
The video documents an ambitious challenge undertaken by the creator while on vacation in Japan: building a complete gaming PC within a single day and a strict budget of $350. Starting with no knowledge of the local language, the narrator initially explored online classifieds like Jmty.jp but found them too slow for his needs. After struggling with translation tools and English-language search results that failed to yield relevant stores, he turned to Reddit advice which pointed him toward Akihabara in Tokyo as the central hub for computer hardware. Arriving at dusk, he navigated through anime-themed streets to reach a specific shop known for its open-box sales of returned items from other customers, effectively allowing tourists to purchase high-quality used parts at significantly reduced prices.
Inside the store, the creator meticulously scoured aisles filled with graphics cards, processors, and motherboards while racing against closing time. He discovered incredible deals on components like an Intel Core i3-10th Gen CPU for under $55 and a GTX 1660 Ti equivalent for around $86. The most surprising finds included a Ryzen 5 3600 processor bundled with a cooler and motherboard for roughly $150, as well as two sticks of RAM totaling 16GB for only $12. With the store closing in minutes, he managed to secure an SSD, a case that supports ATX motherboards, and finally found a power supply unit after comparing various options, including some with anime-themed designs or RGB lighting.
Once all components were gathered, the total cost came to approximately $310 before accounting for luggage fees, leaving room in his budget even if he needed to buy extra items later. The creator assembled the system inside the store's small rooms and tested it immediately upon booting up Windows, confirming that every part worked correctly without any issues or being ripped off by inflated prices. He concluded that thanks to the strong US dollar relative to the Yen and Japan's tax-free shopping policy for tourists with passports, American visitors can access hardware deals in Tokyo that are impossible to replicate at home. The final build proved capable of gaming and streaming on a $350 budget, demonstrating how strategic timing and location knowledge can yield exceptional value for tech enthusiasts traveling abroad.
Read the full video transcript
I was recently in Japan and I only had
one free day so I thought is it possible
to build a PC in a country where I don't
speak the language only using $350 all
in one day and I'm so glad I asked that
question because I ended up finding the
greatest store I have ever been to enjoy
the
video I started by looking up the
Craigslist equivalent of what exists
here in Japan which is a website called
jmty y. JP I tried messaging on the site
but with the response times being fairly
slow it didn't really seem like a viable
option so I decided to look up some
physical stores while I don't want to
buy new the dollar is quite a bit
stronger than the Yen right now so with
the currency exchange I might still be
able to get a good deal that on top of
the fact that tourists can actually
sometimes avoid paying tax on certain
products if the store qualifies and some
stores do open box sales with returns
from other customers which technically
makes it used so I tried looking up
stores in English and I didn't get the
best results I tried translating what I
wanted into Japanese but some of the
translations weren't going through
correctly so I still got bad results
finally I resorted to Reddit where I
found a 7-year-old thread that said I'm
in Tokyo where should I buy my PC parts
to which some hero named Naro wrote an
entire guide on stores to check and what
area to go to long story short an area
called akiabara seems to be the place
where all of the hardware in Tokyo is
sold so that's where we're heading 16
minute 16-minute walk to the
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station it is getting darker and somehow
it's getting hotter B Cafe genin impact
and other anime I don't recognize yeah
this is the spot's for the weees and The
Gamers oh there it is suo that's the
store right there all right let's take a
look inside oh so downstairs the razor
store I can't okay HDD CPU pc pc maybe
that says GPU a graphics card 55 okay I
got what are the prices here oh wait
they have the 13900 K is 80,000 yen ah
oh it's still only 552 that's not
even a deal that's like the same price
as the states okay here's a solid middle
of the pack card GTX 3060 36,000 Yen for
me 250 USD this is not it see if they
have any used a used section hopefully
that
translates we we don't see a used here
oh not here not here another oh okay
here okay this is where
where we are okay okay our group shop
where the shop is you is here oh is this
on on Google yeah okay okay your English
is very good oh my God I literally just
had to ask let's just go to the used
part store oh what's this thing this
thing think passo closes soon oh Clos at
7:30 I have literally 15 minutes to get
there oh it's okay dope it's right on
the corner okay let's
go run oh
okay yeah we crossed two Cor and then
we're pretty much right over there
somewhere
so oh it's literally this okay this
one this is it there's just PCS here oh
wait yo wait this place is it they have
graphics cards the price I pay
14300 that's less than 100 bucks bro
this is it this is it dude is there like
a $100 graph card here just like a
sleeper oh GTX 1070
