7 ms·

I've visited plenty of arcades in Japan, and they were all horrible. Sure, the games were interesting, but they are sad and sometimes creepy places. Smoking is

I've visited plenty of arcades in Japan, and they were all horrible. Sure, the games were interesting, but they are sad and sometimes creepy places. Smoking is allowed in there, and with Japan's well known tobacco abuse problem, words fail to describe the stench in there. My Japanese girlfriend told me that "nobody normal would ever go in there" and was actually disappointed in me wanting to enter in that sort of place. Later I found out that like most of the entertainment sector, arcades are run by organised crime and the men who frequent them are seen as losers.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
jbm 5y ago
What arcades are you talking about, if you don't mind me asking? All the Sega ones were about as mainstream as you could get. I would walk out of Sunshine City in Ikebukuro and see it filled with normal-ish people. I even took my kids to play Taiko no Tatsujin in Nakano Broadway. The tobacco issue was a lot better in Tokyo when I left; most indoor places are non-smoking now. IMO that is the only true benefit Tokyo reaped from the 2020 Olympic preparations.
- Klonoar 5y ago
  The non-mainstream ones can indeed feel a bit dodgy - like, night and day difference. That said I still went to them periodically since you could often find older games there that the bigger ones had moved on from.
- suction 5y ago
  I mean if that's normal to you I guess you're not aware of the reputation they have among normal Japanese people.
tkgally 5y ago
I agree about the horribleness of Japanese game arcades, but that actually can be an attraction if you’re in the right (or wrong?) frame of mind. I’ve dropped into “game centers” quite a few times over the years—usually just to use the restroom, though occasionally to look around. While arcades in the suburbs can be just annoying with the noise and teenagers, those in the scuzzier areas of big cities—Shimbashi and Kabukicho in Tokyo, Isezakicho in Yokohama, Nishinari in Osaka—can have an atmosphere of life-on-the-skids ennui all their own. I remember, one weekday afternoon, watching several middle-aged guys silently sitting at a horse racing game—something like the ones in [1] and [2]—in the dim basement of a run-down building in Shimbashi. It looked like they had been there all day. What a way to spend one’s life. I haven’t been in any arcades for several years, but apparently they have been no-smoking since April 2020 [3, in Japanese]. [1] https://lineblog.me/mssp/archives/5037607.html https://lineblog.me/mssp/archives/5037607.html [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrekv_ttmNQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrekv_ttmNQ [3] http://bayon-game.com/?p=35375 http://bayon-game.com/?p=35375
- tkgally 5y ago
  In case anyone’s interested, below are some Google views of Japanese game centers that don’t look very enticing, at least to me. The first three are in Osaka; the fourth is in Shimbashi, Tokyo. https://www.google.co.jp/maps/@34.6454389,135.5009173,3a,75y,0.57h,95.52t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s7jZ1A7HZYV3wDuInSI-Z0w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=ja https://www.google.co.jp/maps/@34.6454389,135.5009173,3a,75y... https://www.google.co.jp/maps/@34.6455462,135.4997983,3a,75y,129.58h,82.23t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sH3F5Mnez1TbFkdUDxbn4JQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=ja https://www.google.co.jp/maps/@34.6455462,135.4997983,3a,75y... https://www.google.co.jp/maps/@34.6981048,135.533943,3a,75y,195.14h,94.23t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1srHTbxXkK7zVBQJyqwcwYlg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=ja https://www.google.co.jp/maps/@34.6981048,135.533943,3a,75y,... https://www.google.co.jp/maps/place/Diana+Amusement+Space/@35.6660895,139.7578676,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipNR5YXSfL9eq7Zy0xU5iE7cI_SSsmc39IIPYpPO!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNR5YXSfL9eq7Zy0xU5iE7cI_SSsmc39IIPYpPO%3Dw152-h86-k-no!7i4656!8i2620!4m9!1m2!2m1!1z44Ky44O844K744Oz!3m5!1s0x60188bebd4a4ebb3:0x239f6814b19c1423!8m2!3d35.6662764!4d139.7576156!15sCgzjgrLjg7zjgrvjg7OSAQx2aWRlb19hcmNhZGU?hl=ja https://www.google.co.jp/maps/place/Diana+Amusement+Space/@3...
  - MathYouF 5y ago
    Here's one I frequented semi-regularly when I lived in Tokyo. It is also maybe one of the most iconic game centers, being in Akihabara right outside the metro station with a large "SEGA" sign. Super not sketchy, mostly normal and mostly young people, no smokers, several women, even people there as couples. SEGA Akihabara Building 3 +81 3-5297-3601 https://maps.app.goo.gl/S9PTNg7Yn29Wfcee9 https://maps.app.goo.gl/S9PTNg7Yn29Wfcee9 I really think the OP was actually describing what in English we would call casinos (pachinkos) rather than arcades (game centers).
    - suction 5y ago
      No I didn't. I was talking about Game Centers. I guess you're a too far gone Otaku to even tell how creepy the places you think of as "iconic" are.
  - suction 5y ago
drzaiusapelord 5y ago
The arcades I went to in Akihabara was pretty family friendly, but I did go to a smaller one on the 3rd floor of an anonymous looking business building in a different neighborhood and it was a bit seedy, but it was just nerdy guys playing classic games and classic consoles and not dangerous seeming at all. I wonder if your gf's perceptions are colored by how conformist and competitive Japanese culture is. Of course those men are "losers," they are spending all their time playing children's games. My understanding is that men and women over 25 who aren't married there are seen as "losers" as well, and not being married and being video game obsessed must be a kiss of death in that culture. As a child of the 80s I'm very familiar with the seedy arcade in the USA. I remember every machine having an ashtray wedged between controller and screen and that awful stink. I doubt the men there were regarded as anything but "losers" by the mainstream of the time as well. Being a capitalist culture, gamers weren't respectable until streaming and tournaments in which they could become wealthy. Money makes right in our culture. So our current perception of gamers is very far from what people thought back then who couldn't get rich playing games.
