Why Arcades Haven't Died in Japan

This was another good read from Ashcraft. He has written a book about Arcades in Japan, and some others that talk about Japanese cultures. I lived in Japan for many years and one of the things I miss the most were the arcades. I was lucky enough to get a SEGA Blast City candy cab from a Kawasaki warehouse almost 10 years ago.

One thing to add. The cabinets in Japan were built/designed much better than most in other countries. (except the style and artwork...yet very durable) Serviced religiously, and taken very well care of. I have yet to change or fix anything on my candy cab in my 10 years owning and shipping it from one end of the globe to the other. Yet I've had to deal with headaches of my street fighter cabs every other month.
 
I loved checking out Japanese arcades when I went there in June, and have been in many of the ones featured in the article. Here's me outside the Kawasaki Warehouse, the best arcade I've ever seen:

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I loved checking out Japanese arcades when I went there in June, and have been in many of the ones featured in the article. Here's me outside the Kawasaki Warehouse, the best arcade I've ever seen:

image%2011_zpskxiyt1wo.jpeg

Dude you have the coolest home arcade. I mean it's the small details that really killed it. ie: retro food packages and cassette tapes left on the machines. Plus you have Terry's red cap on your neo geo. lol good line up of games and other accessories in your set up.
 
Dude you have the coolest home arcade. I mean it's the small details that really killed it. ie: retro food packages and cassette tapes left on the machines. Plus you have Terry's red cap on your neo geo. lol good line up of games and other accessories in your set up.

Thank you very much! That means a lot to me.
 
Arcades in Japan are thriving because:

1. Most houses are pretty small and are limited on space. It becomes a hassle to own multiple game consoles there.

2. As stated in the article, there are lots of arcades right near train stations... everything is clustered together there, so you can walk 5 mins from your house to a train station, hop on a train, and then 10 minutes later you're within 1-2 blocks of half a dozen arcades. In the US you have to almost always jump in your car and drive to strip malls or half hour drives to go specifically to an arcade. Japan it's like "oh I'm going to be traveling to that area anyway"

3. Different culture there, and UFO catcher centers there are keeping some of the arcades in business. Typically the layout for an arcade is:

1F = All UFO catchers (to pull people in and earn money for the business)
2F = Videogames
3F = Gambling games

Seriously pretty much 90% of arcades in Japan dedicate the entire ground level floor to UFO catchers. It's their main source of income (and gambling games). Also there's a distinct lack of classic arcade games pretty much throughout Japan. There's only a handful of places that cater to it.

Most "arcades" in Japan are literally UFO catchers and fighting games/gimmick games.

The article makes it sort of sound like you can stroll into dozens of arcades and find pac-man and frogger.
 
Japanese resident and all around cool retro game restorer just sent me a package of stickers for joining the all Japan tale arcade owners club as member 173.

If you got a table, check out his blog. He is still preserving and restoring old cabs all over japan.

http://bz504178zb.blog.fc2.com/
 
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