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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 call
by 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 agoAren’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 agoI 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.
- drzaiusapelord 5y agoHow could they export money to the regime from within Japan?
- seanmcdirmid 5y agoBy boat, or more specifically, ferry. This is why North Korea gets angry whenever Japan decides to sanction the ferry route between the two countries. Though I guess they haven't let that route run since 2006, I'm not sure how they do it now.
- drzaiusapelord 5y agoJapan doesnt have normalized relations with NK. You can't just take a boat there with bags full of yen. I think what you've heard is probably a reflection of SOUTH Koreans who work in Japan, who are discriminated against by the Japanese, and as such work in places like pachinko parlors because bigotry keeps them out of more reputable and better paying jobs. They do ship money back to family in SK. Northern Koreans are trapped by their regime and escapees are rare. The bigotry towards South Koreans in Japan and how so many of them are forced to work in pachinko or other shady businesses is so common there's even a famous novel about it: https://www.artshelp.net/min-jin-lee-pachinko/ https://www.artshelp.net/min-jin-lee-pachinko/
- suction 5y agoThat's just one of many Japanese xenophobic myths. Like they're saying the Yakuza only recruits Korean-Japanese people. Or whenever you tell a Japanese person you saw someone behaving badly in Japan, their first reaction will be "he / she was Korean / Chinese". Not "probably", they pretend they know. The world knows too little how brainwashed the Japanese public is.
- yummypaint 5y agoI couldn't believe how loud pachinko parlors were. I tried to set foot in a few and could feel my hearing being damaged by the second. The closest noise i've heard elsewhere is the ball mills used for grinding coal in power plants.
- fomine3 5y agoTrue. Most arcades are enough clean. Most pachinko shops are dirty. Don't confuse them.
- suction 5y agoI didn't, dude.
- suction 5y agoI was talking about "Gehmu Sentah", aka Game Centers being horrible. Pachinko is Pachinko, not an arcade. I'd appreciate a less patronising tonality, especially because you are wrong in saying that in Japan, Pachinko and Arcades are seen as even closely related. May I ask what is your alleged expertise on Japan based on? I lived in the country for several years.