- toyg 5y ago
  There is also a very real problem with shut-in otaku/hikikomori culture. A lot of otakus are real losers by the standard of any western society, their level of social isolation is massive and there is no redemption for them. Otaku and gaming subcultures often overlap, inevitably there is some association.
- digisign 5y ago
  Went to many arcades in the early eighties, smoking was never allowed. However, it was in California which was a pioneer in that area.
- fomine3 5y ago
  Nowadays 25 is too young to be seen "loser". Anyway now 47% of men at 30-35yo in Japan are never got married, we "lose".
lifthrasiir 5y ago
It greatly depends; the notorious slot machine (pachinko) industry is mostly run by organized crime [1] and pachinko lovers are not well received in general, but arcade game centers described in this article are not necessarily pachinko parlors. And if a single arcade does have both pachinkos and other ordinary games, they are typically sectioned so that if you only want to play ordinary games you don't ever need to cross the pachinko area (in the other words, pachinkos are pervasive but also well hidden from the public sight). [1] Many of them are also run by Korean Japaneses and this is a consequence of the discrimination of Koreans in Japan.
- suction 5y ago
  Wrong. Game centers, aka arcades, are run by organised crime as well.
  - lifthrasiir 5y ago
    Only if you count Round One, Sega, Taito or Namco as organized crime (all of which run major nationwide arcade franchises). I don't claim every arcade is free of organized crime (quite contrary), the industry has moved on quite a bit.
    - suction 5y ago
      I mean it's already proven that Konami is a Yakuza business, it's pretty safe to assume that in uniform culture like Japan, no non-shady entities would get into video game arcades because the risk to compete with organised crime isn't worth it. I admit, one would have to have lived in Japan and made all sorts of experiences there in the entertainment sector in order to not discount this as paranoid bs. But when you understand how the Japanese economy is divided by sectors, and that historically, the entertainment sector (hostess clubs, adult video makers, brothels, arcades, gambling parlours, horse racing, boat racing, etc.) has always been run by organised crime, it's very obvious that no reputable company would touch it. "Run by the mob" to us in the West conjures up images of thugs doing half-assed things in an unorganised, small way, but that's not true for Japan. The Yakuza not having to hide in Japan, has succeeded building well-functioning, big international corporations - when you visit their offices, you'll meet no tattooed thugs with missing pinkys. But that doesn't mean that they're not another branch of a criminal empire.
Cthulhu_ 5y ago
Sounds a bit like the more sleazy casino's in europe and the US to be honest, or random slot machines in the corners of restaurants and bars.
smukherjee19 5y ago
From my experience, there are two "types" of arcades in Japan: one called "game centers" (ゲーセン, pronounced gay-sen), and another "pachinko" or "slot", also called パチスロ(pachisuro). The former is actually really nice. FYI, if the place you went to is a SEGA or a Taito Station, then it's very likely a game center. It does have some machines that use "medals", which I assume is some sort of gambling thing, but it's just a small subset. The main focus is on fighting games, arcade games (well duh), rhythm games(like Ongeki, maimai Deluxe which I love), Densha de Go! (a realistic train driving simulator with the inside looking like a cockpit of a commuter railway train), some robot games, Dance Dance Revolution, Kantai Collection, Fate/Grand Order, zombie shooters and many more. I will admit that atleast one Taito Station in the Tokyo suburbs has the smoking smell in it, but otherwise they are pretty nice places. The other type is well, the pachinko and slot machines shops/arcades. They are the gambling machines, and almost everyone I know has a negative impression of them. If someone tells me they go to pachisuro for fun, I will just be polite on the surface, but internally I would avoid associating with them any further than required. The way to tell these apart is that they will very likely be in front of, or within 2 minutes walk of a station, will have smoking allowed in it, will have something like "new machines!" or "renewed machines!" in their advertisements, won't allow anyone below 18 or 20 to enter, and will have slot machines and many old people spending away their life savings inside. I avoid those like the plague. All in all, I love the game centers though. If you get a chance, do try one of the games I mentioned above in the 2nd paragraph. Maybe you will find something you will like. :)
- seanmcdirmid 5y ago
  Aren’t the pachinko places almost completely run by North Koreans? I’ve heard this is one of Kim Jong Un’s biggest sources of income, but that could have been exaggerated or made up.
  - gareiner 5y ago
    I doubt this one, it is really popular in Japan and might as well the go-to place for people who want to have fun while spending money or degens.
  - 5y ago
TulliusCicero 5y ago
I haven't visited them in Japan, but the two Round1's I've been to in the states have been great. They have standard US arcade games, but also a good selection of Japanese rhythm and fighting games. And when I say Japanese, I'm talking very obviously direct imports, same cabinets and everything. And yes, some of those games are only in Japanese.
jinto36 5y ago
It depends on the location. There are (maybe now, were) plenty of smaller arcades in standalone buildings that were under-ventilated, dimly lit, and always ridiculously loud. But many others are in shopping malls (like Aeon) and have some of the same games (and many more UFO catchers) without the smoking etc. Everytime I'm back in Japan I notice more restrictions on smoking, it's obviously still highly prevalent, but most larger/newer arcades have some floors or areas where smoking is restricted. Just a tip, if you ever want to check out pachinko places, bring earplugs. To find out why, just walk in front of the automatic door, and you'll discover very quickly how much was invested in a multi-pane sound-insulating door. It's an experience.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

