I made a jigsaw. Can you identify where the photo was taken?

I’m sure you guessed by now (or read it on the sign), but this is Akihabara! Here’s the reference photo they used for the puzzle:

Specifically this photo shows the view of the lane adjacent to the Akihabara JR station. The photographer is standing just outside the station facing west, and the famous facades of the Radiokaikan and Gamers buildings are visible in the shot.

I wanted to date this, and the sign on the Gamers building on the right was useful:

Volume 1 of an anime called Punch Line was released on DVD back in July 2015, so this photo is ten years old.

I have of course been to Akihabara many times now, both long before and after this photo was taken. I’ve stood in this exact same spot and taken many similar photos myself. We’ve even stayed in hotel rooms that overlook this street, and this shot I took last year shows more or less the same view (with many less billboards!) from an elevated room window:

Tomorrow we leave for Japan once again, and after some travels around the country will end up in Akihabara toward the end of our three-week trip. When I’m there, I’ll try to duplicate this puzzle photo more closely 🙂