The sorry state of Japanese department stores has one hopeful sign: Chinese tourists seem to love them, or, at least, the richer tourists do. According to TV Tokyo's "Business Satellite," many of Japan's nicer department stores are directly catering to Chinese visitors, who are reacting favorably to the attention by whipping out their Union Pay cards, which qualify them for discounts at a lot of Tokyo retailers, including most of the electronics stores in Akihabara.

And right now is the prime time to catch them since it's Chinese New Year when Chinese people traditionally open their purses and spend big. If you go to the Laox Duty Free store on Akihabara's main drag you'll see tour bus after tour bus pull up in front and disgorge happy shoppers from the mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.

It's more than just the duty-free aspect that brings them to Laox. The company went through a thorough reorganization last year that involved the closing of most of its suburban branches and a hefty investment from a Chinese company. In fact, the president of Laox is now Chinese, and he's made sure that every tourist who comes to Japan has the Akihabara store on his or her itinerary. Since the store reopened in October, sales have been very good, since the buyers have focused on merchandise that specifically target Chinese rather than Japanese.