jbm 5y ago

What arcades are you talking about, if you don't mind me asking? All the Sega ones were about as mainstream as you could get. I would walk out of Sunshine City in Ikebukuro and see it filled with normal-ish people. I even took my kids to play Taiko no Tatsujin in Nakano Broadway. The tobacco issue was a lot better in Tokyo when I left; most indoor places are non-smoking now. IMO that is the only true benefit Tokyo reaped from the 2020 Olympic preparations.

Klonoar 5y ago
The non-mainstream ones can indeed feel a bit dodgy - like, night and day difference. That said I still went to them periodically since you could often find older games there that the bigger ones had moved on from.
suction 5y ago
I mean if that's normal to you I guess you're not aware of the reputation they have among normal Japanese people.

tkgally 5y ago

I agree about the horribleness of Japanese game arcades, but that actually can be an attraction if you’re in the right (or wrong?) frame of mind. I’ve dropped into “game centers” quite a few times over the years—usually just to use the restroom, though occasionally to look around. While arcades in the suburbs can be just annoying with the noise and teenagers, those in the scuzzier areas of big cities—Shimbashi and Kabukicho in Tokyo, Isezakicho in Yokohama, Nishinari in Osaka—can have an atmosphere of life-on-the-skids ennui all their own. I remember, one weekday afternoon, watching several middle-aged guys silently sitting at a horse racing game—something like the ones in [1] and [2]—in the dim basement of a run-down building in Shimbashi. It looked like they had been there all day. What a way to spend one’s life. I haven’t been in any arcades for several years, but apparently they have been no-smoking since April 2020 [3, in Japanese]. [1] https://lineblog.me/mssp/archives/5037607.html https://lineblog.me/mssp/archives/5037607.html [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrekv_ttmNQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrekv_ttmNQ [3] http://bayon-game.com/?p=35375 http://bayon-game.com/?p=35375