12,500 86 bucks okay I'm pretty sure a
1070 and a 1660 TI are like almost exact
equivalents oh okay and these are the
used mod
boards what do I get what do we have
here ryzen 53600 for 9,000
Yen that's so hard to say no to that
comes with the cooler it looks like cuz
it's a fullsize box $55 dude I can't say
no to that okay it's just got to be am4
was the only motherboard this no this is
the only thing that's so painful so 150
bucks for the CPU and the motherboard
that's not bad though oh they have other
RAM sticks here uh that's cool4 these
are two 8 GB sticks 16 GB of RAM for
it's like $12 that's almost a dollar per
gig that's insane I'm pretty sure I see
the case is this no this has got to be
micro 5,000 yen4 $35 oh it supports yeah
oh it supports ATX so I can buy this
okay now we just need a power supply
okay we have almost everything for this
computer holy and NZXT c750 is okay
yeah know why are all the power supply
so expensive this is so bad what time is
it the store closes in okay 30 minutes
I'm running out of time
Parts
okay uh
C uh
C oh here it is
yeah you have SSD oh oh okay okay 2,000
R honestly that's not bad 512 GB yeah
this
fine are there other
doors oh here oh
okay oh okay I I know I saw this I think
I just have to there I have to ask the
important thing now can I bring
luggage cool is this some taxfree with
passport
oh oh okay what I got though
45,000
45 dude 310 for almost a computer I just
need a power supply and I'm
golden oh okay okay okay I got though
all right now I need to get a luggage so
that I can carry this stuff out of here
cuz without a luggage I'm 2
minutes they're going to close on me oh
here oh this is so ugly like
um how get
though please don't close please don't
close come back
no camera angle does Justice to how
stupid I look right
now I got the all right they literally
stayed open late two extra minutes for
me which for those of you that have
never been in Japan you don't realize
how big of a deal that is so now we've
spent
$310 I am not counting the suitcase
because it is not a part of the computer
and I was going to buy an extra one to
ship back other anyways and now I I
just need to get a power supply here we
are at the bigger T now we're going to
try to get it here apparently the
computer parts are down there with my
full bag of computer parts I'll just go
down
there power supplies power supplies oh
there's got to be something here come on
second
floor let's not look at
that here are the power supplies okay
I'm thinking 600 WS honestly I'll setle
for
550 okay um I'll walk around is this on
sale wait wait a minute sorry 6,4 I mean
I could not the worst price I've seen
dude I don't recognize half these we're
looking at a four digigit price range
anything bigger is just a no okay you
know what how much is the the RGB power
it's $44 for the RGB power supply I mean
that's not completely off my radar I
mean all this is 550 is still more
expensive
is the RGB power supply un ironically my
only option oh wait that's 58 hold on
5800 Yen 550 550 Watts 40 bucks I I
think that's it to be honest 550 is
pushing it oh but I want to get the see
now I'm torn do I got the power supply
with the
RGB or the anime
girl see what I'm
saying not bad 40 bucks
nice I
got and with that we have all the parts
that we need to build this
computer these are my computer parts
they're not building that tonight are
you
no the rooms aren't very big but uh it
doesn't matter we got a computer to
build I need a screwdriver
okay progress so far now we just got to
throw it in the
case hello how's it going should I take
some time getting back yeah take a take
a cenic rude
it's not the prettiest build on YouTube
but for $300 that looks pretty great
Moment of
Truth RGB is kind of
nice oh oh it posted now that we know
the parts work and I didn't get ripped
off we just install Windows and then
we'll see how well it performs on
certain games
oh
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I think the results speak for themselves
for $350 that computer's nuts you can
game stream and with that ryzen 53600
you could start a Content creation
career if you really wanted to I think
the coolest thing above all is the US
dollar being stronger than the Yen plus
the tax-free passport thing creates some
very cool opportunities when it comes to
purchases for Americans and to you
watching this if you are ever lucky
enough to go to Japan make sure you stop
by that store what I showed in this
video does not even begin to cover the
hidden gems that were in that store I'll
put the name on the screen right now so
you can save it for later just in case
you happen to have time anyways I hope
you found the video creative
entertaining or informative in any way
you perform and as always before I wish
you a good day I started a custom
mechanical keyboard company I'm selling
these beautiful keyboards right now on
EB boards.com these keyboards are unique
and you're not going to find them
anywhere else because on these keyboards
we allow you to engrave whatever you
want on the back plate I'm serious
whatever you want I'm going to release a
full video that talks about the
three-year process that it took to make
these things but in the meantime if you
want to get one before they go out of
stock because that's already happened
twice now thank you check it out and
pick one up for yourself or one of your
family members or friends have a great
day do not like do not comment do not
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