Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Gritty, Underground Network Bringing Japan’s Arcades to the US

wired.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 74 posts

Re: The Gritty, Underground Network Bringing Japan’s Arcades to the US

#61

Post by fomine3 »

suction wrote: post #58
tkgally wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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... https://www.google.co.jp/maps/@34.6455462,135.4997983,3a,75y... https://www.google.co.jp/maps/@34.6981048,135.533943,3a,75y,... https://www.google.co.jp/maps/plac…

The whole entertainment sector in Japan that caters to nerds aka otakus is very much not enticing to normal people. It's very seedy, and run by crime syndicates.

So you think Sony (biggest content holder for otaku market) is run by crime syndicates? Stop posting falsehoods without source.

Re: The Gritty, Underground Network Bringing Japan’s Arcades to the US

#62

Post by seanmcdirmid »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #53
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

How could they export money to the regime from within Japan?

By 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.

Re: The Gritty, Underground Network Bringing Japan’s Arcades to the US

#63

Post by suction »

felix_n wrote: post #60
suction wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I 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.

What a poser! I bet he doesn't even have a Japanese girlfriend. Good on you, gotta keep these fauxtaku in line.

If he was a fauxtaku he'd be better off. I fear he's the real deal.

Re: The Gritty, Underground Network Bringing Japan’s Arcades to the US

#64

Post by suction »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #31
smukherjee19 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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.

That'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.

Re: The Gritty, Underground Network Bringing Japan’s Arcades to the US

#65

Post by suction »

fomine3 wrote: post #61
suction wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole entertainment sector in Japan that caters to nerds aka otakus is very much not enticing to normal people. It's very seedy, and run by crime syndicates.

So you think Sony (biggest content holder for otaku market) is run by crime syndicates? Stop posting falsehoods without source.

Sony is a tech / electronics company. Stop letting your love for Japan getting the better of you.

Re: The Gritty, Underground Network Bringing Japan’s Arcades to the US

#66

Post by lifthrasiir »

suction wrote: post #57
lifthrasiir wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Wrong. Game centers, aka arcades, are run by organised crime as well.

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.

Re: The Gritty, Underground Network Bringing Japan’s Arcades to the US

#67

Post by fomine3 »

suction wrote: post #65
fomine3 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you think Sony (biggest content holder for otaku market) is run by crime syndicates? Stop posting falsehoods without source.

Sony is a tech / electronics company. Stop letting your love for Japan getting the better of you.

Now Aniplex makes $$ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aniplex. They also acquired crunchyroll and funimation.

I accept any evidence that indicates other big entertainment company is run by crime syndicates. I just hope you stop posting falsehoods.

Re: The Gritty, Underground Network Bringing Japan’s Arcades to the US

#68

Post by drzaiusapelord »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #62
drzaiusapelord wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How could they export money to the regime from within Japan?

By 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.

Japan 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/

Re: The Gritty, Underground Network Bringing Japan’s Arcades to the US

#69

Post by suction »

lifthrasiir wrote: post #66
suction wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wrong. Game centers, aka arcades, are run by organised crime as well.

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.

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.

Re: The Gritty, Underground Network Bringing Japan’s Arcades to the US

#70

Post by suction »

tkgally wrote: post #14
suction wrote: post #8

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 pla…

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 Ka…

So the non-smoking laws in Japan are in effect now (I left Japan in 2019), but I wouldn't count on them being enforced.

Anyway that'd remove one barrier of stepping into an Arcade in Japan.

Post reply on HN