tkgally 5y ago
In case anyone’s interested, below are some Google views of Japanese game centers that don’t look very enticing, at least to me. The first three are in Osaka; the fourth is in Shimbashi, Tokyo. https://www.google.co.jp/maps/@34.6454389,135.5009173,3a,75y,0.57h,95.52t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s7jZ1A7HZYV3wDuInSI-Z0w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=ja https://www.google.co.jp/maps/@34.6454389,135.5009173,3a,75y... https://www.google.co.jp/maps/@34.6455462,135.4997983,3a,75y,129.58h,82.23t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sH3F5Mnez1TbFkdUDxbn4JQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=ja https://www.google.co.jp/maps/@34.6455462,135.4997983,3a,75y... https://www.google.co.jp/maps/@34.6981048,135.533943,3a,75y,195.14h,94.23t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1srHTbxXkK7zVBQJyqwcwYlg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=ja https://www.google.co.jp/maps/@34.6981048,135.533943,3a,75y,... https://www.google.co.jp/maps/place/Diana+Amusement+Space/@35.6660895,139.7578676,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipNR5YXSfL9eq7Zy0xU5iE7cI_SSsmc39IIPYpPO!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNR5YXSfL9eq7Zy0xU5iE7cI_SSsmc39IIPYpPO%3Dw152-h86-k-no!7i4656!8i2620!4m9!1m2!2m1!1z44Ky44O844K744Oz!3m5!1s0x60188bebd4a4ebb3:0x239f6814b19c1423!8m2!3d35.6662764!4d139.7576156!15sCgzjgrLjg7zjgrvjg7OSAQx2aWRlb19hcmNhZGU?hl=ja https://www.google.co.jp/maps/place/Diana+Amusement+Space/@3...
- MathYouF 5y ago
  Here's one I frequented semi-regularly when I lived in Tokyo. It is also maybe one of the most iconic game centers, being in Akihabara right outside the metro station with a large "SEGA" sign. Super not sketchy, mostly normal and mostly young people, no smokers, several women, even people there as couples. SEGA Akihabara Building 3 +81 3-5297-3601 https://maps.app.goo.gl/S9PTNg7Yn29Wfcee9 https://maps.app.goo.gl/S9PTNg7Yn29Wfcee9 I really think the OP was actually describing what in English we would call casinos (pachinkos) rather than arcades (game centers).
  - suction 5y ago
    No I didn't. I was talking about Game Centers. I guess you're a too far gone Otaku to even tell how creepy the places you think of as "iconic" are.
- suction 5y ago

drzaiusapelord 5y ago

The arcades I went to in Akihabara was pretty family friendly, but I did go to a smaller one on the 3rd floor of an anonymous looking business building in a different neighborhood and it was a bit seedy, but it was just nerdy guys playing classic games and classic consoles and not dangerous seeming at all. I wonder if your gf's perceptions are colored by how conformist and competitive Japanese culture is. Of course those men are "losers," they are spending all their time playing children's games. My understanding is that men and women over 25 who aren't married there are seen as "losers" as well, and not being married and being video game obsessed must be a kiss of death in that culture. As a child of the 80s I'm very familiar with the seedy arcade in the USA. I remember every machine having an ashtray wedged between controller and screen and that awful stink. I doubt the men there were regarded as anything but "losers" by the mainstream of the time as well. Being a capitalist culture, gamers weren't respectable until streaming and tournaments in which they could become wealthy. Money makes right in our culture. So our current perception of gamers is very far from what people thought back then who couldn't get rich playing games.

toyg 5y ago
There is also a very real problem with shut-in otaku/hikikomori culture. A lot of otakus are real losers by the standard of any western society, their level of social isolation is massive and there is no redemption for them. Otaku and gaming subcultures often overlap, inevitably there is some association.
digisign 5y ago
Went to many arcades in the early eighties, smoking was never allowed. However, it was in California which was a pioneer in that area.
fomine3 5y ago
Nowadays 25 is too young to be seen "loser". Anyway now 47% of men at 30-35yo in Japan are never got married, we "lose".

lifthrasiir 5y ago

It greatly depends; the notorious slot machine (pachinko) industry is mostly run by organized crime [1] and pachinko lovers are not well received in general, but arcade game centers described in this article are not necessarily pachinko parlors. And if a single arcade does have both pachinkos and other ordinary games, they are typically sectioned so that if you only want to play ordinary games you don't ever need to cross the pachinko area (in the other words, pachinkos are pervasive but also well hidden from the public sight). [1] Many of them are also run by Korean Japaneses and this is a consequence of the discrimination of Koreans in Japan.

