Shendue: I wondered if you were korean because of your nickname, in fact.
My cousin told me great things about the services. Italy is not particularly well known for those, unfortunately, so it's a pleasant experience for us the level of efficiency that Japan has in that respect.
I've heard that some people there is somewhat wary to foreigners, but italians are generally well accepted. I hope they'll be nice with me. They surely were with my cousin, he even got a girlfriend there. She came here a couple times, very nice girl, and she loved Italy.
I know that several people have a fascination with Italy because of the art and cultural history of our cities, but it's pretty much the same for us about Japan. The cultural gap is so wide that we see asian countries as something inherently exotic and people is very curious about them.
And, yes, i've heard wonders about the videogame markets of Akihabara and several others. As a collector and lover of old games (i own a several japanese game consoles and videogames myself), i'm really looking forward to used games shops.