suction 5y ago
Wrong. Game centers, aka arcades, are run by organised crime as well.
- lifthrasiir 5y ago
  Only if you count Round One, Sega, Taito or Namco as organized crime (all of which run major nationwide arcade franchises). I don't claim every arcade is free of organized crime (quite contrary), the industry has moved on quite a bit.
  - suction 5y ago
    I mean it's already proven that Konami is a Yakuza business, it's pretty safe to assume that in uniform culture like Japan, no non-shady entities would get into video game arcades because the risk to compete with organised crime isn't worth it. I admit, one would have to have lived in Japan and made all sorts of experiences there in the entertainment sector in order to not discount this as paranoid bs. But when you understand how the Japanese economy is divided by sectors, and that historically, the entertainment sector (hostess clubs, adult video makers, brothels, arcades, gambling parlours, horse racing, boat racing, etc.) has always been run by organised crime, it's very obvious that no reputable company would touch it. "Run by the mob" to us in the West conjures up images of thugs doing half-assed things in an unorganised, small way, but that's not true for Japan. The Yakuza not having to hide in Japan, has succeeded building well-functioning, big international corporations - when you visit their offices, you'll meet no tattooed thugs with missing pinkys. But that doesn't mean that they're not another branch of a criminal empire.

Cthulhu_ 5y ago

Sounds a bit like the more sleazy casino's in europe and the US to be honest, or random slot machines in the corners of restaurants and bars.

smukherjee19 5y ago

From my experience, there are two "types" of arcades in Japan: one called "game centers" (ゲーセン, pronounced gay-sen), and another "pachinko" or "slot", also called パチスロ(pachisuro). The former is actually really nice. FYI, if the place you went to is a SEGA or a Taito Station, then it's very likely a game center. It does have some machines that use "medals", which I assume is some sort of gambling thing, but it's just a small subset. The main focus is on fighting games, arcade games (well duh), rhythm games(like Ongeki, maimai Deluxe which I love), Densha de Go! (a realistic train driving simulator with the inside looking like a cockpit of a commuter railway train), some robot games, Dance Dance Revolution, Kantai Collection, Fate/Grand Order, zombie shooters and many more. I will admit that atleast one Taito Station in the Tokyo suburbs has the smoking smell in it, but otherwise they are pretty nice places. The other type is well, the pachinko and slot machines shops/arcades. They are the gambling machines, and almost everyone I know has a negative impression of them. If someone tells me they go to pachisuro for fun, I will just be polite on the surface, but internally I would avoid associating with them any further than required. The way to tell these apart is that they will very likely be in front of, or within 2 minutes walk of a station, will have smoking allowed in it, will have something like "new machines!" or "renewed machines!" in their advertisements, won't allow anyone below 18 or 20 to enter, and will have slot machines and many old people spending away their life savings inside. I avoid those like the plague. All in all, I love the game centers though. If you get a chance, do try one of the games I mentioned above in the 2nd paragraph. Maybe you will find something you will like. :)

seanmcdirmid 5y ago
Aren’t the pachinko places almost completely run by North Koreans? I’ve heard this is one of Kim Jong Un’s biggest sources of income, but that could have been exaggerated or made up.
- gareiner 5y ago
  I doubt this one, it is really popular in Japan and might as well the go-to place for people who want to have fun while spending money or degens.
- 5y ago

TulliusCicero 5y ago

I haven't visited them in Japan, but the two Round1's I've been to in the states have been great. They have standard US arcade games, but also a good selection of Japanese rhythm and fighting games. And when I say Japanese, I'm talking very obviously direct imports, same cabinets and everything. And yes, some of those games are only in Japanese.

jinto36 5y ago

It depends on the location. There are (maybe now, were) plenty of smaller arcades in standalone buildings that were under-ventilated, dimly lit, and always ridiculously loud. But many others are in shopping malls (like Aeon) and have some of the same games (and many more UFO catchers) without the smoking etc. Everytime I'm back in Japan I notice more restrictions on smoking, it's obviously still highly prevalent, but most larger/newer arcades have some floors or areas where smoking is restricted. Just a tip, if you ever want to check out pachinko places, bring earplugs. To find out why, just walk in front of the automatic door, and you'll discover very quickly how much was invested in a multi-pane sound-insulating door. It's an experience.